THE moment of truth for schools in the Ilkley district is only a few days away.

Bradford Council's school review has been top of the 'agenda' for what seems an eternity - with twists and turns all the way.

The aim of the review cannot be called into question. Everybody would like to see a rise in education

standards, but at what cost?

Unfortunately, the overwhelming cry from this district of 'if it ain't broke don't try and fix it' has fallen on deaf ears.

It is unclear how many winners and losers there will be. Will Ashlands First School, a school which has fought a particularly noisy campaign, come out with everything it wants?

Will All Saints First School have a future on a new Skipton Road site? We must wait and see.

What has been noted by this newspaper is the

determination of all the schools involved to put forward reasoned appeals for their own survival. There has been no sentimental wailing of 'it's not fair'.

Decisions can be analysed in the short term. Some schools may face closure but what of the sites they take up?

Knock down a school and build a few houses? Certainly, that would boost the council coffers but more housing means more children. Where will they go to school?

Our letters page this week shows the strength of feeling regarding Ilkley Grammar School.

Will a 'refugee camp,' as one local headmaster described it, develop on the site, with Cowpasture Road groaning under the strain of more children than it was designed for. Opinion seems divided on this subject. A move to the present middle school site is the answer for some, an appalling prospect for others.

Let us hope the review team's findings are not the beginning of the end for our childrens' education; merely the beginning of another era of success. We shall see.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.