{"id":246507,"date":"2026-05-14T23:00:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=246507"},"modified":"2026-05-15T12:58:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T11:58:29","slug":"missions-impossible-the-flagship-policy-due-in-september","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/missions-impossible-the-flagship-policy-due-in-september\/","title":{"rendered":"Missions impossible? The flagship policy due in September"},"content":{"rendered":"

A flagship policy to turn around outcomes in left-behind areas risks \u201csounding bold but changing nothing\u201d, ministers have been warned.<\/p>\n

The warning comes after Labour fleshed out its vision<\/a> for two place-focused programmes, mission north east and mission coastal, to tackle entrenched disadvantage.<\/p>\n

A September start date has been announced, but questions continue to hang over central elements of the scheme as leaders urge the government to learn from the mistakes of the past.<\/p>\n

What do we know?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The missions were first unveiled in the schools white paper in February, with the aim of transforming “outcomes for young people locally and provide a blueprint for change nationally\u201d.<\/p>\n

In the north east, its focus will be on boosting results for white working-class children in \u201ccommunities where attainment gaps are too often accepted as inevitable\u201d, the white paper said.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the coast, efforts will be focused on Hastings and Scarborough. The white paper noted these were areas where \u201copportunity can be limited by geography, fragile local infrastructure, and the compounding effects of disadvantage\u201d.<\/p>\n

The government stressed it will over time “look to form a wider alliance of other coastal areas with similar challenges” that could “benefit from the approach being taken in Scarborough and Hastings”.<\/p>\n

Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, said: \u201cFor too long, children living in these areas have grown up without the opportunities that they need and deserve to be able to achieve and thrive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not a matter of ability. It is a matter of justice. Mission north east and mission coastal are our commitment to change that postcode lottery for good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts and boards<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For both, partnership boards will be established that draw \u201con expertise from teachers, local leaders, and the wider public so that the whole community takes shared responsibility for change\u201d. Schools will also work together in local clusters.<\/p>\n

\u201cExpert practitioners\u201d will work directly with leaders to build teacher capacity and boost standards. No information was provided on who these practitioners will be.<\/p>\n

Schools will be expected to forge \u201cnew partnerships with employers,\u00a0 while sports clubs, faith groups and youth organisations will provide vital mentoring, careers\u2019 support and cultural enrichment\u201d.<\/p>\n

Phillipson said she grew up in the north east and knew the challenges families faced.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want every child there, and in coastal communities like Hastings and Scarborough, to have the same opportunities I was lucky enough to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why these areas?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Government officials said the \u201cstark\u201d data showed the north east had the lowest exam results of any region in England at 1.9 points below the national average of 46 in attainment 8.<\/p>\n

FFT Education Datalab analysis, published three years ago, showed just 54 per cent of 22-year-olds from long-term disadvantage were in employment or education in the north east.<\/p>\n

\"Chris
Chris Zarraga<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chris Zarraga, the director of Schools North East (SNE), said the region faced one of the “worst structural deficits\u201d in local services outside school gates.\u00a0It was also facing the \u201csteepest projected fall\u201d in pupil rolls.<\/p>\n

Education Policy Institute research found<\/a> the number of primary school children in the area is projected to fall by 12.7 per cent by 2028-29. Funding is expected to drop by 9 per cent as a consequence.<\/p>\n

The Department for Education also said in Hastings disadvantaged children averaged just 26 in attainment 8. In Scarborough, the figure stood at 27.<\/p>\n

Russell Hobby, the chief executive of the Kemnal Academies Trust, which runs one Hastings school and another in neighbouring Bexhill, said coastal communities included some of the most neglected towns and neighbourhoods in the country.<\/p>\n

They have \u201cweak job markets, struggling services and alienated communities\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe revitalisation of Britain as a whole will begin with a solution for these towns,\u201d Hobby argued. \u201cIf they remain left behind, our politics will further spiral and fragment.\u201d<\/p>\n

What don’t we know?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

But even though the missions are due to begin in less than four months, much remains unknown.<\/p>\n

The DfE has promised to release details on \u201cfunding arrangements, specific scope and structure\u201d as the programmes develop.<\/p>\n

It said activity would be \u201ctargeted at the communities and schools where need is greatest\u201d, with specifics set to be published \u201cin due course\u201d.<\/p>\n

And, crucially, officials haven\u2019t yet set a timeframe for the missions, so it is not known how long these areas will be supported.<\/p>\n

When approached by Schools Week<\/em>, one council declined to comment \u201cnot least because we simply don\u2019t know enough about the project\u201d.<\/p>\n

An academy trust operating in one of the mission areas was also unable to send over a statement as it \u201cdo[es] not have any details surrounding the plans\u201d.<\/p>\n

Potential pitfalls?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Amid the uncertainty, sector leaders have warned against several potential pitfalls.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for north east council Hartlepool cautioned against \u201cshort-term funding approaches\u201d as they could \u201climit sustainability\u201d.<\/p>\n

They also said a \u201clack of local flexibility\u201d could restrict the ability \u201cto respond to the specific needs of communities\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Russell
Russell Hobby<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Zarraga agreed, but said the missions also required \u201ca sustained approach that lasts beyond election cycles, and a genuine multi-agency approach\u201d.<\/p>\n

Without these elements, the same conversations would be had again in 2032, he warned.<\/p>\n

And Hobby was keen to \u201cpush back\u201d on the plan for expert practitioners to be drafted into the areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gap is not a lack of knowledge or will. It is a lack of resource and the weakness of surrounding services and systems. Well-meaning advice is really not the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Revolutionary\u2019 London Challenge<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The department has said the missions will seek to build on the \u201crevolutionary impact\u201d of the London Challenge.<\/p>\n

Launched in 2003 as a secondary school improvement programme, it was expanded to primaries five years later. It ended in 2011.<\/p>\n

At its peak, the initiative had an annual budget \u00a340 million, with advisers and DfE officials jointly brokering additional support for underperforming schools.<\/p>\n

An Institute for Government (IfG) report<\/a> said it also \u201cinvested heavily\u201d in leadership, including development programmes and consultant heads to help the leaders of struggling schools.<\/p>\n

Over the period, secondary performance dramatically improved and local authorities in inner London went from the worst performing to the best performing nationally.<\/p>\n

Estelle Morris, a former education secretary who helped to pioneer the challenge, said it would be \u201ccrucial\u201d for those leading Labour\u2019s missions to build enough capacity to understand the local barriers to success and communicate them clearly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always felt that one of the things that contributed to the success of the London Challenge was that the relationship between the politics and the education was right and the initiative was given time and space to flourish,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Mixed\u2019 <\/strong>rollout<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Morris\u2019s successor, Charles Clarke, said in an interview five years ago that attempts to replicate the challenge \u2013 which he described as \u201cessentially locally led\u201d \u2013 in other parts of the country \u201cdidn\u2019t really succeed\u201d.<\/p>\n

The IfG found its rollout in Greater Manchester and the Black Country had \u201cmixed\u201d results. This was \u201cin part because they had less time for these practices to properly embed\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Estelle
Estelle Morris<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Conservatives later launched their opportunity areas scheme. Between 2017 and 2022, 12 areas were given \u00a372 million in total. Controversially, this did not extend to the north east.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpportunity North East\u201d was then created to channel \u00a312 million towards dozens of schools across 12 local authorities over three years.<\/p>\n

Alan Wood, who was involved in the London Challenge while director of education at Hackney, said the opportunity area cash \u201cdidn\u2019t touch the surface\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been numerous interventions designed by the centre which have not worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Top-down fears<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The opportunity areas then morphed into the education investment area programme, in which 55 parts of the country prioritised funding as part of the levelling-up agenda.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0Schools Week<\/em>\u00a0analysis in 2023 found the extra cash equated to just \u00a350 per child. The scheme was binned last year.<\/p>\n

Leaders have cautioned that the issuing of \u201cslow\u201d money through lengthy bidding processes and loss of institutional memory between past programmes limited some of the schemes\u2019 chances of success.<\/p>\n

Henri Murison, the chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, urged ministers to \u201clearn from what has worked previously\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said proper local involvement with governance to target how available funding is spent was crucial.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope government decides to go down that road and not try and determine top down what is needed in communities in the north east or in coastal towns from Whitehall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Biggest risk\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Wood believes many of the struggling schools in the mission areas will have a problem with the recruitment and retention of skilled teachers.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing will work unless you\u2019ve got a sufficiency of good teachers. How you get the expertise in the school is imperative.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Zarraga warned the \u201csingle biggest risk\u201d was the programme \u201csounding bold but changing nothing\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said it would only be \u201ctransformational\u201d if it tackled \u201cthe whole system around children, not just the schools they sit in\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cSchools are being asked to deliver structural change in communities that have faced long-term deprivation while\u2026 wider services around schools \u2013 health, police, and social care \u2013 continue to retreat as they have continued to be squeezed.<\/p>\n

“As the secretary of state has acknowledged \u2018no school is an island\u2019. Schools alone cannot solve problems they didn’t create.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With details scarce, heads warn ministers to learn from the mistakes of the past<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311204,"featured_media":246409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[284],"post-theme":[2398],"class_list":["post-246507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-white-paper","post-theme-schools"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t