SUE CROFT, the headteacher at Oxford Spires, has defended herself against the insinuation the school has been cooking its GCSE books by funnelling off the less academic pupils.

Between 2011 and 2013 several pupils were put into an alternative education system and so their GCSE results were not included in Oxford Spires’.

The academy, which replaced Oxford School, has seen an impressive increase in results, from 31 per cent gaining five or more A* to Cs including English and maths in 2010 to 58 per cent two years later.

Ms Croft said yesterday the school’s standing in league tables were not the motivation for the scheme.

Sending the children to Include Oxfordshire was assessed as the best way to keep these pupils – some of whom were disruptive – within the education system for their benefit, and also to prevent them from disrupting other students.

That, to us, appears to be a common sense approach by the school and its head.

It may not satisfy the cynics but there’s one crucial statistic that strengthens Ms Croft’s position this was not about fiddling the league tables.

If you factor the ‘missing’ pupils’ GCSEs back in to the figures, Oxford Spires scores 49 per cent of five A*s to Cs for English and maths.

That is still a near 50 per cent improvement in results for the school on its 2010 position and demonstrates Ms Croft and her teaching staff are doing a fine job. Spires is moving in the right direction. This furore should not be allowed to derail the school’s progress.