Results prove measures taken by Redbridge Council to curb cheating may have paid off after results show students performed equally on different days.

Results indicate pupils that sat the test later did not fare better than those that sat on the borough’s test day.

Of the pupils that sat the December 20 exam, 19 per cent of the 719 applicants for Ilford County High School were successful, and 20 per cent of the 696 pupils that sat the test hoping to gain a place at Woodford County High school were successful.

Those excused with illness, and a doctors note to prove it, sat the January 25 exam.

Last year’s test gave parents the choice of two days, and allegations of cheating were fuelled when a Freedom of Information request showed only 14 per cent of 1,065 youngsters passed on Saturday.

This figure jumped to 29 per cent for the Sunday, with a total of the 365 boys and girls who took the Sunday paper successful.

But allegations of cheating cropped up soon after the test, on the official eleven plus online forum for Redbridge.

One parent, who did not wish to be named, said: “At my child’s school half a dozen got in, only two were not in the upper sets and only these two used the same tutor.

“One of these children said and they saw the actual papers before the exam.

“The whole year group knows this,” they added.