Education secretary Justine Greening announced at the Conservative conference in Birmingham that Oldham will be one of six areas that will receive a £60m in a national pilot scheme that could include hiring more teachers, boosting leadership skills in schools and improving early years provision.
The six ‘opportunity areas’ picked by the government - which also include Blackpool and Scarborough - were among those highlighted by the government’s new social mobility index, published earlier this year, which looked at how well children from poorer backgrounds are likely to do in life.
Megan Jarvie, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the Family and Childcare Trust was very positive about the announcement.
"We welcome the Department for Education’s announcement of a £60 million funding package aimed at helping local children get the best start in life. The early years are vital in setting children up to achieve at school and beyond and improving social mobility.
“We want to see a focus on using the new funding package to develop a graduate-led early years workforce to deliver high quality early education to children. Evidence shows that early years graduates have a significant impact on the quality of early years education and that only high quality early education helps to improve children’s outcomes.
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Picture: Michelle Macaron/FCO
