The wristbands raise awareness and money for charity

About 400 pupils at the Lytchett Minster School have been told to remove them before entering the exam room.

Bosses at the 1,150-strong school say they are concerned that students might be tempted to write information on the rubber bands.

They say pupils can wear the bands - sold by charities to raise awareness and money - elsewhere in the school.

As a school we are very thorough as far as examination guidelines are concerned Helen Stevens, deputy headteacher

Helen Stevens, deputy head teacher, told the BBC news website: "Because they are made of rubber, they can be written on. We have not had an incident of cheating but we are trying to minimise the risk.

"The aim is to protect them from the temptation of cheating. As a school we are very thorough as far as examination guidelines are concerned.

"Obviously there's the potential interpretation that we are not supportive of charities but that's not the case at all. The school raises over �20,000 a year for charity campaigns."

The bands have been banned at other schools amid concerns that pupils were selling them for a profit and that they posed a health and safety hazard.