Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve standards in (a) reading, (b) writing and (c) maths in Portsmouth schools.

This government is committed to raising standards in literacy and numeracy, the foundations for children’s success in education and beyond.

The department has delivered a range of measures to improve the teaching of English. The department has published a Reading Framework, providing guidance on the teaching of reading in primary schools, launched the National Professional Qualification for Leading Literacy to train existing teachers to become literacy experts, and is conducting a review into best practice in writing teaching.

This has been backed by investment. In 2018, the department launched a £67 million English Hubs Programme to improve the teaching of reading, with a focus on phonics, early language development and reading for pleasure. Currently, 14 schools are receiving intensive support from Springhill Hub in the Portsmouth Local Authority District. This is in addition to the two schools that have already graduated from the programme.

Similarly, in 2014, the department introduced a national network of 40 Maths Hubs, to help local schools improve the quality of their teaching. Maths Hubs deliver the department’s Teaching for Mastery programme, which is bringing teaching practice from high performing East Asian jurisdictions to primary and secondary schools across England. The Solent Maths Hub covers Portsmouth as well as Hampshire, Southampton and the Isle of Wight.

The Prime Minister also recently announced more investment in mathematics, as part of the new Advanced British Standard qualification, including some £60 million over two years to improve mathematics education.

In addition to support provided through the department’s hubs programmes, Portsmouth is receiving further dedicated support as one of 24 Priority Education Investment Areas identified in the Schools White Paper. Portsmouth will receive £1.8 million as part of a national investment of around £40 million of additional funding for bespoke interventions, including in literacy and numeracy, to address local needs. The aim is to address entrenched underperformance, in areas with some of the highest rates of disadvantage in the country.