Universities Minister Backs Our Local Scholarship Scheme

David Willetts MP (right) with Cllrs Royston Smith, David Fuller, Matthew Claisse 

and Portswood Candidate Linda Norris

We were very pleased to welcome Universities Minister, David Willetts, to Southampton at the weekend to officially give his seal of approval to our ambitious new University Scholarship Scheme.

The new scheme is targeted at young people on low incomes progressing to higher education and is partnership between Southampton City Council, Southampton Solent University and the University of Southampton.

The scheme offers practical help in the form of fee waivers and bursaries. Eligible young people will be Southampton residents, have a household income of below £20,000, and attending Foundation degrees either Southampton Solent University or the University of Southampton. 

Both Universities will offer fee waivers in line with newly negotiated admissions policies costing each institution around £100,000. The Council funding will provide £45,000 p.a to each of the universities for bursaries for initially a total of 45 young people to support learning materials, travel and subsistence.

It was superb to receiving the backing of Mr Willetts who was full of praise for the initiative!

Michael Gove's Visit to Freemantle Academy

The Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove MP, visited Freemantle Academy this morning, to officially open the school's brand new Junior School building.


Mr Gove met with the head, teachers, governors and pupils and heard about the fantastic work going on at the school. 


Freemantle was the city's first primary school to convert to Academy status and is taking full advantage of the extra freedoms that comes with it, makes changes to term times, its curriculum and expanding from infant to primary. 


It was a great opportunity for the school to show case its achievements to government and everyone had a great time!


It was also good to be able to share the good work being done more widely in education in the city.


In last year the city's schools have gone from strength to strength. Key Stage 2 and 4 improvements outstripped the national average. The majority of our schools are now rated as 'Good' or 'Outstanding' and we now have 14 headteachers recognised as either National or Local Leaders in Education. 


The City Council is developing a Learning Master Plan for Southampton and working with local schools, colleges and the two universities. We have already achieved a great deal working together; the new City College Studio School, a university scholarship scheme and student bus pass scheme to help young people to get to college. 


We are working with all schools in the city, have supported a number of schools in their conversion to  Academy status and assisted two local community organisations in their bids to open new Free Schools.

Talking About The Government's Education Reforms

Southampton Schools Move Up The League Tables

At a visit to Mayfield Academy earlier today. Mayfield's results showed a huge improvement last year and their new school building is due to open next month.

The Department of Education today published its GCSE league tables for 2011 and the figures are hugely encouraging for Southampton. Schools and colleges in Southampton completed a clean sweep of the best ever results at GCSE, Key Stage 2, and A Level in 2011. This will reassure parents that education in the city is improving across the board and will provide the city’s children and young people with the opportunities they need and deserve.  In 2011 Southampton achieved a 9% increase in 5+ GCSEs A*-C, and a 4.2% increase in 5+ GCSEs A*-C, including English and Maths.

I would like to offer my congratulations and to the pupils who have worked so hard to achieve these results and wish them every success in what they choose to do next. I’d also like to thank the city’s fantastic headteachers for their leadership and dedication, as well as all the committed and talented teaching and support staff for everything they do.

The City Council will continue to work alongside the city’s schools to keep up the momentum and build on this success. We are fortunate to have some of the best headteachers in the country working within the city and this can only be good for the education of Southampton’s children and young people.

We are not complacent and there is still work to do, but these results move us closer to achieving our goals.

Educational Support for Deaf Children

Following the recent coverage on educational support for deaf children and young people in Southampton, I want to take this opportunity to restate Southampton City Council’s commitment to this service.

Most importantly there has been no cut in the service this year. Nor is there any question of the service being axed – and therefore in need of being ‘saved’.

In fact, we have plans to increase provision in the new school year.

The 165 children and their families who accessed the service last year will receive the same service this year if they need it. If there was any question at all of any child not getting the support they needed and were entitled to we would act immediately.

It should be made clear that the ratio quoted by the National Society for Deaf Children (NSDC) of specialist teachers to children in no way takes into account the quality of the service available to children and young people with hearing impairments in Southampton – as well as the excellent support available to their families.

Reports have neglected to mention the support the council provides which is above and beyond anything offered by many other councils. As well as the Specialist Teacher Adviser Team, the council continues to fund additional provision at a number of schools, in addition to funding a specialist technician to support this provision across the city.

Of course this is a highly emotive subject and sometimes facts can get lost in all the noise – and the most important fact is that we are not cutting this service. Every deaf child who needs help will get that help.

I have said all along that I would welcome the NSDC to Southampton, to show them the service we provide – including the extra support that we offer – and hear any views they have on the specifics of our service.

The council’s goal is that Southampton is seen as a city with learning at its heart, achieving excellence in education for all our children and young people, whatever their needs.

Funding Boost for Local Children

The Coalition government is keeping its promise to spend more on schools and to target extra funding towards the most deprived parts of the country.

The details of the funding settlement for Southampton schools has now been announced. On average Southampton schools will receive an extra 3.4% in funding in this coming year and this includes more than £2.7m extra in the form of the new Pupil Premium.

The Pupil Premium means that extra funding is targeted to support children who receive Free School Meals and to children whose parents serve in the Armed Forces.

This is fantastic news for Freemantle Ward with many local schools set to benefit from the Pupil Premium:

Banister Infant School + £13,760
Foundry Lane Primary School + £32,650
Freemantle C Of E Infant School + £10,750
St Mark'S C Of E Junior School + £37,840
Regents Park Community College + £80,380

Locally Conservative Councillors are protecting funding for the city’s Sure Start Centres so that, despite the tough financial times we ensure that all these valuable facilities remain assessable for local families.