ALCESTER Grammar School had to fork out more than £2,000 to the university admissions organisation UCAS last week after it was discovered a batch of students' cheques had been lost in the post.

The cheques - payment for applications for places at university this September - had been collected by the school before Christmas and, it was believed, sent on to UCAS.

The Cheltenham-based service has been processing all the applications as normal and students have been offered places at university but just a month before the crucial A-level results are due out, they informed the school they had not been paid.

In a letter to parents requesting new cheques, headteacher Iain Blaikie urged parents to pay up quickly, adding said: "We have been assured by UCAS nobody's application will be jeopardised as long as prompt payments are received."

The school had, however, already paid the lump sum to protect the applications.

Mr Blaikie said: "It's a complete mystery to us. We sent the cheques off early in the spring term and have proof of that. And then we received a letter from UCAS a few days ago to say we hadn't paid.

"I have contacted the post office and they are looking into it. We will not have this problem after this year."

A UCAS spokesman confirmed university applications were secure and the payment of £15 per student had now arrived.

But he could not explain why the loss had only just been discovered.

For some of the sixth form students at Alcester Grammar School, this is the second time important documents have been lost in the post at exam time.

Two years ago, when they were at Alcester High School, GCSE maths coursework was lost by two separate courier companies and the examinations board had to estimate their marks.