A SCHOOL is carrying out an inquiry after hundreds of important exam papers were destroyed accidentally.

Hummersknott School, in Darlington, is blaming "human error" on the mix-up, which led to the exam papers of 243 children being put in a waste skip and taken to a landfill site.

But it has been keen to stress to parents that the mistake will have no bearing on their children's education.

The problem occurred after pupils in Year 9, who are aged 13 and 14, sat their Key Stage 3 English Sats tests last week.

After the exam had finished, a teacher took the papers to a designated classroom for safekeeping, pending the completion of a third paper.

The teacher believed he had placed the papers, which had been wrapped up in white bags, in the classroom.

But an early investigation indicated the bags were left outside the classroom.

Because they looked like waste bags, it is believed they were put in a skip with the rest of the rubbish. The skip was taken to a landfill site and it is likely that the papers were compacted and covered in soil.

Hummersknott head David Henderson has written to parents of the children affected, explaining what has happened.

There are no facilities for the papers to be re-sat and it means that for English no Key Stage level will be recorded for any of the pupils.

Mr Henderson said that it would have no long-term effects because the main purpose of Sats was to give indicators of how well individual schools and local authorities were performing.

But he said: "We do not want to underplay the importance of the Sats.

"We have carried out a full internal investigation of our procedures and they seem to be fine and acceptable with the exam board.

"A full inquiry will also be carried out by the governing body with an independent member of the LEA (Local Education Authority)."

Mr Henderson said no disciplinary action would be taken.

"The teacher is devastated about this and at the end it just comes down to a case of human error," he said.

A spokeswoman for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority said: "We are aware of the situation and working with the external marking agencies and the school."