Guidance

Programme information

Updated 11 July 2019

This guidance was withdrawn on 31 July 2019

The deadline for putting forward an outline proposal form has now closed.

Applies to England

Introduction

Through the Opportunity North East (ONE) programme, we’re asking for proposals to support more pupils to achieve well as they transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3. We want to hear from:

• schools
• trusts
• local authorities

This document sets out:

• the scope for those proposals
• how we’ll decide which to take forward

We’re also keen to involve other schools that would be interested in taking part in the trials, and are interested in learning more.

What we want to improve

For the third year in succession, the north-east is the highest performing region outside London for the proportion of children reaching the expected standard by the end of key stage 2 in:

• reading
• writing
• maths

These strong results across the region’s primary schools are not translating often enough into sufficiently strong secondary and post-16 outcomes.

Maintaining progress through the transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3 has been identified as one of the key challenges for ONE.

We’re keen to see schools working together across the phases to tackle this issue.

Disadvantaged pupils

Nationally, the most able disadvantaged pupils are often overtaken by the end of key stage 4 by non-disadvantaged pupils with lower prior attainment.

In the context of a region with a relatively high level of disadvantage, it’s particularly important that we tackle this issue. We must make sure that there is a specific focus on this group of pupils through our work on transition.

What is currently being done

We know that many schools, and groups of schools, are already doing a great deal to try to improve the transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3 so that pupils continue to achieve well.

Despite a range of approaches being taken by schools in the north-east and elsewhere, there is a limited evidence base on effective practice that will make sure that whole cohorts continue to make good progress.

In these circumstances, ONE will provide a good opportunity to test the effectiveness, and build the evidence base around different promising approaches.

The Opportunity North East Strategic Board wishes to commit up to £1.8 million to test approaches to improving pupil outcomes through better transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3, with a particular focus on supporting the most able disadvantaged pupils.

What should proposals aim to do

Our intention is to identify around 4 or 5 different approaches which will run across a number of schools to test their impact.

We’re particularly looking for proposals that have at least one of the following features:

• supports whole cohorts, to make sure that pupils continue to achieve well in key stage 3
• has a specific focus on supporting the most able disadvantaged pupils
• involves increased collaboration between key stage 2 and key stage 3 practitioners to benefit pupils in both phases
• brings about greater links between the curriculum taught in key stage 2 and key stage 3
• looks to improve outcomes through better parental engagement

All funded proposals would need to be implemented in time to have impact on progress in year 7 by the 2020 to 2021 academic year.

How you can be involved

You should submit your Proposal outline form to opportunitynortheast.enquiries@education.gov.uk by 19 July 2019.

The expression of interest for the programme closed on 24 June.

Schools, trusts or local authorities must have registered their interest to submit a proposal.

Applicants who submit the strongest outline proposals will be shortlisted and asked to submit a full application in the autumn term.

Working with shortlisted applicants

We’ll work with relevant project leaders of the shortlisted outline proposals during the autumn term to refine their project plans, before inviting them to submit full applications for assessment. This process is designed to make sure that the most promising ideas are taken forward and implemented well.

This could include help to:

• deliver better value for money
• improve the sustainability of impact
• make sure the approach can be evaluated easily
• make the project more tightly focused on a specific intervention

We may also ask applicants to work:

• with other experts to refine their proposal
• in partnership with other applicants who have put forward similar proposals, so that we can test a proposition at a greater scale

We’ll keep an open dialogue with shortlisted applicants and support them to develop a deliverable project.

Cohort size

We’ll be procuring an impact assessment of all funded projects so that we can learn about which approaches bring the greatest benefit.

This means that projects must be of a sufficient size for findings to be meaningful. The minimum size of project will depend on the specific proposal. As a guide, this is likely to be an absolute minimum of 5, and ideally 10 or more secondary schools and their partner primaries.

If your idea is taken forward, but you have not partnered with a sufficient number of schools, we will work with you to encourage other schools to take part. If it’s not possible to recruit a sufficient number of schools to take part in your project we will be unable to provide funding.

Where should you be located

All secondary schools involved in the proposals must be located within the 12 local authority areas of the north-east:

• Northumberland
• Newcastle
• Durham
• South Tyneside
• North Tyneside
• Gateshead
• Sunderland
• Darlington
• Middlesbrough
• Stockton
• Hartlepool
• Redcar and Cleveland

If a north-east secondary school involved in a proposal receives pupils from primary schools that are outside of the north-east, those primary schools could be included in a proposal.

Which schools can receive funding

We will only fund activity in state-funded maintained or academy schools. This could include:

• primary schools
• middle schools
• secondary schools
• all-through schools
• special schools
• alternative provision schools

We will be funding the delivery and assessing the impact of the proposed approach for one cohort of pupils per project (in other words, all the pupils in one year group as they transition from primary to secondary school in all schools taking part in the project).

Depending on the proposed approach, other year groups may also benefit. Schools involved may wish to continue the approach for future cohorts of pupils at their own cost.

Evaluating the impact of the approaches tested

The overall aim of ONE is to improve outcomes for young people in the north-east from key stage 4 and beyond.

We anticipate that improving transitions will help us to achieve this, but it will take time to see impact of work coming through at key stage 4.

Therefore, in order to measure impact throughout the ONE programme, we will identify interim indicators of success that can be measured during key stage 3.

We will:

• be asking all participating schools to take a common approach to monitoring progress of pupils periodically through key stage 3 to provide nationally comparative data
• expect all participating schools to participate in any wider activity required for evaluation