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The UK’s largest regional schools network, SCHOOLS NorthEast, today strongly welcomed the launch of the Children’s Commissioner’s ‘Growing Up North’ inquiry into children’s life prospects.

However, the composition of the inquiry’s expert advisory panel has caused serious concern about the quality and inclusivity of the initiative as it fails to contain a single North East representative despite seeking to address issues in the region.

The Children’s Commissioner’s inquiry aims to find out why some children in the North fall behind their counterparts in the South. It echoes the SCHOOLS NorthEast strategy, launched in October, calling for change in basic skills, as well as better support for schools so they have the capacity to make vital improvements – to recruit the right teaching talent and for tackling mental health issues.

SCHOOLS NorthEast has set out for key areas that must be tackled as an urgent priority to deliver a step change in education in the region: 

1. North East schools must be better funded.

The constant comparison of the region to London (as was repeatedly cited in the recent Northern Powerhouse Schools Strategy) ignores the fact that if North East schools were funded at London levels they would receive an additional £360m each year. Just to fund them at national average would see an additional £45m/year invested in the region’s schools.

Mike Parker, Director of SCHOOLS NorthEast said: “Comparing northern regions to London is not a helpful narrative. Schools here are grossly underfunded compared to their southern counterparts, and therefore do not have access to the same wealth of resources.

“The Government must level out the playing field for schools and fund them all fairly.”

2. Adult basic skills must radically improve in the North East.

The North East has the worst adult literacy and numeracy skills of any region.

Mike Parker commented: “In the North East, almost a third of adults have the numeracy levels of a 7-9 year old or worse, while a fifth of adults have literacy levels equivalent to a 9 to 11-year-old. These figures are alarming at best and we need a robust regional strategy in place to make sure this issue does not continue to blight the North East for many more generations to come. “

3. Education must become the collective responsibility of all.

“Schools are not islands and we cannot look at them in isolation”, said Mike Parker.” A joint approach is needed between employers, Local Authorities, health services and any other stakeholders to actively promote education from cradle to grave and to support schools better.”

4. A real focus is needed on Early Years education to ensure every child gets the best possible start in life.

“Research shows that 40% of any damage to a child’s education and life chances is already done by the age of 5. Our region has the lowest percentage of children achieving at least expected levels of development during Early Learning. So, like building the Channel Tunnel, if you are off by an inch at the start, you’ll be 100 metres apart by the time you meet in the middle”, Mr Parker concluded.

Statistics relevant to our second point are available in the 2011 Skills for Life Survey (Department for Business, Innovation & Skills) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2011-skills-for-life-survey