Ministers’ efforts to boost outcomes in left-behind seaside towns will be focused on Scarborough and Hastings. Labour announced in its schools white paper earlier this year that it would launch two place-focused programmes, called mission north east and mission coastal, to tackle entrenched disadvantage. Few details were published at the time, but the government has fleshed out its vision for the schemes. New school partnerships The Department for Education announced the schemes will launch in September, with mission coastal focusing on Hastings and Scarborough. It said the programmes will give “the most disadvantaged children the mentoring, careers support, and enrichment opportunities they need to achieve and thrive”. The “stark” data “driving these decisions” show the north east “has the lowest exam results of any region in England at 1.9 points below the national average of 46 in attainment 8”. In Hastings, disadvantaged children “average just 26 and in Scarborough around 27”. “Expert practitioners” will work directly with schools to build teacher capacity and boost standards. No information was provided on who these practitioners are. Schools will also work together in local clusters. They will be expected to forge “new partnerships with employers, sports clubs, faith groups and youth organisations will provide vital mentoring, careers support and cultural enrichment” as well. ‘Matter of justice’ Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “For too long, children living in these areas have grown up without the opportunities that they need and deserve to be able to achieve and thrive. “That is not a matter of ability. It is a matter of justice. Mission north east and mission coastal are our commitment to change that postcode lottery for good.” Bridget Phillipson “I grew up in the north east and know the challenges families face,” Phillipson continued. “I want every child there, and in coastal communities like Hastings and Scarborough, to have the same opportunities I was lucky enough to have.” The government stated the missions will also change the “generational injustice” that has seen white working-class children “scoring 30.9 against 48.6 for their better-off peers” at attainment 8. Inspiration from London The missions have been designed “with a test, learn and grow approach”, DfE added. This means the “programmes will identify what works quickly and feed those lessons back into national policy”. The department has said the missions will seek to build on the “revolutionary impact” of the London Challenge, the Blair government’s school improvement programme in the capital. At its peak, the initiative had an annual budget £40 million. Alan Wood, who was involved in the scheme while director of education at Hackney council, previously said “you have to be able to rely on a sufficient supply of highly skilled teachers and leaders” for such a programme to work. “If you haven’t got that, then you can’t get off the ground because you’re then just recirculating the things that have failed.”