WE, the undersigned, call on Oxfordshire County Council to ensure that the governance of Oxford School properly reflects democratic principles and the right of appropriately balanced representation from parents, staff and community partners.

The Interim Executive Board (IEB), which has recently replaced the legitimate governing body, consists of six imposed board members with no staff, student or community voice, and only token parent representation.

Alarmingly, it is intended to govern the school for the next 20 months, stretching the definition of the word ‘interim’.

A governing body consists of directly elected and accountable volunteers. The IEB comes at a cost with paid members. This is more money that will drain from education’s vital and increasingly scarce resources.

Oxford School’s governing body meetings were open meetings; the IEB is operating in secret.

This year the school had its most successful GCSE results ever, and has the highest contextual value added (CVA) score of any secondary school in Oxfordshire.

Clearly the former governing body, so summarily dismissed, had been fulfilling its role of challenging and supporting Oxford School and ensuring its sustainable improvement plans.

The recent withdrawal of ULT as a sponsor of the proposed academy to replace the school, confirms the view of governors as to the unsuitability of the ‘expression of interest’ created and approved by the county council.

The current uncertainty concerning the future of the school is unsettling and demeaning for students, staff, parents and the East Oxford community.

It is time for the county council to accept that it acted inauspiciously.

It must now investigate, with speed but also with rigour, all the options available for the school and put these in a comprehensive consultation to the East Oxford community.

As a vital first step it must admit that it was wrong to replace the governing body, and should now act to reconstitute a representative governing body with elected staff, parents and community partners.

Hashim Ahmed, Matthew Neville, Jennifer Nkumu, Anna Thorne, Julie Frew, Jemila Azad, Amar Latif, Frank Newhofer, Cllr Larry Sanders, Cllr Nuala Young (former governers), Andrew Smith MP, Cllr Craig Simmons, Cllr Elise Benjamin, Cllr Mary-Jane Sareva, Cllr Matt Morton, Cllr David Williams, Cllr Susanna Pressel, Cllr John Tanner, Cllr Bob Price, Cllr Liz Brighouse, Cllr Richard Stevens, Gawain Little (President Oxfordshire NUT), Bill MacKeith (Assistant Secretary Oxford TUC), Chris Blakey (National Executive Member, NUT (personal capacity), Ian Jones (Negotiating Secretary NASUWT), Brenda Williams (Secretary, Oxfordshire NUT), Steve Goddard (Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for East Oxford), Van Coulter, Joe Ottoway, Dick Wolff (Church Minister)