YORK head teachers today added their voice to the growing national outcry over disputed A-level results.

They said concern was widespread in schools around the county over claims that the three main examination boards artificially depressed exam results to restrict the numbers gaining the highest grade.

Some schools were calling for results to be reviewed, fearing students may have lost out.

Emily Leaper, a student from All Saints' RC School, has been left not knowing whether she will get into university.

Emily, 18, plans to study English Literature, but got a B in her chosen subject despite being predicted as an A and getting A grades in her other subjects.

When her papers were returned, her teachers - including head Dr Adrian Elliot - agreed they had been marked far too low.

She said: "I feel I have put a lot of work into English Literature and have worked hard to try and get an A grade."

Dr Elliot, who is also chair of the Secondary School Association, said: "It has been the most difficult post-exam period that I can remember because there are a number of marks we do not have confidence in."

The heads aired their views amid news that the Government's testing watchdog was today investigating the way the boards marked the exams of this year's A level students.

Initially, the controversy centred on one of the three boards, the Oxford and Cambridge and RSA (OCR) but the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) quickly faced similar claims.

Edexcel's name also came into the frame following yesterday's meeting between most of the main secondary head teacher organisations.

The head teacher of St Peter's School, Andrew Trotman, said he had concerns about grades given to students taking history and English A-levels.

He said: "On the specific problem of whether our pupils are involved, we cannot prove that. We are making inquiries.

"We need to know if there has been any change in exam grades as a result of the move of the grade boundaries."

The head teacher of Fulford School, Stephen Smith, said he had asked for 14 A-level papers and 26 AS papers to be sent back so see if there were any major discrepancies.

Mr Smith said: "We have had one or two concerns over a number of things the main concern seems to be OCR.

"I think one of the problems is that exam boards are struggling to get markers."

The head teacher of Huntington School, Chris Bridge, said problems such as this were caused by the sheer volume of exams that examining boards were having to cope with.

He said: "This is happening for one reason that no-one has mentioned.

"The government is forcing far too many exams to be taken and the boards cannot cope and they seem to be floundering."

Updated: 16:26 Thursday, September 19, 2002