So 10 local primary schools which have not performed to the required standards, have been informed they are to become academies.

Clearly, it’s good that our children’s education is being taken so seriously and that any weaknesses are swiftly acted upon before further damage can be done.

But sometimes, there is a clear case for respecting the axiom – ‘more haste less speed’, because with a little help, conditions can be turned around. As was the case with St Christopher’s primary school in Cowley when parents campaigned to keep the school under local authority control and, in doing so, improved its results.

Naturally, there are arguments both for and against academies, although on a knee-jerk level, the thought of a school being controlled by a sponsor, such as a business, is instinctively unsettling.

On the other hand, its supporters claim it gives schools more freedom and flexibility over just how they allocate their resources.

What matters is not the intellectualisation of such a debate, but whether the choice made is actually best for the children.

If by becoming an academy, a school can deliver the necessary results for its pupils, then the right decision will have been reached. But often, it’s all too easy to look for the quick fix than attempt to heal the original problem...