We are not impressed by the choice of name for the proposed new academy at Oxford School. For one thing, Oxford Spires Academy shows a lack of imagination. Someone living a thousand miles away with only a cursory knowledge of Oxford could have come up with that.

All of which brings us to our principal objection. The name conjures images of a leafy North Oxford, of medieval buildings, green courtyards and Brideshead Revisited.

Proud as we are of our University heritage in Oxford, this is a rather clichéd image of the city as a whole.

There are many different Oxfords, of which the University of Oxford is just one.

Is the world of the spires the one to which the majority of children at Oxford School, or for that matter any of Oxfordshire’s schools, will aspire? For sure, there will be some and, hopefully, in a transformed school there will be a few more more.

Raising aspirations will be a key measure of success for the new academy but it will not be measured in the number of children going to top universities.

It will be measured in the number of well-motivated young people leaving the academy with decent qualifications who go on to work in a whole variety of fields from the car factory at BMW to the many public services that sustain our local economy.

The spires will be as remote to them then as they probably are now.