Tauheedul Education Trust is among five organisations awarded grants totalling nearly £5 million to drive up standards in schools in parts of the north of England.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has announced the details of 5 academy sponsors who have been tasked to make an impact on improving performance for pupils in some of the most challenging and disadvantaged areas of the county.

Hamid Patel CBE, Chief Executive of Tauheedul Education Trust (TET), said, “We are delighted to be able to extend our education offer to more schools in Bradford and Greater Manchester with the support of the Northern Sponsor Fund.

"At TET, our priority is to provide every student with a high quality education, instil higher aspirations for children and their families and develop the school leaders of tomorrow through our training programmes.

“We have a strong track record in school improvement and we look forward to supporting more schools in the north to thrive.”

The trusts awarded funding today are: • Tauheedul Education Trust, a sponsor with an excellent track record in running schools - all of its schools inspected so far are rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. Tauheedul will extend their offer to more schools in Bradford and Greater Manchester.

• REAch2, who have set up a new entity called ‘REAch4’ to work in the north - REAch2 now sponsors 49 schools across the country. REAch4 will primarily work in South Yorkshire.

• Outwood Grange Academies Trust, a sponsor set up by the ‘outstanding’ Outwood Grange Academy in Outwood, near Wakefield. Outwood will work in South Yorkshire and the Tees Valley.

• Wakefield City Academies Trust, which has already successfully opened 16 schools across the northern fund regions. WCAT will extend its offer to more schools in Bradford.

• Bright Tribe, a well-established sponsor with a proven track record of successfully managing geographically dispersed academy hubs, making it well-matched to the challenge of working in the north. Bright Tribe will extend its offer to schools in Northumberland.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said, “Over the past 5 years we’ve extended opportunity to thousands of young people, through raised standards, heightened expectations and a rigour revolution.

“But for all we’ve achieved, too many young people aren’t being given a fair shot to succeed because of where they live. That’s why today I’m announcing the creation of a National Teaching Service - sending some of our best teachers to schools in struggling areas.

“At the same time, we’re taking further steps to ensure that every pupil masters the three Rs in primary school and studies the core academic subjects in secondary school - ensuring that every young person gets the best start in life.”