THE CHAIRMAN of governors at a secondary school plunged into special measures last night said he and his colleagues were committed to helping it improve.

Oxfordshire County Council wants Education Secretary Michael Gove to sack the governors of Bicester Community College and replace them with an interim executive board after a damning Ofsted report.

Pupil achievement, quality of teaching, behaviour and safety of pupils and leadership and management were given the lowest rating, level four.

The board of governors was criticised for not acting quickly enough to improve the quality of teaching and achievement of pupils since the last inspection in 2010.

But last night chairman of governors Roger Dyson defended the board and said it was two-thirds of the way through a three-year improvement initiative when Ofsted arrived.

In a statement he said: “The governing body has been working over the past two years with the new head to support him in his challenging role of implementing the pre-agreed three-year programme of improvements — this programme of transition has taken longer to come to fruition although it is acknowledged that progress is being made.

“While the results are disappointing, the Ofsted report draws a line in time, and will focus all leaders on the critical areas.

“We welcome this support and attention to help build on the progress to date and improve on last year’s results, which were in fact the third best results ever achieved by our students.”

The county council has applied to the Department for Education to sack the 18-strong governing body.

But Mr Dyson said none of the governors had stepped down and the board would remain in place until a decision was made by Mr Gove.