COMMENT: Honesty about Academy issues is a good start (From thisisoxfordshire)

COMMENT: Honesty about Academy issues is a good start

9:00am Friday 25th January 2013 in News

IT CAN be easy to get lost in a sea of statistics, like those published today showing how well our secondary schools are doing.

But one thing is clear – Oxford Academy is not doing well enough for its pupils and has not been for some time.

The former Peers School went into special measures in 2005, came out, then was replaced by the new academy and results show it has been backsliding for the last couple of years.

No-one would disagree the school serves a challenging group of children, many of whom come into school without having mastered the basics.

But just a couple of miles down the road and serving a similar catchment, Oxford Spires Academy has proved with the right focus you can get good results even for those children previously failed by school.

Full credit must go to new ‘super-head’ David Brown for being so open and honest about the issues at Oxford Academy.

We are confident under his leadership, the school will start going in the right direction again.