The Careers and Enterprise Company has signed up G F Tomlinson

Pictured Professor Kath Mitchell, vice-chancellor of the University of Derby who is leading the project to improve the city’s education standard

A new multi-million-pound Government project has been launched today to dramatically boost Derby’s flagging education standards, which have left the city’s schools floundering towards the bottom of the national league tables.

It means English and maths standards in Derby schools are to be brought in line with national guidelines within the next two to three years – and surpass them by 2022

Twelve months ago, Secretary of State for Education Justine Greening came to Derby to announce that the city would be one of six – this has now been extended to 12 – opportunity areas and would receive additional funding to drive up standards.

It has taken almost 12 months to get the project off the ground but the plan for how this will happen is officially launched today and Derby now has, under the chairmanship of University of Derby vice-chancellor Professor Kath Mitchell, a Derby opportunity area partnership board charged with ensuring the targets come to fruition.

As well as boosting English and maths by 2020, Derby’s plan sets out two other main priorities – boosting performance in the early years, especially in the most deprived wards, such as Arboretum, where only 47.2% of three and four-year-olds gain a good level of development compared to 85.8% in Allestree.

And ensuring 11-18-year-olds get to “experience at least four high-quality links to the world of work” together with “better access to cultural, sports and arts experiences across the city”.

The Careers and Enterprise Company has signed up local employers including construction company G F Tomlinson, Rolls-Royce and Toyota to be involved.

Four programmes will be developed in maths leadership, English leadership, reading comprehension and phonics and rolled out in up to 20 schools or nurseries. Children with English as an additional language will get extra help in at least 20 early years’ providers and a review of speech, language and communication will take place. This will focus largely on pupils having free school meals.

The target is that by 2021, all the performance of Derby’s early years children will “exceed the national average.
NEWS SOURCE