HOWEVER you cut it, Southampton has an educational success story on its hands.

The latest SATS figures show the city soaring, especially with primary schools, but also with secondary schools showing huge improvements.

And as this paper reports today, for the first time primary school children in Southampton have exceeded the national average when it comes to making the grade.

Figures show that 77 per cent of 11-year-olds in the city have hit the benchmark targets at their Key Stage 2 assessments, known as SATS.

Not so long ago Southampton was a basket case when it came to educational standards. But in the past five years tremendous efforts undertaken by the city’s education department, as well as head teachers and staff, have boosted results across the board to the extent that Southampton now rivals Hampshire County Council for educational standards.

How has this been achieved? Through undoubted hard work, perseverance, professionalism and, yes, a willingness to get on with the job at hand from both staff and students.

The results also show an understanding from parents, this paper suspects, that they must play a role in helping children to achieve.

There is a way to go yet. We can never rest on our laurels, good as they may be. But Southampton is on the up, and that’s a situation many have worked for for some time.