HURRAH for Elgar High School with its successful bid to become a specialist school. And congratulations also to Haybridge High School - doubly successful with specialist and beacon status - and those other schools who have achieved beacon status.

Maybe people won't be so quick to knock Elgar High now that it has won recognition for its dedication to technology and actually want their children to attend the troubled school.

Elgar has been on the up and up since headteacher Dr Graham Watts took the helm. No one can be more proud than he of what the school has achieved since 1997.

Surely its critics will now realise that Elgar has more to offer pupils than bullying and poor teaching.

In fact, it has a reputation for an anti-bullying strategy and there are countless extra-curricular activities available.

The school also holds the Sportsmark award for dedication to coaching, and two pupils have won the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Award for Young People for their citizenship in the community.

Obviously this new award is fantastic news for the school, but what will the end result be? Elgar has suffered from old news, but with its success in the value-added tables (a different way of measuring a school's success) and this new award surely parents must form a different opinion.

When applications for places at the Bilford Road school from September 2001 closed, only 117 places had been taken out of 230 available.

Compare that to Nunnery Wood High School where 367 parents battled for 270 places.

In a few years time the balance could be redressed to the point where the figures swap over, and all because of specialist status.

This column wishes Dr Watts, his staff and pupils the best of luck with the future. Let's hope that people will finally see the school for what it is - at the cutting edge of education and something to be proud of.