Pupils at schools badly affected by the crumbling concrete crisis should have their exam grades increased, education experts have said.
Hundreds of schools have been forced to partially or fully close after being found to have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) - a commonly used building material which is at risk of collapsing after 30 years.
The unsafe concrete crisis has also impacted hospitals and a concert hall and has even been found in the Houses of Parliament.
Exam boards have so far refused to make exceptions for pupils at affected schools who are sitting GCSE and A-Level exams this summer - despite both teachers and children facing a series of problems as a result.
The affected schools include St Leonard's Catholic School in Durham, one of the top-performing state schools in the North East at GCSE level, which had to scrap teaching plans at the start of the academic year in September due to the presence of RAAC.
Now a study of St Leonard's by education experts, published on Thursday, has concluded exam grades could be fairly increased by 10% this summer.
The experts from Durham University urged government ministers, together with exam boards and the exam regulator, Ofqual, to make a plan to "relieve the anxiety of students in the school and others like it" and offer them "qualification outcomes equivalent to what would have happened in the absence of the crisis."
