Keir Starmer wants to see exam results in the North East “dramatically” improved under a new bid to improve standards across the region, writes Local Democracy Reporter, Daniel Holland.
The Prime Minister was at a school in Newcastle on Thursday, after the announcement of the Mission North East project earlier this week.
It is hoped that the investment drive can match the success of the London Challenge, which was introduced in 2003 under the previous Labour Government and is credited with increasing the share of pupils achieving five good GCSEs, including English and Maths, from 32% to 54%.
During a visit to Walbottle Academy, Sir Keir told pupils, staff, and parents that ministers were “here to roll up our sleeves” and help support teachers to ensure that every child can “go as far as their talent and ability will take them”.
Speaking about the Mission North East vision, the Prime Minister said: “This is where the Government recognises what good staff are doing, what good schools are doing in the North East and comes up behind to give them extra support to make a real change to the outcomes. We did this in London some years ago and the outcomes dramatically improved.
“The idea is to do it again and this time be utterly focused on the North East.”
The North East has fewer pupils getting top GCSE grades than any other region in England, with only 17.8% of youngsters receiving a grade 7 or above in 2025’s exams.
And, since 2019, the gap to pupils in London has grown from 9.3% to 10.6%.
Walbottle Academy principal Richard Harrison was teaching in the capital at the time of the London Challenge and believes that a similar funding push to help schools here can deliver serious improvements.
He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “The amount of investment that went in and what we were able to invest in with additional teaching staff, support staff, enrichment… it was phenomenal.
“It absolutely drove sustained improvement across the entirety of London. Hopefully Mission North East will have a similar impact here. It requires funding. In the end, if you put the funding, we have some fantastic trusts in the North East who know how to drive sustained improvement. If they are given additional investment we can drive improvement even further.”
Sir Keir met with canteen staff and sat in a Year 7 English class during his visit to the school, in the west of the city.
He then gave a speech in which he addressed planned reforms to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services, the need to cut child poverty, and his aim to see apprenticeships given the same social status as going to university.
The Prime Minister also addressed the mental health impact of social media on children and the prospect of banning under-16s from using it.
He said that the idea of a ban remained under review and that ministers “have to get this right” – to tackle both harmful social media content and platform’s addictive features.
Daniel Holland
Reporter for the Local Democracy Reporter Service.
South West Durham News covering news across County Durham.
