PROBLEMS at Oxford Academy have been well documented. Rotten exam scores and plummeting standards were the catalyst for the much-vaunted saviours to step in and heroically haul it back from the brink. That has not happened.

The situation of listless results and deteriorating standards has limped too far and now the Government has woken up to the fact its own intervention has failed.

Questions have been asked of the Oxford Academy sponsors but the answers have been far too vague and wet.

We need to see action. We need greater transparency from Oxford Brookes and the Beecroft Trust in their roles.

New executive headteacher David Brown has been direct and forthright in his approach but he needs solid backing to deliver change.

It is very difficult to pull a school back once it falls into the abyss, and those pulling the strings must heed the warning from the Government that the protective shield of academy status is not resistant to forced change.

Education matters more than anything else if we want the best for Oxford’s children and the best for our city.