A SOUTHAMPTON head teacher has thanked Daily Echo readers for their help with a fundraising campaign.

As reported, Michael Lobo, head teacher at St Patrick's Primary School, announced a bid to raise £100,000 to pay for school playground improvements and to buy a minibus so that pupils could be taken to green space for sports and recreation.

Now he has thanked Echo readers for donations already received - and said that pupils are already planning their new look playground.

Mr Lobo said: "St Patrick’s School has been on Fort Road, Woolston since 1883, originally built like a “Tin Hut”, and the strong family feel has built up over many years – indeed many of our current children have had parents, grandparents and even great grandparents go through the school!

"Our children learn to follow the PATRICK attitudes of Perseverance, Aspiration, Teamwork, Respect, Independence, Creativity and Kindness and visitors to the school will see these values shine through in everything we do. A typical St Patrick’s child will love learning through a wide variety of topics and will develop important skills for life.

"We love to give the children all sorts of opportunities outside the classroom from sport to drama and music and you will often find them in school at 8am practising hard for the football squad or ukulele group!

"Thanks to the generosity of Echo readers, we have already received some donations and offers of help and the children are looking forward to helping to design a wonderful area which will last for years to come."

The school’s most recent visit saw Year 4 pupils spend a week at the Sustainability Centre in East Meon, learning about how to live in the wild and save the environment.

Besides school trips the school has recently welcomed Spanish sports coach, Señor Alonso who has set up sports groups and activities to get children fit and ready for the new season.

The school also has a lot going on in their arts and crafts department with Mrs Bignell continuously inventing new creative opportunities for the children. From knitted fishes to model air raid shelters to name just a few of the creations crafted by the children in Mrs Bignell’s class.

In the school’s most recent Ofsted report (dated 25-26 March 2015) it was found in both 2013 and 2014, pupils overall attainment at the end of Year 6 was significantly above the national average in all subjects.

This was due to “the extremely good progress pupils made in Key Stage 2”. The school celebrates this achievement and strives to consistently raise the bar in both educational and extra-curricular achievements.

A recent innovation has been some joint working with St Mary’s Independent School. Together they hosted a Healthy Hearts Day, where the two school councils learned about how to live healthy lives. Mr Lobo is currently in the process of planning a joint concert with St Mary’s Independent School, at the Mayflower Theatre next year.