Oxford School has missed out on much-needed investment under a Government’s rebuilding programme because of plans to change it into an academy.

Four schools – Cheney and Iffley Mead schools in Oxford, Larkmead in Abingdon, and Banbury School – will share up to £62m for partial rebuilds.

Oxford School missed out, despite originally being at the top of the priority list, former governor Frank Neuhofer said.

Oxfordshire County Council confirmed the Government told it to remove Oxford School from the list because it would be eligible for other funding if it became an academy.

But Mr Neuhofer said this showed an assumption that the academy switch would happen.

He said: “Priority for the programme was determined by deprivation factors. Yet there is one place in the county that has a lot of deprivation – and Oxford School covers much of that area.

“The council made a submission to Building Schools for the Future to rebuild Oxford School more than a year ago, and because it hit those factors, it was top of the list.

“It is a school that everyone has agreed is most deserving of rebuild money, and would have been number one on the list had it not been taken off.

“The fact it has been taken off that list means the assumption is the academy is going to go ahead.

“But what is the point of having consultation when they are already saying they have made up their minds?”

Plans to turn the school into the city’s second academy has attracted controversy.

The school’s governing body was removed to make way for an interim executive board, and the original sponsor, the United Learning Trust, pulled out just before Christmas.

Campaigners said there was no need to close the school because it had received the county’s best results in 2009 in terms of contextual value-added scores, which show how children progress.

The academy programme would unlock millions of pounds of Government funding for new buildings at the school, but would see it run by sponsor CfBT.

Council spokesman Louise Mendonca said: “The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) told the council to remove Oxford School from the Building Schools for the Future bid.

“DCSF said that if the school became an academy, funding would be delivered by the Partnerships for Schools National Framework.”

Anna Thorne, from Florence Park, who has two boys at the school, was concerned about losing other grants, adding: “We need to look at all the options.”

fbardsley@oxfordmail.co.uk