Your headline “More than 1,000 schools step forward to take up offer of academy freedoms” (June 4) may be a little premature. Governors must decide to apply for academy status, and very few would have done that by last week. Some schools will be registering an interest with the Department for Education to obtain the crucial details about how much funding will be available to them should they take this route.

The National Governors’ Association (NGA) is advising its members not to rush into this without the full information. We do not yet have that and it is likely to be a few more weeks before we do. We are also advising that it is good practice to consult those affected by such a change once the information is available.

Good governance requires good information and good challenge. There is no advantage to being in the first tranche of academies, and there will not be a cut-off date. The right decision, rather than the quickest, needs to be made to benefit all those in the school and community.

All NGA members should have received our QA on becoming an academy, and we are happy to answer further queries.

Emma Knights, Chief executive, National Governors’ Association, Birmingham.