A SOUTHAMPTON school is set to get a dramatic overhaul after winning a share of a £2 billion Government cash hand-out.

Valentine Primary School, in Sholing, has been told that they have successfully bid for money from the Government’s Priority School Building Programme.

Schools minister Nick Gibb (pictured) will be visiting the Valentine Avenue site this morning as the Government announces the full list of 277 schools that will benefit from the spending boost.

This is the second phase of the Government build programme, first announced in 2012 which benefitted Bitterne Park School and The Cedar School, for children with special needs.

The fund is aimed to help those “in need of urgent repair”.

The exact sum going to the Sholing school has not been revealed but Cedar School received £4.7m to build a completely new school on the site in Redbridge Lane, which opened last year.

Plans are being drawn up for Bitterne Park School’s new state-of-the-art building, which will see it welcome an extra 300 pupils, taking numbers up to 1,800.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said today: “It is crucial that we invest properly in education, so that every child has a fair start in life.

“Thousands of pupils will benefit from better, brighter, warmer classrooms thanks to this funding.”

Mr Clegg added: “Children can’t learn and teachers can’t teach in schools that are cold and have leaking roofs.

"To create a stronger economy we have to invest in a fairer society so that our young people can be successful in the future.”

The Priority School Building Programme replaced the Labour Government’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme which was due to rebuild eight city schools.

John Denham, Labour MP for Southampton Itchen, which includes Valentine school, welcomed the investment.

He said: “I was in Valentine School with the head, Liz Filer, just before Christmas. It is doing really well, with supportive parents, but it needs this new investment. So I’m pleased it’s happening.”

Mr Denham said Southampton was still suffering from the cancellation of Labour’s BSF programme after the last General Election in 2010.

That meant major investment was dropped at schools such as Sholing Technology College and Chamberlayne College for the Arts in Weston.

He added: “That has left thousands of students in buildings that just aren’t as good as they should be.

“From Southampton’s point of view we have lost out badly.”