THREE years after a damning Ofsted report took control of education away from Swindon Council, the authority has been told the service is back on track.

For three years, schools have been run by Tribal, a private company, which took over in 2001 after an Ofsted report classed Swindon's education as being in the poorest category.

However education has now been moved up to the good category prompting Ofsted to hand the reins of power back to Swindon Council.

The news has been welcomed by parents and teaching unions.

Phil Baker, Swindon branch secretary of the ATL teaching union, believes the LEA is now strong enough to stand alone when delivering education.

But he is concerned that individual councillors may not take the delivery of education in Swindon seriously enough.

"Initially Tribal were brought in to bring in expertise at a time when there were problems in the LEA.

"I believe the LEA is now robust enough to stand on its own two feet.

"But this depends on the councillors taking sufficient detailed interest in the delivery of education in Swindon. This must not be about political point scoring but about well thought out decisions on educational grounds."

And he added that certain areas of education in Swindon are still weak.

"Clearly they are having to face up to issues of funding.

"They also need to provide the correct level of provision for special needs pupils and to look at the refurbishment and development of schools in the borough which are showing signs of age."

Gary Wallage is chairman of the North Swindon Parents Education Lobby.

He has successfully campaigned about the council's admission policy in North Swindon primary schools. "I welcome the news that the council will now be fully in control of education in Swindon," he said. "It means that now individual voters will be able to have an impact on education and have a say in what will happen.

"When we were campaigning, because the council was in intervention there was not a lot of political pressure that could be put on them."

As part of the handover back to Swindon Council, the education partnership board, set up to provide consultation with the town's headteachers and governors, will remain, but will eventually change its name to the children's partnership.

Coun Garry Perkins, the cabinet member responsible for education, said: "We will get responsibility back for education as they consider us to be at a good standard now to take back the reins.

"We will be keeping the education partnership board, meaning that the stakeholders, like the headteachers and governors, will get a say in policy-making decisions.

"We have taken on board everything that Ofsted has stated and it is to our credit that we have come so far in the last three years.

"The Department for Education is now positive that we have the infrastructure in place to move the town's educational standards upwards."

Hilary Pitts, director of education said: "We have all worked very hard to get to this position and Tribal have put in place an excellent exit strategy so that there is a smooth transition to full council control. The education service is now in a healthier position than it was three years ago."

Tribal history

TRIBAL took over in 2002 after an Ofsted report identified weaknesses in 17 key areas of education in Swindon.

It was to raise the number of pupils gaining grades A to C at GCSE by 10 per cent as part of its three-year, six-figure contract.

In the first year an interim management team was in charge, then a permanent management team was appointed by Swindon Council, which included the current director of education Hilary Pitts. Many members of the current team stay on when control is handed back to the council.

An Ofsted inspection in 2003 found that 85 per cent of the functions performed by the education service were satisfactory compared to just 30 per cent in 2001.

Areas of improvement-included special needs provision, the allocation of resources and monitoring, challenge and support for schools.

Jamie Hill