PARENTS are claiming Thomas Hardye School in Dorchester gets top marks in GCSE results because weaker students are withdrawn from subjects they are likely to fail.

Jane Milliner said: "Our children at the Thomas Hardye School are getting a raw deal".

She was speaking after her daughter Jessica was told she would not be able to take French GCSE because her coursework had not been done.

Mrs Milliner said Jessica was re-instated for the exam only after her letters of complaint led to the decision to be changed and the coursework was completed.

She added: "My daughter's not the only one. Others have been dropped from exams because they haven't done coursework. But I didn't know she hadn't done it."

She said a friend's daughter had been dropped from one language GCSE and from English literature.

Mrs Milliner, of Shaston Crescent in Dorchester, said she believed the school withdrew weaker students in order to get better results in exam league tables.

But headteacher Iain Melvin angrily rebutted the allegation.

He said: "I can't talk about individual students but I can tell you that my staff do everything they can for every single student. If a youngster doesn't want to participate or won't even come to school then we can't do any more than we do.

"If students don't do coursework, they don't do the exam. It's a major part of the GCSE. "

Dr Melvin added: "I can assure you that we don't do anything to massage the figures.

"Last year 98 per cent of our students got five GCSEs at grade A to G - that's the best in the county. There are about 500 students taking GCSEs and that means only about ten don't get that result for different reasons. There is no way the results can be massaged.

"We get those results because the staff bend over backwards for these students.

"The idea that we enter youngsters on the grounds of ability is risible."

The two mothers both admitted their daughters had been difficult students who often missed school and failed to complete their work.

Mrs Milliner said: "The staff have been brilliant. But at 16 you don't always put the work in because you don't realise until later that it's important."