Fenland and East Cambridgeshire Opportunity Area (OA) ran from January 2017 to August 2022, as one of 12 OAs across England. The aim was to raise education standards locally, providing every child and young person in the area with the chance to reach their full potential.
At the start of the programme in 2017, in collaboration with local partners across early years, schools, and further and higher education settings throughout Fenland and East Cambridgeshire we identified four specific priorities for the OA at the start of the programme:
Priority 1: Accelerate the progress of disadvantaged children and young people in the acquisition and development of communication, language and reading.
Priority 2: Strengthen the effectiveness of support for children and young people with mental health concerns and those with Special Educational Needs.
Priority 3: Raise aspiration and increase access for young people to a wide range of career choices and post-16 routes.
Priority 4: Recruit, develop and retain the best leaders and teachers in Fenland and East Cambridgeshire.
More information on the methodology and data used to select the 12 OAs, along with each OA’s delivery plan, can be found on the Department for Education OA website.
The OA transitioned to a Priority Area in September 2022.
Priority Areas have been identified by the Department for Education (DfE) for raising school standards. This subset is made up of 12 existing opportunity areas, and 12 additional areas with low achievement and high levels of deprivation. The white paper set out its aims to address “entrenched underperformance, including in literacy and numeracy”.
More information on the Priority Area Programme can be found in the document titled ‘What PEIAS mean for FEC’ below.
Below you will see links to the following documents which share learning from the OA:
- FECOA Celebration Booklet
- FECOA Year 1-4 Evaluation Report
- FECOA Year 5 Evaluation Report
- FECOA Year 5 Executive Summary
- What PEIAs mean for FEC
Sharing Learning Hub
The Ipswich, Norwich and Fenland & East Cambridgeshire Opportunity Area teams developed an online space that captured the Big Ideas across the five years of the three OAs, with case studies, resources and examples that showcases the learning of schools, colleges, settings and partner organisations. You can visit the Sharing Learning Hub by clicking this link https://sharingbigideas.co.uk
