HOW Oxford School is run will be decided by the Government after the county council made an unprecedented move to oust its board of governors.

Oxfordshire County Council is so concerned that weak leadership and infighting among governors is hampering the school’s progress that it has asked the Education Secretary, Ed Balls, if it can take complete control and ‘parachute’ in its own team.

It is the first time County Hall has applied to install an interim executive board at a secondary school.

If its request is approved, it would take control away from parent and community governors.

County Hall is currently also waiting to hear from the Government in response to its expression of interest to transform Oxford School into an academy, a move that has seen widespread protests from parents.

But the existing governing body said it believed it was best placed to take the school forward and said it would write to the Government explaining why it should remain in control.

County councillor Larry Sanders, who was elected as the school’s new chairman of governors last week, said: “The school is a good school, which is getting better, and this year’s exam results were extremely good.

“The governors have played a full role in every step of that and we are perfectly ready, willing and able to lead the school.

“It is hard to see any reason why the board of governors should be abolished.”

City councillor and fellow governor Nuala Young added: “We have a very competent group of governors in terms of skills and expertise who are very committed to the well-being of the school and keeping it in the community.”

This year, 35 per cent of pupils achieved five A* to C grades at GCSE including English and maths — which represented a rise of 12 percentage points on the previous year.

It took the school back above the Government’s 30 per cent achievement benchmark, below which schools are ‘awarded’ national challenge status.

County Hall’s move for control of Oxford School follows the resignation of chairman of governors Chris Ballinger and seven other members of the 15-strong board.

In his resignation letter, Mr Ballinger said: “It has become apparent the governing body is unable, despite its good intentions and best efforts, to pull together working constructively with each together and with its stakeholders and focusing its discussion entirely on the present needs of the school — to act as the cohesive and corporate body that it must become in order to provide the appropriate support and challenge to the school.”

His resignation followed a formal warning notice issued on September 2 in which the county council criticised the quality of the board’s governance.

County council spokesman Paul Smith said the local authority wanted to install an interim executive board because Oxford School’s existing governing body was “unable to provide strategic leadership for the school and focus its energies on the core business of school improvement”.

The county council has previously installed interim boards at two primary schools in Oxfordshire — but never at a secondary school.

St Christopher’s Primary School in Cowley, which until recently was part of a controversial proposal for Oxford School to close and reopen as an ‘all-through academy for four- to 18-year-olds, had an interim executive board installed after being put into special measures by Ofsted.

Dashwood School in Banbury also went through the process.

Gawain Little, president of the Oxfordshire branch of the National Union of Teachers, said: “An interim executive board is designed to be the last measure — and the school simply is not in that situation.”

Campaigners opposed to the academy proposal failed this week in an attempt to have plans for Oxford School reconsidered by county councillors.

On Monday, County Hall’s children’s services scrutiny committee voted eight to five not to go back and look at alternatives to the academy proposal.

During the meeting, it emerged a plan put forward by governors to turn the school into a co-operative trust school had been rejected by the Government, as it was not supported by the county council.

County councillor Michael Waine, cabinet member for schools improvement, told the meeting that other ways forward had been considered, but the academy scheme was the most viable option.

He said: “The reality is that the local authority is acting in response to national challenge.

“It is up to this authority not to stand by and wring our hands and say, ‘but it’s a happy school’.”