by Alan McGuinness

Twenty students at a Medway school missed out on passing their GCSE English exam because of abrupt changes to grade boundaries.

Pupils at the Bishop of Rochester Academy, Chatham have been affected, meaning they might have lost places at sixth form or college.

Principal Colin Boxall said they would get references from the school explaining their situation, and those who had applied to stay on at sixth form would not be denied a place.

He said: "Things change fast in education. The best we can do is adapt and succeed."

The exam’s watchdog Ofqual ordered the exam board Edexcel to make the changes just weeks before students across the country collected their results.

Thousands of pupils missed out on C grades because of the alterations, which meant pupils who sat the exam in the summer were more harshly marked than those who took it in January.

The regulator has refused to regrade the exams and those affected have been offered resits.

Chatham Grammar School for Boys assistant head Craig Brown revealed the advanced curriculum the school used meant that the Year 11 pupils collecting their results had sat the exam last year so escaped the furore.

The curriculum has also been stopped for the current crop of Year 10 pupils.

Only 15 students took up the option to sit the exam a year early, and all of them passed.

Mr Brown said the change in grade boundaries had been too abrupt, and alterations should have been implemented gradually.

He said: "Something was going wrong six months to a year ago and now there’s been a correction and that’s affected this particular group of students."

Has you child been affected? Leave you comments below.