A STAGGERING 71 A-level English scripts from the Blackpool Sixth Form College have finally been re-marked and upgraded -- thanks to the persistence of college principal Jeff Holland and his staff.

Although it may seem a long time since A-level results were given to thousands of anxious students across the country, it has taken until now -- almost one month later -- for some former pupils at the college to hear news on the re-mark of part of their scripts.

Suspicions were raised last month when the college's English department noticed that no grade As had been awarded in the English Literature or Language examinations, which was previously unheard of at the college.

This immediately prompted Mr Holland to contact the examining board, AQA, and he has remained in constant contact with them since.

When asked about his feelings on the upgrades, he told the Citizen: "I am, of course, delighted at the news. But I still feel that there is a significant number of students deserving higher grades, which I am currently still negotiating with the board.

"Also one element of the A/S-level Information Computer Technology examination has had to be completely re-marked and re-graded."

Many of the students have already accepted places at universities which were not their first choice because they had apparently not achieved the required grades. However, the college has since been flooded with "thank you" messages from grateful students.

Mr Holland added: "We have received many phone calls and postcards thanking us for our help from the upgraded students, including a bunch of flowers for one member of staff. I have also heard from one student who got into the London School of Economics on the strength of a letter we sent, which is most gratifying."

The offending examination board has also issued an apology to all the students affected. It reads: "I should be grateful if you would inform the candidates of their revised grades and apologise to them on our behalf for the error and the notification of these changes of grade at a late stage."

Shirley Richmond, head of the English department, added: "This is not the end of the story for, while we are delighted with the news today, we still await news of another 20 scripts that are yet to be re-marked and we believe there are other anomalies to be resolved."