School will be a boon to the town

Last week, a huge crane was brought into the school's Gunters Lane site for the next phase after the foundations of the building currently under construction were successfully laid.

And yesterday, Rother councillors raised no objections to the second string of the project '“ a skills and vocational education centre at Down Road.

The final stage of this rests with East Sussex County Council, which is very unlikely to turn it down.

Any development of this size is going to raise the hackles of nearby residents who have justified concerns about increased traffic and road safety.

A good planning process takes into account these concerns and tries to iron out any wrinkles along the way '“ and we hope this is happening in this case.

However, the main point to remember is that this project '“ despite the 40m price tag '“ is a huge investment in both Bexhill's youth and the town itself.

The vocational string to the development is particularly important '“ although academic achievements are very often heavily emphasised in schools, not all children are suited to excelling in the classroom and not everybody gets to university.

And learning a trade can be lucrative '“ many successful businesspeople have a vocational rather than an academic background.

Headteacher Mike Conn has described this as "the missing piece of the jigsaw" as local state-educated children wanting to learn construction, engineering, hairdressing, beauty or catering at present have to either go to Hastings College or to Sussex Downs College in Eastbourne.

There is no doubt at all that once complete, these two education centres will provide Bexhill schoolchildren with excellent learning facilities.

Bexhill High School appears to have a very bright future ahead '“ and that can only be of benefit to the teachers and to the children themselves.