A mission to make every school in Newcastle, Northumberland, and North Tyneside good or outstanding has not been “forgotten”, North East leaders insist.
Plans were in the works in 2019 to make the North of Tyne area just the third in the country to launch a Government-funded education challenge, promising a “revolution” in the region’s education standards. The move was touted as “probably the single most important thing” that would be done under a £600m devolution deal, but progress has since stalled.
Amid concern about what had happened to the major plans, local authority leaders told councillors on Tuesday that they were still in “ongoing conversations” with the Department for Education about the scheme more than three years later. Newcastle Lib Dem councillor Greg Stone called for reassurances that the education challenge had not been dropped, saying that the previous versions in London and Manchester had been “fundamental” to school improvements.
