MY thanks to Councillor Bob Price for clarification on how Oxford City Council’s £1.6m for city schools “will be matched by additional county funding and managed in a jointly-agreed programme that will direct these funds into the schools in close co-operation with headteachers and governing bodies” (Friday’s Oxford Mail ViewPoints).

Mr Price goes on to mention “successful programmes in, for example, Birmingham and London”.

The situation in Birmingham is not straightforward. The National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) has recently reported that more than 20 Birmingham schools have contacted NAHT to reveal that they are being forced to become academies against the wills of their governing bodies, headteachers, staff and communities, even though 19 of the 20 are tracking improvements in pupils’ achievement and attainment.

Education Secretary Michael Gove told the Birmingham Post newspaper at the beginning of this month: “No school is being threatened with academy status. Schools are being promised the benefits that come from being an academy.”

Truth is that governing bodies which do not vote to apply for academy status can consequently be condemned for “weak leadership” and then removed under section 60 “notices to improve”, with inevitable dislocation and disruption, not least for the pupils.

Given that Oxford County Council is fully signed up to Gove’s academy programme (and more), one must wonder whether Oxford’s Labour administration would be prepared to support those city schools (Cheney, for example) which have no desire to become academies.

Meanwhile, it would be churlish not to wish the city council funding project for city primaries well, even if academised earthquakes lie ahead.

BRUCE ROSS-SMITH Bowness Avenue Headington Oxford