LAST year, this Cowley school was in special measures and under threat of ‘special intervention’ after failing to meet Government targets.

Now St Christopher’s Primary School, in Temple Road, is among the most improved in the county, posting a 30 percentage point increase over two years in the number of children achieving the benchmark levels in English and maths.

It is also no longer in special measures, having been taken out of Ofsted categories in March.

Headteacher Alison Holden said: “We had challenged ourselves to get 72 per cent achieving Level 4, but we actually exceeded that.

“We all worked together as a team and made a huge difference to these children.”

Seventy-four per cent of last summer’s Year 6 class achieved English and maths benchmarks.

Mrs Holden said: “We assess children five times a year so we can see where the gaps are and when we need interventions on an individual or group basis.

“We know we have still got lots of work to do to make sure we are consistently in the 70s and 80s in every year group.”

Oxfordshire County Council schools cabinet member Melinda Tilley described the achievement as “phenomenal”.

Oxford schools St John Fisher, in Littlemore, and St Francis, in Cowley, also moved above the floor target with this year’s results at 63 per cent and 62 per cent respectively.

Big increases from 2009 to 2011 were produced by New Marston (50 per cent to 86), Rose Hill (49 to 71) and Wood Farm (40 to 68) in the city.

New Marston headteacher Zara d’Archambaud said: “The results show where we are at and where we are continuing to go.”

Other dramatic increases in the proportion of children achieving the benchmarks were seen at Bladon (60 to 100), Brookside in Bicester (52 to 94), Five Acres in Ambrosden (41 to 82), Longworth (50 to 83) and St Blaise in Abingdon (10 to 50).