FEWER than half the pupils at Prime Minister David Cameron’s local primary school hit the Government’s education target in their Key Stage Two exams.

But Chadlington Primary School leaders said the result was an “anomaly” and was down to almost two-thirds of the class having special needs.

Only seven of the school’s 16 year six pupils achieved Level Four or above in both English and maths this year.

That is 44 per cent – compared to 83 per cent last year – while the Government target is 60 per cent.

The school, in Church Road, is a stone’s throw from the Dean home of Mr Cameron, who is also MP for Witney.

Headteacher Bertie Hornibrook said: “The first thing to say is that, because we are a small school, often the size of the cohorts skews the figures.

“Statistics can be changed significantly because of the number of children we are dealing with.

“There was also a particularly high number of pupils with special educational needs this year, 63 per cent.”

She said many of these pupils had a particularly high level of need.

Ms Hornibrook added: “It was a bit of an anomaly year group and is not reflective of the school as a whole.

“As a school, we have extremely tight assessment systems which enable us to track children’s progress closely and we are confident that the majority of children made good progress and we are delighted with their achievements this year.”

Chairman of governors Helen Warren agreed that the low class size and high number of special needs students had created the “anomaly”.

She added: “The standard of teaching at the school is very, very good.

“I have got two children at the school and I am thrilled with the education they are receiving.

“It is a small school so it caters for children’s individual needs and adjusts the curriculum to cater for their abilities. This is certainly an anomaly.”

The last Ofsted report of the school, in 2009, found it to be “a good and improving” school.

It said the school had a “positive impact on all aspects of its pupils’ development”.

Stonesfield Primary School also saw poor Key Stage Two results, with 57 per cent achieving the grade compared to 82 per cent last year.

Acting headteacher Fi McGregor said: “We are disappointed with our SATS results this year.

“We have never had below floor results before, indeed in 2009 we had 100 per cent Level Four in Maths and English.

“As a newly appointed acting headteacher I am utterly confident that we will return to well above floor level next year.”

Mr Cameron was unavailable for comment last night.