State Of The Nation : Working to close deprivation gap
The State Of The Nation report, which was published this week, placed Newark and Sherwood next to bottom at 323rd out of 324 local authority areas for social mobility.
The annual report was compiled by the Social Mobility Commission, an advisory, non-departmental public body.
It has a duty to assess progress in improving social mobility in the UK and to promote social mobility in England.
The report used the social mobility index, which looked at 16 key performance indicators, from early years education to average weekly salaries.
That determined which areas of the country had the best social mobility outcomes and which had the worst.
The findings were based on education outcomes, employability and housing prospects in local authority areas.
The report highlighted poor educational performance in Newark and Sherwood as a key factor in limiting social mobility.
It also said poor transport links and significant rates of low pay were having a detrimental effect.
In contrast, neighbouring Rushcliffe was one of the best districts in the country, ranked 42nd.
David Parker reports on reaction to the document.
The leader of a group set up to raise aspirations of young people in the Newark area said the State Of The Nation report’s findings were the result of a lack of funding and support over many years.
Mr Bob Hattersley, chairman of Together For Newark, said the deprivation gap for many youngsters was closing, however, thanks to its work on improving their life chances.
He said a co-ordinated plan was needed to make Newark and Sherwood the best place it could be.
Together For Newark seeks to bring together schools and businesses. It encompasses the Newark Family of Schools, which is made up of schools in Newark, Balderton, Collingham, Coddington, Farn-don, Averham, Winthorpe and Elston.
Mr Hattersley, executive head at Chuter Ede Primary School in Balderton and Fernwood, said: “Year-on-year since our formation, we have closed the deprivation gap for many of our local youngsters.
“We have worked with local businesses to signpost future employment opportunities for our young people.
“Our secondary schools and colleges are continuing to improve their standards, and we have developed a youth college to give our young people aspiration to be anything they want to be.
“We have supported parents to make sure their children are ‘school ready’ and we have developed an Autism Kitemark Award that ensures our pupils with autism are supported well as they enter the mainstream setting.
“This has been taken up nationally by other authorities.”
'We will not relent until there is vast improvement'
Mr Hattersley said the group was at the forefront of mental health and wellbeing work with the most vulnerable young people.
“We need the good people within our community to rally behind a co-ordinated plan to make Newark and Sherwood district the best place it truly deserves to be,” he said.
“These are early days in our quest but we will not relent until there is vast improvement for this region.”
Mr Hattersley said family support workers who Together For Newark has had to employ provided a vital service.
“We [as teachers] only see people for a small proportion of the day,” he said.
“We also employ a mental health service team at the moment who have a six-week programme to work weekly with a family to support them.”
'We have not closed any children's centres'
Councillor Mr Philip Owen, chairman of the children and young people’s committee at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: “The principle of schools and academies working together to improve their ability to meet the needs of pupils is not a new one.
“Together For Newark has been working in an innovative and collaborative way for some years, with the view to commissioning and providing services on a local level.
“This enables them to target all available resources in the most effective and efficient ways to meet the needs of the children and young people of Newark and Sherwood.”
“We now have more direct specialist family work provision across the county, including in Newark and Sherwood, than we have ever had, largely due to investment from the Government’s Troubled Families programme.
“It is true this resource has increasingly been used with those families with the most complex and entrenched needs, which means that universal services have had to do more with those families with lower level or emerging needs.
“Unlike most areas, we have not closed any children’s centres and continue to have strong provision to support the parents of pre-school children in Newark.”
“A lack of opportunity and support”
A former resident on the Hawtonville estate in Newark who is now chief executive of a national youth charity said schools, homes and communities needed to work together to improve social mobility.
Mr Paul Evans, chief executive of Birmingham charity University of the First Age, said he was sad to see his home town in the news for the wrong reasons.
The 38-year-old, who is also chairman of Newark charity ISAS (Incest and Sexual Abuse Survivors) said: “There is a huge difference between low aspiration and lack of opportunity.
“The majority of people I know in Newark have massive aspirations.”
“We dream big, work hard and want to be successful for ourselves and our families —the challenge is such a lack of opportunity and support to make that a reality.”
Mr Evans said Newark and Sherwood needed investment and a focus on reducing inequality to enable it to thrive.
He called on Newark and Sherwood District Council, Newark Business Club and Newark MP Mr Robert Jenrick to work together with the private, public and voluntary sectors to resolve the situation.
“I know that given a chance, having someone to point you in the right direction and working hard is what can make a massive difference in how socially mobile you become,” he said.
To read Mr Evans' full reaction, click here
