HEADTEACHERS and governors will be axed if under-performing sch-ools do not improve under tough plans to tackle low results at Oxfordshire’s primaries.

County councillors made the recommendation after an inquiry into why Oxford’s seven-year-olds posted the worst Key Stage One results in England in 2010.

The councillor behind a new report hailed it as a “turning point” and said all children should be in walking distance of a good school by 2013.

But one expert said outside help was needed to turn things around.

The draft report into Oxfordshire’s Key Stage One results concludes that in some schools: l The weakest teachers are teaching the youngest pupils; l Heads fail to set high expectations for their pupils because of a “willingness to accept the status quo”; l There is a “lack of determination” to tackle poor performance; l Governors do not challenge heads to improve standards.

It warns there is “no room for complacency” and says schools, and not just social deprivation, lie behind the rock-bottom results.

An improvement plan will be published in December by county council officers.

Under the recommendations, as soon as a school’s progress causes concern, a council director will meet the headteacher and chairman of governors, ensuring they draw up a recovery plan within six weeks.

School leaders will be axed if standards do not improve, and an Interim Executive Board put in place tasked with turning the school around.

Children’s services scrutiny committee chairman Ann Bonner said: “What we want to come out of this report is an acceptance of only the highest standards.

“We heard of some really good practice in the county, and if those schools can do it, any school can do it.”

But educationalist John Howson said help from Oxford’s two universities and experts outside Oxfordshire was needed.

He said: “What is particularly worrying in the city is we have been taking early years education seriously for 10 years and, despite all those improvements, we have still come out bottom.

“We need as many resources as possible and it is a bit complacent to think we can solve the problem internally.”

The report says good schools should be asked to support weaker ones.

“Pupils should be given the confidence to understand they can achieve more than they expect,” it says.

“Stronger and more courageous internal and external challenge of all underperformance in schools is required.”

It will be discussed tomorrow by the county council’s children’s services scrutiny committee.