£200m to put Schools at the Heart of their Communities

The ‘Co-Location’ Fund will provide capital for 101 projects across England and bring together a raft of local services on school sites including health and housing services, play facilities and careers advice.

Speaking at the National College of School Leadership’s annual conference in Birmingham, Mr Balls said that physically locating services under one roof was vital in making sure children and families can get the right help, at the right time.

He said that early intervention and the importance of schools working closely with outside organisations and services would be a key theme of the forthcoming schools White Paper, to be published later this month.

Mr Balls said: “I’ve always been clear that it is better to intervene early to prevent a problem, than let it develop into a crisis. It is not down to teachers to deal with problems on their own – but it is essential that they can easily tap into services to give young people, families and local people the help they need, when they need it.

“Schools do not exist in isolation to the rest of their communities. Many schools already join up work with public, voluntary and private sector services and organisations – that should be the norm in every single school.”

Mr Balls also announced a pioneering £31m project, Achievement for All, to pilot innovative teaching and support for young people with special educational needs (SEN) in 10 local authorities and 450 schools.

The key elements of this programme include better teacher assessment, tracking and intervention, more effective engagement with parents, more extra curricular activities for SEN facilities and training and development for school leaders and staff.

Currently, only 11.7 per cent of young people with SEN currently achieve 5 GCSEs at A*-C including English and maths compared to 57 per cent of their peers – a gap of 45.3 per cent that Ed Balls wants to close.

“Every child should play to their strengths and get the grades to help them on to the next stage of education or into employment,” he commented.

“I want to give all teachers the tools and approaches that will see them able to set realistic but challenging goals for children with special educational needs. Achievement for All is a major step forward in our drive to enable children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities to feel positive about school life and to realise their potential.”