THE county council has said it will investigate the coursework blunder at Brighton Hill Community School which resulted in pupils leaving Year 11 without a key qualification.

It must have been hugely disappointing for them to discover that all their hard work over two years was for nothing.

Headteacher Charlie Currie has failed to respond to The Gazette's request for a comment, and parents have told us that there has been no apology or proper explanation.

It is only right that the school should be answerable for this mistake, and pupils and parents certainly deserve a full apology and reassurance that this will never happen again.

The Gazette has received letters and comments from concerned parents and members of the public about this incident at Brighton Hill, and many of them are understandably angry and upset at the way it has been handled.

The story on page 2 of last week's Gazette (read here) states that the county council will investigate what happened at Brighton Hill.

Hopefully the council will be able to act on behalf of parents and pupils to offer them a satisfactory explanation and reassurances for those still at the school that lessons have been learned from this mistake.

  • Congratulations to all those runners who took part in the Basingstoke Half Marathon.

The event, in its fifth year, was again a huge success with 1,300 participants completing the challenging 13 mile hilly course.

I watched the race in Cliddesden to cheer on colleagues and friends, and there was a fantastic atmosphere as people gathered for what has become a key event in Basingstoke's calendar.

Spectators really got into the spirit of the day by offering unrelenting encouragement to the constant stream of runners passing by, clapping, whooping and cheering people on as they climbed up the hill at the two mile mark, then jogged back down at 11 miles, heading towards the finish.

Runners this year had their name displayed on their race number, and this gave the crowds an added way to offer support, cheering for someone to keep going if they appeared to be struggling.

Many participants ran in support of their chosen charities, a number of which are local causes benefitting the people of Basingstoke, such as St Michael's Hospice and The Ark Cancer Centre Charity.

The six-page pull-out in The Gazette will be a souvenir to keep for all those who took part.