Last week you reported Frank Newhofer’s view that Oxford School had missed out on the Government’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) rebuilding programme because of plans to change it into an academy and that removal from the programme made an assumption that the school would become an academy.
The school will not miss out on funding and the assumption is incorrect.
The removal of Oxford school from the proposed BSF programme was on the advice of Partnerships for Schools (PfS), the non-departmental public body responsible for delivering BSF.
The removal says nothing about the credibility of any consultation process which may follow in relation to an academy proposal.
The process of seeking academy status and progressing the BSF programme are quite separate.
We have made clear to the DCSF that if Oxford School were not replaced by an academy, then we would wish to see it added to the BSF programme.
It is a clear message that we are not working on the assumption that the academy proposal is a done deal.
The rejection of the academy proposal would not deprive Oxford School of BSF funding. We would, rather, seek additional funding to enable it to be included in the programme.
Michael Waine, Cabinet Member for School Improvement, County Hall, Oxford
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