'My son has been banned from taking GCSE - and he's done nothing wrong'

Parents are up in arms over a high school's decision regarding GCSEs , with one parent revealing their son has been pulled from his history class in Year 11 to make room for additional maths lessons . StokeonTrentLive has learned that the move to drop a GCSE option subject in favour of more maths and English classes has impacted roughly half of the 206 students in Year 11 at Birches Head Academy. The student in question had been studying history as part of his GCSE curriculum throughout Year 10, and his Year 11 schedule was already altered without consultation.

The frustrated parent remarked: "If they are having to do this with so many Year 11 students, that's not a problem with the children, that's a bigger problem with the school. The kids are being punished due to Birches Head's failings. They hadn't discussed which option my son wanted to lose, they hadn't discussed anything with the parents.

He's majorly disappointed. He's wondering what the point is of him going in." Furthermore, the parent lamented: "This school year was majorly impacted by Covid .

They call them the 'mystery year' because they had no SATs, no Year 7, and they've missed out on a lot of education. I don't know what has happened to the education system, but whichever direction Birches Head is trying to take it is the wrong one." Despite the controversy, Birches Head Academy has the leeway to make such changes as its pupils typically sit for nine GCSEs, compared to the usual eight, reports Manchester Even.