Pupils and parents have been left furious after a grammar school removed GCSE options from children who had already made its choices for their final two years of study.

Year 9 pupils who were hoping to study GCSE drama at Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School have now been denied this after the school removed the subject from its Key Stage 4 curriculum.

The school has said that they are ensuring "Year 9 pupils pursue their preferred GCSE options".

A spokesperson for the school said: “The school regularly reviews and updates its curriculum to ensure it remains broad, balanced and of a high standard, and to meet the changing needs of our young people and the school community.

"We are committed to working with pupils and parents, and will ensure that each Year 9 pupil is able to pursue their preferred GCSE subject options.”

A petition, which has been set up anonymously on Change.org, has already amassed more than 200 signatures in less than 24 hours from parents and pupils at the school.

The petition page says: “Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School is discontinuing its drama GCSE course from the start of the next academic year.

“It has also mandated religious studies as a GCSE for all students and has put all double language students onto German, with plans to discontinue Spanish entirely as a subject over the next few years.

“All of these were announced three months after the Year 9 students had chosen their GCSEs, and nothing of value in terms of reasoning for this decision has been made public as of now.

“This is an issue that needs to be resolved urgently for several reasons.”

Speaking on the petition, one person said: “This decision should have been made after consulting with the parents and most importantly the students and the teachers who now have to look for other options (that may not be in their preferred career pathway) as this is coming three months after they had settled into their chosen options.

“This is also affecting their mental health and their happiness in school, as well as ruining their future.”

While another added: “Our children have agonised over their subject choices, considering their future career plans and now their dreams are being thrown away, without consultation.”

And one parent commented: “I'm signing because this affects my daughter's A Level and future.”

The high school has come under fire over the past few months after being rated "inadequate by Ofsted".

Back in June, inspectors said that many pupils, especially those in the LGBTQ+ community felt "unsafe at school" and that "harmful sexual behaviour" went unchallenged.

A follow up visit has found that the school has addressed the "toxic culture" and that improvements have been made but the school "remains inadequate and requires special measures", and "more work is necessary for the category of concern to be removed".