In response to the letter, Coun David Renard, leader at Swindon Borough Council shot down much of the letter's assertions. He told the Adver: “Ofsted wrote to us three times and we have robustly responded three times.

“I think the letter has been very selective in certain places.

“We do not think he is being fair and with the results we get, we aren’t defensive or complacent particularly at KS4. Everyone acknowledges that we need to improve the performances of schools and Mr Simmons does not look at the fact that most of Swindon’s secondary schools are academies. The government’s position is to encourage schools to come out of local authorities and at the same time, they are putting us responsible for the standards.

“We recognise that the education of young people is a top priority because the economic success of Swindon will depend on how well qualified the young people are. This is not mean we are ignoring the performances of schools or sweeping it under the carpet, we are taking it very seriously and we are putting extra help to do something about it.

“The letter has angered a lot of people who are working very hard to improve standards and frankly, this is not the way he should be going about with the schools and the council.

“We have been having regular meetings with Bradley Simmons and we have exchanged conversations and been very clear about what we are doing. I am told that the meetings were very constructive and everyone left very clear on the way forward and so to receive his letter today saying what he said does contradict the message he has been giving us.

“There are significant complaints about the late changes to primary school assessments and to judge it on one year when so many people as well as local authorities have criticised the way it has been implemented and carried out is not helpful.

“There is deep disquiet about the letter and the way it has painted the picture of all schools.

“I think the only area where we have to look at is some of our secondary schools and we have been working with them despite the fact they are academies in order to put in place measures that will improve the situation.

“The number of people coming out with good grades is not good enough and more needs to be done.”