SCHOOLS getting good grades must reach out to poorer performing schools to drive up Oxford’s lagging results, an outgoing church education boss believes.

Leslie Stephen also said he disagreed with the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard over limiting the number of Christian pupils at CofE schools, as he prepared for his retirement as education director for the Diocese of Oxford after 10 years.

Last year’s Oxford results for seven-year-olds were the worst in England while results for 11-year-olds were in the bottom 10 per cent.

Mr Stephen pointed to a partnership between the diocese’s Ranelagh School in Bracknell, rated outstanding by inspectors, and the “satisfactory” Oxford Academy in Littlemore as an example of how schools could work together to improve results.

He said: “The days of schools just working by themselves are over.

“We need to find ways of schools working together either in groups or pairs, not just to share best practice but also because of economies of scale.”

He said he did not believe percentages should be set dictating the proportion of children from Church of England backgrounds to be admitted to Diocesan schools.

In April, the Bishop of Oxford said CofE schools should cut places for Anglicans to one in 10, even if this meant standards would fall. The move would serve the “wider community” he said.

Mr Stephen said: “Our schools are open to people of no faith and those who have faith and we are careful not to exclude pupils from the local area regardless of their faith.

“It is difficult because the popularity of some schools is very high and we do need to balance how our schools serve Christian families as well as the local community.”

He said: “At the end of the day, admissions is something governors are responsible for and they need to look at the local context.

“Our values are Christian values but they are ones everyone accepts – we are not about converting children.”

The diocese covers 118 primary schools in the county including the Marlborough School in Woodstock, and the Oxford Academy. It also covers Bracknell, Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor & Maidenhead and Wokingham – a total of 279 schools.

Smaller village schools are at its heart and Mr Stephen said these must be protected.

He said: “There is always a fear about small schools.

“Our village schools are very important because they are part of the life of the village and we are committed to keeping them open.”

The diocese is looking to open new CofE schools, he said, adding: “A lot of parents, and not just Christian parents, want Church of England schools in their communities.

“Last year across the Diocese we had 400 appeals for places in our schools who had not managed to get in, and that is from children of all different backgrounds and faiths.”

Mr Stephen, a former teacher, will retire in August and will spend more time working with a children’s home in Tamil Nadu, India, where he was born.