First and foremost, the news that Prince Henry’s Grammar School has received £900,000 to carry out important building work is simply great news for local education.

The new classrooms and art and sixth-form facilities that the money will pay for, not to mention some long-needed general repairs and upgrades, will surely enhance both the experience of students and their academic achievements.

The latest award means the Otley school has now received more than £2 million from the Academies Capital Maintenance Fund since its divisive conversion to an Academy nearly two-and-a-half years ago.

In one way, the fact this fund was only available to Academies would seem to vindicate the school leadership’s decision to pursue that conversion in the face of considerable opposition.

Indeed, headteacher Janet Sheriff and half of the governors insisted at the time that it would be the best way of securing funds and, therefore, safeguarding the future of Prince Henry’s.

Academy critics, of course, can point to the less happy fact that local authority-controlled schools weren’t even allowed to bid for any of this pot of money – and ask how such a fragmenting education system can be made to work for all.

That is a perfectly valid, and indeed important, debate but it is one for another time and place.

Because at Prince Henry’s in 2014 we are, to use that inelegant soundbite of the times, “where we are” and there seems little point in reigniting a concluded battle. The bottom line in Otley is, at least for now, that being an Academy is bringing very tangible benefits to a local school.

Duncan's run bid deserves support

There can be few conditions as heartbreaking as Late Infantile Battens Disease. The degenerative condition is both cruel and terminal – children diagnosed with it are unlikely to reach their teens.

Children affected by the genetic condition are born apparently healthy, but they begin to decline from around the age of three, quickly losing their mobility, their speech and their eyesight.

By the age of six most will be completely dependent on others for their daily needs. Youngsters with the condition will usually die between the ages of six and 12. Fortunately the condition is extremely rare, with only five to six children diagnosed in the UK each year. But for the families affected the diagnosis is devastating.

Duncan and Lynsey Brownnutt have been given that diagnosis for both of their children – five-year-old Ellie Mae and three-year-old Caleb.

Now Duncan has embarked on a 150-mile ‘month of pain’ to raise money for the Batten Disease Family Association, which has helped them in their time of need. Duncan, from Cookridge, has been running five miles each day in April and has already raised more than £5,000 for the charity.

Anything that can help families affected by this awful condition is well worth supporting. Visit justgiving.com/Duncan-Brownnutt2 to sponsor Duncan.