THE man in charge of education in Essex says the county council is powerless to intervene to help the Basildon Academies after the school was put into special measures.

Stephen Castle, Essex county councillor reponsible for education, said he had taken up the issue of with Education Secretary Michael Gove.

His comments came after Ofsted produced a damning report, branding as inadequate the secondary school, which is split into a lower and upper academy.

The academies opened in 2009 following £50million of investment, but have been plagued by problems.

Mr Castle said County Hall had tried to help solve the school’s problems.

He said: “We are aware of the issues at the Basildon Upper and Lower Acad-emies, and have raised these on a number of occasions with them.

“However, as they are academies, we have very limited powers as the local authority to intervene, an issue I have raised with Michael Gove on several occasions.

“I want to do all I can to ensure children in Basildon receive the highest standard of education.

“I think it’s important that the focus should be on how to improve educational attainment, regardless of the type of school.”

Dr Rory Fox, who took over as headteacher of the Lower and Upper Academy in September, said he had been trying to heal the rift with the council.

He said: “Since I took over the school we have invited in council officers in for meetings at the school to improve relations.

“We are also forging better links with primary and secondary schools.

“We are on a journey and it was no surprise to me the school was termed inadequate – I knew this before we were inspected.

“Our number one priority is to improve teaching.”

Dr Fox said the academies were accountable to the Education Funding Agency, which is part of the Department of Education.

He said the school has an agreement with the agency and had to meet targets.

As a result of being put into special measures, Ofsted will carry out extra checks on the academies.