VILLAGERS trying to save their school have blamed some of its problems on its management.

Culham Parochial Primary School has lost 18 pupils in the last two years and faces closure as early as next summer if a permanent headteacher cannot be found.

At a public meeting at the school, Oxfordshire County Council said the lack of a head, poor finances and low attendance had put the school’s future in doubt.

But it has said villagers could come up with a plan to run the 32-pupil school themselves.

The council’s strategic leader for schools organisation Roy Leach said the school would be more than £70,000 in the red within three years.

But parents said they were unhappy with declines in the school’s fortunes had coninued after the appointment of executive head Steph Fawdry. They insisted not enough had been done to find a permanent headteacher.

Speaking after the meeting, council spokesman Louise Mendonca denied the current executive head had caused the school’s decline.

She said: “Prior to the arrival of Steph Fawdry, the local authority had concerns over the leadership of the school, due to problems with finding a permanent head.

“Since her arrival at the school just over a year ago, she has brought stability to the leadership of Culham Primary and has addressed the quality of provision at the school.

“She came to the school with a proven track record in school improvement and we have every confidence in her abilities.”

Mrs Fawdry refused to comment.

Toby Pejkovic, who has a son at the school, said: “There are clear problems of leadership. We feel she should step aside.”

Fellow parent Kit Thomas, 50, added: “If it were a business, you would have fired all the directors.”

And a teacher, who asked not to be named, said: “Parents have been taking their children away because they are not happy with what is going on.”

Earlier this year, parents of children at St Nicolas Primary School, Abingdon, voted against a partnership of both schools sharing a head.

Culham’s chairman of governors, Andrew Churchill Stone, said parents must now work together to save the 160-year-old Church of England school from closure.

He said: “Our energies must be focused on putting together something that will keep this school open.

“It does not matter how much we shout about what got us here. That will not save our school.”

Parents may be able to set up the school as an academy or free school, and the Oxford Diocesan Board of Education said it would support any viable proposals.

The public will be able to give their views during an informal consultation which runs until January 21, before the Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet decides in February whether to publish a statutory notice for closure. A final decision will be taken next May.