An improvement plan has been announced to raise standards at 28 target schools in the North of England today.

The One Vision schools have been identified as part of the government’s Opportunity North East programme which aims to close the gap between the region’s secondary school results and the rest of the country.

A plan published by the Department for Education today says the target is bring the Progress 8 scores of these schools up to the national average and move them towards an Ofsted grade of “good”.

Funding: £24m for super opportunity area for the North East

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It has been published today ahead of education secretary Gavin Williamson’s speech to a Schools North East conference in Newcastle.

Opportunity North East was launched by the government with £24 million of funding last year.

The new delivery plan sets out what it aims to achieve by 2022.

The One Vision school programme will see schools receive three years of support including guidance on evidence-based school improvement from the Education Endowment Foundation and allowing schools on the programme to learn from high-performing schools in a similar context.

The report notes that the percentage of all North East children achieving the expected level in reading, writing and maths at the end of key stage 2 has been above the England average since 2015. However, outcomes at key stage 4 are significantly poorer than other regions.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson said: “No child should be held back because of where they come from so it’s of the utmost importance that we level up aspirations for all children in all parts of the country.”

The 28 One vision schools