Children have been left in limbo after a primary school mounted a legal challenge against a decision to quash its SATS results because of cheating.

Chestnuts Primary School, in St Ann’s Road, Tottenham, has had its Key Stage Two results for reading and mental arithmetic annulled by the Department of Education.

The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) launched an investigation after concerns were raised about the “integrity” of the SATs papers taken by Year 6 pupils in May.

Inspectors claim there were inconsistencies in exam papers as “it appeared that some scripts had been amended”.

The STA claims the handwriting style was different in the corrections on the papers.

On September 18, a letter from the agency confirmed that results 2012/13 for the school had been annulled for reading and mental arithmetic.

In a statement to the Haringey Independent, Ali Thoburn, the school’s chairman of governors, said Chestnuts disputed the annulment.

He said: “They [the STA] feel there is some doubt about independence of the children’s work and as such are not prepared to publish the school’s results.

“The governing body and leadership of the school are in the process of disputing the annulment of results.

“The governing body are also conducting a robust and rigorous internal investigation to assure themselves that the administration processes for the tests were correctly adhered to.”

Mr Thoburn added that parents of existing and past pupils have been informed in writing of the STA’s decision.

Haringey Borough Council school standards officials investigated the processes surrounding administration of SATs and interviewed the key staff.

But they found nothing to indicate where the source of the infringement had come from.

The task of finding the truth has been made more difficult as when the STA sent the scripts back to the school via Parcel Force they were lost in transit.

A spokesman from Haringey council said: “We are aware of the STA investigation and subsequent plans by both the school and the governors.

“The council will also be looking into the incident and the processes in place at Chestnuts in order to ensure that the school is meeting standards and to support best practice going forward.”