BRACKNELL MP James Sunderland says he is ‘pleased’ the government has had a change of heart over its controversial A-level grading system.

The U-turn comes after huge uproar from tens of thousands of students upset at the downgrading of their results.

READ MORE: A-level and GCSE results to be based on teachers' grades

They were calculated using an algorithm commissioned by exam regulator Ofqual after exams were scrapped due to the coronavirus pandemic.

But now teachers’ predicted grades will be handed out to students instead following education secretary Gavin Williamson’s apology for the “distress” the system caused.

Reacting to the news, Conservative MP for Bracknell James Sunderland told the News: “I was pleased with the outcome on A-Levels.

“Given the recent stress and uncertainty across the UK, it was right to level up and give students the benefit of teacher assessed grades.

READ MORE: Readers call out 'unfair' A-level grading

“I hope that they will now be able to realise their plans with confidence.”

A poll by the News found 76 per cent of readers disagreed with the way results were handed out before the u-turn.

Alfie Thomas, a student from Sandhurst School, was caught up in the “fiasco”.

Before the policy reversal, he told the News: “I’ve just finished my A-Levels and I got my results on Thursday, so I was caught up in this fiasco.

“I got my predicted grades luckily, but I think that was only because I was in really small classes, and so they didn’t get changed.

“But obviously, I still am really annoyed at the Ofqual and the government.

“They changed grades because of a ranking system, and — at times — didn’t exactly listen to what professional teachers said.”

READ MORE: A-level results pass rate in each region

A further survey by the News following the U-turn found 90 per cent of readers who answered our Twitter poll agreed the switch to teachers’ predicted grades was the right decision.

Dozens of people in Bracknell have also been reacting to the A-level results U-turn on private Facebook page We Love Bracknell.

Karen Lynch Smuts commented on the page: “What an absolute fiasco – you couldn’t make it up!” and David Luck thinks: “This was inevitable, the whole debacle was engineered to take our eyes off the ball.”