The decision to close Usher Street School is a tragic admission of failure by Education Bradford and Bradford Council.

It is bad enough that the school has been under Ofsted scrutiny of one sort or another for the last five years - longer than any other in the country - but for the Council now to capitulate, just as there are signs of improvement under its new executive head, is a bitter blow to parents, staff and children alike. The decision to close the school in July will be a huge shock to parents.

Many have told us that they are quite happy with the improvements which have been made in recent months. But more than that, the decision will mean massive disruption to the education of the pupils, who will now have to be dispersed to other schools where some will be taught in newly-imported mobile classrooms because there is not, at present, the capacity to accommodate them.

A great deal of anger and dismay has already been expressed following publication last week of Education Brad-ford's review which showed that on average primary-school results in Bradford have been getting worse for the last three years (although some of the best schools in Bradford are rated among the top primaries in the country).

Many have shared our concern that, five years into its multi-million-pound contract, Education Bradford is still talking about having to introduce new measures and the need to carry out public consultation to work out the best way ahead to improve results.

The fact that it has singularly failed to resolve the issues at Usher Street is a damning admission that it doesn't have all the answers and raises fears especially for the 16 other local primaries which are causing concern and the 36 others which are considered to have "multiple issues".

Clearly Education Bradford and Bradford Council, through the Education Policy Partnership, are going to have to work extremely hard to allay fears that other schools may be forced to close and that we will all be sitting here in five years' time at the end of the company's contract wondering where it all went wrong.