Girl, 10, heartbroken after top grammar school offers her a place... then says it 'made a mistake'



Staff at a top grammar school left a ten-year-old girl heartbroken after mistakenly telling her she had passed their entrance exam.



Celine Coffey spent four days 'on cloud nine', telling family and friends she was going to Loreto Grammar School for Girls in Altrincham, Cheshire.



But her joy turned to despair when it emerged staff had wrongly posted a letter saying she had passed when she had actually failed.

Celine Coffey, ten, with her parents David and Caroline. She is holding the letter which said she passed the entrance exam

The error began to unravel when she told her teacher at St Hugh's Catholic primary in Timperley, near Altrincham, that she had been given a place at Loreto.



When the teacher failed to respond, Celine suspected something was wrong.



Celine's mum Caroline was called into school and told by staff her daughter was not on a list of pupils who had passed the entrance exam.

Caroline rang Loreto and was told there had been an 'admin error'.



The school, praised as outstanding by Ofsted in 2005, had posted the wrong letter.



Instead of sending Celine a letter saying she 'had not reached the standard', she was sent one saying she had performed well and was eligible for a place.



Celine, who had not expected to pass, was delighted when she received the original letter.



She told all her family and friends, and by the following day had posted back the tear-off slip accepting the offer of a place at the school.



Now she will go to Blessed Thomas Holford Catholic College in Altrincham, where her 12-year-old brother Michael is a pupil.



Celine said: 'It's terrible. I was really excited. I told all my friends I was going.'

Celine's dad, David Coffey, 43, a building inspector, said: 'We were all on cloud nine. She would have been the first Coffey to go to grammar school for five generations.'



Loreto head Jane Beever said: 'Our hearts go out to the child concerned and we have taken steps to ensure that such an unfortunate mistake cannot happen again.'