A-level hopefuls face chaos

London: A-level hopefuls face chaos this week when a new ‘supergrade' is awarded and a row is ignited over public-school ‘discrimination'.

Anthony Seldon, Master of Wellington College in Berkshire, urged ­universities not to succumb to polit­ical pressure to ‘positively discrim­inate' by letting pupils from less academic schools win places with lower grades.

Up to 200,000 school-leavers could be left without a university place, and tens of thousands of results will be disputed, as the introduction of the A* grade coincides with an unprecedented squeeze on higher education.

With independent schools expected to dominate the award of the A*, Dr Seldon, a widely-respected author of political biographies, fears that privately-educated pupils could be hit by a backlash.

Overall, the A* is expected to be awarded to seven per cent of pupils, compared with 27 per cent who won an A grade last year. But the A* figure for private school candidates is predicted to be closer to 17 per cent.

This gulf in performance has led to the A* being boycotted in admissions considerations by all but a handful of top university departments. Colleges fear being penalised under social-engineering policies for attracting too many privileged students.