A GOVERNMENT-appointed watchdog charged with monitoring the performance of academies and free schools is set to visit beleaguered West Somerset College. Amid calls for Ofsted to be brought in and college principal Gaynor Comber to step down following the poor results of this year's GCSE students, the office of Sir David Carter - the newly appointed Regional Schools Commissioner for the South West - has confirmed he will visit the college "shortly". And he will meet with Somerset County Council interim director of children's services Peter Lewis and the authority's cabinet member for children and families Cllr Frances Nicholson. The announcement of the visit was made on Tuesday in an email to Jim Butterworth, a member of the pressure group West Somerset GCSE Debate Campaign Group. He had contacted the commission to ask Sir David to intervene after just 38 per cent of the 265 teenagers who took GCSEs this year gained five or more A* to C grades, including English and maths. The results, which fall below the Government target requiring 40 per cent of pupils to achieve the benchmark, sparked concern from parents and the wider community. Questions have also been raised about the high turnover of staff - more than 40 teaching staff are understood to have left this summer. A petition calling for Mrs Comber to be removed from her post and for Ofsted to come into the college, which became an academy before she took over as principal two years ago, has so far been signed by almost 450 people. And, as reported previously in the Free Press, the West Somerset GCSE Debate Campaign Group, the majority of whose members have children at the college, is also planning a protest in the college grounds on October 13 - the day governors will hold one of their regular meetings. In a statement given to the Free Press yesterday (Thursday), chairman of governors Martin McNeill said that in common with other academies in the South West, the college had received a letter from Sir David at the end of August and had invited him to visit - "an invitation that we are delighted to say he has accepted," said Mr McNeill. Mr Butterworth, a former chairman of governors at Dunster First School, was advised in the email from the RSC's office to continue to raise his concerns with the college's governing body and with local councillors. But he was told that Sir David - who only took up his appointment on September 1 - would want to find out more about the 2014 GCSE results. Sir David's responsibilities include monitoring the performance of academies in the region and taking action if any are under-performing. Concerned parents are continuing to write to college governors and lobby Ofsted to carry out an inspection at the college. The campaign group - whose key members include Becky and Steve Bevers, Emma Bradley, Paul Davies, Debbie Harris, Lisa Marie Morris McCaffrey, Lee Webb and Mr Butterworth - have also contacted the governors and Mrs Comber. They have received 'holding' responses but say specific concerns have yet to be addressed in detail. Campaign group spokesman Paul Davies said the ultimate aim of the protest was to drastically improve the standard of teaching and thus achievement at the college, which would benefit all students. But he said it was not intended to lessen the achievements of the 38 per cent of students who achieved the benchmark number of GCSE passes this year. "It is aimed at trying to give every student the very best opportunity to reach their full potential, which is clearly not happening at the moment under the current regime," said Mr Davies. "We believe this radical improvement can only happen if a professional organisation like Ofsted takes over the total management of the college." Mr Davies said the campaign group's secondary aim was to remove Mrs Comber and the board of governors. "The harsh reality is that their joint clear failure to achieve the required minimum standard of exam successes as set out by the Government, together with their systematic failure to respect or even acknowledge the concerns of parents will almost certainly make their positions at, or in association with the college untenable." Mr Davies said the group was calling on local people to keep up the pressure by signing the petition at http://www.change.org/west-somerset-college-remove-the-principal-and-call-in-ofsted">http://www.change.org/west-somerset-college-remove-the-principal-and-call-in-ofsted. Concerns about this year's GCSE results and the wider issues were raised at a meeting of West Somerset Council's scrutiny committee last Thursday after which council leader Cllr Tim Taylor pledged to invite senior staff and governors to a meeting held in public to debate the concerns (see page 3 for full story). Mr McNeill told the Free Press the board had not heard anything from the council about any enquiries that it might wish to pursue. "We work closely with the council to ensure that, so far as possible, our vision for the college is compatible with their vision for West Somerset and that our respective strategies are co-ordinated, and we are always willing to talk to councillors and council officers to explain what we are doing and how we can work better with each other," he said. Previously the governors admitted they were gravely concerned at the college's apparent inability to improve student attainment at GCSE level and that the 2014 results overall were well below expectations. However, they also said they had every confidence in the ability of the leadership team to deliver better outcomes for students and pledged to continue to monitor progress very closely. Parents have been told by the governors that they were expecting a visit from Ofsted in the very near future.