Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve educational outcomes in West Dorset.

This government’s ambition is for all children to achieve higher standards and the disadvantage gap to be halved.

We will deliver this through a refreshed curriculum, maximising the impact of deprivation funding to boost outcomes for disadvantaged children and supporting schools to improve behaviour, attendance and parental engagement.

In addition, we are rolling out Regional Improvement for Standards and Excellence (RISE) teams, who provide mandatory targeted interventions to schools identified by Ofsted as needing improvement, with West Dorset already benefiting from this programme of support, alongside a Universal RISE service designed to support a self improving system for all schools.

Alongside this, we are supporting excellence in leadership through targeted interventions that update standards, strengthen professional development and support wellbeing. We also support aspiring leaders through our network of 87 Teaching School Hubs that support local schools to access National Professional Qualifications. South Central Teaching School is the local hub supporting West Dorset.