Few pupils are likely to complain at the decision to delay the start of the school year at Oxford's secondary schools as they prepare for the new intake of 12 and 13-year-olds.

Parents may feel differently. Working mothers and fathers who long ago organised their holidays around term times have the right to feel aggrieved.

They may ask how a reorganisation planned since 2000 can be subject to another hitch this late in the day.

Teachers promise that children will miss no schooling, since the additional days will be earmarked as training time.

But that just begs another question: when will teachers receive the training which these dedicated days are designed to deliver?

We hope for the sake of all the families and teachers involved that the historic switch to two tiers proceeds more smoothly than it has begun.