Guidance

RISE regional plan: East of England

Updated 3 July 2026

Applies to England

Plan purpose

This RISE regional plan sets out how universal RISE will be delivered locally to improve outcomes for all children and young people. By bringing partners together around the department’s 4 RISE school improvement national priorities, it provides shared direction, coherence and a practical framework for strengthening practice, building capacity and supporting sustained improvement.

The regional plan aims to:

• Translate national priorities into a clear local approach ensuring that work on reception-year quality, inclusive mainstream provision, attendance and attainment is evidence-informed.
• Build on existing strengths, complementing practice already underway across schools, trusts, local authorities and mayoral combined authorities.
• Align with wider local strategies, recognising statutory and place-based responsibilities and stepping back where local authorities and mayoral combined authorities are best placed to lead.
• Support and connect school and trust improvement, enabling collaboration on shared challenges and the rapid spread of learning.
• Strengthen relationships across the wider system, including early years, health and care, recognising that progress – especially on inclusion – depends on multi‑agency effort.
• Provide a clear line into national reform, including developing special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) changes and the national priority on mainstream inclusion.
• Embed RISE within regional delivery, ensuring activity is coordinated, coherent and impactful.

Delivering RISE depends on every part of the system working with purpose. No single organisation alone can deliver improvement at the scale required.

The regional RISE plan calls on all partners to:

• bring their strengths, insight and leadership
• focus on actions that make the biggest difference
• share, test and refine practice quickly
• use evidence well
• contribute to a more connected, confident and resilient improvement system

This is not about doing everything. It is about doing what matters most, doing it well, and doing it together – so every child and young person can thrive.

Foreword by East of England Regional Director

The East of England is a region of extraordinary potential – where history, innovation and natural beauty sit side by side. It is home to the bioscience excellence of the Cambridge cluster, and the advanced engineering and manufacturing emerging in Stevenage, Luton and Peterborough.  The region’s economy is also powered by coastal and rural assets: the international gateways of Felixstowe, Harwich, Tilbury and Stansted, the agricultural strengths of Norfolk and Suffolk and the clean energy leadership of the east coast. For our young people it is a place of possibility.

The Every Child Achieving and Thriving white paper sets a new vision for our education system; one that is broader, more inclusive and more ambitious for every child. A system where no young person is left on the margins; where families who have stepped away from education feel able to return; and where opportunity is not limited by geography or background.

To realise this East of England RISE vision, we must raise our sights and standards. We must tap into the talent and experience of our very best teachers and share their skills more widely through RISE. We must nurture the aspirations of every child – in coastal, rural and urban communities alike – and harness the expertise and determination of our strongest leaders.

Achieving this ambition means strengthening early education, because the foundations laid in reception shape a child’s future. It means raising attainment, so every pupil can fulfil their potential. It means improving attendance, because no child should miss out on the learning that unlocks opportunity. And it means championing inclusion, ensuring every learner feels they belong in their mainstream setting. These four priorities form our commitment to the children and families of the East.

We believe the East of England can, and should, be the best place in the country to grow up and go to school.

This plan sets out how we will get there, together.

Jonathan Duff

Regional Director, East of England

Meet the East of England RISE advisers

The RISE programme aims to break the link between young people’s backgrounds and their future success.

RISE provides support at 2 levels:

• universal support to help all schools improve
• targeted interventions for eligible schools.

As a small group of RISE advisers, we’re honoured to embark on this ambitious and transformative journey with you; the dedicated leaders of education who shape the lives of children and young people every day.

We have seen, and are proud of, the remarkable collaborative spirit across schools in the East of England, and we are excited that this plan seeks to amplify and extend that collective strength.

We are passionate about ensuring RISE reaches every corner of our region. Through RISE, we want to work with you all to make sure that the best practice, innovative ideas, and most effective strategies are shared openly and are accessible to all. When more intensive support is needed, we will work with responsible bodies (local authorities and trusts that have responsibility for schools) and dioceses through our targeted intervention service to identify support that makes a meaningful difference.

This is an ambitious journey. Our goal is to deliver a world‑class education for every child, in every school, designed for the East of England, by the East of England.

We are:  

• Julian Axford
• Lesley Birch
• Lucie Calow
• Caroline Derbyshire
• Clare Flintoff
• Lucy Scott
• Jonathan Taylor
• Josephine Valentine

Together, we can make a profound difference for the children and young people of the East of England.

Contact us by emailing: eastofengland.riseregionalmailbox@education.gov.uk.

Regional focus for East of England

Home to over 2.7 million children and young people, the East of England is a large, diverse region. Its variation marks it apart from the other regions in England. It has prosperous urban areas, with strong transport links to London, rural areas and market towns, as well as long stretches of coastline. There are areas of substantial deprivation, both rural and urban, where the lack of transport links limits access to education and employment opportunity.

There are some clear challenges that we need to address. Key stage 2 outcomes in the East of England are amongst the lowest nationally. Key stage 4 performance is stronger, but the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers remains significant. Data from the reception-year good level of development (GLD) shows that this gap begins early.

We have spoken to local authorities, dioceses, trust leaders and hubs about the RISE national priorities for our region and analysed data to identify our regional focus: Explore our statistics and data

In the East of England, we are focusing on the following areas to improve outcomes across the 4 RISE national priorities.

Reception-year quality

Ensuring every child has the strongest start. We will raise the proportion of 5‑year‑olds achieving a GLD from 68.7% in 2025 to 75% by 2028, giving more children the solid foundation they deserve.

Inclusive mainstream

Championing high‑quality, local SEND provision so that every child can learn, thrive and succeed close to home. We will:

• work with local authorities to reform their SEND arrangements in line with the commitments in Every Child Achieving and Thriving
• draw on the expertise of advisers to ensure that proposals are ambitious, inclusive, and high quality.

Attendance

We will:

• work with schools and partners to raise attendance across our region
• narrow the persistent absence gap for pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils (15% in primary and 20.3% in secondary in 2024 to 2025) so that our region is better than national for disadvantaged pupils (12.4% for primary and 16.9% for secondary in 2024 to 2025)
• increase the proportion of all pupils attending school more than 95% of the time and reduce the number of pupils who were severely absent to pre-pandemic levels and beyond

Attainment, with a focus of English and maths

We will:

• raise outcomes for all and close gaps in achievement at all key stages
• increase attainment to at least pre-pandemic levels at key stage 2, and significantly narrow the disadvantage gap

A particular focus on improving attainment more rapidly in the areas that are furthest away from this aim.

There is significant variation in these areas across the East of England, with some excellent practice in some places and big challenges to address in others. Local contexts and individual school circumstances will continue to inform how these priorities are addressed in practice.

Reception-year quality

RISE support for reception improvement

Overview 

The government has set an ambitious and energising goal: that by 2028 we want 75% of children in England to reach a GLD at age 5. Currently 68.7% of children in the East of England achieve this level, which is above the national average, but still a long way off the 2028 goal.

What is even more concerning is that for children on free school meals, the East of England ranks lowest of all nine regions for GLD outcomes. In 2024 to 2025, 47.8% of pupils eligible for FSM in the East of England achieved a GLD, below the national average of 51.5%.

Together we will change this story. Through shared determination, high-quality practice, and a united regional effort, we will lift outcomes for our youngest pupils and create a fairer, brighter future for every child.

Regional focus for East of England region on reception-year quality

Our regional focus is on improving GLD outcomes for all pupils, with a particular focus on children eligible for FSM.

We need to focus on literacy, particularly writing, as this is the early learning goal that the region performs least well in. We know from a report published in 2020 by the then Public Health England that early communication and language development is vital to improving GLD outcomes.

We also recognise the importance of a broad curriculum, with strong foundations in maths and Personal, Social and Emotional Development to support children’s readiness to learn. We want to champion the work done by staff working in the early years so that we recognise and share best practice, and so that staff and leaders can set high expectations for what young children can achieve.

Proposed strategies to address reception-year quality in East of England region:  

Activity 1: collaboration and sharing of best practice 

We want to ensure that all schools in the region are aware of best practice and take up the offers of support that are available. Based on research and evidence by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and the National Children’s Bureau (NCB), we know what works to improve outcomes for children in reception years.

We will signpost to resources so that early years settings and schools can embed and strengthen practice, drawing on evidence-based approaches, specifically focusing on literacy and writing. This includes promoting use of DfE’s writing framework which sets out the importance of high-quality teaching of writing and spelling in reception years.

Our regional disadvantage network is already delivering free events across the East of England to showcase strategies that close the attainment gap in early years and key stage 1. RISE Universal Offer has more information.

Alongside this, new reception-year networks led by exemplar GLD schools in East of England will strengthen peer-to-peer support by sharing best practice, offering training, sharing resources, and hosting school visits to highlight high impact approaches.  

The East of England also benefits from the early years stronger practice hubs programme, supported by the EEF and NCB.

The East of England Early Years Stronger Practice Hub covers Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk.

The REACHout Early Years Stronger Practice Hub covers Bedford Borough, Central Bedfordshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Luton, Peterborough, Southend on Sea and Thurrock.

The hubs provide evidence-based professional development to help practitioners embed approaches proven to raise outcomes and strengthen work with families.

For schools where maths outcomes are not yet strong, regional maths hubs are ready to provide support; offering free, evidence-informed programmes from reception onwards to strengthen early mathematical development. Find your nearest hub. 

We will use these networks to share evidence-informed materials and best practice, ensuring that practitioners can navigate the landscape of support with confidence. We will prioritise resources that highlight what children, particularly those facing disadvantage, can achieve when provided with the right opportunities. We will also share examples from schools that excel in supporting children’s transition into reception, including the effective use of resources and strong engagement with parents.

Activity 2: focused support for areas with the greatest need 

We will prioritise areas with GLD outcomes below the national average. Local authorities now have statutory school readiness targets and must publish Best Start in Life plans, supported by the national rollout of family hubs.

From next year, every local authority will recruit a dedicated SEND practitioner for each hub to provide direct family facing support, enabling earlier identification of needs and stronger join up between early years settings, health and SEND teams. To support this, we will encourage partnerships between early years settings and schools, using this model to test and implement different approaches to transitions, including for children with SEND.   

We want all school leaders to support the goal of improving GLD outcomes and to feel confident in setting high expectations for children in their schools. Where a school’s GLD performance data is a concern, we will conduct structured conversations about reception quality with responsible bodies.

These discussions will review contextualised GLD outcomes, early language needs, workforce capacity and curriculum approaches, agreeing clear actions and monitoring progress to ensure timely intervention. Schools requiring further assistance can approach the department to explore additional support. 

The GLD Monitoring Tool is accessible to all (via the View Your Education Data webpage), and we will work with our networks, hubs, schools, trusts and local authorities to make sure schools are looking at their GLD data to challenge themselves to set high expectations for young children.

Activity 3: Strengthening expertise in communication and language 

We will support schools to embed evidence-based approaches by working with our hubs to strengthen early communication and language development. A key focus will be the use of high-quality reception case studies drawn from schools with similar contexts, enabling leaders and practitioners to learn from peers.

These case studies will model effective practice, demonstrate what strong early language provision looks like in comparable settings, and help build a culture of shared problem solving across schools.

Our approach focuses on strengthening the workforce, promoting inclusive practice (including for children with SEND), and ensuring timely, focused support. We will help schools embed evidence‑based programmes such as the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI), working closely with English hubs, family hubs, and Best Start plans to improve early communication and language development. NELI provides assessment tools, continuing professional development and a 20‑week intervention.

Schools with early communication and language concerns should contact their nearest English Hub for tailored guidance and register for NELI via the programme website.

Inclusive mainstream

RISE support for inclusive mainstream education.

Overview

Outcomes data, particularly for disadvantaged pupils at key stage 2, shows substantial variation in how effectively we support children with additional needs. We must address this inconsistency to improve pupils’ experiences and ensure that children with SEND can achieve stronger, more consistent outcomes and thrive in their local schools.

Regional focus for East of England region on inclusive mainstream

We must increase the capacity, quality, and location of inclusion bases in line with the commitments in Every Child Achieving and Thriving. At present, inclusion bases are not strategically placed across the region, leading to inefficient delivery in some areas, hindering their ability to meet current and future need.

In rural areas, gaps in local provision can result in long travel times or reliance on independent placements, contributing to poorer experiences for pupils and parental dissatisfaction.

In the East of England in 2023 to 2024, the suspension rate for pupils in primary was worse than any other region. Suspension rates for disadvantaged pupils, or for those who had special educational needs (SEN) support or an education, health and care plan (EHCP) were also worse than the national average. There was a similar pattern for permanent exclusions.

It is important that we continue to work closely with the Parent Carer Forum to gather feedback and promote co-creation. The region also benefits from an established Regional Improvement and Innovation Alliance (RIIA), known as Improvement East. It provides an established regional infrastructure for peer challenge and peer review, which we will leverage to support more consistent inclusive practice across schools and responsible bodies.

Proposed strategies to address inclusive mainstream in East of England region

Activity 1: strengthening inclusion bases

We will work with local area partnerships and Improvement East to improve the capacity, quality, and strategic coherence of inclusion bases across the region. This will include mapping existing provision to understand current and projected patterns of need, ensuring provision is recorded consistently, and working with local areas to identify gaps where new or expanded inclusion bases could strengthen local mainstream pathways.

We will ensure that planning for inclusion bases forms a core part of local SEND reform plans to meet the needs of pupils, with clear strategies showing how areas will respond to changing patterns of need. The aim of this is to reduce the reliance on independent and out‑of‑area placements, decreasing both costs and pressure on the system.

We will work closely with stakeholders to progress plans at pace. This will include considering gaps in social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) and moderate learning difficulty (MLD) provision, which is a significant factor for mainstream capacity in the East of England.

We will also promote collaboration across the system by supporting schools to join, or form, strong trusts. We will encourage schools to work together locally to reduce pupils needing to travel long distances to access specialist provision.

Activity 2: improve consistency of best practice across the region to improve experience of pupils with SEND

We will use Universal RISE to strengthen peer‑to‑peer learning through conferences, networks, and shared resources. By drawing on a range of intelligence, including Ofsted’s insights into high‑quality inclusive practice, we will gather examples of effective approaches across the region and share these through our networks, including Improvement East.

We have hosted a sector-led conference to showcase good practice and practical strategies for inclusive mainstream provision. We will continue to keep our RISE regional webpage updated with relevant guidance and materials.

We know that local authorities across the region are facing challenges in meeting demand for SEND services. RISE teams will help strengthen collaboration and promote a culture of openness and shared learning.

We will also work through Improvement East, to drive alignment, peer learning, and system coherence. The new Inclusion Community of Practice will share promising practice and address inconsistency across the region.

We will use RIIA governance structures to embed inclusive mainstream and consistent practice as shared regional priorities, and channel departmental guidance and RISE resources through the Improvement East networks to ensure consistent messaging and shared tools across local authorities and trusts.

Activity 3: reducing suspensions and exclusions through inclusive behaviour practice

We will share best practice on partnership working to reduce suspensions and exclusions. These partnerships will strengthen joint working, promote consistency in how exclusions are managed, and ensure that early intervention support is available and accessible for pupils who need it. We will also support inclusive reintegration processes, to help local partnerships ensure exclusions do not lead to disengagement.

We will provide support to, and challenge schools with high exclusion rates including through expert guidance, behaviour reviews, and signposting to leadership support. We will encourage schools with high exclusion rates to work with our attendance and behaviour hubs to ensure their policies are inclusive and take account of reasonable adjustments for SEND pupils.  

Activity 4: apply high expectations on inclusion for responsible bodies, particularly those seeking a decision from the DfE.

Evidence shows that strong leadership and clear accountability drive more inclusive practice in mainstream settings. The new trust standards for multi-academy trusts (MATs) alongside the new approach to school inspection and, in the future, trust inspection will ensure that we have high expectations for leaders and responsible bodies.

Strengthening our expectations around inclusion when making commissioning decisions supports the department’s duty to consider equality and to promote fair, inclusive outcomes for all children, in line with the Public Sector Equality Duty.

When moving a school to a new trust, or identifying a responsible body to provide RISE support, we will prioritise organisations who have evidence of strong inclusive practice. We will also pay close attention to data from schools that indicate poor inclusion. We will follow up with responsible bodies where there is data or intelligence that suggests that off-rolling may be taking place.

By aligning decision making with national SEND reform, RISE priorities, and expected standards, we will help ensure responsible bodies contribute to a coherent, inclusive regional system where children with SEND are supported to achieve well in their local schools.

Attendance

RISE support for improving attendance in schools.

Overview

School attendance has fallen since 2019, with overall absence worsening from 4.7% to 7.6% and only improving slightly to 6.7% in early 2024 to 2025. Persistent absence has more than doubled, with around 20% of pupils persistently absent in 2023 to 2024.

Severe absence and children missing education (CME) also remain a concern across the region. This is important because lower attendance is strongly linked to poorer GCSE outcomes, worse mental health outcomes, poorer emotional wellbeing, and reduced lifetime earnings.

Improving attendance depends on inclusive, calm and engaging schools, strong family relationships, and early support for pupils with additional needs. Attendance typically drops at transition to secondary school and continues to decline through key stage 3.

Addressing this requires removing barriers, strengthening transition, and ensuring schools have robust systems in place, including full use of the DfE’s attendance tools for early identification, intervention and consistent multi-agency support.

Regional focus for East of England region on attendance

Overall absence in 2024 to 2025 was broadly in line with national levels (5.2% in primary and 8.4% in secondary). However, absence is worse than national levels for disadvantaged pupils, those on SEN support, and pupils with EHCPs in primary schools, indicating that some of the region’s most vulnerable pupils are still not attending consistently.

Persistent absence mirrors this pattern. This demonstrates that even in a region performing broadly in line with national averages, the most vulnerable pupils are still experiencing disproportionately high levels of missed education. There is also significant local variation.

Our regional priority is to reduce the gap in persistent and severe absence, particularly among disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. We will also increase the proportion of pupils attending school more than 95% of the time. The 95% benchmark is significant because research shows that attending more than 95% of the time significantly improves life chances, particularly for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

School attendance initiatives should be supported by stronger inclusion, earlier intervention and more consistent, high‑quality school environments fully aligned with the direction of national reform.

It is also important that we work to reduce disparities between local authority areas and ensure every young person in all parts of our region can access a school environment where they feel safe, supported and able to attend school regularly.

We must work together to encourage the sharing of best practice on the transition between primary and secondary and use our collective data expertise to identify groups most at risk and identify strong practice in the region. Localised deprivation gaps, coastal community challenges and longstanding patterns of disadvantage must be explicitly recognised.

Proposed strategies to address attendance in East of England region

Activity 1: targeted engagement – using data to drive support and challenge

We will continue to provide clear guidance on how schools should access, interpret and act on their data, including understanding which schools are performing well and how to connect with them for peer learning.

Schools and responsible bodies will be expected to use data consistently including the View Your Education Data (VYED) tool. They should be familiar with attendance data at a granular level.

We will encourage schools to identify emerging concerns quickly and intervene early to support children and families where needed, through structured engagement with responsible bodies. We will support and challenge responsible bodies whose attendance falls below that of similar schools. This will include signposting strong practice, with a focus on pupils attending 90 to 95%, who are at highest risk of becoming persistently absent.

We will promote full use of DfE tools such as VYED, the banding tool, and the similar school comparison report, helping schools benchmark performance and learn from higher‑performing peers. We will also encourage collaboration with schools that are excelling compared with similar settings.

Activity 2: sharing best practice – building regional peer-learning network

We will create stronger regional peer‑learning networks that unite schools, trusts and local authorities with similar contexts, including coastal, rural and high-deprivation areas to tackle attendance challenges with shared purpose - building on the expertise of attendance and behaviour hubs and strong local partnerships.

These networks will drive practical action. They will share what works, offer high‑quality continuing professional development (CPD), host open days, and provide clear, accessible best‑practice resources. They will also incorporate an expanded range of case studies, particularly from schools that are bucking the trend for disadvantaged and SEND attendance, demonstrating how effective approaches can be replicated across the region.

We acknowledge the clear link between inclusive, welcoming practice and improved attendance and recognise that a strong, engaging curriculum plays a key role in supporting good attendance. Our CPD, guidance, and resources will show that a strong curriculum and inclusive teaching are key to supporting good attendance.

We will build on the momentum of our successful in‑person and online regional attendance conferences, and we will keep our RISE webpages continually updated with new resources, advice and case studies to support ongoing improvement across the region.

Activity 3: attendance and behaviour hubs – strengthening support through attendance advisers

We will use our attendance and behaviour hubs to deliver a clear, tiered programme that strengthens attendance practice and reduces persistent and severe absence. Support will be delivered through 3 tiers:

• enhanced support offering up to 10 days of focused work for priority schools
• regional support providing online CPD, open days and training
• universal support giving every school access to templates, case studies, guidance and webinars

Through the hubs, our attendance and behaviour hub adviser will work directly with selected schools and responsible bodies to build capability, strengthen severe‑absence pathways and embed evidence‑based strategies. This will include establishing a regional practice group and applying test‑and‑learn approaches from the severe absence project.

Activity 4: strengthening family and community engagement

We will help schools build stronger, more trusting relationships with families so that improvements in attendance are sustained over time. We will provide practical tools that support the early identification of pupils and families who may need additional help, using data to guide and personalise interventions.

We will offer guidance and examples drawn from effective practice in coastal and rural areas, where longstanding barriers to attendance may require more specific contextual understanding. We will encourage the development of deeper partnerships with community organisations, early help teams and other stakeholders to widen the support available to children and families.

Our focus will be on addressing the underlying causes of persistent absence, not just the symptoms. We will promote consistent multi-agency alignment by clarifying expectations of local authority roles, developing shared protocols where possible, and supporting leaders to understand how to navigate and apply these expectations regardless of county boundaries.

Attainment with a focus on English and maths 

RISE support for improving attainment in schools.

Overview

Attainment across the East of England shows a mixed picture. At the end of primary school, key stage 2 outcomes are amongst the lowest nationally. At the end of secondary school, key stage 4 outcomes are relatively better than national.

However, there is significant variation across the region and, at all key stages, the gap for disadvantaged pupils is worse than their disadvantaged peers nationally.

Regional focus for East of England region on attainment

Our regional focus is to accelerate primary attainment so that more children finish key stage 2 confident, capable and ready for the next stage of learning.

In 2024 to 2025, 61% of pupils in the East of England reached the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, slightly below the national average of 62%. While several areas performed above both regional and national levels, the region still contains some of the lowest performing local authorities in the country.

Central Bedfordshire recorded the lowest results nationally at 50%, which is 12 percentage points below the national average. Norfolk also performed below average, at 6 percentage points lower. Bedford has shown steady improvement but remains 5 percentage points below the national figure. Cambridge, Suffolk and Peterborough also continue to perform below the national average.

The variation between local areas highlights where focused, collaborative action is needed and where we can accelerate progress by learning from the strongest practice.

Our aim is that by 2028, attainment will have increased to at least pre-pandemic levels at key stage 2 (this was 63.6% for reading, writing and maths combined in 2018 to 2019). We will have a particular focus on improving attainment more rapidly in the areas that are furthest behind.

In line with the commitments in Every Child Achieving and Thriving, we are committed to narrowing the gap that disadvantaged pupils face; a gap that begins in the early years and persists throughout education.

This will be our key focus in key stage 4. At the end of key stage 2, 43% of disadvantaged pupils in the East of England reached the expected standard in 2024 to 2025, compared with 47% nationally.

By the end of secondary, disadvantaged pupils achieved an Attainment 8 score of 33.1, below the national average of 34.9. Closing this gap is essential to ensuring every child, wherever they live and whatever their background, can succeed.

Proposed strategies to address attainment in the East of England region

Activity 1: identifying and sharing exemplary practice

We will continue to embed our 3 newly established practitioner networks, focused on:

• reducing the disadvantage gap
• key stage 2 attainment (also known as the RISE East of England teaching exchange)
• key stage 4 attainment

These networks bring organisations together to support collaboration, shared learning and practical support to embed effective approaches. For more information see RISE Networks: East of England.

Through our networks, we will identify barriers affecting disadvantaged pupils and share best practice across the system, including key stage 3 approaches that build strong foundations during and after transition.

We will promote effective literacy and numeracy routines, successful transition models, parental engagement strategies and programmes that raise aspirations, improve attitudes to learning and strengthen pupils’ sense of belonging.

We will also host regional conferences to connect practitioners and promote the sharing of best practice. We will ensure schools in need are offered additional English and maths hub support to strengthen early language, phonics and mathematical confidence, and work together with our hubs to share best practice.

We will also promote the use of the DfE’s writing framework as a key tool for raising attainment.

Activity 2: focused support to raise attainment

We will continue targeted RISE support for schools that meet the eligibility criteria, led by our RISE advisers. This includes coordinating local partners, using our targeted intervention programme, and increasing use of English and maths hub provisions.

We have established the Central Bedfordshire Education Leadership Improvement Partnership to address the significant challenge of raising key stage 2 attainment in the area.

Working alongside the local authority and school and trust leaders, we are convening local partners to coordinate activity, provide practical support and challenge, and accelerate improvement. If this approach proves successful, it could be adapted and applied to other local areas facing similar challenges.

When we are responsible for decisions on structural change for schools, our framework for decision making will prioritise trusts with a track record for improving attainment, while maintaining an inclusive culture.

Activity 3: driving improvement through focused conversations

We will hold detailed attainment discussions with responsible bodies that are underperforming to review performance at key stage 2 and key stage 4, identifying where further support is needed and drawing on strong practice from high-performing schools.

We will also use the new trust standards referenced in Every Child Achieving and Thriving to hold trusts to account and support their self-improvement.  

Regional themes

The activities set out in the regional focus section will not be possible without these themes that underpin all priorities.

Theme 1: parental and community engagement

• Strengthen how schools, trusts and local partners engage parents and carers by promoting consistent communication, shared expectations and meaningful involvement in children’s learning.
• Support leaders to develop approaches that value parent and community voice, using feedback, co‑design and local insight to shape priorities and improve outcomes.
• Continuing to invest in our relationship with the regional Parent Carer Forum.
• Communicating the expectation that trusts should support and participate in community collaboration.

Theme 2: strong system leadership and governance

• Establish a new sector-led regional network for chairs to help strengthen trust boards, support stronger collaboration and professional development and to share effective practice.
• Strengthen the pipeline of school and trust leaders across the region by promoting National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) and other continuing professional development such as leadership development programmes (e.g. immersion trust led programmes, mentoring, coaching).
• Strengthen the quality of governors and trustees with effective training and mentoring, where appropriate, and by encouraging executive leaders to serve as trustees on other trust’s boards.
• Champion diversity by increasing opportunities for underrepresented groups to access leadership pathways including focused development and mentoring.
• Invest in strategic partnerships and sustained dialogue with local authority and diocesan education leaders.

Theme 3: networking and collaboration

• Promote strong partnership working across sector partners, as leadership beyond organisational boundaries is essential to underpin the delivery of our priorities.
• Strengthen joint working between schools, trusts, local authorities dioceses and other key partners to address shared local challenges.
• Develop our regional network infrastructure, building on existing strong practice and collaboration that exists in the East of England.
• Encourage schools judged to have exceptional practice under the new Ofsted framework to share their expertise with others through RISE.

Theme 4: technology, artificial Intelligence (AI) and school level data

• Make the best, responsible use of developing technologies, including AI, to better enable collaborative working.
• Enhance how schools, trusts and local partners collect, analyse and use data to inform decision‑making by promoting consistent data practices, clear expectations and purposeful use of insights to support teaching, learning and operational planning.
• Equip leaders to develop approaches that value data transparency and shared understanding, using feedback, analysis and local contextual knowledge to identify priorities, drive improvement and strengthen outcomes for all pupils.

Ambitions

The department will monitor our progress against the following RISE national priorities and regional theme ambitions in the East of England region over the next year.

Reception quality

• More schools engage with RISE, stronger practice hubs, English hubs and reception networks, with feedback that this engagement is influencing classroom practice.
• Responsible bodies and school leaders show greater confidence in using GLD data, identifying areas for improvement, and setting high expectations for children’s early development.
• Schools and local areas in the greatest need receive focused timely, coordinated support.
• Practitioners across the region demonstrate increased confidence and capability in delivering strong early language provision, supported by shared case studies and peer‑to‑peer learning.

Inclusive mainstream

• Regional map of current provision completed, enabling work with local areas to identify gaps and progress work on inclusion bases through Local SEND Reform Plans.
• RISE webpage regularly updated, with increased use of shared guidance.
• Local exclusion‑reduction partnerships established in all priority areas.
• Inclusion is a consideration in DfE decisions affecting schools/trusts.
• More responsible bodies demonstrate strong inclusive leadership and equitable outcomes for SEND pupils.

Attendance

• Data‑led attendance systems in schools and responsible bodies are established and embedded
• Regional collaboration is strengthened, with peer‑learning networks and attendance hubs supporting the sharing and implementation of effective practice.
• Family and community engagement is improved, helping schools build trust, remove barriers, and provide more coordinated support to pupils and families.

Attainment

• Growth in collaboration demonstrated by active engagement with the practitioner networks, leading to sharing of good practice and stronger consistency.
• All priority schools identified and timely deployment of RISE intervention support.
• All required attainment conversations completed with clear improvement actions agreed and responsible bodies committing to measurable changes.
• Chairs’ network established, with regular attendance and positive evaluation of its usefulness.

How these ambitions relate to ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’

Reception-year quality

The Best Start in Life Strategy sets out our national ambition for 75% of reception children to achieve GLD by 2028. We have agreed bespoke GLD targets for each local authority.

Best Start Local Plans will outline how local authorities will deliver these ambitions across the full early years system (health, family services, education, childcare providers, Stronger Practice hubs, schools and the wider community).

Inclusive mainstream

• A national ambition for a more inclusive mainstream system so that more children can be educated in a local mainstream school with timely, flexible and accessible support.
• The RISE regional plan sets out how RISE teams will deliver this through increased inclusion base provision in schools and strong local partnership working to support children with additional needs.

Attendance

• A national target to raise attendance by 1.3 percentage points from 2023/24, reaching over 94% by 2028/29 (equivalent to 20 million additional days in school).
• Every mainstream school will be set an Attendance Baseline Improvement Expectation (ABIE), which sets out expected improvements to support national progress.

Attainment

• The national ambition for the share of pupils achieving the expected standard in key stage 2 reading, writing and maths to rise above the 2019 peak (65% overall; 51% disadvantaged) by the end of this Parliament.
• In the East of England, our ambition is for key stage 2 outcomes to reach 64% for all pupils and 47% for disadvantaged pupils by the end of this Parliament.

RISE Universal school improvement architecture

RISE: East of England regional support has a range of school improvement resources, including access to RISE hubs, networks, and practical tools to support your improvement journey.

Overview

The East of England will continue to develop school improvement architecture that strengthens the regional system to support the delivery of RISE. This architecture brings together the collective activity of DfE funded or endorsed hubs, sector-led networks and alliances, alongside the governance and operational systems that connect regional school improvement activities.

The goal is to create a framework that can draw on local expertise, enabling consistent communication with all schools, and supporting access across every phase and geography.

Existing strengths

We have established new sector-led networks to showcase regional excellence, share best practice and expand opportunities to work collaboratively. Our networks have run a series of very successful events this academic year already and we are working together to deliver further events over the coming year.

Disadvantage network

The disadvantage network focuses on closing the gap between disadvantaged students and their peers in the early years and KS1 through effective practice showcases.

You can register your interest with the disadvantage network.

Key stage 2 attainment network: the RISE East of England teaching exchange

The teaching exchange brings together schools, trusts and leaders into a regional network, supporting collaboration and shared learning alongside key stage 2 practice support. Find out more here: RISE East of England teaching exchange

Key stage 4 attainment network:

The key stage 4 attainment network aims to connect schools, trusts and leaders through collaborative, themed conferences that focus on practical solutions for long-term impact. Focus areas include marginal gains in year 11, investing in key stage 3 and CPD.

Across the East of England, schools benefit from a substantial set of DfE funded and endorsed hubs and partnerships spanning phases and subjects.

Teaching school hubs are a significant part of this offer and act as centres of excellence for high quality teacher training, early career development and leadership pathways. It also includes curriculum hubs, stronger practice hubs, attendance and behaviour hubs, and research schools supported by the EEF.

Together, these hubs provide specialist expertise, high quality professional development, and evidence-informed support to strengthen teaching, leadership and curriculum, while connecting schools into wider professional communities.

How delivery will work

We will establish a RISE regional delivery partnership, which will bring together representation from, for example, local authorities, dioceses, trusts, hubs, network leads, and/or RISE advisers.

The group will provide strategic oversight, alignment and direction across the region, driving progress and ensuring activity is well coordinated, transparent and connected to wider national and regional priorities.

Communication

To make engagement clear and simple, we will use our RISE newsletters to keep everyone updated.

Local authority networks, diocesan teams and existing partnerships will link into the same system so schools receive consistent messages and can navigate support easily. National developments will plug in through these connectors as they mature.

Join us in driving a self-improving system

We invite schools, trusts, local authorities, dioceses and system partners to step forward to:

• get involved in our existing networks, and
• propose alliances that will drive practical improvement

If you want to help build a culture where collaboration is the norm, effective practice spreads quickly, and disadvantaged pupils benefit first, we want you involved. We would welcome offers from schools that have been judged to have exemplary or strong practice by Ofsted.

For school, trust and local authority leaders, universal RISE in the East of England is primarily experienced through participation in local partnerships and regional networks aligned to the 4 national priorities. RISE advisers support navigation of the offer, help align activity across the system and ensure learning is shared at scale. 

For more information email: eastofengland.riseregionalmailbox@education.gov.uk.

Case study: Southchurch High School, Southend

The challenge

Southchurch High serves a richly diverse community and operates within a complex local context, including an above average proportion of pupils eligible for FSM (43%) and a significant number of pupils with additional needs.

Following multiple historical improvement attempts, staff had encountered understandable ‘initiative fatigue’. The focus needed to be on deepening capacity, strengthening consistent practice and ensuring that change is manageable and directly aligned to the needs of the school community.

Working collaboratively

Despite initial apprehension, the school quickly recognised the adviser’s balanced approach. They demonstrated a clear understanding of when to intervene sensitively and when to empower leaders to take ownership.

The adviser drew on personal knowledge and social capital to connect Southchurch with a MAT whose culture and history of overcoming similar contextual challenges made them a strong match. This created an open channel for shared learning, strategic planning, and problem solving, with deeper collaboration already developing.

The additional RISE funding further strengthened the partnership, enabling Southchurch to access high quality expertise over a sustained two-year period.

Impact

The combination of expertise, appropriate challenge, and collaborative planning has resulted in notable improvements in the school’s improvement trajectory. Staff have moved from apprehension to active engagement, supported by the accelerated implementation made possible through RISE resources.

This work has changed how the school approaches improvement and is already influencing the life chances of the young people and communities Southchurch serves.

What worked well:

• sensitive but decisive leadership from the RISE adviser
• a strong cultural match with the partner MAT, enabling relevant and realistic solutions
• sustained funding that allowed for consistent, high-quality input over time
• a collaborative ethos where the school felt supported with, not done to
• schoolwide cooperation and buy-in

Next steps:

• deepen the collaboration with the aligned MAT to embed shared expertise
• continue capacity building within the school’s leadership teams and continue to monitor progress