PUPILS in Bolton may have been given the wrong grades for GCSE maths after what has been described as an "admin error" by an exam board.

Click on our GCSE RESULTS file on the left for the rest of the results from Bolton, Bury and Leigh

Bosses at Bolton Sixth Form College have already branded the results handed out by Edexcel on Thursday as "unreliable" because the grades awarded do not include marks for coursework.

The college says it may lead to problems when considering whether to admit pupils on to A-Level courses in September.

It adds that pupils at Bolton's schools using the same exam board for GCSE maths may have also been affected.

The blunder was brought to light by Westhoughton mum Susan Ashton whose 17-year-old daughter Louise Prior has re-sat her Maths GCSE at the college this year.

Ms Ashton, of Templeton Close said: "Louise got a D the first time round so she decided to re-sit Maths while taking her A-Levels.

"I went to pick up her result on Thursday and the slip said she had got a D again but it also said she had been absent for some of the exams which did not happen."

She added: "I asked the college and they said it was a problem they are looking into but I feel angry for Louise."

Lousie added: "I rang my mum from work as soon as the results were out and was gutted when she told me. It makes me angry to think that I could have been given the wrong grade because of a mistake, if it was my own fault it would be fair enough.

"Maths is one of the subjects employers looked at closely and if this stands I will have to take another year to sit it again."

Giles Bennett, director of admissions at Bolton Sixth Form College said they were aware of the error but it was not a problem of the college's making.

He said: "It seems that Edexcel has omitted to include some of the components of the Maths GCSE, namely the coursework so it may be the case that some students may have received grades that do not reflect how well they have actually done.

"We know our neighbour Smithills School, which has used the same exam board, has suffered with the same problem.

"In terms of our students they will not need to take this up with the exam board because our examination officer will be taking it up with them on the students behalf and it possible that grades may improve when the coursework element is included but that depends on how good the coursework is."

But Mr Bennett said the confusion over the marks were already causing problems with regards to admissions for the September term.

"As they stand at present these grades are unreliable," he said. "Because we are a sixth form college we only have a few pupils taking GCSE maths but we are currently interviewing pupils who want to come here to study in the Autumn.

"Maths is a very important qualification and given that the marks are unreliable it makes it difficult for us to make decisions about admissions as they stand at the moment."

A spokesman for Edexcel said: "It would be up to the individual schools to send through all of their marks including the modular or coursework ones.

"We will have to get the schools to send their results again and this seems to be an administration mix-up. However we sympathise with students who are concerned about their grades and we are sure this will be resolved as quickly as possible.