Category: Speeches

The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, on 7 October 2025.

Hello everyone. Thanks so much for being here, thanks so much for coming.  

And thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to put today together. 

It’s great to be here in the south west, with leaders from schools and trusts, to talk about the children of this region.  

Their learning, their futures, and their life chances. 

And I hope you’ll find today is an opportunity to come together, to take stock and to think carefully about what more we can do for the young people in your classrooms. 

I know so many of you already deliver so much, helping them to achieve and thrive. 

So I want to say a huge thank you. 

You and your staff transform lives. I visit schools and I see it in the children, I hear it from the parents, I feel it on results day. 

The difference that all of you here in this room all make. 

That’s why you – leaders, teachers – are at the centre of the change this government wants to achieve. 

The road to national renewal runs through our schools. 

Now, thanks to your hard work, schools have come a long way in this country.  

And you deliver a fantastic education for most children. 

But we all know that journey of improvement must continue. That’s why you’re all here today, it’s why you work so hard, and for that, I am incredibly grateful. 

You understand the importance of what you do, and the need to keep raising standards for all.  

And closing the gaps as well. 

Because there are still groups of children for whom school just isn’t working. And these aren’t random, we know that the gaps are systemic.  

Children with special educational needs and disabilities. 

Children from disadvantaged communities.  

And white working-class children too. 

Just one in five achieves a strong pass in their English and Maths GCSEs. 

Statistics like this are important. But anyone who has spent any time in our schools will know this already. 

And will want to work with us to put it right. 

Through our schools white paper, together we will build a schools system that works for each and every child.  

One that sets each and every child up to achieve. 

One that breaks the link between background and success, once and for all. 

Together we must spread excellence from one school to another.  

Because the world-leading practice I want to see in every school is already shining in many of our schools already. 

So progress can and must come from within the system. 

Improvement of schools, by schools, for our children. 

That’s why much of today is being led by you.  

Sharing what works for children in your schools. 

So that it can work for children in all of our schools. 

I have high expectations for every child, as I’m sure you do too, therefore I have high expectations for every school.  

But to get this right we need to look at the moments where children fall behind. Like the transition from primary to secondary school. 

And so we need a transformative shift in how key stage three is valued and managed. As always, the answers are already there in some schools.  

Take Wilsthorpe School in Derbyshire. Because while the midlands might be at the other end of the M5, some solutions, I think, are universal. 

Like the use of good data. And Wilsthorpe’s approach is rooted in it. 

They look at the patterns of poor attendance in primary – and use that to inform their transition plans for new year 7s. 

But the head, Derek Hobbs, like a lot of heads, knows that strong transitions are built on strong partnerships with parents.  

Plans are shared with parents early – and they combine face-to-face chats with ways for families to reach out online. 

Parents even get a direct line of contact with form teachers in year 7, to smooth what can be quite a difficult move from year 6. 

The school has made parents evenings feel like community events. 

Members of the scouts and air cadets come along. Representatives of local health services are often there too. 

Again, their approach is built on solid data, this time to predict at an early stage which parents may well be hard to reach.  

Because it tends to be these families that need the most support if their child is to do well. 

And you know what – the hard work is paying off. 

Suspensions are low. Exclusions are low.  

And attendance is high – especially in year 7. 

Attainment 8, strong and improving. 

And Progress 8, strong and improving – including for disadvantaged children. 

That, as we know, is the prize on offer.  

To deliver better life chances for children. 

And we will support you to reach those high expectations. 

That’s what our new RISE teams are all about.  

Drawing on the excellence that exists in some schools, and spreading it to all schools.  

Leaders across the country are already tapping into that spirit of collaboration. 

Like Lee Kane, the head of Astor School in Dover. 

I want to talk about Astor because it’s one of schools on the frontlines of my vision for education. 

On average across the country, in a class of 30, 7 children are on free school meals.  

At Astor it’s 18. 

The school serves the 4th most deprived community in Kent. These are the children who have the most to gain from a great education.  

And these are the children that our RISE programme is helping Lee to reach. 

Astor is receiving targeted support and has partnered with the high-performing Mulberry Schools Trust.  

Drawing on advice from their RISE Advisor, Maria Dawes, and from leaders at Mulberry, Lee can introduce new initiatives and improve existing ones. 

Like on attendance. Coming out of covid, just as in so many schools, Astor was struggling with high absence rates.  

One young person hadn’t attended school for more than 2 years.  

I won’t use her real name, but let’s call her Sarah for today. 

Sarah just couldn’t imagine herself coming back to school. But Lee knew the damage not being in school was doing to her life chances, and the life chances of other children not turning up. 

So Lee set up a new attendance unit, right there in the school.  

Staff visited Sarah at home, encouraged her to come into the school in the summer, when it was calm and quiet.  

They worked with Sarah to design the unit – so that she would feel at home.  

When the new term started, they eased Sarah back into the swing of attendance. 

Slowly, step by step, until she was attending every day. Attendance is the foundation of attainment – and so it proved for this young woman. 

Despite all she’d missed, she passed both her English and maths GCSEs.  

I think about where Sarah would be now if Astor hadn’t acted. She would probably still be at home every day, without her English and Maths GCSEs, but crucially, her hopes for the future slowly slipping away. 

But the school put her on a different path. And now she knows that education can work for her, that success can belong to her.  

And I can’t wait to hear about what she goes on to achieve next. 

That’s the power of what’s on offer here. The chance to support and scale what works. 

To draw on the excellence that already exists. And put it to work in service of the children in all of your schools. 

Astor is beginning its improvement journey. And there is so much more still to do to see all pupils in the school achieve and thrive. 

But through the RISE team we are providing the support and challenge to drive forward that improvement.  

So Lee’s message is to grab the opportunity with both hands. To be brave, to think big. Knowing that we’re here to support you. 

That’s how we will raise standards in all our schools. But you’ll all know that the roots of achievement and attainment run deep. 

So our actions must match that, especially if we want to reach our most disadvantaged children, 

And to break the sad spiral of poor attainment. Because there are communities now who believe that school just isn’t for people like them.  

Parents who feel school had nothing to offer them when they were growing up. 

And now pass on that deep suspicion to their children. 

New findings from the Independent Inquiry into White Working Class Educational Outcomes paints a very sorry picture of disengagement. 

And shortly, you’ll hear from the inquiry’s secretariat, Public First. 

But I should say now that the findings are stark. 

White working-class children are less likely to enjoy school. 

Less likely to feel successful at school. 

Less likely to feel that they belong at school. 

And the links between belonging and achievement are profound – and they run both ways. 

But let us be absolutely clear: they are not alternative choices. It’s not a question of one or the other. 

The only real choice, quite frankly, is both, or neither. 

Because children who don’t like school, who don’t believe they belong in the classroom, who suspect the system is against them. 

They are not children who are set up to achieve top marks. 

And if you’re failing your exams, it’s hard to enjoy school, it’s hard to feel like you belong. And so that cycle continues. 

But we must break that cycle and set up these children up for success. 

That is why our Schools White Paper will drive a generational reset in the contract between white working class families and our schools, giving every child the opportunities they deserve in life. 

For that we must give them an education that is academically challenging. 

Strong on standards.  

Rich in opportunity. 

Rooted in strong relationships.  

Filled with purpose and belonging. 

That’s the recipe for children who enjoy school, who feel they belong in school, and who succeed at school. 

But like any recipe, it can’t be just one of those things, working alone. 

It must be all of those things, working together. 

And you are the chefs – the expert leaders who can bring it all together. 

Using all the tools at your disposal to raise standards – cutting edge data, our new RISE support, our new writing framework. 

But the journey starts long before children reach your classrooms. 

Through support for families in our new Best Start Family Hubs. 

Through our 30 hours a week of government funded childcare for working parents.  

And then our Best Start breakfast clubs in primary schools. 

Building achievement and belonging right from the early years, so they arrive in your secondary schools raring to go. 

And in your classrooms, they will be taught a curriculum that is rich and broad – that delivers the strong foundations of learning, but also opens up the wonders of art, music, and sport.  

Enrichment too. Because we know that children with access to enrichment at school, tend to be the children who do well in their exams. 

And in the end, the way that children truly connect with their education is through great teachers.  

Now, when I think back to my school days, when I think of the happy memories. It was all about the teachers I had along the way. 

The ones who helped me succeed are the ones who made me feel like I belonged. 

That’s why I am determined to help you recruit and retain more great teachers in your schools.  

And to encourage more people to get into the profession, what’s why we have set out today the new initial teacher training incentive. 

I want more great teachers in our schools, working their magic. 

And it really is magic – what they do, what you do. 

Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise. 

And I certainly won’t let anyone tell me otherwise. 

You have the wonderful power to transform lives. 

To give to children the knowledge and skills they need to succeed, not just in work, but in life too. 

Thank you.

The speech made by Bridget Phillipson, the Secretary of State for Education, in Sunderland on 3 October 2025.

This is an organisation that has stood the test of time. Because 1815 is not only the year the Battle of Waterloo was won.

Perhaps more importantly even than that, it was the year that the Chamber was established.

So I want to thank the Chamber for centuries of work giving the businesses of this region a voice.

And I have to say, it’s always so nice to be here, back home in the North East. I grew up not far from here, just several miles down the Wear to Washington.

That’s the community I’m from. Where I was born, where I went to school, where I made my first friends.

I have spoken about how during that time there were ups and downs where I grew up. There was deprivation and there was crime in our community.

But there was kindness too. And resolve to make the most of things.

And I saw those sharp contrasts when I came back home to the North East after university.

I worked in the women’s refuge here when I was in my early 20s.

And in those years I saw some of the worst things you could ever see, the impact of the worst violence and abuse.

But I also saw the best of our community too.

I saw resilience, strength.

I witnessed so many women rebuild their lives with dignity and determination.

And it was a real honour to be able to help them do it.

So when I think about home, I think about community.

I reflect on what that word means for all of us.

Not just as a proud native of the North East, but as a proud member of this government.

Because what we want to see as this government is to grow strong communities across the North East and across this country.

Communities filled with optimism and opportunity.

But how do we do that? What does a community need?

You won’t be surprised to hear me as Education Secretary say that every good community needs a brilliant school.

A brilliant college. An engaged university not too far away.

But it also has to provide proper support for families too. Our government funded childcare entitlement. Our school-based nurseries.

Our Best Start Family Hubs.

But a strong community full of opportunity needs more than that.

It needs great employers, it needs all of you here, in this room.

Because all of you in this room are drivers of growth and opportunity.

In manufacturing. Logistics. Hospitality. Tourism. Tech. Energy.

Education. Finance. Construction. Defence. Social enterprise. Healthcare, you name it.

Here in this room we have the diversity of enterprise that makes our region great.

And you are crucial to two of this government’s missions – growth for the British economy, and opportunity for the British people.

So I want to say a big thank you for the role you all play in your local communities.

And I want to thank you for working so closely with the North East Combined Authority in that endeavour.

Our mayor Kim McGuiness is doing a fantastic job creating opportunities for young people.

And I know so much of this region’s good work runs through the local skills improvement plans.

Because to play your vital role as good businesses in the communities that you serve you need a skills system fit for purpose, a system that works for all of  you.

One that is both comprehensive and cohesive.

One that focuses on actual skills needs – both locally and nationally.

Because I know that there is nothing more frustrating for you than being ready to expand, ready to contribute to the success of your communities, but not being able to find the right people with the right skills.

And trust me, that’s frustrating for us as government too.

And for young people – who have big dreams, who want to work hard, to get on, but who can’t find the right pathway –  for them, that’s not just a frustration.

It’s crushing.

That’s the thing, skills are the route to prosperity for employees and for employers.

A skills system that works for young people is a skills system that works for business.

And that’s the vision for our upcoming post-16 education and skills white paper.

To build a system that drives growth through the industrial strategy.

That’s not the work of one department, but the work of the whole government.

To open up opportunity in all of our communities.

And there are opportunities to be seized.

Evidence from Skills England shows why that’s so important.

By 2030 we’ll need 900,000 new jobs in priority sectors.

Like digital, clean energy, advanced manufacturing.

900,000 opportunities for your businesses to expand.

900,000 opportunities for our people to get on.

But to grab those opportunities we need change. We need a rebalancing of what it is we value.

Our universities, including here in the region, are truly world-leading, a brilliant source of national pride. But for too long, our further education colleges have had to exist in their shadow.

So it’s time we recognised the value of our colleges too.

And, just as we are driving up standards in our schools, it’s time to drive up standards in our colleges as well.

We’ll work with our brilliant FE staff, to harness their passion, to unlock their expertise, and to set in motion a skills revolution in our colleges.

Universities are the right route for many of our young people.

And we’ve got to make sure that all who want to go to university have the means to follow that dream.

That’s why in my speech this week at Labour Party Conference I announced that we will introduce new targeted maintenance grants for students who need them most.

Available for students pursuing higher level study at college or university on courses aligned with the government’s missions and the industrial strategy, because we value the technicians as well as the engineers, because what matters is not the building you study in, but the skills that you hone, because university is a fantastic option for many of our young people, but it’s not all of our young people, and they need strong roots too.

That’s why in his conference speech the Prime Minister announced we’ll move away from the target, around 50% of young people to go to university.

Instead, Keir set a new ambition, fit for this country’s future, fit for the modern world, for two-thirds of young people to reach higher-level study.

Whether that’s at university. Whether that’s in a college.

Or whether that’s through an apprenticeship.

I’m serious about skills. The Prime Minister is serious about skills. And this government is serious about skills.

And that requires a prestigious, world-class further education system.

Raising standards. Bolstering teaching quality. Empowering our high-performing FE leaders.

And so we’re backing our FE colleges with more funding.

Investing nearly £800 million extra next year.

Supporting an extra 20,000 16-19-year-olds with the skills that they need to get on.

And we’re going further.

We’re transforming FE colleges into specialist Technical Excellence Colleges.

And they’ll focus on key sectors to support our industrial strategy.

Back in August I went to Derby College to announce the selection of 10 Construction Technical Excellence Colleges, covering the whole of England.

And we’re investing £100 million to get this right and deliver high-quality construction skills for our young people.

And I’m delighted that the Construction Technical Excellence College for the North East is right here at the City of Sunderland College.

And we worked hand in hand with the North East Combined Authority to get this right.

In fact, the college’s brand-new Housing Innovation and Construction Skills Academy is just right over the way from here. You might be able to see it if you shuffle down.

It’ll be a centre of excellence, partnering with FE colleges, universities and employers like you across the region.

And now we’re launching another 14 Technical Excellence Colleges in three more sectors for 2026 right across the country – on top of the five we announced as part of the Defence Industrial Strategy.

That’s one route for young people to get the skills that your businesses need and that we all need.

Another is apprenticeships.

I know that they haven’t always offered the flexibility you need, they haven’t always reflected the realities of the modern world.

When the right skills can be gained in under a year, for example. Or when learners aren’t starting from zero.

That’s why last month we reduced the minimum duration to 8 months, to make apprenticeships work better for learners and better for you.

Also tearing away the red tape on English and maths, to open up opportunities for adult learners.

And for young people in targeted sectors we’ve introduced foundation apprenticeships – to give them a route into good careers in critical sectors.

But I know that sometimes supporting someone starting out in their career who needs extra support can be expensive for employers.

So we’ve backed the new foundation apprenticeships with support for employers of up to £2,000 for every foundation apprentice that you take on.

And It’s a similar story for T Level placements.

They’re an essential part of these really high quality top-quality qualifications.

But that doesn’t mean they’re cost free for you.

So we’ve brought in a new Employer Support Fund.

£6.3 million this year to support you with the costs of hosting a T Level industry placement.

Alongside this action on apprenticeships and T Levels sit our skills packages across government.

£625 million investment in construction skills.

£182 million for defence.

£172 million for engineering.

And £187 million for digital.

Skills aren’t just a lever to pull, they’re the cornerstone of our plans to get growth moving in every community.

But they’re no good in isolation. For that growth to be felt by local families, they have to be centred in local businesses, and we need to take a step back.

Because new skills are no use to the new dad who can’t go back to work because childcare is too expensive.

A new qualification is no use to the mam who can’t get up her hours in the office because school drop off is too late.

That’s why we’re rolling out 30 hours  of government-funded childcare for working parents, until their child reaches school.

And it’s why we’re racing ahead with free breakfast clubs for every primary school in the country.

To give parents the choice and freedom to work the hours that suit them.

But it’s more than that. We’re growing a network of up to a thousand Best Start Family Hubs.

The best of Sure Start, reimagined for the future – bringing together all of the help and advice that our  families need.

This is at the root of how we will  eradicate the stain of child poverty in our region – and across the country.

Parents with the right support, with the right skills to find the work that’s best for them.

Ending child poverty is the moral mission of this government.

Giving parents the power and the choices they need to build a better life for themselves and their families is my promise.

And some might wonder what’s the relevance for business in all of that.

But they’re wrong.

As leaders you know the value of strong and supportive communities.

The value of healthy and happy members of your team.

That’s why we’ve been working with business on our Make Work Pay initiative.

To drive up working conditions.

To share best practice.

To boost innovation.

Because the best businesses are proud to be trusted sources of good, secure jobs in their local communities.

And that’s my ask of you as I wrap up.  

To partner with us to revitalise our communities.

To take on that young apprentice with plenty of talent but who’s still got plenty left to learn.

Welcome that T-Level placement student who otherwise wouldn’t get the practical experience they need.

Engage in T Level Week later this month and share your success stories.

Invest in your workforce, not just for today but for tomorrow too.

And work with us in government. Work with Skills England. local colleges, your local university. Work with the team delivering the Local Skills Improvement Plan for your area.

You do all this already, because you know there is such strength in our community here in the region, but only when we work together.

So, please, keep doing it. And I’ll keep on working in partnership with you.

Because you are at the centre of what this government wants to achieve.

Our skills white paper is coming – and in partnership with you it will deliver the step change in skills that our country needs.

But that’s not the end game.

Because ultimately skills are a means to an end.

A means to many ends, in fact.

Driving growth.

Ending child poverty.

Breaking the link between background and success.

Security and prosperity, for businesses and workers alike.

Strong and healthy communities.

Opportunity for all.

Skills are the passport that take us from we are now to where we want to be.

As businesses, as communities, and as a country.

And that’s a journey I want us all to take together.

Thank you very much.