City Challenge
City Challenge is a highly targeted drive to crack the cycle of under-achievement among disadvantaged children in primary and secondary schools in three urban regions: London, The Black Country and Greater Manchester.
It is an expansion of the successful London Challenge and will provide support over three years from 2008 to improve outcomes for young people in the Black Country and Greater Manchester and continued support for the London Challenge.
The Challenge will be tailored to local needs, using some of the proven approaches adopted in the capital over the last five years. London Challenge has backed solutions which respond to the local and unique challenges the capital faces. City Challenge will respond in the same way to the local challenges faced by the Black Country and Greater Manchester and will use the best learning from the London model.
City Challenge will be delivered in partnership with all those working in education in the three city regions, and backed by significant additional investment. The Challenge will build on improvements already underway to develop strategies tailored to local needs in each area. By 2011, the main outcomes of the programme would be:
- a sharp drop in underperforming schools, particularly focusing on English and Maths
- more outstanding schools
- significant improvements in educational outcomes for disadvantaged children.
For further information about how London Challenge has become City Challenge — now to include the Black Country and Greater Manchester — please take a look at the relevant pages on the DCSF website.
Page updated: 6 May 2008
