A “SUPER head” brought in to turn around two failing Oxford primary schools has been tasked with helping another hit by a damning report by inspectors.

Martin Lester has been appointed as acting headteacher of Middle Barton Primary School near Deddington after Ofsted put it in special measures two years after it had rated it as good.

An Ofsted inspector this week said the school had suffered from poor leadership, “turmoil” amongst staff and a drop in pupil numbers.

However, improvements are being made the inspector said.

The latest Ofsted report says “tensions between members of staff distracted attention away from teaching and learning and caused morale to dip considerably”.

Senior staff and governors had been “insufficiently rigorous” in monitoring standards “leading to an over-optimistic view of performance”.

It said: “Until recently, leaders and the governing body were not aware of the extent of the school’s difficulties.”

Governors are undergoing training so they can “play a stronger role in challenging the school” it said.

Ofsted stated pupils do not make as much progress as they should, particularly in maths, and provision for special needs and disabled pupils was “ad hoc”.

It criticised “superficial” questioning of pupils and said inspectors saw a teacher fail to correct pupils who misspelled literacy on the front of their books.

Efforts are being made to improve the school and while these have had a “positive impact” on atmosphere, more to be done, it said.

Mr Lester started work on November 30, replacing headteacher Lynn Barnes.

He was not available to speak yesterday, while the school refused to contact the chairman of governors.

Mr Lester advised St Christopher’s Church of England School in Cowley, put into special measures in May 2009. It came out of special measures in March.

He was then made acting head at Littlemore’s John Henry Newman CofE Primary School, put into special measures in July 2010.

It is now making “good” progress.

Steeple Barton Parish Council member John Bews said parents had taken their children out of the school and its problems were a “tragedy” for the village.

But he said: “We are very positive that now this situation has got to the state that it is, things will start to improve.”

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Paul Smith said Mr Lester will make changes in “direct response” to the report.

He said: “These are the areas that the school has now started to address at the start of its journey to move away from being in special measures.”