On Wednesday 1st February, our MP Phil Wilson handed a petition to Parliament calling for fairer English GCSEs. Mr Wilson gave his backing to the petition earlier this year when students Christine Davies, Melissa Foster and Aidan Wong brought their campaign to his attention. The three students, from Greenfield Community College set up the petition to demand equality in English GCSE’s after discovering the differences between the GCSE sat in maintained (state schools and academies) and independent schools. Currently, independent schools can opt to sit the iGCSE, which allows for a 40% coursework component to count towards the student’s final mark and offers students the opportunity to sit the exam twice. State schools and academies on the other hand sit the English GCSE requiring students to sit one exam in the summer, counting for 100% of their mark. The fury at this inequality is clear, with the student’s petition having currently collected over 1000 signatures. Phil Wilson said he was ‘appalled’ and is adamant that students, regardless of whether they attended state or public school, must be on a level playing field. Mr Wilson said ‘State school student’s face a far tougher examination process than those who have the privilege of attending private school, making the system inherently unfair.” Currently Phil Wilson is waiting on a response from the Government.