Parents, staff and governors at a Marlow school placed in special measures after an "inadequate" Ofsted report say they will fight the findings.

A controversial inspection at Bisham C of E School in September - published yesterday - found a raft of problems with teaching, leadership and behaviour at the 115-pupil school on Church Lane.

The news comes only six months after the last on-the-spot inspection found the school to be ‘good’, with head Jim Cooke saying the conclusion came as a "bolt out of the blue".

Mr Cooke says the school is lodging a formal complaint over how September's inspection was handled, coming unannounced on a day when many of the students and Mr Cooke himself were on a schol trip.

At a closed meeting on Wednesday saw parents, staff and The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) debate the next step.

And a determined group of parents say they will fight to stop a new Interim Executive Board of governors and any switch to academy status, insisting they have "complete faith" in Mr Cooke and his methods.

The group told the Free Press: "We the parents have absolute confidence in the Governors led by Chairman John Gordon and Headteacher Jim Cooke and his staff.

"This is not just our opinion. The school's results back this up.

"We absolutely do not want to see a change in leadership and, categorically do not agree with the findings of the report. We have complete faith in Mr Gordon and Mr Cooke's ability to show Ofsted that the education and learning environment they provide for our children is second to none in this area.

"This is the school that we recognise and know, not the school that was described in the Ofsted report.

"The council must remember that they will be there to represent us as parents and they are wholly accountable to us. We therefore expect them to listen to us and to act in accordance to our wishes and in the best interests of our children."

Alison Alexander, director of children's services at RBWM, revealed the outcome of the inspection in an email to the Free Press last week.

She said: "It is important that we turn around the Ofsted judgements on leadership and management; behaviour and safety of pupils, quality of teaching, achievement of pupils and early years provision of inadequate to good.

In separate statement she added: "The OFSTED report has highlighted some worrying issues.

"My duty is to safeguard the young people within that school and this devastating report is a huge disappointment to the school, the council and the community.”

"The Royal Borough will be working with the Church of England Diocese of Oxford to ensure that we do whatever is necessary to bring about the required improvements."

Mr Cooke and head of governors John Gordon say they are lodging a formal complaint against Ofsted and are "proud" of Bisham School's better-than-average results.

In a joint statement, they said: "This doesn’t mean we are complacent. Far from it - we are always looking to improve and I and the governors have made great progress with our School Development Plan this year.

"The school is committed to working with the Local Authority and Diocese to ensure continued improvement is made at the school - and we just hope that they are similarly committed to working with us.

"Mr Cooke has the support of parents and governors. We know we provide good teaching and that children here are happy and safe. An Ofsted inspector told us so in May. We are at a loss to understand how another Ofsted inspection team could paint such a negative picture after such a short space of time."

RBWM told parents at the meeting there were no definite plans to make the switch to an academy. A meeting next week will decide the fate of the current board of governors.

The council was approached for a comment but unavailable as we went to press.