Parents have done well to win what may prove to be a reprieve for St Anne's School in Lewes.

East Sussex County Council had seemed hell bent on closure, despite the excellent record of this school in caring for children with special needs.

Now a committee of councillors, church representatives and governors has been split down the middle by the issue.

This means the final decision will be made by an independent national adjudicator, whose decision will be binding.

It will be better to have the decision made from outside than by East Sussex, which says, against parents' judgement, many pupils would do better in mainstream schools.

Parents can win against the odds - as those in the Palmeira Project proved last year in Hove. In this case they have a strong argument which ought to carry more weight with the adjudicator than the council's reasons.