What steps she is taking to increase access to educational opportunities in Knowsley constituency.
This government has a driving mission to break down the barriers to opportunity and end the link between background and success. Education is at the heart of this mission, ensuring all young people get the best start in life and are set-up to achieve and thrive.This starts in the early years, ensuring that every child, including those in Knowsley, gets the best start in life and families are able to access the parenting support and high-quality early education and childcare they need to thrive. The government’s Plan for Change sets the ambition for a record number of children to start school ready to learn in 2028, and the department is taking steps through the expansion of government funded childcare, programmes to boost the quality of early education and care, and delivery of Family Hubs, including in Knowsley, to deliver on this ambition.The department wants to drive high and rising standards for all children and young people, particularly the most disadvantaged, ensuring they have the knowledge, skills and support to thrive. The creation of Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams is a central part of our strategy to deliver high and rising standards across all schools.RISE teams will work to create a school improvement system where all schools can navigate a path to improvement through a mix of both universal and targeted interventions. There is a wealth of excellence that exists in all parts of our school system and the new RISE teams will facilitate networking and sharing best practice, bringing together oversight and coordination of improvement programmes to empower and challenge schools to better access this support and learn from one another.Since 2022, Knowsley has been one of department’s 24 Priority Areas. Priority Areas are areas of low attainment and high rates of disadvantage. The place-based programme aims to increase outcomes at key stage 2 and key stage 4 and has provided funding of up to £1.8 million for Knowsley schools.Participation in the programme has been strong with nine Knowsley schools (six mainstream secondary and three alternative provision schools) taking part in the key stage 4 strand, and 50 primary schools engaging in the early years activity to improve outcomes in key stage 2. Work is currently underway to capture learning from the programme to ensure the sustainability of the work in Knowsley schools.The department also continues to deliver a three-year attendance mentoring programme in areas of high levels of pupil absence, which includes Knowsley. The programme provides intensive one-to-one support to persistently or severely absent pupils, which covers those who currently miss more than 10% or 50% of their education respectively. All Knowsley secondary schools have engaged with the programme.The pilot programme has already successfully supported pupils with a wide range of challenges, including low level anxiety, special educational needs, poor attitude to learning and complex family circumstances. The pilot evaluation showed improvements in individual pupils’ attendance, wellbeing, home routines and engagement at school.It is vital that all young people have access to a range of post-16 educational options, including A levels and technical qualifications. The department recognises the concern about the lack of A level provision in Knowsley, and the reintroduction of A level provision in the borough is being considered as part of regular discussions by departmental officials with local post-16 providers on the topic of the educational offer available.The department remains committed to increasing access to educational opportunities for children and young people in Knowsley by ensuring that they can access an inclusive and extensive educational offer that adds value and helps them to achieve their long-term career aspirations.