AMBITIOUS future school leaders in Southampton have been recognised at a special ceremony.

As part of the new Southampton Aspiring Senior Leaders Programme, teachers received awards for successful completion of the course, which Southampton City Council believes is the first of its kind in the country.

The programme is a cross-collaboration between the School of Education at the University of Southampton and the Southampton Education Forum.

It is a year-long programme which gives participants the chance to be a part of secondary school and college leadership teams, as well as investigate current educational research and the best practice across the city.

The findings of the first cohort have been shared with school leaders across the city allowing all secondary schools and colleges to benefit from what had been discovered.

The council says that because the programme has been so successful, it is being expanded to include ten secondary schools and collegesin the second cohort of participants.

Sarah Stannard, principal of City College and chair of the Southampton Education Forum, said: “This is a unique programme for ambitious middle leaders in Southampton’s secondary schools and colleges.

“The Southampton Education Forum includes all of the city’s secondary schools, colleges, universities and the local authority and we work with our primary schools too.

“We are all committed to working together to ensure that Southampton’s young people get the very best education possible and fulfil their potential.“We recognise that a critical part of having a great school system is attracting and retaining the very best teaching talent in the country.“We have created this development programme as part of our career development strategy for teachers and leaders in Southampton.”

Professor Martin Dyke, head of the school of Education, University of Southampton: “The School of Education is delighted to be a part of this programme, and to support our city’s schools as they develop their teachers into the best senior leaders.”

Councillor Darren Paffey, city council member for education and skills, said: “In Southampton we’re rightly ambitious for our young people and education plays a crucial role in giving them the best start in life.

“These motivated and aspirational school leaders are key to unlocking huge opportunities, so we are delighted to be recognising their contribution today at their graduation.”