A case which seems to epitomise how the academies policy allows decision-makers to stick two fingers up to local democracy

A school with a history dating back more than 400 years faces a decision which, while technical and complex, stands to change its control permanently.

It is, then, just about the most profound choice any governing body could ever face. So how does it proceed?

Does it, perhaps, open-mindedly set out to its community the parameters of a detailed discussion as to how it proposes going about deciding, with pros and cons set out, before any discussions with possible future partners?

Well, that was not what happened in the case of Steyning Grammar School (SGS), as set out in our separate news story today.

Instead, parents and even – I am told – rank-and-file staff only got some inkling of its governing body’s plans to academise it under an incoming academy trust in a letter in which references to this move extended to only five paragraphs.