Since May 2017, education in Northumberland has turned a corner. At last, under the guidance of someone with a professional understanding of the education sector, plans to improve education in the county are under way. Councillor Wayne Daley has a record of delivery in his professional career and has told us about the exciting changes he has brought to Northumberland:

We welcome success for our Early Years Team

Northumberland County Council’s Early Years Team have won a National Award for Innovation in the planning and delivery of 30 hours free childcare. The award was presented to us for our digital innovation in developing a bespoke system that greatly benefits both the LA and Early Years Providers called The Wizard. 

The award was presented to us at the National Annual Childcare Works Conference in London by Michelle Dyson, Director of Early Years and Childcare at the Department for Education.

Since we took over last year, our Early Years Team have had a Ministerial Visit from Robert Goodwill MP.

We are recognising the people who are transforming education

I have led on developing the first ever Northumberland Awards to celebrate and recognise achievements across our schools. The event will take place in October and will focus on the brilliant work being done by schools, teachers and support staff in the county.

The event will be held on October 25th in Northumberland and will a range of awards up for grabs including best Head, School etc all chosen either by a team of independent judges or vi direct nominations from the sector.

This  is a clear message to our schools and teaching staff tht we value what they do – and they are a part of the huge amount of work we need to do to bring our standards to the best in England.

We are delivering the North of Tyne devolution deal, and the education challenge it brings

One of the key areas of improvement that will steam from the North of Tyne devolution deal will be in education. As part of the deal, I have been leading on preparing the Education Challenge Bid.

We are the only area offered this once in a lifetime education offer – similar to what London had in the early 2000’s – to transform education.

So far I have had 2 seminars with Universities, teachers and business to help shape and frame our proposals to Government.

We have a Summit at the end of June which will include all Heads from across North Tyneside, Northumberland and Newcastle to set about working together to deliver a revolution in education.

We are looking at some real innovation with the bid – ranging from supporting world class teaching to dealing with mental health and being a Centre of Excellence for Early Years and pre-school support.  

We are proud to present a new director of Education

Dean Jackson has joined Northumberland County Council as the new director of education and will be working closely with me to deliver a significant improvement in our school performance. He is also leading on the SEND agenda – including our plans to invest significant sums into growing our special needs provision in Northumberland.

We are working TOGETHER

I am delighted that our two local MP’s Guy Opperman and Anne Marie Trevellyan have been able to work closely with me on shaping our plans for education in the county.

We have some real challenges around surplus places, smaller schools and in some areas very badly performing schools.

As a team we will be working with central government to really highlight some of the challenges we face around school buildings and teaching infrastructure. 

Both MP’s have been extremely supportive and continue to fight for Northumberland, building upon the increases in school funding already announced.

Our teamwork will help promote the Education Challenge Bid and also the way we need to do things differently in the area - including looking at how we attract the best teachers in the country to work in our great county.