It is good news for the schoolchildren of Cullingworth and Girlington that work has at last begun on the new premises for their primary schools. They have been told that the jobs should be completed by May of next year.

Let's hope that everything proceeds to schedule with these two projects, the final pieces in the jigsaw of the mammoth £186 million schools rebuilding programme made necessary by the reorganisation from a three-tier to a two-tier system. There have been more than enough delays.

Although all the schools which need rebuilding should have been completed by September 2002, ten are still unfinished - over and above the brand-new schools at Cullingworth and Girlington.

Seven are scheduled to be completed during the summer holidays but thousands of pupils have been told to expect disruption to their classes at the end of term in July and at the start of September.

It is to be hoped that this can be kept to an absolute minimum. The uncertainty about school places which resulted from reorganisation has dragged on much longer than was anticipated and building delays have aggravated the situation. There have been far too many wasted days.

Now the project is apparently nearing an end, Bradford Education and the Council need to prepare themselves to accelerate the big push to improve standards throughout Bradford and give the district's youngsters the education they deserve. There is rather a lot of catching-up to do.