Schools: North East

(asked on 24th April 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he made of the potential merits of the recommendations of the report entitled, Implementation of Opportunity Areas: An independent evaluation published by the National Foundation for Educational Research when appointing the chair of the Opportunity North East Strategic Board.


Answered by
Nadhim Zahawi Portrait
Nadhim Zahawi
This question was answered on 2nd May 2019

Opportunity North East is different from an Opportunity Area in a number of ways, including that it operates across 12 local authority areas. It also has a highly focused remit to accelerate the improvement in educational outcomes from secondary school and beyond, leading to improved employment outcomes for the region’s young people.

The existing constitution of the board includes leaders from schools, further education and higher education, local government and business, and reflects the need to work across these sectors to bring about sustainable improvements to outcomes for young people in the region. The board includes the leaders of multi-academy trusts who have a good track record in improving school performance in the North East. The school sector is further represented by three local authority Directors of Children’s Services, and the Director of Schools North East. We do not intend to appoint a headteacher as a co-chair, or one or more classroom teachers to the Strategic Board. A schools sub group, which includes an additional three school leaders and the region’s Education Endowment Foundation Research School, advises the Strategic Board. Details about members of the board can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/expert-panel-confirmed-to-raise-education-outcomes-in-north-east.

The current composition of the board has enabled swift decision making, and strong commitment from across the department, so that activity can get underway through the ONE Vision programme from this September, meaning that young people can begin to benefit from as early as September this year. Officials will continue to work closely with a great number of school leaders in the region, through the various strands of work, to ensure that the programme delivers sustainable improvements in outcomes.

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