£16,000 bill to stop builders drilling near exam hall

A SCHOOL was forced to pay £16,000 to stop builders drilling next to the exam hall while pupils sat their GCSEs.

Chessington Community College is being rebuilt at a cost of £27million but the work caused pupils' behaviour to worsen, exam results to go down and the school being put on a government list threatened with possible closure.

The case marks a fresh embarrassment for Gordon Brown's £45billion programme to rebuild or renovate every secondary school in England.

Chessington headteacher, David Kemp, said builders used "huge drilling machines" while pupils prepared for their exams in 2007. "Piling rigs were working very close to the examination hall. We had to take the decision to stop them. The building company were happy to do that but said there would be a cost," he said.

Fewer than 30 per cent of pupils achieved five A*-C grades in GCSEs including maths and English that year, meaning the school was classed as failing, with the threat of being closed. Last year the school took pupils off-site to sit their exams.

A council and school are suing a building firm for £4 million after a devastating fire. The August 2007 blaze at Bentley Wood High School for Girls in Stanmore started when sawdust was ignited while builders were sanding the floor, a High Court writ said.