WHEN a problem or failing happens, it is often how an organisation reacts that gives you a true yardstick to its abilities.

It was clearly unacceptable that Bicester Community College – charged with educating nearly 1,000 children – went into special measures but that was the reality to be addressed and tackled by Oxfordshire County Council as the local education authority.

In short, the failings had occurred but any fall-out was secondary to the need for immediate action: Get in to the school and get it sorted. The education of those youngsters demanded it.

Therefore it is troubling Ofsted has declared the council’s statement of action and the school improvement plan – basically how this mess is going to fixed – “not fit for purpose”.

Amongst the criticisms are that the county’s action statement does not have any clear milestone to measure the success of the planned improvements and “a lack of clarity in the urgency to improve teaching and raise student achievement”.

This is the second time in just over a month we have reported how Ofsted has basically shredded the county’s action statements for poorly performing schools.

That is not good enough because, while parents can reasonably expect schools not to fail, there is absolutely no excuse for the local authoritiy charged with getting primaries and secondaries back on their feet to be found wanting in its response.