CUTTESLOWE Primary School leaders said the Government had threatened to sack senior staff unless they went for academy status.
Chairman of governors Murray Hunt said the Department of Education would bring in its own senior leadership team to get it to become an academy.
Ofsted inspectors rated the Oxford school “inadequate” two years ago and took action this month after it said there had been no progress.
Mr Murray told about 25 parents at a meeting last night of the sacking threat.
“Faced with that certainty” he said, “we needed to do something to be masters of our own destiny.”
He backed linking with nearby Cherwell School, adding: “We want to explore the possibility, over the next month or so, of entering into a collaborative relationship.”
Cutteslowe has had five headteachers in three years. Current headteacher Jon Gray said he wanted the school out of special measures by December.
He said: “We cannot mess about because we are dealing with your children.”
The school is taking part in an Ofsted pilot to get out of special measures within a year with help from Oxfordshire County Council.
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