Councillors will visit Oxford Academy to meet with the headteacher following an incident which caused pupils to be sent home early.

A spokesman said "a small group of boys" had "decided to push back" against recent changes introduced for behaviour regulations on Wednesday, forcing the school to close.

A spokesperson for River Learning Trust, which operates the school, said students were "displaying behaviour today similar to that seen on social media in other UK schools earlier in the year, when some students joined in staged, artificial and disruptive events".

Some parents reportedly "ran to the school" and one child was said to be "crying and very scared". 

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Blackbird Leys councillor Imade Edosomwan and Trish Elphinstone, councillor for Rose Hill and Littlemore, said they have contacted the school and the trust for an explanation.

The school's response, which they shared on Blackbird Leys Community Facebook group, suggested the incident had been overstated.

It said: "We did indeed have a bad day at TOA on Wednesday, which was very frustrating as it has been a positive, calm start to the year overall.

"It is worth noting the media coverage has been a little inaccurate and social media claims and comments have been wildly exaggerated.

"For example, there were reports of the headteacher being punched, teachers being pushed and rumours of a knife – none of this was remotely true."

It said the school closed "approximately one hour early that day (not 'hours' as reported in some parts of the media) since pupils were due to finish at lunchtime due to a scheduled open evening".

It explained that this because "too many students were refusing to return to lessons after morning break as a result of organised disobedience started by a small group of students."

It said the school has "re-established the very highest expectations of behaviour this term and we know that some of the students involved are pushing back against this.

"Thursday and Friday were calm, purposeful days in school. We expect this to continue.

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"The best thing is for students to continue to be in school and to behave well, and for all parents to be supportive of this.

"We are committed to TOA being a school that is part of and serves the local community, and we do need parents and carers, as well as students, to help in this."

The school said it has asked parents with concerns to contact them and offered one-to-one meetings with parents "to explain in detail the actions put in place".

Cllr Edosomwan and Cllr Elphinstone said they are planning to visit the school to meet with the headteacher Nora Ward to discuss how the school and children are progressing.

Oxford Academy was taken over by River Learning Trust after being rated inadequate by Ofsted in 2020.

Pupils felt "very worried" attending a school where behaviour was "unruly, unkind and unsafe", inspectors found.