In response to the government announcement of a multi-million pound investment in Opportunity North East to boost social mobility and raise aspirations for children across the North East of England, SHINE states:

Fiona Spellman, Chief Executive of SHINE, said: “We welcome this significant commitment from the government towards a better education for children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds across the North East.

“Our strategy for education across the Northern Powerhouse supports better transitions for children between primary and secondary school. We are currently funding a number of pioneering education programmes across the North East to enable better transitions, and we are backing inspirational teachers who have developed innovative ideas to address the challenges their students face.

“One good example is a programme developed by Charlotte Pywell, who SHINE is supporting to deliver a peer summer school at Unity City Academy in Middlesbrough. Three in four (73%) of the students at Charlotte’s school start secondary school working towards or significantly below expected standards in English and maths. Without additional help, these pupils struggle make up for this lost learning and can underperform compared to their contemporaries at GCSE. Charlotte’s project aims to tackle this by utilising peer mentoring over the summer break, giving students much-needed additional support and help as they navigate the transition between schools.

“For SHINE this is just the start of a bigger set of programmes to help achieve a step change in education outcomes across the North East. We look forward to collaborating with the government and local partners in future to ensure that all children in the North East get the education they deserve.”

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