HEADTEACHERS are set to voice concerns over the new GCSE grades system with a government education chief.

A delegation of North Shropshire headteachers will raise the 1-9 grades system with education minister Nick Gibb MP in October.

Sue Lovecy, headteacher at St Martins School, is leading the delegation and voiced concerns that the new system poses problems for less academic students.

Of the new system, she said: "It has been really tough for them. It is true that these GCSEs are much harder, in particular with the number of exam papers they've got to take.

"Some of them have coped brilliantly with that and we've done loads of preparations and practice, but particularly for some of the weak students that's so hard to sit through; some of those two and a half hour papers are really, really hard.

She added: "While, I recognise that these new GCSEs for some of our brighter students have actually been a successful thing, for some of our less academic children, we need to look at it because there is a stress attached to the exam system at the moment."

The delegation will also raise concerns over funding and pressure caused by lack of funds for social care.