A MOTHER has launched a one-woman campaign after her son was not re-entered for a vital GCSE exam because his first grade was so low.

Helen Harris, of The Green, Highworth, only realised her 16-year-old son Alex who attends Warneford School, in Highworth, had not been entered for his English Language papers when she went through his exam timetable a week ago.

She claims that when she called the school she was told a decision was made not to re-enter pupils who got an E or less because it was not worth it.

Her son, who got an E, is hoping to do carpentry at Swindon College, but needs a minimum three A to D grades, preferably in core subjects, to get on the course.

Warneford School is now in the process of re-entering him, but Mrs Harris, 43, believes other parents may be unaware.

The school confirmed that at least a dozen pupils are affected by the decision, but said it has contacted their parents.

Mrs Harris said: “They shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions like that without notifying the parents, it’s the parents’ choice to have that option.

“I’m not saying my child’s an angel, but he doesn’t deserve to get left by the wayside.”

Mrs Harris agreed to enter her son in November along with many classmates, the idea being to take pressure off when pupils face the rest of the exams this summer.

She said she received a letter saying Alex would still be automatically entered for the June version.

He has done all the coursework and revision leading up to the June exam unaware that he was not entered.

Mrs Harris claims she had no communication from the school telling her the situation.

“I’m concerned for other parents that they don’t know, I picked this up, but how many others will?” said Mrs Harris. “It’s really upsetting because I’m concerned for my child more than anything.”

She said she has also heard that children who got a D grade have been sent on special revision courses.

Warneford School headteacher John Saunders said parents should have received entry statements to tell them what their child was entered for in February after the results of the November exams came out. He said: “We re-enter some, we don’t have an overall policy.

“There may be some confusion and we have sorted it out as far as I’m aware.

“We do have a procedure which tries to make sure that parents know what exams their children are being entered for.

“It’s not a particular problem in terms of taking the exam, we can still enter them for the exam again.

“If there are other parents who say we would like them to re-enter we will be able to do that.

“As far as I know any parent who may be in a similar situation has been contacted.

“Obviously if there are some issues there we are happy to look at our procedures.

“We have got revision programmes starting on Monday, that’s open to all pupils.

“There’s no question that we’re only revising or preparing some, we do different things perhaps for different pupils because there are different needs, but we try to provide a range of support.”