Pupils from Hong Kong will be studying in isolation units at a North-East school, as a precaution against the deadly Sars virus.

But Polam Hall School, in Darlington, has refuted suggestions that foreign youngsters returning after the Easter holidays will have to undergo twice-daily examinations.

Reports yesterday said that all pupils arriving back from high-risk destinations should be regularly monitored for symptoms of the potentially lethal Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome.

The pneumonia-like illness has killed at least 162 people worldwide, out of more than 3,000 infected. But Polam is taking precautionary measures by allowing pupils to come back to study in isolation conditions for the first ten days.

The school said its actions were in the best interests of all pupils and staff, despite fears from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, which said it was "quite concerned" about restrictions adopted by some schools.

A spokesman claimed that it would only cause "undue stress" to both students and parents.

He said: "While we appreciate the need for caution and protection, this discriminatory action will serve to stigmatise our students at schools, which is most undesirable from an educational point of view." But Polam School spokeswoman, Frances Bourne, said: "Polam's concern is that they have got to give the well-being of the whole school community paramount importance.

"There has been lots of conflicting advice from a variety of sources but we are playing safe and looking at the community as a whole."

The only examination to be affected at the school is GCSE Art. Pupils will study set work in a separate block of the boarding houses.

Restrictions are also being imposed at other schools across the North-East and North Yorkshire, including Barnard Castle, where many pupils will not return for ten days as a self-imposed quarantine period.

Adrian Underwood, national director of the Boarding School Association (BSA), said: "There are no winners here. It's a rotten situation and the timing is atrocious what with the onset of GCSE and A-level examinations.

''Easter's late and some of the exams are starting in the second week of May and I feel utter sympathy for those involved."

The BSA has told schools to take the action they deem necessary in "unprecedented and volatile circumstances" to safeguard the interests of all their pupils.