THERE'S something both very exciting and exceedingly important going on in Worcester. It's happening in a place and a way which deserves to make people all round the city - and beyond - sit up and take notice.

The Worcester Education Achievement Zone is a unique scheme to improve standards in literacy and numeracy in schools which, you might surmise, are among those which provide our teaching profession with their biggest challenge.

How it works, and why it has come together, is explained in greater depth on Page 2 today. But it's what the project promises for us all - not just now, not just next week or next month, but for generations to come - which is most compelling.

For too long, significant corners of Worcester have been places of little hope. Statisticians might refer to them as being in the lower socio-economic range, but most of us would say they're populated by families surviving on low incomes with even lower aspirations.

Poor reading and writing ability in childhood leads to frustration. Frustration leads to boredom and isolation. Boredom and isolation leads to behavioural problems, or low self-esteem, or simple hopelessness. It all means limited job opportunities.

It's taking a broad brush to the picture, but the cycle has been easy to see, and hard to break. Until now.

What WEAZ is giving to those who find themselves in that trap is the hope of bettering themselves.

Turning that hope into reality opens a new horizon of possibilities, the chance for people who didn't regard ambition and optimism as part of their lives to explore new limits. It isn't difficult to see where that leads.

So, today, we pay tribute to the vision and determination of the people who've made WEAZ what it is - and look forward, with the kind patience we must all muster, to the Worcester they will have helped create in 10 or 20 years time.