£37,000-a-year girls’ school taught the wrong GCSE book

PARENTS have demanded compensation after a £37,000-a-year private girls’ school taught students the wrong book for GCSE English.

A group of Year 11 pupils sitting the English literature International GCSE at Malvern St James Girls’ School in Worcestershire opened their exam papers on Wednesday, only to realise they could not answer the questions.

They had studied the Michael Frayn novel Spies in preparation for the exam – but that book was not on the syllabus.

One parent told The Independent: “I want compensation and I want heads to roll.”

The school apologised and launched an investigation, and has asked the exam board for “special consideration” to be made for students”. It is unclear how many pupils were affected.

An International GCSE is an alternative international qualification to GCSES that many private schools teach.

The 400-pupil boarding school – rated as “excellent” by the Independent Schools Inspectorate – counts Princess Alice, mother of the Duke of Gloucester, and Green Party MP Caroline Lucas among its alumni. Last year 61.7 per cent of students achieved top grades in their International GCSE exams.

Olivera Raraty, the school’s headmistress, said: “There was an issue with one section of an IGCSE English literature paper sat by one group of students in Year 11. One of the texts taught to this group was incorrect. The problem was identified immediately, and we are now working with the exam board … so that

‘We are now working with the exam board … so that no girl should be disadvantaged’

no girl should be disadvantaged by this. Meanwhile, a full internal investigation is under way … We apologise wholeheartedly for this.”

A Cambridge International spokesman said: “We recognise that this is distressing for the students involved. We have asked the school to follow our procedures for rare situations like this by submitting a request for special consideration on behalf of the students affected.”