The Parliamentary under-secretary of state for schools, Lord Hill, responds for the Guardian Northerner to Stephen Twigg's post last week about an 'educational divide'
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Academies, free schools, studio schools: new ideas, new opportunities. Photograph: Jim Wileman
Stephen Twigg is right. There is a divide in the education system. But it isn't between the North and South. It's the gap in achievement between rich and poor. A gulf that, despite generations of good intentions, has persisted.
Despite Stephen's attempt to play up divisions between North and South, parents, regardless of where they live, mostly want the same things: the choice of a good school place and the confidence their child will be properly equipped to get on in life.
Our reforms are doing just that, most notably through the expansion of the Academies programme.
The results of these publicly-funded schools, run by teachers free to innovate to raise standards, speak for themselves. Overall, research shows that sponsored Academies are improving at almost twice the rate of other schools and have been doing so for a decade.
Improvements have been particularly impressive in deprived areas and with vulnerable pupils, like those with special needs. Scores of schools in the North, where a third of all secondary schools are Academies, are benefiting.
At David Young Community Academy in East Leeds, for example, where over 40 per cent of pupils are eligible for free school meals, the number of pupils getting five or more good GCSEs shot up by 17 per cent between 2010 and 2011.
Similarly, ESSA Academy in Bolton has doubled the percentage of pupils getting five good GCSEs since becoming an Academy. And in Manchester, E-ACT Blackley Academy, a primary where roles were falling, is now oversubscribed, with children wanting to turn up in the morning.
Everywhere, remarkable turnarounds are being achieved, not by Academies getting extra funding or becoming selective, but because they are being supported by outstanding school leaders and other sponsors to improve, and have more freedom to do so.
Batley Grammar School in West Yorkshire; one of the first batch of free schools. Photograph: Christopher Thomond We've also made it possible for parents, teachers, and charities to set up new Free Schools catering for their communities' needs. Again, groups in the North, where there are 16 Free Schools, are seizing this opportunity, with another 27 due to open from next year.
We're also helping provide extra school places in Leeds and, indeed, we have doubled the amount of money going into paying for new primary places despite money being short.
Schools in the worst condition, including in Liverpool and Manchester, are getting help through the Priority School Building Programme. In everything we are doing, we are driving for higher standards – in vocational and technical education as in academic.
Whether they're aiming for an apprenticeship, as an estimated 280,000 young people did last year, or for university, we want children to gain the qualifications and skills that employers, colleges and universities value.
That's why we're also pressing ahead with many new University Technical Colleges and Studio Schools.
Right across the country brilliant heads and teachers are showing that with high aspiration, children, regardless of background, can achieve excellence. Instead of accentuating division, Stephen Twigg should be more generous in celebrating how individual schools and Academy chains are overcoming it.
