Northern Education was first approached by the Newcastle LA to provide school improvement consultants to its secondary head teachers in June 2002. A joint Head Teacher–LA-Northern Education steering group was created to oversee the development of this partnership programme of support and challenge to Head Teachers. It was the forerunner of the government’s own School Improvement Partner programme and commenced in October 2003.

The ratings which we are given by the National Strategies for our SIP work, the progress achieved by schools and the enthusiasm of our School Improvement Team give me confidence that Newcastle made a good decision in commissioning Northern Education.

Catherine Fitt Director of Children’s Services, Newcastle LA

In June 2004 the DfES invited the Northern Education - Newcastle LA Partnership - to manage the National pilot of the ‘Single Conversation’ across all the city’s secondary schools, including special. The programme was subsequently adopted by ministers and rolled out to all secondary schools in England during 2006-07

Our Team

North Education recruited a team of key consultants to deliver the school improvement model of professional consultancy to schools. The team of experienced Head Teachers including Roger Alston OBE, Kevin McAleese CBE and Jim Jack, working alongside experienced LEA officers including Ray Steele, Linda Masson and Linda Wafer, was created to deliver the support and challenge to schools. Ian Kershaw, himself an experienced Head Teacher and successful Director of an EAZ, has led the team since it was created in 2002.

Leading Edge Work

From the outset the Northern Education model has ensured that Head Teachers and Newcastle LA are seen as partners in the development and the delivery of the support and challenge programme to schools. This has ensured that Head Teachers, as well as the Local Authority, are able to influence the way in which planning is managed and can be confident that the School Improvement Partners will work as a team, rather than as individual consultants. It has meant that city-wide strategic planning for school improvement has been effectively managed with Head Teachers and the Local Authority being able to directly influence the development of leadership capacity building work of the Northern Education consultants. The schools and Local Authority have benefited from the extensive experience of Northern Education’s Associates and its specialist network.

As an independent partner working with schools and the Local Authority, Northern Education’s School Improvement Partners are able to provide a 360° critical analysis of the work of school and LA leadership in delivering high quality services to young people. This means that Northern Education is more than just a school-focused partner; we are also able to offer valued support and guidance to Newcastle LA in the way it manages and delivers its services.

Our expertise, knowledge and skills

The team, consisting of some of the most expert school improvement and partnership consultants in the UK, successfully completed the secondary pilot of the Single Conversation on behalf of the DfES in July 2005. Subsequently, the DfES asked Northern Education to lead the Special School pilot with Newcastle LA during 2005-06. This was also successfully delivered and enabled ministers to confirm that the programme would be rolled out to all Special Schools during 2007-08.

The contract with Newcastle LA has been rigorously evaluated through the company and by Capita who concluded in 2006 that the work of the School Improvement partners In Newcastle is ‘outstanding’.

Newcastle has no secondary or special schools in special measures or with a notice to improve.