A RADICAL shake-up of schooling in Southampton moves a stage further next week.

More than 600 pupil places at three of the city's secondary schools may be lost if far-reaching plans by city education bosses are given the go-ahead.

At Woodlands Community School, the number of places is to be cut from 1,050 to 750 for pupils aged between 11 and 16.

Weston Park Boys School will drop from 900 places to 750 places while Chamberlayne Park School will reduce in size from 1,062 places to 900 places.

Other plans include Weston Park Boys School remaining single sex but entering into collaboration with Sholing Technology College on specific courses.

Head teachers and governors at Millbrook Community School are also to be consulted on closer future working with Taunton's Community College and other secondary schools in the west of the city.

The work will centre on developing a curriculum for 14 and 19-year-olds with a strong emphasis on vocational learning if the plans are approved.

Other plans include the possible granting of "community school" status to the city's 14 secondary schools.

The proposal would mean discussing with governors the possibility of opening up the schools to wider community use.

The plans are due to be discussed by members of the city council's Cabinet at a meeting next Monday. The city council has already received hundreds of replies from parents, governors and staff over the proposals.

According to city chiefs, 75 per cent of people backed the city council's plans to support schools making bids for specialist status and opening them up to the wider community.

City council leader Councillor Adrian Vinson said: "This has been subject to a major consultation with the schools as well as with governors and teachers.

"This document reports back the outcome of the consultation and sets out a number of options - some for implementation at this stage and others requiring further detailed work.

"We have a statutory obligation to address the issue of surplus places to ensure our schooling provision matches our population profile. The name of the game is not to carry the economic cost of surplus places.

"These are sensitive issues. There is a substantial agreement about many of these proposals, difficult as they are."