Where will Mission Coastal go next?

The government launched its Mission Coastal school improvement programme in Hastings and Scarborough - but which seaside areas could be next in line for support?

The programme is designed to help children in England’s “most underserved” coastal communities through mentoring and community opportunities.

From September, the scheme will aim to identify what works in Hastings and Scarborough and feed lessons back into national policy.

Over time, the Department for Education has said it wants to form a “wider alliance of other coastal areas with similar challenges”, where children and families can benefit from the approach being taken in Hastings and Scarborough.

Based on the DfE’s criteria for selecting its first two locations, Tes has looked at which areas could be next in line to receive support.

Where next for Mission Coastal?

In response to a freedom of information request, the DfE told Tes it chose its first two Mission Coastal areas based on their educational attainment over the past three years, attendance rates and Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI).

It did not set out the weighting used across these categories.

Analysis by FFT Education Datalab for Tes examined which coastal areas would qualify using the DfE criteria.

While Hastings ranked among the lowest coastal areas for attainment and among the highest for IDACI, Scarborough was only in the lowest 10 for absence rates.

Thanet in Kent and Tendring in Essex scored particularly poorly across several criteria and could be eligible for support if the Mission areas are expanded.

Income deprivation

Middlesbrough in the North East has the highest average IDACI rank, at 0.552. This means that 52 per cent of children aged 0-15 are from income-deprived families.

Hastings also ranks highly at 0.5, while Scarborough has a score of 0.244.

Other coastal areas with high IDACI rankings are Blackpool (0.551), Great Yarmouth (0.497) and Hartlepool (0.494).

Pupil absence

The DfE said it considered overall absence and persistent absence.

Taking overall absence, Torridge has the highest rate of all coastal areas at 12.1 per cent. The national average for the 2025-26 academic year was 8.24 per cent.

Scarborough is next at 12 per cent, followed by Tendring at 11.9 per cent and West Devon at 11.3 per cent.

The absence rate for Hastings is 10.1 per cent, putting it outside of the lowest 10 coastal areas.

Attainment 8

The FFT analysis examined Attainment 8 data for all students and those from disadvantaged backgrounds, although the DfE said the Mission also took into account key stage 2 outcomes.

Tendring has the second lowest Attainment 8 out of all coastal areas at 37.1 per cent. It includes areas such as Clacton-on-Sea and Jaywick, the most deprived neighbourhood in England.

The only area with a lower Attainment 8 score is Hastings (35.5 per cent) - far lower than the national average of 46 per cent.

Gosport in Hampshire, Castle Point in Essex and Havant in Hampshire also rank among the lowest coastal areas for Attainment 8.

Havant’s score is 39.2 per cent, dropping to 26.3 per cent for disadvantaged pupils.

Martyn Reah, headteacher of The Hayling College in Havant, warns that Mission Coastal is “overdue” for communities such as his.

He says: “Coastal communities have long experienced barriers, including geographic isolation, recruitment difficulties, reduced access to wider opportunities and entrenched disadvantage.”

Funding fairness

Mission Coastal was announced in the schools White Paper earlier this year and is designed to emulate the London Challenge, a school-improvement programme started by Tony Blair’s Labour government in the early 2000s.

But unlike the London Challenge, there will not be new money for all the Mission areas identified, either in Mission Coastal or the associated Mission North East scheme. Tes understands that any funding will come from existing DfE budgets.

While Mr Reah welcomes the template of the London Challenge, he cautions that the success of the New Labour project was not based on structure alone.

“It was underpinned by sustained and significant investment, alongside intelligent use of data and a clear understanding of place,” he says.

If Mission Coastal is to deliver meaningful and lasting impact, then “funding fairness” has to be part of the conversation, he adds.

Current per-pupil funding differences remain substantial. For example, secondary schools in inner London boroughs such as Camden receive significantly higher per-pupil funding than the national minimum.

For a school the size of The Hayling College, that translates to a gap of around £1.5 million annually, the equivalent of multiple teaching staff or wider support capacity, Mr Reah says.

“Without addressing this structural imbalance, there is a risk that well-intentioned reform does not fully achieve its aims,” he adds.

Better transport needed

Some 31 per cent of school students in Gosport, Hampshire - once a major naval town - are on free school meals, compared with 26.5 per cent nationally.

As a peninsula with only one road in and out, transport difficulties have a significant impact, says Kerry Payne, who leads King’s Academy Brune Park secondary school.

”[Transport] restricts student access, requiring us as a school to support their self-belief regarding potential post-16 pathways outside of Gosport,” she tells Tes.

While she welcomes Mission Coastal in principle, she also sees potential difficulties around funding.

“Funding dedicated to subsidising field trips, cultural visits and extracurricular activities is vital to offset the geographical isolation of the peninsula and broaden students’ horizons,” she says.