Wirral Council has received undisclosed compensation for marking errors in last year’s 11 plus examinations.
Last year six Merseyside schoolchildren were wrongly told they had missed out on a place in grammar schools across the city after a marking error by examiners at GL Assessment.
The pupils affected were informed they had not made the grade to attend their first choice school and instead were incorrectly told they would have to attend comprehensives.
Gill Gwatkin, Press Officer at Wirral Council told JMU Journalism: “At the moment GL Assessment have been very up front and taken full responsibility for their actions.”
A statement from Wirral Council said: “Following this issue, we reviewed the company’s quality assurance procedures, and received assurances that these processes would be followed. We also received a compensation package.”
Mrs Julia Hassall, Acting Director of Children’s Services, said: “When it came to our attention that an error had occurred in the marking of these tests, we took appropriate action to ensure that the pupils affected were not disadvantaged, and received a place at the appropriate schools.”
Parents of the pupils contacted Wirral Council to ask for re-marks. Their suspicions were eventually confirmed when examiners realised there had been a mistake. The pupils were given their correct grade and they were able to attend their first choice grammar school.
Marking errors occurred again this year when 1,600 pupils across Wirral Grammar School for Boys, Wirral Grammar School for Girls, West Kirby Grammar and Calday Grange Grammar had to be given two extra marks when two rogue questions appeared in the 11 plus tests.