Accompaniment
The ‘Accompaniment’ project, led by St Aidan’s Catholic Academy and St Anthony’s Girls Catholic Academy, aims to support disadvantaged students moving to secondary school. Vulnerable students will be paired with an “invested person”. Together, they’ll engage in monthly activities to build confidence, a sense of belonging and provide a smoother transition to secondary school.
ASPIRE – The Guiding Principles of Character
The ASPIRE project, a five-year initiative aimed at addressing challenges faced by disadvantaged students in one of the city’s most deprived areas, is led by Sandhill View Academy. The project focuses on character development, offering students opportunities for personal growth beyond the traditional curriculum through activities that nurture ambition, sincerity, pride, inclusion, resilience, and ethical thinking. With the goal of improving attendance, reducing behavioural issues, and raising academic attainment, ASPIRE will provide enriching experiences such as educational trips, leadership programmes, and mental health support. The project also aims to enhance social mobility by breaking down barriers to higher education and university participation.
Bridging the Gap Performing Arts Journey
Collaborating with feeder primary schools, Monkwearmouth Academy will develop a performing arts transition programme aimed at raising engagement, aspirations and attendance leading to improved attainment over time. Through offering a new approach through the transition, with links to local future opportunities, they hope to give students space to find their voice, further their communication skills and social and emotional development leading to a more settled start in secondary education.
Celebrating Diverse Sunderland
Thornhill Academy’s ‘Celebrating Diverse Sunderland’ project aims to build stronger community ties and create a more inclusive environment for children to thrive academically and socially. Over three years, the project will focus on improving pupil literacy, supporting mental health, and easing transitions between primary and secondary school by building understanding between schools and their diverse communities. Research will explore topics such as early language teaching, parental engagement, and the impact of community dynamics on children’s mental health. The initiative will also involve parent and staff input through steering groups and aims to encourage greater school-community connections, boost parental involvement, and provide resources to strengthen these bonds.
Crafting a Curriculum with Poverty in Mind
Sean Harris, an Improvement Lead at Tees Valley Education Trust, is developing a curriculum that addresses the challenges faced by students from low-income backgrounds. Sean believes in incorporating students’ perspectives to create a more meaningful and engaging learning experience.
Curriculum-aligned Reading Intervention
This major new city-wide literacy initiative is being led by the Northern Education Trust (NET). It will establish a network of literacy hubs across Sunderland, helping to transform reading outcomes for hundreds of secondary school students who are currently struggling with reading fluency and comprehension. Over the next five years, the programme will grow in phases, beginning in the first year with three NET academies – Farringdon, Hetton and Red House – and expanding to reach nine Sunderland schools by year five. The initiative aims to ensure that every student, regardless of background, has access to the high-quality reading support they need to succeed both in school and in life.
Endeavour Convening Partnership
The partnership aims to bring schools and local businesses together to build better work and life chances for young people in Middlesbrough. It involves the establishment of a sustainable network of schools and local industry to improve opportunities for school leavers in the area. The partnership’s goal is to raise the social mobility of young people in the town, inspire greater aspiration, and provide them with more opportunities to succeed.
Fluency First
Led by Biddick Academy, ‘Fluency First’ is an exciting evidence-informed programme of structured fortnightly reading lessons during English curriculum time for all pupils for students aged 11 to 14. Students will read out loud from ambitious sequenced anthologies that develop the wider background knowledge needed for great English attainment. Also, training will be given to help improve teaching, with a focus on how to use reading methods effectively. The project aims to develop students’ reading fluency, comprehension and vocabulary.
Fluency For All
This project, led by the North East Learning Trust, aims to improve reading fluency in secondary education through peer tutoring, especially for vulnerable pupils, by collaborating with primary and secondary schools for early diagnosis and effective programmes.
FutureReady Sunderland
FutureReady Sunderland is a city-wide careers education programme for pupils aged 11–18, led by St Aidan’s Catholic Academy in partnership with St Anthony’s Girl’s Catholic Academy, Castle View Enterprise Academy and Southmoor Academy, designed to prepare young people for the world of work through meaningful, employer-led experiences aligned with Sunderland’s regeneration priorities and high-growth sectors. By creating a sustainable bridge between education and business through a simple employer pledge system, targeted support for disadvantaged learners, and a scalable digital and in-person model, the programme embeds real workplace experiences into learning, builds future-ready skills, and empowers young people across the city to connect with local opportunity, raise aspirations and take confident steps towards fulfilling futures.
Hartlepool Reads
Led by the team at North East Learning Trust, Hartlepool Reads is working with over 20 schools over three years to strengthen reading practice. Schools join communities of practice to deepen expertise, access professional development, and receive targeted support, driving sustained improvements in reading teaching, leadership, and whole-school implementation.
Improving Literacy in the Classroom in Sunderland
This project, led by the Northern Education Trust, aims to upskill teachers, enabling them to feel knowledgeable and confident in addressing literacy within their subject disciplines. By collaborating with Red House Academy, Hetton Academy, and Farringdon Community Academy, the project will identify each school’s strengths, challenges, and goals. Based on these insights, a tailored training programe will be developed to promote and support teachers and leaders in effectively addressing literacy barriers in the classroom. The ultimate goal is to improve student literacy levels and help them to better access the curriculum.
In-School Mentoring, Social Skills and Resilience Training
This character education programme supports learners in Years 6 to 9 to build confidence, resilience and self-awareness through a blend of one-to-one mentoring, group work and whole-school activities delivered by impartial, ex-forces mentors trained in the Commando Joes RESPECT framework. Using fun, inclusive and age-appropriate “missions” inspired by values such as teamwork, discipline and leadership, the programme develops key life skills including empathy, communication and emotional regulation, while offering targeted support for pupils facing the greatest challenges. Embedded across the curriculum and supported by staff training, parental engagement and a structured transition model from primary to secondary school, the approach creates trusted relationships, strengthens behaviour and wellbeing, and helps pupils apply character skills to real-life situations inside and beyond school.
Kepier Transition Project
The Kepier Transition Project will engage around 900 learners across seven primary schools, placing oracy – the ability to express oneself clearly and effectively through spoken language – and performing arts at the heart of its approach. By combining drama, music, and storytelling, alongside strong personal support, the initiative aims to build learners’ confidence, communication skills, and resilience – essential ingredients for a successful start in secondary education. The project will be delivered in collaboration with partner primary schools. These schools serve communities where deprivation and limited access to specialist resources, can make the transition to secondary school difficult.
Mathematical CPD Library
Sam Tallintire, from Southmoor Academy in Sunderland, is developing an online platform offering short, high-quality video tutorials aimed at boosting maths teachers’ confidence and subject expertise. The Mathematical CPD Library provides quick, targeted tutorials – typically under 10 minutes long – tailored to the curriculum. These bite-sized lessons allow teachers to choose specific topics they want to improve, track their progress, and build confidence one step at a time.
Maths Unmasked
Led by Venerable Bede, Maths Unmasked is a programme designed to reduce anxiety around maths and strengthen parental engagement by making learning feel more practical and achievable for pupils and families together. Using maths as a vehicle to address barriers such as low parental confidence, limited aspirations and challenging transitions, the programme combines research, co-design and practical workshops, with parents actively involved in codesign and, staff supported through targeted training. Informed by the EEF’s evidence on the impact of strong home–school partnerships, Maths Unmasked aims to build confidence, improve engagement and raise outcomes, creating a lasting legacy of families who feel empowered to support learning at home and beyond.
Pennywell Fellowship
The Pennywell Fellowship is a partnership designed to build trust with families and strengthen parental engagement so that children can access the local opportunities that build character, confidence and aspiration. Led by Academy 360 alongside Christ’s College and local primary schools and supported by a family and community team, the programme focuses on enrichment, employment and engagement, ensuring all pupils benefit while providing tailored support for disadvantaged learners. By coordinating schools, civic partners and families through shared planning, data-informed approaches and a developing digital platform, the Fellowship aims to remove practical barriers, widen access to opportunities, and create stronger, more connected support networks that help every child attend, engage and succeed.
Prodigy
Middlesbrough secondary school teacher Jonny Foster is developing an idea that will help students transfer knowledge and skills between maths and science and to make connections between their lessons and the real world. He is creating animated lessons that students can access online. He will build a profile of the students’ interests and their likes, and then deliver questions that are relatable to them.
Roots to Writing
Southmoor Academy is developing a writing intervention for the first three years of secondary to enhance student literacy by connecting writing skills to the students’ own experiences of life in Sunderland. that allows students to feel ownership, enjoyment and achievement in their work. Over the next 5 years, this innovative approach By focusing on local stories and themes, the ‘Roots to Writing’ initiative aims to build both enjoyment and confidence in writing, helping to bridge the literacy gap that affects students’ academic success. and raise outcomes in GCSE English across 6 Sunderland secondary schools.
Thrive at Christ’s College
Christ’s College will work with 8 secondary schools across Sunderland to adopt the Thrive approach. The ‘train the trainer’ model will upskill teachers and leaders to achieve a whole-school embedded trauma informed approach alongside working with families. They aim to enhance mental health and wellbeing of students so they’re better able to access and engage with the curriculum leading to improved attainment overtime.
Transition to Success
Castle View Enterprise Academy will be delivering a transition project focusing on why children struggle to engage and attend during the transition to secondary school. Learnings will inform targeted support to children and families to increase awareness, engagement, and attendance, and ensure a smooth transition to secondary school.
True Self
The “True Self” project, led by Aspire North East, aims to create a network of mindfulness practitioners in schools across Sunderland to support pupils struggling with emotional regulation. The three-year initiative will train staff in six primary and secondary schools to implement mindfulness techniques that help students self-regulate, reduce stress, and improve their wellbeing. The ultimate goal is to embed mindfulness in all Sunderland schools, develop a shared understanding and improve student outcomes such as attendance, engagement, and academic performance.