Sir – An important issue is being highlighted in reporting on recent events at Oxford School. The assumption appears to be that what the local authority presents to the public is fact.

The truth is that a few officers and some (ex) governors have managed to manipulate perceptions so far as Oxford School is concerned. Some aspects of the real situation at the school are as follows:

  • Oxford School has had the best results in its history in the last year (an unlikely effect of a failing governing body).

Some of the governors who resigned appeared not to be prepared to countenance a situation in East Oxford where –

  • Parents in the community were offered a properly researched choice of approaches to continuing to improve achievement at the school
  • Parents are offered a diverse group of Schools in East Oxford that include at least one maintained secular secondary school
  • The proposed sponsor of a new Academy (The United Church Schools Trust) is interrogated as to why two of its schools have failed their inspection recently
  • The local authority is asked to account for how the consequent loss of education grant funding will impact on its provision of services to all schools in Oxfordshire.

On this last point, if your newspaper wants to represent some of the best traditions of investigative journalism then I suggest that some attention might be given to the full financial implications for Oxfordshire County Council of the proposal to establish a 3-19 Academy on the Oxford School site.

It might be that such an investigation reveals how much more financial considerations are playing a part in these proposals as compared to any principles concerned with learning, teaching and the welfare of the East Oxford community.

Frank Newhofer, Oxford