PARENTS last night defended a Witney primary school which was among England’s worst for English and maths test results.

Just 22 per cent of 11-year-old pupils at Tower Hill Community Primary School, Moor Avenue, reached the expected level four in Key Stage Two tests.

The school’s score was down from 64 and 54 per cent in 2008 and 2009, meaning it was joint fourth worst out of 14,812 primary schools in England along with schools in Canterbury, Kent and Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

It was ranked the worst in Oxfordshire. The next lowest in the county was Windale Community Primary School in Blackbird Leys, Oxford, which got 43 per cent.

However, parents insist they are not too concerned.

Shelley Jackman, 37, whose children Liam, seven, and Jordan, five, attend the school, said: “I’m shocked and disappointed, but it will get better over time. Next year they could be second or first.”

Stephanie Morgan, mum of pupil Kareem Mahmoud, 10, said: “I think it’s a wonderful school, the result doesn’t worry me.

“I think primary school is about having fun, learning manners and getting on with your peers.”

Dad Glyn Davies, 34 said: “It’s a bit shocking and, being a parent, you do worry.

“But our eldest has come on leaps and bounds over the last couple of years. I can’t knock the school.”

The school now faces unspecified “interventions” under reforms by the Government, which has said no school should be below 60 per cent.

The worst performing would become academies, free from Oxfordshire County Council control. This would see staff having to re-apply for their jobs.

Headteacher Elizabeth Cawley would not be interviewed by the Oxford Mail.

But in a statement, she said: “Children in different year groups present different challenges, which in turn means Key Stage Two results can vary from year to year.

“It’s more important to focus on the progress they have made, which in this case is very promising, after a low starting point, which we have been targeting.”

The school is part of an “intensive support project” she said.

In March this year, Ofsted found the school to be “satisfactory”, the same as its previous 2006 inspection.

The report said: “Pupils enjoy coming to school and achieve satisfactorily.

“Their attainment is broadly average by the end of Year 6, although it is below average in English.

“This is because pupils do not have sufficient opportunities to use their literacy skills across a range of different subjects.”

The county level four rate was 75 per cent, compared to the 73.5 per cent national average. But Oxford city schools were in England’s bottom 10 per cent.