Police have been called to a special needs school where behaviour has “deteriorated” due to a council’s alleged failings.

An officer responded to an assault with injury at Woodeaton Manor School where student misbehaviour is claimed to have spiked.

An ex-governor claimed behaviour standards had fallen because too many pupils were enrolled at the foundation special school near Oxford.

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He blamed Oxfordshire County Council, the education authority, for failing to create enough alternative school places for special needs children.

The council aims to create more than 300 new places during the next four years.

Woodeaton Manor School has 84 pupils with severe emotional and social difficulties who are taught in a large manor house in Woodeaton village.

This year has seen a large influx of new Year 7 pupils, according to a former governor, who said the school was now “over-enrolled”.

As a result, pupil behaviour is “definitely worse than previous years”, he told the Oxford Mail.

“Children are less attentive in class and they’re ruder to other parents and children," he said. 

"There are more children misbehaving than there used to be.

"There’s a difference between having two badly behaved children in a school class than one."

Oxford Mail: Woodeaton Manor School teaches 84 pupils in a large manor house in Woodeaton village

The misbehaviour culminated when a man in his 40s was assaulted and injured at the school on November 22.

The incident, which happened at around 12.30pm, was dealt with by way of a community resolution, a police spokeswoman said. 

A parent told the Oxford Mail that her son had stopped attending the school because he was so concerned about the bad behaviour.

“He’s not in school at the moment because he’s too distressed and can’t cope,” said the woman, who asked not to be named.

In mid-November, all of the school’s governors resigned following an Ofsted inspection, with the report yet to be published.

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They have been replaced by an interim governing board.

Headteacher Simon Bishop has been absent since June, with an interim consultant headteacher currently in charge.

A former governor said the “school’s failings” were partly the fault of a council that “struggles to offer effective support to special needs schools”.

He said: “The educational authority’s role is to provide school places across the county, and they haven’t provided enough.”

It comes just months after a damning Ofsted report uncovered “widespread failings” in Oxfordshire’s special educational needs services.

A council spokesman said: “We will be increasing the number of specialist places available for children by over 300 places during the next four years, as part of our commitment to inclusion for all children and young people in our local schools.

“This includes opening new schools in Bloxham in 2024; Faringdon in 2026, and Didcot in 2027.

“The local area partnership, which includes Oxfordshire County Council, has been working together with the county’s parent carer forum – the official body for the voice of parent carers – and professional subject matter leads, to develop a priority action plan detailing clear and measurable service improvements, following the Ofsted inspection.”