Osborne report calls for North East Opportunity Area
Educating the North: driving ambition across the Powerhouse
A new report, “Educating the North”, published on Thursday by Northern Powerhouse Partnerships, has called for major government investment for worse-off families.
The five main proposals are:
- An initial £300m increase in government funding for disadvantaged areas across the North.
- Reforming Pupil Premium to better target funding for disadvantage by allocating more to pupils who spend longer in the free school meals eligibility category.
- A longer-term government commitment to Opportunity Area, urgently addressing the lack of Opportunity Areas in the North East.
- Simplifying the Northern Regional Schools Commissioners areas to establish three: North West, Yorkshire and North East & Cumbria, working within frameworks and plans set by the Northern Powerhouse Schools Improvement Board.
- Every Northern business to mentor or otherwise meaningfully reach out on careers and enterprise skills to at least the same number of young people as they have employees, from the age of 11.
Commenting on the report, SCHOOLS NorthEast Director Mike Parker said:
“We welcome the prominence the document gives to issues that we have long discussed in the North East, however the success of the report will be in the action the Government takes to address the main recommendations that the report outlines.
“In particular, we back the report’s conclusion that the Government has to act urgently to bring its flagship Opportunity Areas support to the North East. SCHOOLS NorthEast has repeatedly challenged the decision not to include this region in a £72m initiative that is also attracting the lion’s share of other school improvement funding and projects to drive up attainment in disadvantaged areas.
“We also need a particular focus on the group of children that are struggling the most – white working class, particularly boys. While we are good at identifying the problem, we aren’t good at identifying the solutions. This is the majority of pupils in our region so the proposal of a Northern Centre of Excellence, focused on deprivation and driving teacher CPD, would make the North a leader in innovative ways to drive up educational standards for this group.”