Norwich Opportunity Area (NOA)

Norwich was identified as one of 12 Opportunity Areas in October 2016 based on its ranking in the social mobility index. The Norwich Opportunity Area was launched by the government to raise education standards locally, providing every child and young person in the area with the chance to reach their full potential in life.

In October 2017 the delivery plan was published, setting out the goals the programme aimed to achieve, and initial activities for the 2017-2018 academic year. The plan outlined the priorities that needed to be tackled in order to improve social mobility.

As the work progressed a strategy was developed along the following key themes:

• Improving Early Years Communication - preventing the gap between outcomes for disadvantaged pupils and their peers that begins before they start school.
• Attainment - Improving attainment through evidence-based practice and collaboration.
• Inclusion - Creating strong schools for every child by supporting strong leadership, great teaching and helping schools to reduce exclusions through the Norwich Inclusion Charter.
• Transition - The movement of students from one year group or school to another. A range of new practices and resources to support schools to enable a smooth transition for their students.
• Collaboration - Linking children to life beyond school, working with local employers, the voluntary sector, parents and communities, as well as national programmes to ensure that schools are well supported to prepare young people for working life and adulthood.

Click on the link to download the  Social Mobility delivery plan (PDF, 3 MB).

The programme ran for five years with funded activities coming to an end on 31 August 2022. The spend was published per year; click on the link to download the final NOA finance reports (PDF, 245 KB).

Sharing Learning

The Norwich, Ipswich and Fenland & East Cambridgeshire Opportunity Area teams have developed an online space to capture the Big Ideas across the three Opportunity Areas with case studies, resources and examples to showcase the learning of schools, colleges, settings and partner organisations. This resource is free and available for anyone to use.

Legacy

Norwich Opportunity Area partners have worked hard to ensure sustainability is built into all areas of the programme. Some elements of the programme, such as practitioner networks, continued CPD offers and sharing learning continue beyond Summer 2022, led by local leaders, or embedded into wider strategies of other organisations.

You can download the  What's changed report - Summary (PDF, 271 KB) document, which includes details about how some of the work under each priority continues.

Impact

The What's changed report - Final version (PDF, 2 MB) for the Norwich Opportunity Area programme was published in July 2022.  

External evaluations were commissioned for some of the key projects funded by NOA. These reports contain key learnings and recommendations for others embarking on similar projects. Copies of these published reports can be found here. 

More information

If you would like to get in touch with someone about the Norwich Opportunity Area, please visit the Sharing Big Ideas website where you will be able to find contact details for organisations involved in the projects.