Graham Jones, Liberal Democrat campaigner for St Clement’s ward, is backing the campaign to stop the effective sell-off of Oxford School to become an ‘academy’ in the hands of a private group headed by a former Chief Executive of Oxfordshire County Council. The party’s Parliamentary candidate for Oxford East, Steve Goddard, has spoken out against the plans.

‘I am against academy schools on principal,’ says Graham. ‘However, I’m particularly incensed by the way consultation seems to have been arranged. It appears it will be limited to the summer when many people, especially parents, are away on holiday. It also gives very little time for the county council, who presently run the ‘state’ school, to weigh the results.’

Many of the parents of Oxford School pupils live in St Clement’s ward. ‘I will do everything I can to stop this “sell-off”. The first bidders were found to have been disastrous owners of other privatised academies. The new bidders, CfBT, appear to have laudible aims, are non-profit-making, and don’t invest in the armaments industry, and so on, but are free to run the school as they see fit without any reference to the community the school serves.’