Education supremo outlines £60m plan

Photo: Darren Robinson

EDUCATION Secretary Justine Greening at Oasis Academy Limeside yesterday

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EDUCATION Secretary Justine Greening visited schoolchildren in Oldham to discuss plans for the borough to benefit from a £60 million scheme to promote social mobility.

Ms Greening was given a warm welcome yesterday at Oasis Academy Limeside, where she talked about Oldham being one of six "opportunity areas" in England to see this funding over the next three years.

She announced the plans at the Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham this month, to give pupils "the best start in life, no matter their background".

Tailored

The scheme will be trialled in five other areas initially - Blackpool, Derby, Norwich, Scarborough and West Somerset - with a further four areas to be announced in the coming months. It is not clear yet exactly how much of the £60 million share Oldham will receive but each area, she said, will receive funding and help tailored for it.

The programme will work alongside an additional £75 million fund, which has been created to improve teaching and leadership in the opportunity areas.

Ms Greening, MP for Putney, said: "I came up here to really start the work of putting in place the different measures and meeting different groups to work together.

"One of the things I have to do today is to really listen directly to teachers who work every day in classrooms.

"We want to focus on these areas that could do a lot better. I grew up in Rotherham, which is like Oldham.

"I feel very strongly that children growing up in Oldham have the potential to do great things." Ms Greening said it was not just about what children learn in schools but what support the schools get from their communities and local businesses, which will involve them working with organisations including the National Citizen Service.

"This is a school where that's already happening," she said of Oasis Academy. "It's a great model of how we can do more and better in places like Oldham.

"We are really determined to make sure outcomes for children and young people growing up in Oldham are better. There's a huge amount of potential and we want to unlock that."

The education secretary also defended plans to introduce more grammar schools as part of its plans to promote social mobility.

She said government should "support parental choice" and suggested the expansion of selection would depend on demand.

Labour's Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner previously slammed the idea, warning that grammar schools will "fail the vast majority of children".

The MP for Ashton and Failsworth said there was no evidence that new grammar schools will aid social mobility for children from the poorest communities.

In response to Ms Rayner's comments, Ms Greening, said: "I think that's wrong.

"If you look at children who are on free school meals in grammar schools, their progress is twice that of their better off class mates. The real challenge is to make sure that grammar schools are more open.

"It's not right of politicians to say you're not going to have what you want. It's down to local communities."

Helen Arya, executive principal of Oasis Academy, said: "It's a wonderful opportunity for the secretary of education to visit Limeside.

"It's a privilege. We have spent a number of years building up our social capital, working with businesses, working with partners to provide better education. We hope this model can be replicated."