Opportunity North East delivery plan released
A year after the initial announcement of the Opportunity North East programme, the delivery plan for the £24 million investment in the region has been finalised.
The Secretary of State for Education chose the Schools North East Academies Conference at St James Park to publish the Opportunity North East (ONE) delivery plan setting out a series of ambitions to deliver on the programme’s long-term commitment to boost social mobility and tap into the potential of young people in the region.
Alongside bespoke improvement plans for the 28 ONE Vision schools, and structured training and support for teachers at the start of their careers through the Early Career Framework, schools will benefit from:
funding transition projects to ensure pupils are supported when they move from primary to secondary school, so that more pupils continue to achieve well into secondary school. Projects include implementing a consistent evidence-based approach to reading comprehension and joining up the curriculum across phases.
offering professional development for maths teachers and support to maths departments to improve the quality of maths teaching in the region
funding the region’s Local Enterprise Partnerships to deliver an enhanced offer of careers and business engagement support for ONE Vision schools
expanding the work of the North East Collaborative Outreach Programme to more schools to deliver a targeted programme of interventions for young people to help them explore their future options.
Targets for the project have also been developed, to be delivered before 2022. In the next two years the aim is to see:
pupils involved in transition projects to make greater progress during year 7 and 8
all ONE Vision schools meeting the national average Progress 8 score and are on the path to be judged at least ‘Good’ by Ofsted
all ONE Vision schools meeting all 8 Gatsby ‘Good Career Guidance Benchmarks’
an increase in the rate of North East applicants and entry to Higher Education Institutions beyond the national rate of increase.
Director of Schools North East, Chris Zarraga is a member of the ONE Strategic Board, ensuring that the views of North East school leaders are represented on the programme.