Well Done Southampton Schools!

Results from Southampton Schools have been superb this year.

At Key Stage One the city is now above the national average, shooting up the local authority league tables.

At GCSE we have had our largest increase in our history at 4.1%, closing the gap significantly with national average.

The improvements reflect the hard work put in by teachers and pupils across the city. In addition the city council has worked with struggling schools, partnering them with good schools and investing in teacher training programmes.

Schools in the west of the city have done particularly well with big improvements in GCSE results:

• Lord’s Hill Academy (+13%)
• Upper Shirley High School (+5%)
• Redbridge Community College (+17%)
• Regents Park Community College (+10%)

The One Big Community Festival

A free community festival is being held at Portswood Recreation Ground on Saturday 11th September. The festival has been arranged by local residents and includes live performances and interactive workshops.

For further details contact 07766 144373 or email nbspcommunity@hotmail.co.uk.

Local Conservative Councillors will be there during the day holding a surgery to help with local issues and problems.

The Keys are Handed over for No. 1 Guildhall Square

Last week the keys were offically handed over for the new council office, No. 1 Guildhall Square. The new £25m building will house council and Capita staff. It is part of the wider regeneration of the Northern Above Bar quarter of the city, which will feature a new arts complex, heritage centre and include a refurbished Guildhall Square.

The city council is reducing its central buildings from 7 to 3 with the aim of saving money and improving working conditions for staff. Overall this rationalisation of buildings will save the local taxpayer about £700,000 per year.

The ground floor of One Guildhall Square will house Gateway, the council’s customer services centre which is set to open on 23rd August.

Avenue Improvements

New bollards and cycle stands have been installed on the pavement outside the shops at Stag Gates on the Avenue. These are designed to restrict vehicle movements on and access to the footways. This action follows complaints by local residents about cars parking on the cyle and footpaths.

Further up the road work has begun on a new scheme to improve safety on the Avenue.

Two new traffic islands are being constructed to aid the right turns from The Avenue into Winn Road and Northlands Road. There will be some new hatched areas painted on the road to compliment the revised layout.

This area has proved something of an accident black spot over the years and this new layout is designed to reduce the likelihood of cars turning right being involved in accidents at these junctions.

Details of the scheme can be seen by clicking on the image below:

£35m Boost for Southampton's Academies

Fantastic news! We have heard this afternoon that the new Coalition government has signed off the £35m for the rebuild of Southampton's two city academies.

Funding for the schools had been on hold because of a government review being undertaken of capital funding for schools across the country.

Building work for the Oasis Academy Mayfield starts in October and Lord's Hill Academy construction starts in January 2011.