TWO areas of Oxfordshire have the highest number of academy schools in the entire region.

A spreadsheet mapping academies by parliamentary constituency found Witney and Wantage jointly had the most in the South East, each with 32 schools.

The Department for Education data was analysed by Oxfordshire county councillor John Howson, who tallied up the number of open academies across the region.

Academy schools are state-funded schools, but are managed by an academy trust or multi-academy trust rather than a local authority (such as Oxfordshire County Council).

High concentration of academies in a particular area usually stems from a large multi-academy trust based there.

In and around Wantage this role is taken by the Vale Academy Trust runs, which runs several schools including King Alfred’s Academy.

Witney is served by several growing multi-academy trusts, including Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust, Eynsham Partnership Academy Trust and The Mill Academy, which runs Henry Box School.

Banbury ranked 10th in the list of constituencies with the most academies, with 23 schools.

Oxford East was further down the table with 16 academies, followed by Oxford West and Abingdon with 14.

Henley had the fewest in Oxfordshire, with 13 academy schools.

Last month the Oxford Mail reported on the rise of academies in the county, with some criticising the system the academy trust system for a lack of accountability.