Chance remarks

We're now living in very different times and vital public services, of which education is certainly one, are having to cut their cloth in line with a new age of austerity the Coalition Government has had no choice but to impose.

One of the biggest casualties has, of course, been the Building Schools for the Future programme.

Around 60 anxious and angry parents attended a public meeting at the Grove School, Balderton, on Monday.

They saw the very real prospect of a complete rebuild of the school snatched away as the axe fell on BSF.

There may now, however, be a glimmer of hope for the Grove.

The leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council, Mr Tony Roberts, hinted at a meeting of Newark Business Club that, while there may be nothing available for the Magnus School, the Grove project could still go ahead in some form through Nottinghamshire County Council.

The county council has so far refused to comment.

If there is some prospect of investment in the Grove buildings those most closely affected — the staff, pupils and parents — deserve to be told one way or the other.