SO JOLLY good, the Dragon School is to sponsor three Blackbird Leys primaries (October 25), Windale, Orchard Meadow and Pegasus: all is well with the world of primary education in Oxfordshire.

Windale Primary headteacher Maureen Thompson is quoted as saying: “I am disappointed the school is being forced to become an academy”; ‘forced’ being the operative word here.

Meanwhile, Oxfordshire County Council cabinet member for education, Melinda Tilley, during meetings at New Marston Primary and Windmill Primary, expressed her surprise that at New Marston, what she called “a thorough consultation” over school expansion had not achieved “consensus”. At Windmill she told those gathered: “If you’re going to put up a big fight, don’t attack the messengers”.

What on earth does Mrs Tilley think her responsibilities and duties are?

She and her adjutant, Jim Leivers, are not messengers but bearers of policy from Michael Gove. The county council’s vote in cabinet in February in support of Gove’s academies and free schools was a declaration of policy, not a neutral message.

After the New Marston meeting Mrs Tilley proclaimed: “Schools need to know that they have a choice”, yet admits she has no idea what would happen if a school refused.

The answer, as she should know, lies with both her council and with Michael Gove’s executive powers. Consultation on school expansion and on academy conversion is, in practice, meaningless. As recent ViewPoints contributions have demonstrated, parents and teachers are distressed by what is happening to their schools and to the children they wish to nurture and cherish.

BRUCE ROSS-SMITH Bowness Avenue Headington Oxford