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One school described the shock of seeing its results plummet from a predicted 58% A* to C including English and maths to 37%, three points below the current floor target of 40%.

Many other schools have found themselves in the same position. An online survey of members by the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) showed that of around 730 responses so far, 143 schools have reported dropping below the target unexpectedly as a result of their students’ English marks.

The union’s general secretary Brian Lightman said: “It’s a very alarming statistic which simply adds to the strength of the argument that something has gone badly wrong with the examinations.”

After carrying out its own investigation, exams watchdog Ofqual has refused to order a regrade of the papers, and education minister Michael Gove has so far refused to intervene.

However, the row in England intensified further this week after the Welsh government demanded that WJEC, the Welsh-based awarding body, regrade its English GCSE results, with education minister Leighton Andrews saying he feared there had been an “injustice”.

The row centres around changes to the grading boundaries which meant that it was significantly tougher for students to gain a C in the GCSE English examinations sat in June compared to those sat in January.