Dozens of children have yet to receive their Sats results nine months after sitting the exams amid an investigation into allegations of staff misconduct.

Fifty-eight former pupils of Heavers Farm Primary School in South Norwood remain in limbo midway through their first year of secondary school while the Department for Education (DfE) continues to probe their papers.

A further three classes of children who sat the exams at Selsdon Primary School, run by the same headteacher and also under investigation, face having their results torn up.

The Croydon Guardian reported in September that the Standards and Testing Agency, the branch of the DfE that sets primary school exams, was investigating claims Year 6 pupils at Heavers Farm had been given help to boost their grades.

The probe was subsequently widened to Selsdon Primary, which had already received its Sats results, after fresh allegations were made to the DfE about the second school.

The parent who reported Selsdon Primary told the department her son had been alerted to wrong answers by a teacher.

Both schools are led by executive headteacher Susan Papas, who in October insisted there was "no evidence" of wrongdoing and said she expected the investigation to be over soon.

Parents this week slammed the wait, which they said was interfering their children's education.

Sharon Cato, 51, whose 11-year-old son Joe took his Sats at Heavers Farm last year and now studies at Wilson's School in Wallington, said: "It is disgraceful. It is having an impact on his secondary school. I can't tell them what level he is officially at.

"I'm not impressed. Why has it taken three quarters of a year? Even court cases don't take this long. It's staggering.

She added: "I would like to have nothing more to do with Heavers Farm but there is still this last little bit of unfinished business."

Another mum, who asked not to be named, said she had been kept in the dark about her daughter's results.

She said: "We have heard nothing since last year. It is affecting her at secondary school because they have told me they would be more able to give her targets if they had her Sats results."

Asking about the delay during her visit to Croydon on Thursday last week, education secretary Nicky Morgan said: "It will take time because the Standards and Testing Agency need obviously to conduct a full investigation and unfortunately we do see in some schools that actually there is a need for that investigation.

"I know it is really difficult for the young people and their families but we have to know if, for whatever reasons, results don't reflect what happened on the ground.

"We have to be honest where things have gone wrong. That is the minimum that families and students expect from us."

A DfE spokesman said: "The investigations into Heavers Farm and Selsdon Primary School are ongoing and the outcomes will be published in due course."

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