Angry parents have been left reeling after learning their children's school is failing.

Special measures are needed to rescue Old Heath County Primary School from closure after an official report revealed pupils are behind in lessons.

A row has split the community, with many parents criticising the running of the school, whith others rallying round headmistress Sandra Smith.

Mark Wares said: "There has been an uproar here. Parents have been complaining about what is happening here for a long time. This is Colchester, not London, and you don't expect to hear that your children's school is failing."

Mum-of-two Tina Bareham said: "This isn't a surprise at all, but there is very little that we can do about it. If it was easy to place the children in another school then I would.

"They both have special needs teaching but they are not getting enough help here."

But others were keen to show their support for the school. Tina Hassel said: "A lot of what was said in the report was unfair. The inspectors came at the wrong time. The headmistress is trying her hardest and I will keep my children on here."

Linda Whitley agreed, saying: "This is worrying, but Mrs Smith has turned the school around in a lot of ways. It was very run down when she first came here."

Her friend Janice Hayes echoed her comments, adding: "My child hasn't suffered at all and he seems to be doing fine. He's not failing and he is happy here."

Jenny Hooton's children attend the early years unit at Old Heath, but she is happy to send them to the primary school when they are old enough.

She said: "The early years unit has been brilliant. I think that the school is just going through a transitional period."

The school has been given two years to show a drastic improvement, or it could be closed or have its staff changed.

An action plan has already been drawn up and school inspectors will be visiting regularly to see what changes are being made.

One parent, who has three children at the school, spoke out in support of its teachers saying they had already done a great deal to improve the situation.

Most of the problems had occurred before the current staff had arrived and they were now doing all they could, she added.

She said the school had a higher than average number of special needs children but the statistics did not compensate for the effect this had on resources and performance.

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