Multimillion-pound boost for disadvantaged West Midlands schools

The government has allocated £42m for the plans, £7m of which will be spent in the West Midlands

Schools in disadvantaged areas of the West Midlands are set to share £7m in a bid to improve results.

The money is part of a package of extra support for areas the government has identified as Priority Education Investment Areas (PEIAs).

Sandwell, Walsall and Stoke-on-Trent will each get a share of the funding.

However Labour branded the investment a "distraction" from the ongoing teachers' strikes.

The government said the money would be used to improve children's literacy and numeracy, tackle poor attendance, and retain good teachers, and would be targeted at schools in areas with low education attainment.

The plans also include moving poorer performing schools to multi-academy trusts, with the aim of fostering collaborative working between schools.

Such groups run a number of state-funded academies that are independent from local authority control.

The government said the best performing academy chains "transform outcomes for pupils".

However critics, including the National Education Union (NEU), said there was no evidence academisation or a "focus on top-down reform" improved performance.

Carmountside Primary Academy has improved since joining a multi-academy trust in 2021

Carmountside Primary Academy in Stoke-on-Trent was rated as requiring improvement by the schools' regulator Ofsted in 2018, but joined the Societas multi-academy trust in 2021 and is currently rated "good".

Head teacher Lisa Challinor said collaborating with other schools had helped deliver improvements.

"One of the great things about being in a multi-academy trust is that we have a performance review cycle," she said.

"An external partner comes in to work with each school and focuses on key areas, for example, attainment, pupil premium, or safeguarding, and helps us to make improvements."

She said the move had also improved career pathways for staff.

"Ultimately, the children benefit because there are more opportunities for them now than there were previously," Ms Challinor said.

'A sticking plaster'

In total, £42m has been allocated to 24 PEIAs in England.

In the West Midlands, Stoke-on-Trent will receive £1.2m while Sandwell and Walsall will get £2.9m and £2.8m respectively.

However, for some, like Christopher Denson from the NEU, the funding is more of a "sticking plaster rather than a solution".

"We've had a decade of austerity in our schools, leaving pupils without the basics, paper, pens, books, never mind the additional extras," the union's West Midlands executive member said.

Schools minister Baroness Barran said the package would target the most disadvantaged pupils, "levelling up opportunities for all".

"We know the best multi-academy trusts help teachers manage workload and create career opportunities by working as a family of schools," she said.

"They spread their impact beyond their schools to the wider education system."