NEWS that Prime Minister and Witney MP David Cameron is to hold talks with the headteacher of Wood Green School to help find a way out of its current problems is welcome.

As we reported last week, the Witney secondary school has been put into special measures due to a marked decline in pupils’ GCSE results, just three years after it was rated “outstanding” by Ofsted.

Mr Cameron, whose Government favours schools becoming academies, outside local government control, can be expected to persuade the school to follow the lead of Henry Box School, which became an academy last year.

The Department for Education is already aiming to turn more Oxfordshire schools into sponsored academies, drawing on expertise of outside bodies and high-performing schools as a way to tackle underperformance.

But this is not the only way to help children to achieve better results and it is heartening to see Witney’s other secondary school, Henry Box, looking to join forces with Wood Green to benefit the wider community, along with Wood Green headteacher Rob Shadbolt’s hope of strengthening partnerships with primary schools, given the fundamental importance of children’s early years in the classroom.

As Henry Box headteacher Wendy Hemmingsley points out “it makes sense for local schools to work together”.

With the Prime Minister and headteachers of Wood Green and Henry Box committed to improving the school, we hope Wood Green can turn its results around as swiftly as they declined.