KING Alfred's Community and Sports College in Wantage is set to assume control of its own site and admissions from the local authority by becoming Oxfordshire's first Foundation School.

The move would enable the split-site school to sell some land for housing and invest in a large, single-site.

The 1,700-pupil school, which runs on three separate sites, will consult parents over the next few weeks. If governors decide to go ahead, foundation status could begin some time during the next academic year.

If it does join the 500 Foundation Schools nationally, it will appoint a new governing body with more representatives of parents and the local community, directly employ its own staff, organise admissions and hold charitable status.

Plans to build 2,500 new homes on a former airfield west of Grove over the next 20 years have raised uncertainty about the future of school provision in the area.

King Alfred's already owns the central site and sixth-form, while Oxfordshire County Council owns the other two sites.

In 2003 the council rejected creating a 'superschool' on one site. School principal Nick Young said the move would prevent the local authority "selling the buildings up from under us" to create a separate school.

He said: "We're not going to be turkeys waiting for Christmas.

"This would give us the opportunity to develop without worrying about where the capital is going to come from.

"The Government is encouraging local solutions to local problems and we would say having a school on three sites a mile and-a-half apart is not really acceptable from a sustainability or an organisational point of view." Mr Young said the move could signal a step towards King Alfred's becoming one of the Government's controversial trust schools.

Michael Waine, the county council's cabinet member for school improvement, said he would make a more detailed response after considering the proposals. He added: "We support any moves which will help schools better meet the needs of the communities they serve.

"We are less concerned with a school's technical status."

Jim Moley, a county and district councillor for Wantage, said the proposals were likely to have a mixed response in the town, where an opinion poll had established support for two separate schools for Wantage and Grove.

The seven headteachers in a west Oxfordshire partnership have shelved plans to form a 'mini local education authority' as one of the Government's Foundation Partnerships.

But Rod Walker, head of Henry Box School in Witney, said others might follow King Alfred's lead.