GOVERNMENT-appointed watchdog Sir David Carter has visited West Somerset College in the wake of ongoing concern over this year's poor GCSE results. As revealed in the Free Press last week, Sir David, whose responsibilities as the newly appointed Regional Schools Commissioner for the South West include monitoring the performance of academies in the area and taking action against those under performing, confirmed his intention to campaigners earlier this month. He spent last Friday discussing the GCSE results with, it is believed, college principal Gaynor Comber, other members of the senior management team and governors. And this week Sir David was sent a copy of a petition calling for Mrs Comber to resign and Ofsted to be brought in. The West Somerset GCSE Debate Campaign Group - set up by concerned parents and members of the local community - closed the petition last Sunday and has now handed the 464-signature strong document and its 21 pages of comments to Mrs Comber, with copies also sent to every member of the college's board of governors. Separate letters of complaint have been written to Mrs Comber and to the governors, calling for chairman of governors Martin McNeill to also resign. The petition has also been sent to Ofsted and the Education Funding Authority. Lisa McCaffrey, a member of the campaign group and instigator of the petition, said she was delighted with the response. "The support for the petition has been fabulous and was still growing when we closed it," she said. "However, we had to close it at some point and felt now was the right time." The group is planning a peaceful protest outside the college on October 13 when governors are due to hold one of their regular meetings. Concerns have been raised after just 38 per cent of the 265 teenagers who took GCSEs this year gained five or more A* to C grades, including English and maths, against the 59 per cent predicted by the college. The results are below the Government target requiring 40 per cent of pupils to achieve the benchmark. Mrs McCaffrey said no response had been received as yet from those who had been sent the petition. But she said campaigners would be keeping up the pressure and continuing to highlight concerns about the college's performance.