Rejected petition GCSE retakes being allowed

We want the government to change the rules on GCSE retakes. Schools were previously able to enter their students into their exams early if they felt that students could achieve their target grades. If a student not achieve their ‘target’ grade in the first set of exams then they were able to resit in the summer. The best grade would then count towards the accountability measure of the number of pupils achieving 5 grades A*-C. This allowed many students who were ready to take and pass exams earlier and then concentrate on their weaker subjects. Since September schools can be penalised for allowing their students to take their GCSE exams early as only the first grade counts towards the schools result. Therefore many schools are now stopping students from sitting their exams early in case they do not achieve their predicted grades.