The Government Minister responsible for schools, Lord Andrew Adonis, has written to John Denham to say that the multi-million pound Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme to rebuild and refurbish city secondary schools could be brought forward by 3 years to start in Summer 2008 - but only if the city can produce a convincing plan to improve standards in its secondary schools.

The minister’s letter follows local and national pressure from John Denham who has repeatedly highlighted how Southampton schools have failed to improve as rapidly as schools in other parts of the country.

Lord Adonis said "In recent years standards in Southampton have not kept pace with national improvements at Key Stage 2 (particularly in English) and at Key Stage 4 the authority’s schools are now performing well below the national average. In 2007 only 38.6% of pupils achieved 5 A*-C grades including English and mathematics. This rate of achievement is the second lowest in the South East region and the authority is ranked at 121 out of 150 authorities nationally on this measure. Not surprisingly therefore, it is also being out-performed by 7 out of 9 of its statistical neighbours, such as Coventry, Derby, Tameside, Rochdale, Bolton, Oldham and Halton.

"Clearly, early entry into BSF will require the Authority to have robust plans to address all of the weakest local schools."

John Denham said "The minister's letter is a huge boost to the city and its parents. But it is also a stark challenge to the city to do better for our children. I hope the new leadership of the City Council will take up the challenge and seize this opportunity after several years of drift."

The new City Council Cabinet Member for Education, Labour Councillor Matt Stevens, said "This is a great opportunity for the City to improve its educational standards and its school buildings. We will be bidding to be part of the early BSF programme."

New Leader of the City Council, Labour Councillor June Bridle, said "It’s a very tight timetable. We have to submit our plan to improve city schools by April but I am confident that the new administration at the City Council is up to the job and can bring forward real improvements to our schools."