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Joe Westwood, who lives in Hollins Lane, Baxenden, achieved 11 A* grades, but an A in English literature, stopping him from achieving a clean sweep.

The Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School pupil sent his English papers off to be re-marked and just over two weeks later, his exam had been reassessed and the grade increased from an A to the top grade.

Joe had achieved an A* in his English coursework, but examiners had originally judged his written summer exams as As.

School leaders across East Lancashire said youngsters had been marked too harshly, with some seeing a plummet in the number of A-C English grades by up 20 per cent.

Some suggested that new marking boundaries had been introduced just before the exams in a bid to curb grade inflation.

Following the results some head teachers said they would appeal the grades for their year 11 students.

The head teacher at QEGS, Simon Corns had also exp-ressed a concern about the English GCSE results when the marks were first released on August 16.

Joe will now continue at the QEGS’ sixth form, studying A-levels in maths with further maths, physics, chemistry and Latin.

He said: “It is fantastic, I am just so happy.”