A promising schoolgirl due to be deported to Mauritius yesterday has been given an 11th-hour reprieve after British Airways refused to take her on board.

Yashika Bageerathi, 19, was at Gatwick Airport waiting to be sent back to her native country when she was suddenly told she would be returning to Yarl's Wood detention centre in Bedfordshire, her headteacher Lynne Dawes said.

The move appears to represent a temporary U-turn, although both the Home Office and British Airways refused to elaborate.

A star pupil at Oasis Academy Hadley in Enfield, Ms Bageerathi had been in detention at the centre since Wednesday, when she lost an appeal to remain in Britain.

She fled Mauritius with her mother and brother in 2012, reportedly to escape a relative who had been abusing her.

Ms Dawes added that solicitors were told at the Upper Tribunal that the order to remove the teenager had been "cancelled" although the next step was unclear.

The reprieve comes after extensive campaigning by her fellow pupils, who used social media and demonstrations to protest against the decision to send Ms Bageerathi back.

A petition by the students calling on Immigration Minister James Brokenshire and Home Secretary Theresa May to stop the deportation and allow the student to complete her A-levels garnered nearly 23,000 signatures on change.org

Fashion model Cara Delevingne also made a plea on Twitter to Ms May not to send the aspiring maths teacher back.

As well as the pupils' online campaign, Ms Dawes and the student's mother met their Tory MP David Burrowes on Friday, who then made representations to the Home Office to delay Ms Bageerathi's deportation yesterday.

Ms Bageerathi was due to be sent back alone because her recently gained adulthood means her case must now be considered separately from her family's.

Assistant head of the sixth form Sarah Hamilton told the Star she cautiously welcomed the move and hoped the Home Office would ultimately make the right decision to allow Ms Bageerathi to remain.