Community support

Southampton Airport’s charitable funding comes from the BAA Communities Trust, BAA’s own charity. The trust was established over ten years ago, with the aim of putting something back into the local communities around BAA’s airports.

Wherever possible, Southampton Airport tries to support projects which mitigate against our impacts, which means we are especially interested in community projects in close proximity to the airport. We look for causes which enable us to give our full support and actively get involved, rather than just giving financially.

Other priorities include:

• Projects with an environmental focus
• Projects that provide educational and training opportunities for 14 – 21 year olds
• Projects that create opportunities to build pride in the local community.

Recent projects include:

College House, Winchester

Southampton Airport has helped students at College House in Winchester to develop new skills in horticulture through the development of green house facilities.

Linked to Eastleigh College, College House, provides 24 hour learning for young people with moderate learning disabilities.  The facility promotes independent living through education, which integrates life skills such as budgeting, washing, cooking, healthy eating and now gardening.

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Hampshire Youth Games

Southampton Airport is supporting the Southampton and Eastleigh teams participating in the Hampshire Youth Games, the region’s leading youth sport event. The coach helps 300 young people, aged between 9 – 14, to gain the skills necessary to compete successfully in the Games.

Itchen Valley Country Park Classroom

The BAA Communities Trust provided support towards the development of a classroom facility at Itchen Valley Country Park in Eastleigh. The Kingfisher Barn is now used for conservation projects and talks to students.

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Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Activities Centre

The QEII Centre is designed for people with special needs to enjoy practical problem solving and team building activities.  Southampton Airport has supported the centre by providing new buoyancy aids and safety helmets. The helmets are now used for climbing, rafting and on the zip-wire, and the new buoyancy aids are now used for canoeing, motor boating, and rafting activities on the River Hamble.

For more information on the centre, please visit www.qe2activitycentre.co.uk.

Society of St James

A team from Southampton Airport have developed a new wildlife and allotment area, known as ‘Muddy Bottom’, for a Southampton based charity, which helps vulnerable and homeless people to maintain their independence.  As part of the project, the airport also donated essential gardening tools and equipment for the residents to use at the site, through the BAA Communities Trust.

The garden area is now used by the residents to learn new horticultural skills, and the newly created wildlife area acts as an ongoing practical project for the residents to build bird and small mammal houses, and provide feeding sites for local wildlife.

For more information on the charity, please visit www.ssj.org.uk.

Linking Business & Education

Bitterne Park School, Southampton

Southampton Airport has a partnership with Bitterne Park School, a local secondary school in Southampton with specialist status in performing arts. The partnership was launched in 2004, with the aim of sharing expertise and resources, linking business and education.

Each year there are around 20 initiatives, including; case studies, competitions, awards schemes, staff work-shadowing, joint fundraising, school governorships, and a full work experience programme which includes, letters of application, and competitive interviews. The airport has also supported a series of Enterprise Days for all 1,400 students at the school, culminating in a ‘Dragon Den’ style finale later in the year.

The airport is particularly involved with the Business Department, providing real life case studies, which is so important for achieving high grades at GCSE. The Applied Business students currently achieves an 100% A* - C grade pass rate against a 52% national average.  The airport and the school have also worked together with the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust to create training resources for other UK schools.

For more information on the school, please visit www.bitterneparkschool.org.uk

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Quilley School of Engineering, Eastleigh

Southampton Airport is supporting the school’s Young Engineers Club, with the aim of providing a strong foundation for their GCSE years. The after-school club gives the school’s 570 students an opportunity to develop a real racing car. Students practice design development, building prototypes, test driving the vehicle and finally competitively racing their car at Goodwood.

For more information on the school, please visit www.quilley.hants.sch.uk

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Students at the college have developed an A-Level Environmental Science project, using Southampton Airport as a case study and resource for future learning.

Additionally, the airport provided eight students with the opportunity to participate in the nationally recognised Fulcrum Challenge. Students were challenged to raise £1,500 for this teambuilding and leadership development programme. The funds were then matched by the BAA Communities Trust. The programme culminated in a two week challenge in India to build a new school for the local people of the Nilgri Hills. For more information, please visit www.fulcrum-challenge.org.

For more information on the college, please visit www.psc.ac.uk.

Staff volunteering is very much supported by BAA. Each year BAA recognises its volunteers at the I-Volunteer Awards held in London. Employees at all 7 airports enter the awards, as recognition for their hard work as well as for donations for their organisations. This year, Southampton staff won awards in three of seven categories and were able to donate a further £24,000 to local charities.

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If you would like to apply to Southampton Airport for support, please write, giving full details, to: Debbie Chalk, Media & Public Affairs Co-ordinator, Southampton Airport, Southampton, SO18 2NL.

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