SLIPPING standards in primary schools across Wiltshire have seen writing and maths skill fall below national targets.

Targets for writing skills for seven year olds have not been reached, a result which has placed Wiltshire in the bottom quarter of local authority league tables.

Jayne Hartnell, head of school effectiveness, told the council's Children's Select Committee: “For writing and maths we are below average, so we are concerned. For reading, we are exactly the same as the national average so it depends whether we believe this is OK or we should be doing better than average.”

Phonics skills among young children have not improved in Wiltshire the last year and Wiltshire is one per cent behind targets that say 82 per cent of children should understand phonics by age six.

Cllr Deborah Halik said: “If there is a problem with phonics do we need to end this approach? Is there a problem with our primary schools?”

Ms Hartnell said: “Phonics are a statutory assessment. We have to help our schools work with English and maths hubs with implementing the new curriculum that has now come in. We have to do that to make sure children get the very best crack of the whip. We want to ensure teaching and learning are thoroughly good to make sure children achieve everything they can and that is something we are committed to doing.”

However GCSE and A Level performance is higher than average,with Wiltshire in the top half of all local authorities in the country at secondary level. The number of pupils achieving an A grade in three subjects at A Level has declined.The council said it would monitor the trend, which echoes national statistics.

Since September, three Wiltshire primary schools, St Mary’s in Chippenham, The New Forest primary school and St Edmunds Primay in Calne, which had been outstanding were re-inspected by Ofsted and found to be requiring improvement or below.

Schools that are rated outstanding are not re-inspected by Ofsted unless the inspectorate receives concerns about a school.

Councillors said the system was out of date and meant school standards were slipping, as schools became complacent and knew there would not be more inspections.

Ofsted reports highlighted concerns with a lack of strong leadership and teaching, learning and assessment standards in all three schools which were downgraded.

Cllr Laura Mayes said: “An outstanding school can go overnight if a strong head teachers leaves. Governors sometimes get cosy with their heads and think they are doing the right thing but they are there to challenge their heads.”

Sarah Busby, secondary head teacher representative on the Children’s Select committee said: “The fact that outstanding schools are exempt from inspection is a big problem. What this is not doing is protecting the level of education and in some cases the impact can be damaging.”