HULL West and Hessle MP Alan Johnson is backing a city school in its fight to get GCSE results looked at again following last summer's floods.

As reported in the Mail, Kevin Beaton, headteacher of Sydney Smith School, a pupil, a parent and education officials will travel to London next week to meet senior government officials to discuss the impact of the deluge on pupils.

The school, in First Lane, Anlaby, was the worst-hit in last June's floods.

As well as being taught in temporary classrooms and missing several days of school, many youngsters had to cope with being forced out of their homes by the floods.

When results were published in August this year, pupils had not fared as well as expected, with just 23 per cent gaining the government benchmark of five A* to C grades including English and maths.

The school was predicted to get 30 per cent or more.

Mr Johnson said: "An eight per cent reduction in GCSE results is not something anyone in that school would have envisaged happening if not for the floods, when other schools that weren't flooded held their own."

Mr Johnson visited the school in the aftermath of the flooding to assess the damage first-hand.

He also wrote to Education Secretary Ed Balls after the disappointing GCSE results were published.

Although politicians cannot influence the decision of exam boards, Mr Johnson promised to back the school's appeal.

He said: "I wouldn't take it as a given that there is no way they will change their mind if we can make the case that there are special circumstances surrounding Sydney Smith School."

The meeting on Tuesday is with David Bell, permanent secretary at the Department for Children, Schools and Families. It is intended to raise awareness of the impact the floods had on the city's children, with particular reference to the situation at Sydney Smith.

Nigel Richardson, director of children and young people's services at Hull City Council, and Judith Harwood, the council's head of learning leisure and achievement, will give Mr Bell details of how the floods affected schools across Hull.

Christie Coulter, of Tilbury Primary School in Tilbury Road, west Hull, will also give a presentation about how his pupils were affected.