The government has announced two new education programmes that will help children in some of England’s most under-served communities.

From this September, Mission North East and Mission Coastal will bring expert support into classrooms and new opportunities beyond the school gates for children in the North East, Hastings and Scarborough – communities with persistently low results.

The programmes will give the most disadvantaged children the mentoring, careers support, and enrichment opportunities they need to achieve and thrive.

The North East has the lowest exam results of any region in England at 1.9 points below the national average of 46.0 in Attainment 8. In Hastings, disadvantaged pupils average just 26.0 and in Scarborough around 27.

Across the country, disadvantaged White British pupils are scoring 30.9 against 48.6 for their better-off peers.

Expert practitioners will work directly with leaders and teachers, building teacher capacity and raising standards. Schools will work together in local clusters, learning from each other rather than tackling challenges alone. 

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: "I grew up in the North East and know the challenges families face. I want every child there, and in coastal communities like Hastings and Scarborough, to have the same opportunities I was lucky enough to have.  

"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."

Designed with a Test, Learn and Grow approach, these programmes will identify what works quickly and feed those lessons back into national policy - so these missions benefit not just local communities, but similar communities across the country.