A parent has dismissed claims that his children’s school is in crisis - saying standards are on the up and it is "healing" after a damning Ofsted report last year.

The concerned Bisham School parent, who did not want to be named, said negative reports from other parents following the removal of long standing head Jim Cooke are not true.

A team from the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (RBWM) took over at the Church Lane school in November after Ofsted judged the school ‘inadequate’.

Around 30 pupils have left since RBWM inteverned, which campaigners say shows the groundswell of opinion against the system.

But the unnamed parent said improvements in safeguarding, school security, teaching and communication have given parents reassurance that it is heading in the right direction.

He said: "Bisham School is not in crisis, but getting organised, recovering and improving.

"Of course, with any intervention, when things have been assessed as inadequate some parents and teachers will choose to go and this will create issues that take a bit of time to sort. They seem now to be getting sorted.

"As people who care about the future of Bisham School, irrespective of who is at the helm, at least we should be thankful for the untold efforts of all those now concerned with improving it."

An Ofsted report published in November found a raft of problems with teaching, leadership and behaviour at the then 115-pupil school on Church Lane.

An Interim Executive Board of governors is now in place after a major reshuffle.

But campaigner Rachel Shelmerdine says she decided to pull her son out of the school last week and is not alone in her dissatisfaction.

RBWM confirmed there were 86 children enrolled at Bisham on February 13 - 29 fewer than the 115 quoted by Ofsted before the last full inspection.

Mrs Shelmerdine said: "If the school is improving, why did 12 pupils get pulled out last week? My child is not the only one.

"I only applied for Bisham, I loved this school, so why would I pull him out when there are no other reception class places available?

"I would never do that unless I felt he was not safe there, and there are lots of parents that feel the same."

Ofsted revisited Bisham School on January 21, and ruled that the actions taken by RBWM to intervene after the damning report last year were "the right ones".

But inspector Alison Bradley criticised the speed of the transition, saying "time was wasted immediately after the inspection because leaders did not act with enough urgency to bring about the improvements needed".

Though more permanent teachers are now being found, the high turnover of temporary staff after the reshuffle had prevented there from being any real progress in improving teaching standards, she said.

And Ofsted has ruled that in its current form, the school’s development plan is "not fit for purpose" but has admitted it is "early days" for the new team.