I am devastated by my son's GCSE results but he CANNOT retake them due to an academic gap. I feel like a terrible mother.

A mum has shared her “utter shock” after her son failed several of his GCSE exams despite coming from a “very academic family” and being among the top achievers.

She even criticized the school for not caring about her “bad” grades, as teachers were “too busy taking pictures of their brightest students” to express sympathy.

ShutterstockDue to a system glitch, mother says there is ‘no chance of catching up’ for her son (/caption)

Students anxiously opened their results yesterday as the whole of the UK returned to the pre-pandemic grading system.

And while thousands of teenagers will have to re-sit their GCSE English and maths exams after less than two-thirds of them got a pass mark, the shocked mother’s son will not be one of them.

This is because due to a flaw in the system, there is “no possibility of recovery” for him.

The distraught mother turned to Mumsnet for advice.

“My 16 year old son got his GCSE results yesterday and they were horrible,” she wrote.

“Everything was at least two grades below what was expected.

“He only passed four, even though that included maths and English.

“All his plans to pass the baccalaureate are in tatters, as are his confidence – and my confidence in my parenting abilities.

“I just don’t know where to go from here.

“The school didn’t care, they were too busy taking pictures of their brightest students, so no help there.”

And since the teenager’s school does not offer a sixth grade, there is apparently “no opportunity to catch up.”

“I wish there were,” the mother added.

“He’s going to take a college class today, but with only four passes, he’s really limited in what he can do.

“My whole family is very cultured and have degrees, so it was a total shock.

What can students do if they are unhappy with their GCSE results?

Students are advised to contact their preferred school or college to see if they can be flexible on entry requirements if they have just missed grades.

In England, if a student is unhappy with their grade, they can also ask their school or college to ask the exam board to review the marking.

If any concerns remain after the exam, the student can ask their school or college to appeal the result.

Students can also choose to re-sit any GCSE exam in the summer of the following academic year if they are not happy with their results.

But students can re-sit English and maths GCSEs from this autumn.

In England, students who do not achieve at least a grade 4 in English and/or Maths at GCSE are required to re-sit these subjects during their post-16 education.

Students are funded to retake Maths and/or English until they achieve a grade of 9-4 at GCSE.

For students with a grade of 2 or below, they can either study for a pass at Functional Skills Level 2 or for a grade of 9-4 at GCSE.

“I feel like he’s limited at such a young age.

“I’m so angry for him.

“He did all the homework, had 100% attendance and was among the best in school… there was just a problem with the exams and we don’t know what.”

This year GCSEs saw the highest number of certificates ever awarded, with 6.5 million awarded.

Of the graded exams, 67.6% received a grade of 4 (equivalent to a C) or higher.

This figure is just below the 68.2% reached last year, but higher than the 67.3% in 2019.

However, only 61.9% achieved this “standard passing grade” in English this year, and only 59.5% did so in mathematics.

This means thousands of teenagers will have to retake their exams, with recent rules requiring them to continue trying to pass English and maths until they are 18.