FOUR struggling schools in Oxfordshire are under the spotlight after the Government called a Whitehall summit to tackle poor GCSE results.

Peers School, Oxford Community School and St Gregory the Great VA Catholic School, in Oxford, and Banbury School, have all fallen short of the benchmark of 30 per cent of pupils achieving five A* to C grades at GCSE, including English and maths.

Now education secretary Ed Balls is bringing together senior officers and councillors in June to insist on better results. Nationally, Mr Balls is targeting 638 schools.

Last year, Gordon Brown warned any school failing to meet the 30 per cent mark by 2011 would be shut down or taken over by another school, possibly from the private sector.

John Hussey, consultant headteacher at St Gregory the Great, agreed the idea of working with other local authorities.

He added: "I am very confident our current Year 11 pupils will exceed the 30 per cent benchmark in August this year."

Banbury headteacher Fiona Hammans said she backed the decision, adding: "We will be above the 30 per cent by 2011 - whether or not we will be above 30 per cent this year is another thing."

Peers headteacher Ed McConnell said improving literacy was key to lifting his school, which will become a city academy in the autumn.

He said it would be a "considerable challenge" to meet the target by 2011. Only 11 per cent of pupils achieved the five A* to C grades at GCSE last year, including English and maths, although Mr McConnell pointed out that about 20 per cent of pupils achieved A* to C in either English or maths respectively.

He added: "We will reach the five A* to C grades without English and maths this year most definitely.

"I think Peers has reached the tipping point and the academy is taking over a solid bedrock of real improvement."

Oxford Community School headteacher Steve Lunt was unavailable for comment.

The Government said closure was one option for schools failing to reach the 30 per cent threshold - but only as a "last resort".

Mr Balls said he did not describe all 638 schools as "failing", because a third were making good progress towards the benchmark figure.