Guidance

RISE: North East regional plan

Updated 3 July 2026

Applies to England

Plan purpose

The 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 4 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 evidence-informed work on reception-year quality, inclusive mainstream provision, attendance and attainment.
• Build on existing strengths, complementing practice already underway across schools, trusts, local authorities and mayoral combined authorities (MCAs) - adding value, not duplication.
• Align with wider local strategies, recognising statutory and place-based responsibilities and stepping back where local authorities and MCAs are best placed to lead.
• Support and connect school and trust improvement, enabling collaboration on shared challenges and 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) reforms 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 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 North East Regional Director

The North East is a region of striking contrasts and enduring strength. Our communities are proud, tight-knit, and fiercely ambitious for their children but they are also navigating socio-economic challenges, with over a third of pupils eligible for free school meals – the highest proportion of any region in England.

Despite these challenges, our primary schools consistently deliver some of the strongest key stage 2 outcomes outside London for all pupils. But this early promise too often fades. At key stage 4, outcomes fall below the national average, and absence rates - particularly in secondary schools - continue to undermine progress. The transition from primary to secondary remains critical, especially for disadvantaged pupils and those with special educational needs. Whilst disadvantaged pupils’ achievement in the North East compares favourably with other regions, we have the highest levels of disadvantage to contend with, which only serves to compound the challenge here.

This plan sets out how North East RISE will deliver the national RISE priorities – raising attainment, improving attendance, strengthening reception-year quality, and embedding inclusive practice - through a lens that reflects the North East’s unique context. We are focused on what works here, now, for the young people we serve.

We will back schools to close the attainment gap, particularly for disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. We will invest in early years by launching reception networks. We will support schools to achieve stronger transitions, better parental engagement, and more consistent inclusive practice across all phases. And we will continue our work with schools on improving attendance, as we know that those who attend regularly have the best chance of achieving.

This plan is rooted in the voices of our region, reflecting our shared ambition and our refusal to accept that geography or background should determine a child’s future. I look forward to working with you to achieve our vision for children across the North East.

Katherine Cowell

Regional Director, North East Region

Meet the North East RISE advisers

What defines the North East region is the dedication and commitment of staff in our schools. The RISE programme has been established to work in partnership with trusts, local authorities and dioceses to build on and affirm such dedication so that all children can experience success and have the best start in life. This ambitious programme has at its core the need to rapidly secure meaningful and sustained transformation so that all children - irrespective of background or need - can thrive and succeed.

The Universal RISE programme has 4 clear national priorities aimed at raising standards across all stages of a child’s education. These 4 areas, while not exhaustive, do recognise the key issues within the educational provision across all regions and RISE has the overarching priority of improving the life chances of the most disadvantaged children in our schools.

We are a team of 4 advisers with a wide range of experience across all phases of education and all aspects of leadership, ably supported by an outstanding North East Department for Education (DfE) RISE team:

• Nick Blackburn
• Pippa Irwin
• Maura Regan
• Simon White

As RISE advisers our role is not to inspect but to work with eligible schools to establish the areas where the greatest targeted support is needed and to match them with organisations best placed to provide that support.

Our role is then to monitor and support so that both the school and their partner have direct access to us throughout the 2-year improvement journey. We are keenly aware that our North East schools face many challenges often underscored by social deprivation and poverty, but we also know that people are proud of their roots and traditions.

We believe that the RISE initiative provides us with the essential framework to begin to tackle the many challenges that children, schools, and communities face. North East children deserve a high-quality education that raises expectations and aspirations and allows them to be positive and affirming of their school days.

We are therefore committed to championing the programme and we invite school leaders to join us in supporting what we aim to be a high impact programme providing North East children with the educational opportunities and successes that they so richly deserve.

Please reach out to us by contacting: northeast.riseregionalmailbox@education.gov.uk

Regional focus for North East

The North East is shaped by strong communities and a mix of coastal, rural, and urban areas, from Northumberland’s rural landscapes to the cities of Newcastle and Sunderland to the industrial areas of Teesside. As a region with long‑standing structural inequalities, it faces some of the most significant socio-economic challenges in England.

The region is home to more than a thousand schools serving around 400,000 pupils. Disadvantage rates are particularly acute: almost a third of pupils (32.7%) are eligible for free school meals, the highest rate nationally, with some localities such as Middlesbrough and parts of Newcastle exceeding 40%.

The North East also reports England’s highest SEND rate, with 15.5% of pupils identified as having SEND, alongside one of the highest proportions of education, health and care plans (EHCPs). These pressures intersect with higher absence rates and the need for continued investment in school buildings.

Despite these challenges, schools across the North East remain collaborative and resilient. Educators, families, and local partners demonstrate a shared commitment to ensuring that all children – regardless of background or need – can thrive.

We have engaged with a selection of partners across the North East about the RISE national priorities for our region through engagement over the last academic year with local authorities, dioceses, trust leaders, network leaders and hubs. While these priorities are evident across the North East as a whole, we recognise that there will be variation at school level.

Local contexts and individual school circumstances will continue to inform how these priorities are addressed in practice: Explore our statistics and data.

The North East’s national priorities will focus on:

• Reception-year quality: improving good level of development (GLD) measures to national average or better, with a focus on writing and number.
• Mainstream inclusion: enabling pupils to access high-quality provision which meets learner needs close to home, and further reducing exclusion
• Attendance: early intervention to develop strong attendance habits in pupils and their families and reducing persistent absence, particularly for disadvantaged groups
• Attainment, with a focus on English and maths: improving outcomes for pupils facing the greatest barriers – particularly at key stage 4 where attainment is lowest nationally – thereby raising attainment for all pupils and reducing the disadvantage gap, as referenced in Every child achieving and thriving.

Reception-year quality

RISE support for reception improvement

Overview

Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life sets out the government’s strategy for improving child development and meeting the ambition that 75% of 5-year-olds in England have a good level of development (GLD) by 2028. The RISE plan for the North East will complement the Best Start in Life local plans developed by all local authorities to support local partners to improve reception practice and leadership.

Regional focus for the North East on reception-year quality

While there is much excellent practice in the early years in the North East, GLD outcomes are below the national average. In 2024 to 2025, 66.5% of children achieved GLD against a national average of 68.3% and the North East was the only region to have fallen slightly against 2023 to 2024 outcomes.

Almost 9,000 children in the region did not meet the GLD threshold last year. The gap between children eligible for free school meals and their peers remains wide, with only 49.6% of children eligible for free school meals achieving GLD, against the regional average of 72.3% for those not eligible for free school meals.

Writing, reading, and number remain the most frequently missed early learning goals, highlighting the need for stronger foundations in language, literacy and mathematics.

Our regional focus is to strengthen early years practice through stronger collaboration, improved professional development, strengthened leadership in early years and beyond, clearer expectations of quality, and better integration of services. We aim to ensure that all children - particularly those with the greatest needs - receive the support, teaching, and practice they need to thrive in reception and beyond. We will work closely with our early years stronger practice hubs and RISE reception networks to promote best practice and strengthen early years provision through support for school-based nurseries, early language programmes, and family engagement.

Strategies to address reception-year quality in the North East

Activity 1: Spreading excellent reception practice through regional networks

We will support schools to raise the quality of reception provision across the North East by spreading excellent practice and strengthening the professional community. In 2025 to 2026 we launched 5 RISE reception networks led by schools with proven early years expertise:

• Benedict Biscop Church of England Academy in Sunderland
• Oakdene Primary Academy in Stockton-on-Tees
• Sugar Hill Primary School in Newton Aycliffe
• Malvin’s Close Academy in Blyth
• Greenside Primary School in Gateshead

These networks will bring schools together in a variety of ways, including open days, to share what works and build practitioner confidence.

We will encourage consistent engagement across all areas of the North East by monitoring participation, identifying gaps, and proactively supporting priority schools. Through the networks, schools will be signposted to high-quality professional development, with leaders supported to select the right development pathways.

The 2 stronger practice hubs in the region – Haltwhistle Academy in Northumberland and Benedict Biscop Church of England Academy in Sunderland – will play an active role, ensuring evidence-informed approaches and resources are embedded in network activity.

A particular focus will be early language: the North East already has the highest participation in the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI), with 72% of schools involved. We want even more schools to register and participate to contribute to the national ambition of 11,000 schools benefiting.

We will also share learning from local initiatives such as the Hartlepool ELSEC early language pilot to showcase impact and encourage wider adoption.

We will strengthen links between schools and the English and maths hubs, helping prepare for the enhanced reception programmes launching from September 2026, including early numeracy offers delivered through the maths hub and the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics.

We will also promote use of the department’s transitions guidance to improve communication between early years providers and schools, with focused support to strengthen transitions for children with SEND, English as an additional language (EAL) or additional vulnerabilities.

The department will also provide support through webinars aligned to reception guidance and by publishing case studies that showcase inclusive environments and strong transition models across the early years foundation stage (EYFS).

In partnership with schools, we will reinforce the importance of reception practice within whole-school development planning, making sure early years is part of wider improvement and leadership conversations.

Activity 2: leadership development

We will strengthen leadership at every level so that reception-year quality is prioritised and drives long-term improvement across the North East. We will support leaders to develop a clearer understanding of early years challenges and the actions needed to improve reception outcomes, ensuring this insight shapes decision making not only in early years roles but across whole-school leadership.

In 2025 to 2026, in the region we will encourage school and system leaders to take up a range of high-quality professional development opportunities, including:

• the new continuing professional development (CPD) offer for reception teachers launching in October 2026
• enhancements to the national professional qualification (NPQ) for headship to include early years content
• expanded places on the NPQ in early years leadership
• updates to existing child development training to include more reception-focused material

New tools from the department, such as updated compare your GLD data reports and a statistical neighbours comparison tool to be published in autumn 2026, will also help leaders better understand their data, identify priorities and focus the right improvements.

We will enable leaders to work collaboratively across schools, trusts, early years settings, local authorities and regional partners to share data, expertise and effective practice. This place-based approach allows leaders to respond to the specific social, economic and community needs of the North East and ensures support reaches the schools and children who need it most.

We will ensure senior leaders integrate early years priorities into whole-school development, aligning resources and leadership attention behind reception improvement.

Activity 3: being data driven to support and challenge responsible bodies

We will build a shared, evidence-based understanding of what is happening in reception across the North East and use this information to support and challenge responsible bodies so that improvement is focused where it is most needed. This shared approach will help drive more meaningful conversations with responsible bodies and support progress towards the national ambition of 75% of children achieving a GLD.

We will encourage widespread use of the GLD dashboard and compare your GLD data tools, supporting schools to download and use their reports and working with local authority Best Start in Life (BSIL) leads and multi-academy trust (MAT) leaders to promote uptake.

Download data will be used to track the region’s contribution to national goals and to identify schools not yet engaging. We will analyse the dashboard to pinpoint schools falling below contextual expectations, highlight schools that are outperforming similar contexts, and spot emerging trends at local authority and MAT level.

Where data highlights concerns, we will hold structured reception-year quality conversations with responsible bodies, discussing contextualised GLD outcomes, early language needs, workforce capacity and curriculum approaches. These conversations will lead to clear action points and sustained follow up to ensure the right support or challenge is in place.

Engagement with the wider universal offer will also be monitored so that schools requiring additional help can be identified early.

Inclusive mainstream

RISE support for inclusive mainstream education

Overview

Every child achieving and thriving is clear that high standards and inclusion are two sides of the same coin. Despite some excellent practice in the North East in schools that welcome and enable all children to achieve and thrive, we have some significant challenges to address together.

In our region less than half (49%) of pupils with an EHCP are educated in mainstream compared to 59% nationally. In some areas, such as Sunderland, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Gateshead, this figure is even lower.

Attainment of North East pupils with SEND is slightly worse on average than their counterparts nationally, with 16.7% of pupils with any special educational needs (SEN) provision achieving grades 5 or above in English and maths GCSE, compared to 18.1% in England.

A key area of concern in the North East is the rate of pupils either suspended or permanently excluded from school, both with identified SEN support and no identified SEN at the time. The exclusion rate across secondary schools for the North East was double the England average for the 2024 to 2025 autumn term.

Over the past few years there has been an increase in the numbers choosing elective home education (EHE) and an increase in emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA), and high rates of persistent and severe absence. More vulnerable children and young people missing out on school and this is often cited because of unmet need in settings.

Regional focus for the North East on inclusive mainstream

Our focus in the North East is ensuring that all children and young people can access high-quality provision which enables each learner to thrive close to home. To do this we want to make sure that local schools and settings are accessible to all pupils, and that school staff are equipped to support the diverse range of needs and achieve the best outcomes for pupils within the setting.

We want to make sure that specialist settings are supported to meet the needs of children and young people with the most complex needs, and that our specialist providers can work in collaboration with mainstream settings to make sure learners are accessing the most appropriate curriculum for their needs.

We want to ensure that alternative provision is an effective strategy to support some of the most vulnerable learners and those disengaged with education back into the right mainstream or specialist setting for their needs.

Proposed strategies to address inclusive mainstream in the North East

Activity 1: develop early identification and support

Our work to improve reception-year quality aims to support all pupils from the earliest opportunity to ensure they thrive from reception-year and beyond. We want to go further and ensure that we have a robust system of early identification and support across the North East for those learners where additional needs may become more evident during or after the early years.

We will build on learning from the Change Programme, including partnerships for inclusion of neurodiversity in schools (PINS), early language support for every child (ELSEC), and alternative provision specialist taskforces (APST), to support early intervention and inclusive practice.

We will continue work with the family hubs and our strong network of Parent Carer Forums in the North East to ensure families are informed and supported.

Building on the 3-tier alternative provision model and work tested through the change programme, we will work with the sector to develop a strong offer for alternative provision with in-school units. This early intervention will help prevent young people from leaving a mainstream setting and re-engage the maximum number of learners back into mainstream and specialist education at the earliest opportunity.

This work is in line with the commitment in Every child achieving and thriving and inclusion service models, ensuring that insights from national and regional initiatives are shared via the North East Regional Improvement and Innovation Alliance (RIIA), to enable them to be embedded across the system.

Activity 2: ensure that provision meets the needs of the local community

In 2025 to 2026 the North East has been allocated just over £25.5 million in high needs capital funding, with additional funding to be allocated between 2026 to 2027 and 2029 to 2030 to support pupils with SEND or who require alternative provision.

We will support local authorities and MATs as they plan and commission new or expanded high-quality provision in the areas where it is needed most. We will work with our RISE adviser to ensure that we are drawing on best practice and are sharing this across the North East region through existing SEND networks and the RIIA.

Mainstream schools will be supported to establish or expand inclusion bases and enhanced provision, enabling more pupils with SEND to access appropriate support locally. We will also promote other inclusive models, such as specialist classrooms and outreach partnerships, through regional learning events, case studies, and peer-led workshops. These opportunities will help schools learn from effective practice and strengthen their inclusive capacity.

Activity 3: equip schools and settings with the skills to ensure every learner achieves the best outcomes

We will work with hubs in the region and local networks to encourage take up regionally of the £200 million offer on SEND teacher training, alongside championing whole-school SEND and sharing learning and best practice for special educational needs coordinators (SENCos) and school leaders across the region.

The whole-school SEND programme will provide a wide range of free training, engagement sessions, peer‑to‑peer networks and specialist support to build workforce confidence and improve inclusive practice across mainstream settings.

We will work with the RIIA to drive greater consistency in SEND provision by identifying, showcasing, and scaling effective inclusive practice across the North East.

We will facilitate joint working with the RIIA and MATs, alongside supporting the join up of the RIIA and North East North Cumbria (NENC) integrated care board (ICB). This will include spotlighting high-performing schools and creating practical tools and case studies that schools can adapt to their own contexts. 

Activity 4: reduce children and young people missing education

We want to make sure that there is a place for every child, and by getting the right provision in place (activity 2) and equipping schools to meet needs (activity 3), along with the crucial work from the attendance pillar, those children and young people with additional needs will be supported to attend the right provision.

However, we recognise in some cases there will be more that is required to support these pupils. Attendance and behaviour hubs will work closely with schools to co-develop effective approaches such as family engagement, familiarisation with key staff, and readily accessible school support.

Schools with high suspension and permanent exclusion rates will receive focused support and challenge, including expert guidance, behaviour reviews, and leadership support. Hubs will help schools embed the best inclusive practice, review policies, and make reasonable adjustments, particularly for vulnerable learners and pupils with SEN. 

We will also promote peer learning through discovery visits, case studies, and regional events. Data and trends will be used to inform action, share learning, and drive continuous improvement across the region. 

We will support local authorities to reduce the number of children missing education, particularly those with SEND. This includes identifying areas with high child missing education (CME) rates, understanding the underlying causes, and providing focused support to ensure all children are accessing appropriate education.

Effective reintegration pathways and multi-agency approaches will be shared through the RIIA at regional events and peer-led workshops. 

Attendance

RISE support for improving attendance in schools

Overview

Improving attendance is a national priority, with a target to raise overall attendance by 1.3 percentage points from 2023 to 2024 to over 94% nationally, equivalent to 20 million additional days in school each year by 2028 to 2029. 

This priority is particularly important in the North East as the region has some of the highest absence rates nationally.  Absence increases as pupils move through school years compounded by the North East’s high rates of disadvantage. Attendance is key to better outcomes and narrowing the disadvantage attainment gap.  

Regional focus for the North East on attendance

Across the North East, schools continue to work hard to strengthen attendance and rebuild positive habits after the disruption of recent years.

In primary schools, in 2024 to 2025, our region performed slightly better than the national picture, with an overall absence rate of 5.2% in comparison to the national rate of 5.2%, with most pupils attending regularly.

Persistent absence here follows a similar pattern, with 13.1% of children persistently absent, in comparison to the England average of 13%. For pupils eligible for free school meals, these concerns are more pronounced, with overall absence rising to 7.02%, and roughly one in five pupils persistently absent.

In secondary schools, the pressures become even more visible. Overall absence stands at 9.2%, above the England average of 8.4%, and a quarter of pupils (25.6%) are persistently absent, in comparison to the national rate of 23.4%.

Severe absence is also higher at this phase, reaching 4.6%. Again, outcomes are more challenging for free school meal pupils, where absence increases to 13.87%, and almost 40% are persistently absent.

Despite these difficulties, there are signs of progress. Strong collaboration between schools, trusts, and local authorities is beginning to have an impact, helping more pupils return to regular routines. Yet attendance across the region has not fully recovered to pre‑pandemic levels and beyond, and this remains a shared priority.

Looking ahead, we plan to build on the momentum already created. Our focus will be on earlier support – working with families before issues escalate – and on helping children develop consistent, positive attendance habits that last.

By strengthening partnerships and intervening sooner, we aim to reduce persistent absence and ensure every pupil has the best possible chance to achieve and thrive.

Proposed strategies to address attendance in the North East

Activity 1: strengthening attendance and behaviour through hubs

The RISE attendance and behaviour hubs programme provides schools with practical, school‑led support to help strengthen attendance and behaviour across the region.

The North East has 8 newly established attendance and behaviour hubs, each led by a school with strong, proven practice. Further information on the hubs can be accessed here: Schools leading attendance and behaviour hubs

Each hub will offer intensive, focused support to up to 6 schools per year, providing 10 days of tailored, in‑depth guidance to help schools identify priorities, develop an improvement plan, and embed lasting change in those with the greatest need.

Alongside this, the hubs will establish regional networks of up to 30 to 40 schools, that collaborate to support one another in improving attendance. By working together, schools will address the region’s key attendance challenges through structured CPD, shared strategies, joint problem‑solving, and strengthened implementation, underpinned by peer learning.

In addition to the 8 hubs, we have also appointed a regional attendance and behaviour hub adviser who also serves as the school improvement officer and safeguarding lead at The Legacy Learning Trust. They will play a pivotal role in the programme by providing school‑improvement expertise, overseeing hub activity, and acting as the primary support and point of contact for all hub schools across the region.

Activity 2: strengthening practice through attendance action learning sets

As part of our commitment to improving attendance across the North East, we will encourage schools to use their similar schools’ comparison reports to help identify meaningful peer networks.

Building on the success of our recent test‑and‑learn Action Learning Set (ALS) pilot, where leaders from 12 statistically similar schools came together to explore shared attendance challenges and agree practical next steps, we will continue to create opportunities for schools to connect with their statistical neighbours identified through View Your Education Data (VYED). This approach supports schools working in similar contexts to collaborate, share effective strategies, and reflect on their practice through structured peer inquiry.

Feedback from the pilot was extremely positive, and we are keen to expand this model across the region by enabling more schools to take part in these networks. By working together in this way, schools will be better equipped to address the North East’s key attendance challenges.

Activity 3: strengthening transition and attendance in key stage 3

Attendance and behaviour hubs will work to improve secondary transition, working closely with primary feeder schools to co-develop effective approaches such as early family engagement where attendance is a known issue, familiarisation with key staff, and the development of sustained relationships that continue into year 7 and beyond.

Schools will be supported to create positive induction experiences and nurturing environments that help pupils feel a genuine sense of belonging in their secondary schools. In doing so, they will set clear attendance expectations for both pupils and their families, and the rapid allocation of support, where issues are identified.

To help improve attendance through key stage 3, we will ensure the sharing of the best practice from the schools that are successful at this. This will include structured peer learning and school visits, to see the practice in action. We will also encourage and support school networks to strengthen parental engagement strategies and the sharing of resources and good practice.

Schools and their responsible bodies will be supported to use DfE data tools to identify pupils at risk of poor attendance and implement timely and appropriate interventions, for example mentoring, personalised induction, and family outreach.

Activity 4: Data-informed support and challenge

We will ensure maximum adoption and use of the department’s attendance tools across the region by:

• Empowering and supporting responsible bodies to make the best use of attendance tools for example DfE’s attendance toolkit to effectively analyse and interpret attendance and absence data. In so doing, enabling responsible bodies to readily identify areas of concern, to ensure their rapid intervention, where required.
• Ensure systematic use of Similar Schools Comparison Reports to drive school‑to‑school collaboration and improvement. The reports, accessed through VYED, provide each school with a comparison group of around 20 statistically similar schools, offering meaningful benchmarking of attendance. We will support schools to use these insights to connect with peers, share proven approaches, and jointly address attendance issues.
• Supporting and challenging responsible bodies by undertaking targeted engagement with them, where data indicates that attendance in their schools could be improved compared to similar schools, particularly in the 5 to 15% absence band. Action points will be agreed with responsible bodies and progress against those monitored, to help secure the necessary improvements.

Attainment with a focus on English and maths 

RISE support for improving attainment in schools

Overview

Key stage 2 outcomes in the North East are historically relatively strong compared to other regions, and this continued in 2024 to 2025. 63% of pupils achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, 1 percentage point above the national average, and outcomes for disadvantaged pupils are also relatively positive, with 49% meeting the standard – one percentage point above disadvantaged peers nationally.

At key stage 4, overall performance remains below the national average, with key stage 4 attainment for 2024 to 2025 being 44.1, in comparison to the national average score of 46, and the region continues to see substantial attainment gaps between disadvantaged and non‑disadvantaged pupils, at 33.7 and 44.1 respectively.

The percentage of pupils achieving GCSE grade 5+ including English and maths in 2025 is 43.3%, in comparison to the national figure of 45.4%.

Regional focus for the North East on attainment

White working-class children have among the lowest attainment at GCSE and since the pandemic their average attainment has got worse. Almost a third of pupils at the end of key stage 4 in the North East are White British disadvantaged pupils. This is the highest proportion of any region.

White British disadvantaged pupils in the North East perform 1.6 percentage points better than their peers’ national average of 30.3 percentage points, ranking the highest region in the country, joint with London for this cohort. But the scale of the challenge, to support schools in raising attainment for this group, is evident. Our RISE programme will back schools in their efforts and determination to support all children to achieve. 

Proposed strategies to address attainment in the North East

Activity 1: supporting settings to improve secondary outcomes

We will rapidly scale proven, evidence-based practice to break the cycle of low outcomes – particularly for disadvantaged and White British disadvantaged pupils who continue to be disproportionately left behind.

In addition to addressing challenges through the recently announced Mission North East programme, we will:

• Embed research-informed strategies addressing entrenched challenges such as low aspirations, weak home learning support, and persistent disengagement – issues that affect key stage3 progress and disproportionately impact disadvantaged White British learners.
• Showcase high-impact practice through webinars, peer visits, and trust-led knowledge exchange.
• Partner closely with the recently announced key stage 3 alliance to reverse the well documented stagnation in years 7 and 8.
• Strengthen literacy and numeracy as foundations for GCSE success, aligning schools with hub-led support (English, maths, research schools).
• Provide enhanced support for schools making limited progress, including deeper diagnostic conversations and navigation of the universal RISE offer.

Activity 2: improving literacy and numeracy through transition and key stage 3

Transition remains a critical vulnerability point. National data shows gaps widen significantly for disadvantaged groups between key stage 2 and key stage 3, with White British disadvantaged pupils experiencing some of the steepest falls in trajectory.

We will:

• Strengthen English and maths provision throughout transition and key stage 3, prioritising disadvantaged and SEND learners, linking closely with the key stage 3 alliance to identify schools that do this well, and then showcasing this via webinars and roundtables.
• Build on the success of our 2025 regional attainment conference and attainment roundtables by identifying further exemplars for roundtables and webinars.
• Support schools, via research schools and hubs, to use assessment more strategically – including diagnostic tools, adaptive teaching, and digital tracking – to intervene earlier and more precisely.
• Work with partners across hubs, networks and alliances to analyse stagnation patterns in year 7 to year 8 and co‑develop models that sustain primary momentum and lift key stage 4 outcomes.

Activity 3: establishing key stage 2 networks to raise primary attainment

Key stage 2 outcomes remain a regional strength, but consistency and equity must improve to reach Schools White Paper ambitions – especially for disadvantaged and White British pupils, who continue to underperform compared with non-disadvantaged peers at national level. Through the new key stage 2 network, currently led by Northern Education Trust in collaboration with WISE Academies, we will:

• Deliver bespoke support for key stage 2 teaching for all primary schools across the North East.
• Integrate support from English and maths hubs as part of the Universal RISE offer.
• Ultimately aim to increase the proportion of pupils meeting expected standards in reading, writing and maths, in line with Every child achieving and thriving, building upon the region’s relatively strong 2024 to 2025 key stage 2 performance.

Activity 4: supporting school improvement and innovation

Our RISE targeted programme and universal offer will help all schools navigate the improvement landscape. In this space we will:

• Map the North East’s school improvement ecosystem and act as a strategic connector – linking schools with the right hubs, research schools, trusted partners, and peer networks.
• Identify gaps in provision and work with high-quality providers to extend local capacity.
• Continue our targeted RISE intervention programme, matching schools with high performing supporting organisations to secure rapid, sustainable, long-term improvement.
• Apply insights from national evidence: regions with higher concentrations of disadvantaged pupils face widening gaps, requiring more intensive systemic support.

Regional themes

These regional themes reflect the strengths, priorities and collaborative culture of the North East. They underpin all RISE activity in the region and support delivery of national priorities in the region.

Theme 1: collaboration and partnerships

Collaboration is the defining strength of the North East and sits at the heart of our regional plan, the golden thread running through all our national priorities. Our focus will include:

• Deepening structured partnership working with local stakeholders and wider sector organisations, ensuring shared priorities and joined‑up delivery. We see this as a key driver of the recently announced Mission North East programme.
• Building upon our existing collaboration with Schools North East, a central partner in school improvement and sector engagement.
• Working strategically with the Mayoral Combined Authorities to align educational priorities with wider regional aims related to place‑based improvement, skills pathways and long‑term opportunity.
• Focused collaborative support to areas facing the most acute challenges, such as persistent absence, exclusions and underperformance.
• Deploying our RISE advisers to broker local partnership work, and build capacity across schools, trusts and local areas.
• Sustaining our recently convened local authority DCS and trust leaders’ network, providing a forum for shared planning, consistency and strategic coordination across the region.

Theme 2: tackling disadvantage

Addressing disadvantage is a priority that underpins all work across the North East. The region faces persistent socio-economic challenges, and our focus will include:

• Ensuring all pupils receive a fair deal, with focused work to reduce long‑standing inequalities in attainment and opportunity.
• Aligning support from national hubs, including English, maths and early years stronger practice hubs, to ensure consistent, high‑quality provision.
• Promoting evidence‑informed approaches to closing disadvantage gaps and improving outcomes for vulnerable groups.
• Strengthening early identification and intervention, particularly in communities with the highest levels of need.
• Ensuring the Mission North East programme goes beyond the school gate, incorporating a community-based approach with multi-agency involvement.

Theme 3: leadership

Strong and connected leadership remains central to driving improvement across the North East. Our regional focus will include:

• Promoting take‑up of NPQs to ensure high‑quality professional development for leaders at every stage.
• Supporting RISE advisers to broker mentoring, coaching, and peer networks for headteachers, senior leaders, and aspiring leaders.
• Encouraging collaborative peer‑to‑peer support among trust CEOs, Chairs and new system leaders, strengthening shared problem‑solving and strategic alignment.
• Strengthening leadership networks focused on attendance, inclusion, disadvantage, curriculum innovation and place‑based priorities.
• Highlighting and scaling successful leadership development programmes operating in and outside of the region.
• Embedding system‑wide leadership alignment, working closely with our hubs and networks, with Schools North East, dioceses, local authorities, and the Mayoral Combined Authorities to support delivery of shared regional aims.

Ambitions

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

Reception-year quality

By September 2026: all 5 networks to be operating effectively, with increased uptake of CPD and NPQs, strengthened leadership and classroom practice, and improved GLD outcomes in schools actively engaging with the networks.

By April 2027, more schools have the tools, expertise and confidence needed to work towards an improvement in reception provision and outcomes due to increased uptake in early language interventions like NELI.

By April 2027, there will be an increased use of the GLD data tools across the region, more consistent application of key contextual indicators in school and Responsible Body analysis.

Inclusive mainstream

By April 2027: high-quality local SEND provision, including inclusion bases, is expanded in targeted areas, with peer networks and regional communities of practice actively supporting schools.

Attendance

By April 2027: Structured engagement with responsible bodies are embedded, with early reductions in absence for pupils in the 5 to 15% band.

By April 2027: Our 8 attendance and behaviour hubs are fully operational, with more schools receiving tailored guidance, mentoring, and peer support.

Attainment, with a focus on English and maths

By April 2026: key stage 2 attainment network is fully operational across the region, sharing high-quality literacy and numeracy resources, with early improvements expected in 2026 key stage 2 reading, writing, and maths outcomes.

By July 2026: key stage 3 secondary networks linked to the RISE key stage 3 alliance are established, supporting curriculum coherence and progression into key stage 4.

By April 2027: Regional collaboration and inclusion-led support for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND is active, with early evidence of reduced attainment gaps.

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 North East, our ambition is for key stage 2 outcomes to reach 67% for all pupils and 54% for disadvantaged pupils by the end of this Parliament.

RISE universal school improvement architecture

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

North East system leaders share a commitment to ensuring that high‑quality practice, expertise and improvement activity benefit every school and learner across the region. This principle underpins our universal offer: a coherent, generous and adaptive school improvement architecture that supports RISE and strengthens the conditions for sustained improvement.

Our aim is to remove barriers, widen opportunity and ensure that excellence is not owned by any one organisation, but belongs to the whole system.

By architecture, we mean the combination of DfE-funded and endorsed hubs, networks and alliances, alongside the governance, operational and communication structures that connect them and enable consistent, high-quality support for all schools.  

Our approach is rooted in the ambition that every school and trust should belong to a robust local partnership and can also access a wider set of focused, cross‑cutting networks. This includes attendance and behaviour hubs, curriculum hubs and the emerging key stage 2 network and key stage 3 alliance.

Through this joined-up approach, we will bring greater coherence and clarity to existing sector activity, ensuring alignment with national RISE priorities while remaining sensitive to local context and need.

Our work will ensure that existing expertise is shared generously, and that new partnerships or networks are developed where gaps or cold spots are identified. This will enable all schools and trusts in the North East to benefit from the collective strength, insight and dedication of the region’s school system.

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

Contact us via northeast.riseregionalmailbox@education.gov.uk.

Core regional expectations

Everyone belongs to a local partnership and can access wider support.

The North East will support a sector-led system that is robust enough to tackle the complex challenges facing learners across the region and to drive sustainable improvement.

Local authority based partnerships are anchors, enabling schools and trusts to play their part in meeting the needs of the local community. We will encourage all schools and trusts to participate actively, and encourage these partnerships to link to:

• research schools, championing evidence‑led teaching and learning
• RISE hubs, including attendance and behaviour and curriculum hubs
• teaching school hubs and early years stronger practice hubs
• RISE Advisers, who connect schools and responsible bodies to the right support at the right time

Strong stewardship will underpin our universal offer. Through RISE advisers and a systematic understanding of the existing network landscape, we will identify what works, where it works, and how best practice can be scaled for regional benefit.

Working closely with local partnership leaders, we will support:

• shared understanding of existing partnerships through convening stakeholders and RISE teams
• targeted use of expertise to strengthen existing partnerships or establish new ones where gaps are identified
• clear, regular and accessible communication so that engagement is active and purposeful across all schools and trusts

To ensure equitable access for all schools, we will enable local communication solutions, monitor participation and remove barriers that prevent any school from engaging fully in their local partnership.

Regional delivery architecture

RISE hubs, networks and national developments

Everyone can access a range of focused, cross-cutting networks.

Anchored by our developing network of regional hubs, we will establish a coherent, layered architecture that enables purposeful collaboration, targeted support, and consistent engagement across all phases. Building on the strengths already present within the system, our future model will be designed as a living, adaptive structure – one that evolves in response to need, national direction, and local intelligence.

Through this combined approach – core networks, delegated hub structures, and a strong transition plan – we will create an architecture that is both strategic and responsive. The resulting system will support sustained improvement, empower sector leadership, and ensure all schools can access the right expertise at the right time.

Future architecture

The vision for Universal RISE in the North East stems from simple principles: collaborate, drive and enable high-quality practice in alignment with national RISE priorities, place-tailored to the wide variety of localities in the region. Success will be visible by system leaders (and other contributors) feeling supported by the contribution of others and feeling valued that their own contribution lives beyond the sum of its parts with far-reaching and sustained sector improvements.

We will aim to achieve in the future:

• A robust ‘prevention, not cure’ enhanced universal framework for schools at risk of becoming RISE eligible.
• A living, layered structure of regular hub meetings with delegated responsibilities to drive agreed actions for curriculum-specific and cross-over areas.
• A successfully established key stage 2 network and key stage 3 alliance delivering a far-reaching offer of high-quality, results-driven initiatives aligned with national priorities, whilst still delivering on place-tailored best practices.
• A tangible and sustained impact from current and future funded projects, evaluated by trusted partners and monitored by the RISE team.

A North East RISE regional delivery partnership will be established, bringing 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.

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

Email us at:northeast.riseregionalmailbox@education.gov.uk

Case study: fixed, firm and fluent foundations, Town End Research School, WISE Academies

The challenge

National data shows that 28% of pupils do not reach the expected standard in writing at key stage 2, often due to weaknesses in transcription such as handwriting, spelling, automaticity and working memory.

The Universal RISE funded Fixed, Firm and Fluent Foundations programme in the North East aims to strengthen these core building blocks in line with the DfE’s writing framework. It provides an early intervention approach focused on the less visible but essential components of the Simple View of Writing.

Rather than promoting commercial quick fixes, the programme offers research-informed guidance and free resources to help schools reflect on current practice and refine what needs development.

Working collaboratively

The programme goes beyond sharing research, blending subject knowledge with practical application for busy school settings. Live online sessions support leaders to interpret evidence, diagnose school needs and plan realistic improvements.

Optional 20-minute drop-ins offer direct support and troubleshooting. Engagement has been very strong: 127 expressions of interest (122 schools plus 5 MAT leaders representing 98 additional schools), with consistently high attendance of over 100 participants, and extended reach through session recordings.

Collaboration with the early years stronger practice hub enabled an optional early writing module, giving early years foundation stage (EYFS) practitioners access to specialist expertise. Overall, participation reflects high appetite for strengthening writing foundations.

Impact

Early feedback shows schools are already making positive changes. Reported improvements include:

• a stronger focus on handwriting, spelling and fluency
• reduced cognitive load for pupils during writing
• clear and consistent classroom routines
• earlier identification of pupils at risk of falling behind
• improved alignment between key stage 1 and key stage 2
• increased teacher confidence in oral language, dictation, working memory and executive functioning

Participants praise the clarity and usefulness of the sessions, noting the impact on handwriting and new insights into supporting EAL learners, particularly around syntax.

What worked well and next steps

Delivering the programme online has been highly effective, ensuring accessibility for small and rural schools across a wide region and maintaining strong attendance. Avoiding a train the trainer approach ensured consistent messaging, while recorded modules, blogs and shared resources supported sustained in school professional development.

Looking ahead, schools are keen to build on transcription work by exploring composition, writing assessment and the key stage 2 to key stage 3 transition identified as a particularly challenging phase.

The team will also support the RISE key stage 2 raising attainment networks through a free 3 session programme for year 6 teachers, focusing on independent writing, sentence level work and purposeful feedback. Demand is already significant, with 139 educators signed up.