PARENTS and governors could gain control of a previously secondary school under a bid for independence.

Oxford Community School, which has 1,150 pupils, is seeking foundation status - a move that would give governors control over pupil admissions, teacher recruitment and the school's buildings and grounds.

It would be the first city school to have foundation status and the third in the county.

Ten years ago, education watchdogs deemed OCS, in Granville Road, to have serious weaknesses. Three years later the school - currently made up of 50 per cent black and ethnic minority pupils - was judged to have come on leaps and bounds and a new report said it was "rapidly improving and effective".

Its latest Ofsted report, however, said OCS was only "satisfactory", although inspector John Laver stressed: "The school serves a relatively deprived area and the proportion of students eligible for free school meals is considerably above the national average."

Headteacher Steve Lunt said foundation status would mean the school would continue to be funded by Oxfordshire County Council, but that it would have greater "autonomy and flexibility".

He said: "The county council has been supportive and parents have been told.

"We have had very little feedback which suggests people are more or less happy with the proposals.

"We only had one letter of concern."

Chairman of governors, Frank Newhofer, said that in five years' time, he wants the school to be among the best in the county and for parents to feel they were heard.

He said: "Parents are valued as partners and we want them to feel part of the school's community."

Two other schools in the county - The Warriner School in Bloxham and King Alfred's in Wantage - are foundation schools.

An Oxfordshire County Council spokesman said education officers would continue to work with OCS: "Foundation schools continue to be part of the family of local authority schools."

Foundation schools are not the same as academies, which are even more independent of local government.