A PRIVATE school in Oxfordshire which is one of the top-rated in the country has admitted committing 'technical breaches' in GCSE exams.

Radley College just north of Abingdon was criticised by exam board OCR following a series of investigations.

An art teacher at the school was said to have added to students' assessed work and given them directions and advice during their exam in 2014.

A former member of staff at the school made complaints about practice to OCR which then carried out two investigations.

Another exam board, AQA, also carried out an investigation which the school said did not find any wrongdoing.

Since then, the school said it had voluntarily increased the number of invigilators in exams.

The art teacher in question remains in post at the school.

Radley College head teacher John Moule said all allegations had been 'thoroughly' investigated both internally and by the exam boards.

He went on: "Save for one minor technical issues identified in the 2014 GCSE exam session, in which OCR described the potential advantage given to candidates as negligible, no malpractice has been identified.

"No pupils' grades have been affected and the college is confident in its exam procedures."

Exam board OCR said it could not comment on individual investigations in order to protect identities, but released the following statement: "Protecting the integrity of our exams is our priority and we take very seriously our duties to ensure that all of our examinations are fair, and that all students receive an appropriate and valid grade."