Iconic vision for city school (From Daily Echo)
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Iconic vision for Oasis Academy Mayfield in Southampton
3:11pm Thursday 25th March 2010 in Oasis Academy Mayfield
CLASS ACT: An artist's impression of Oasis Academy Mayfield
IT is an “iconic” vision for the future of education in Southampton.
These are the first images of the £15m transformation of the first of the city’s two new academies, which moved a step closer today after a construction giant was chosen to design and build the new school.
Work could now begin on the massive rebuilding project to help improve education results by providing new facilities at Oasis Academy Mayfield as soon as October.
And the scheme will provide a welcome boost for local jobs, creating 40 work placements and 12 new apprenticeships.
Carillion beat construction rivals Balfour Beatty to become preferred bidder to overhaul the lower school site – formerly Grove Park School – in Sholing.
The firm will now also be invited to come up with plans for the £20m revamp of Oasis Lord’s Hill on the other side of the city.
Oasis Mayfield will be the first city school rebuilt under the guidance of Southampton’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) team. BSF could see up to seven city secondaries completely rebuilt or remodelled with £200m of Government cash, although, last week, the shadow schools minister refused to guarantee that the funding wouldn’t be axed if the Tories win the general election.
Chamberlayne College for the Arts, Upper Shirley High School, Sholing Technology College and St George’s Catholic School were all due to be totally rebuilt at a cost of £110m while Bitterne Park School was due for a massive makeover and additional buildings.
But Southampton’s schools bosses say the academy money is not under any threat, because it is coming through a separate scheme.
City education chief, Cllr Paul Holmes said: “The academy Carillion has promised us will be iconic.
“It will also contribute to our sustainability vision, being carbon neutral, and bring new apprenticeships, jobs and work placements to the city.
“Our academy and BSF programmes are a significant investment in Southampton’s schools and demonstrate our commitment to improving young people’s chances of achieving their potential.”
Aredi Pitsiaeli, Oasis Community Learning’s strategic development director, said: “We believe that the appointment of Carillion will provide a state-of-the-art building that will greatly enhance the learning opportunities for our students, as well as for the wider academy community.
“It was also invaluable to have some of our students involved in the consultation process – they had clear ideas on what was required and asked some insightful and searching questions of each developer.”
Comments(15)
My View from the Hill
says...
3:37pm Thu 25 Mar 10
Stupideditor wrote:I bet the Woolston site will be big enough to house both sets of pupils, because the Weston school is bigger and you will fit more houses on the Weston when the council come to sell it to a developer.
This will be interesting to see as the Woolston site is too small to accomodate all from 2 schools sites. I fear more children will suffer with their education under this new academy, not just by cramming everyone into a small school site but the fact that a high number of teachers are leaving the school in the summer.
They did the same 30 years when Woolston and Hightown schools were selected to have one of them close, Woolston remained and Hightown went, because the land could be sold, more land, more houses, more money for the council to rake in from developers.
Children's education will suffer, but that doesn't matter to this council.
Condor Man
says...
3:39pm Thu 25 Mar 10
Optimism rules OK
says...
3:46pm Thu 25 Mar 10
Condor Man wrote:You say give this school time, what about the current students who are approaching GCSE's with the help of supply teachers, and senior management who are too busy sitting in they're offices eating biscuits? what about the students who were there when the merger happened? they had to put up with supply teachers and lose results due to 'paperwork problems' - or does that not matter?
The site is ample for 1500 pupils. Oasis Lordshill has settled down and is getting good results, give this school time. You could hardly say Weston Park was a good school and Woolston wasn't as great as the hype.
Optimism rules OK
says...
3:49pm Thu 25 Mar 10
My View from the Hill wrote:or more council housing for those that have been failed by the education system? quite ironic really... the more that suffer under Oasis, the more that fail at school, who then turn to benefits, which means more council housing is needed, so they close another 2 schools and form an academy. Oasis will probably bid to control the other schools as well, sounds very ruthless from what is a religious charity. But then there were bible quotes on the newsletters, so maybe not!
Stupideditor wrote:I bet the Woolston site will be big enough to house both sets of pupils, because the Weston school is bigger and you will fit more houses on the Weston when the council come to sell it to a developer.
This will be interesting to see as the Woolston site is too small to accomodate all from 2 schools sites. I fear more children will suffer with their education under this new academy, not just by cramming everyone into a small school site but the fact that a high number of teachers are leaving the school in the summer.
They did the same 30 years when Woolston and Hightown schools were selected to have one of them close, Woolston remained and Hightown went, because the land could be sold, more land, more houses, more money for the council to rake in from developers.
Children's education will suffer, but that doesn't matter to this council.
My View from the Hill
says...
4:05pm Thu 25 Mar 10
Optimism rules OK wrote:I couldn't agree more, you sound like your child has suffered because these happy clappers.
My View from the Hill wrote:or more council housing for those that have been failed by the education system? quite ironic really... the more that suffer under Oasis, the more that fail at school, who then turn to benefits, which means more council housing is needed, so they close another 2 schools and form an academy. Oasis will probably bid to control the other schools as well, sounds very ruthless from what is a religious charity. But then there were bible quotes on the newsletters, so maybe not!
Stupideditor wrote:I bet the Woolston site will be big enough to house both sets of pupils, because the Weston school is bigger and you will fit more houses on the Weston when the council come to sell it to a developer.
This will be interesting to see as the Woolston site is too small to accomodate all from 2 schools sites. I fear more children will suffer with their education under this new academy, not just by cramming everyone into a small school site but the fact that a high number of teachers are leaving the school in the summer.
They did the same 30 years when Woolston and Hightown schools were selected to have one of them close, Woolston remained and Hightown went, because the land could be sold, more land, more houses, more money for the council to rake in from developers.
Children's education will suffer, but that doesn't matter to this council.
The only people to blame for this are this local council, not the Labour group or the Lib Dem's or the Government, the blame for this lays squarely at the door of this Tory administration who, despite everyone from large local employers, both universities dean's and both MP's, still stuck two fingers up at everyone and went ahead with allowing Oasis the have control of both Academies, It was wrong then and has been proved wrong ever since, a shambolic decision taken by a shambolic council.
Optimism rules OK
says...
4:17pm Thu 25 Mar 10
My View from the Hill wrote:I was a student at an Oasis academy organisation, last year in fact... the first year group of many that Oasis will overlook in the master plan. And what you say about the council, i'm not a politician, nor have any real involvement in either party's, but whoever sanctioned the merger had no real idea of the long term effects of it. Even I could see that!
Optimism rules OK wrote:I couldn't agree more, you sound like your child has suffered because these happy clappers.
My View from the Hill wrote:or more council housing for those that have been failed by the education system? quite ironic really... the more that suffer under Oasis, the more that fail at school, who then turn to benefits, which means more council housing is needed, so they close another 2 schools and form an academy. Oasis will probably bid to control the other schools as well, sounds very ruthless from what is a religious charity. But then there were bible quotes on the newsletters, so maybe not!
Stupideditor wrote:I bet the Woolston site will be big enough to house both sets of pupils, because the Weston school is bigger and you will fit more houses on the Weston when the council come to sell it to a developer.
This will be interesting to see as the Woolston site is too small to accomodate all from 2 schools sites. I fear more children will suffer with their education under this new academy, not just by cramming everyone into a small school site but the fact that a high number of teachers are leaving the school in the summer.
They did the same 30 years when Woolston and Hightown schools were selected to have one of them close, Woolston remained and Hightown went, because the land could be sold, more land, more houses, more money for the council to rake in from developers.
Children's education will suffer, but that doesn't matter to this council.
The only people to blame for this are this local council, not the Labour group or the Lib Dem's or the Government, the blame for this lays squarely at the door of this Tory administration who, despite everyone from large local employers, both universities dean's and both MP's, still stuck two fingers up at everyone and went ahead with allowing Oasis the have control of both Academies, It was wrong then and has been proved wrong ever since, a shambolic decision taken by a shambolic council.
Linesman
says...
5:21pm Thu 25 Mar 10
With so many playing truant, there will be fewer attending to muck the place up!
Condor Man
says...
5:50pm Thu 25 Mar 10
My View from the Hill wrote:is that one of the same local MP's who sends his own child to a faith school?
Optimism rules OK wrote:I couldn't agree more, you sound like your child has suffered because these happy clappers. The only people to blame for this are this local council, not the Labour group or the Lib Dem's or the Government, the blame for this lays squarely at the door of this Tory administration who, despite everyone from large local employers, both universities dean's and both MP's, still stuck two fingers up at everyone and went ahead with allowing Oasis the have control of both Academies, It was wrong then and has been proved wrong ever since, a shambolic decision taken by a shambolic council.My View from the Hill wrote:or more council housing for those that have been failed by the education system? quite ironic really... the more that suffer under Oasis, the more that fail at school, who then turn to benefits, which means more council housing is needed, so they close another 2 schools and form an academy. Oasis will probably bid to control the other schools as well, sounds very ruthless from what is a religious charity. But then there were bible quotes on the newsletters, so maybe not!Stupideditor wrote: This will be interesting to see as the Woolston site is too small to accomodate all from 2 schools sites. I fear more children will suffer with their education under this new academy, not just by cramming everyone into a small school site but the fact that a high number of teachers are leaving the school in the summer.I bet the Woolston site will be big enough to house both sets of pupils, because the Weston school is bigger and you will fit more houses on the Weston when the council come to sell it to a developer. They did the same 30 years when Woolston and Hightown schools were selected to have one of them close, Woolston remained and Hightown went, because the land could be sold, more land, more houses, more money for the council to rake in from developers. Children's education will suffer, but that doesn't matter to this council.
freefinker
says...
5:56pm Thu 25 Mar 10
Condor Man wrote:Is that really the best you can come up with in defence of your beloved Tory council on this issue?
My View from the Hill wrote:is that one of the same local MP's who sends his own child to a faith school?
Optimism rules OK wrote:I couldn't agree more, you sound like your child has suffered because these happy clappers. The only people to blame for this are this local council, not the Labour group or the Lib Dem's or the Government, the blame for this lays squarely at the door of this Tory administration who, despite everyone from large local employers, both universities dean's and both MP's, still stuck two fingers up at everyone and went ahead with allowing Oasis the have control of both Academies, It was wrong then and has been proved wrong ever since, a shambolic decision taken by a shambolic council.My View from the Hill wrote:or more council housing for those that have been failed by the education system? quite ironic really... the more that suffer under Oasis, the more that fail at school, who then turn to benefits, which means more council housing is needed, so they close another 2 schools and form an academy. Oasis will probably bid to control the other schools as well, sounds very ruthless from what is a religious charity. But then there were bible quotes on the newsletters, so maybe not!Stupideditor wrote: This will be interesting to see as the Woolston site is too small to accomodate all from 2 schools sites. I fear more children will suffer with their education under this new academy, not just by cramming everyone into a small school site but the fact that a high number of teachers are leaving the school in the summer.I bet the Woolston site will be big enough to house both sets of pupils, because the Weston school is bigger and you will fit more houses on the Weston when the council come to sell it to a developer. They did the same 30 years when Woolston and Hightown schools were selected to have one of them close, Woolston remained and Hightown went, because the land could be sold, more land, more houses, more money for the council to rake in from developers. Children's education will suffer, but that doesn't matter to this council.
My View from the Hill
says...
6:00pm Thu 25 Mar 10
Optimism rules OK wrote:My apologies for assuming that you had a child in the school.
My View from the Hill wrote:I was a student at an Oasis academy organisation, last year in fact... the first year group of many that Oasis will overlook in the master plan. And what you say about the council, i'm not a politician, nor have any real involvement in either party's, but whoever sanctioned the merger had no real idea of the long term effects of it. Even I could see that!
Optimism rules OK wrote:I couldn't agree more, you sound like your child has suffered because these happy clappers.
My View from the Hill wrote:or more council housing for those that have been failed by the education system? quite ironic really... the more that suffer under Oasis, the more that fail at school, who then turn to benefits, which means more council housing is needed, so they close another 2 schools and form an academy. Oasis will probably bid to control the other schools as well, sounds very ruthless from what is a religious charity. But then there were bible quotes on the newsletters, so maybe not!
Stupideditor wrote:I bet the Woolston site will be big enough to house both sets of pupils, because the Weston school is bigger and you will fit more houses on the Weston when the council come to sell it to a developer.
This will be interesting to see as the Woolston site is too small to accomodate all from 2 schools sites. I fear more children will suffer with their education under this new academy, not just by cramming everyone into a small school site but the fact that a high number of teachers are leaving the school in the summer.
They did the same 30 years when Woolston and Hightown schools were selected to have one of them close, Woolston remained and Hightown went, because the land could be sold, more land, more houses, more money for the council to rake in from developers.
Children's education will suffer, but that doesn't matter to this council.
The only people to blame for this are this local council, not the Labour group or the Lib Dem's or the Government, the blame for this lays squarely at the door of this Tory administration who, despite everyone from large local employers, both universities dean's and both MP's, still stuck two fingers up at everyone and went ahead with allowing Oasis the have control of both Academies, It was wrong then and has been proved wrong ever since, a shambolic decision taken by a shambolic council.
My View from the Hill
says...
6:04pm Thu 25 Mar 10
Condor Man wrote:Glad to see your defending the local council on this subject, oooop's my error, your not, it just goes to show not even the Tory loving Condor Man can defend the indefensible.
My View from the Hill wrote:is that one of the same local MP's who sends his own child to a faith school?
Optimism rules OK wrote:I couldn't agree more, you sound like your child has suffered because these happy clappers. The only people to blame for this are this local council, not the Labour group or the Lib Dem's or the Government, the blame for this lays squarely at the door of this Tory administration who, despite everyone from large local employers, both universities dean's and both MP's, still stuck two fingers up at everyone and went ahead with allowing Oasis the have control of both Academies, It was wrong then and has been proved wrong ever since, a shambolic decision taken by a shambolic council.My View from the Hill wrote:or more council housing for those that have been failed by the education system? quite ironic really... the more that suffer under Oasis, the more that fail at school, who then turn to benefits, which means more council housing is needed, so they close another 2 schools and form an academy. Oasis will probably bid to control the other schools as well, sounds very ruthless from what is a religious charity. But then there were bible quotes on the newsletters, so maybe not!Stupideditor wrote: This will be interesting to see as the Woolston site is too small to accomodate all from 2 schools sites. I fear more children will suffer with their education under this new academy, not just by cramming everyone into a small school site but the fact that a high number of teachers are leaving the school in the summer.I bet the Woolston site will be big enough to house both sets of pupils, because the Weston school is bigger and you will fit more houses on the Weston when the council come to sell it to a developer. They did the same 30 years when Woolston and Hightown schools were selected to have one of them close, Woolston remained and Hightown went, because the land could be sold, more land, more houses, more money for the council to rake in from developers. Children's education will suffer, but that doesn't matter to this council.
warness
says...
6:59pm Thu 25 Mar 10
Optimism rules OK
says...
8:24pm Thu 25 Mar 10
My View from the Hill wrote:That's ok, I should have been clearer in my first post.
Optimism rules OK wrote:My apologies for assuming that you had a child in the school.
My View from the Hill wrote:I was a student at an Oasis academy organisation, last year in fact... the first year group of many that Oasis will overlook in the master plan. And what you say about the council, i'm not a politician, nor have any real involvement in either party's, but whoever sanctioned the merger had no real idea of the long term effects of it. Even I could see that!
Optimism rules OK wrote:I couldn't agree more, you sound like your child has suffered because these happy clappers.
My View from the Hill wrote:or more council housing for those that have been failed by the education system? quite ironic really... the more that suffer under Oasis, the more that fail at school, who then turn to benefits, which means more council housing is needed, so they close another 2 schools and form an academy. Oasis will probably bid to control the other schools as well, sounds very ruthless from what is a religious charity. But then there were bible quotes on the newsletters, so maybe not!
Stupideditor wrote:I bet the Woolston site will be big enough to house both sets of pupils, because the Weston school is bigger and you will fit more houses on the Weston when the council come to sell it to a developer.
This will be interesting to see as the Woolston site is too small to accomodate all from 2 schools sites. I fear more children will suffer with their education under this new academy, not just by cramming everyone into a small school site but the fact that a high number of teachers are leaving the school in the summer.
They did the same 30 years when Woolston and Hightown schools were selected to have one of them close, Woolston remained and Hightown went, because the land could be sold, more land, more houses, more money for the council to rake in from developers.
Children's education will suffer, but that doesn't matter to this council.
The only people to blame for this are this local council, not the Labour group or the Lib Dem's or the Government, the blame for this lays squarely at the door of this Tory administration who, despite everyone from large local employers, both universities dean's and both MP's, still stuck two fingers up at everyone and went ahead with allowing Oasis the have control of both Academies, It was wrong then and has been proved wrong ever since, a shambolic decision taken by a shambolic council.
Molly2206
says...
2:01pm Sat 27 Mar 10
Stupideditor wrote:I wish people would read articles correctly, the new Oasis Mayfield School is going to be built on the Grove Park site, a substantial site more than capable of supporting the required number of students.
This will be interesting to see as the Woolston site is too small to accomodate all from 2 schools sites. I fear more children will suffer with their education under this new academy, not just by cramming everyone into a small school site but the fact that a high number of teachers are leaving the school in the summer.
Obviously there was going to be problems initially with merging both Weston and Woolston, there have been rivaleries between these two schools for years.
I have friends with Children at Mayfield and they have all said positive things about the school and their children are doing well. The new Principal has achieved wonders for the school in the short time he has been there. People really ought to give the School a chance and not write it off before it's even been built. It is the best thing that could have happened for Sholing.
Stupideditor says...
3:17pm Thu 25 Mar 10