Outstanding Results from Two Newham Sixth Forms. Mayor Silent.

Readers might wonder why it is that the mayor hasn’t congratulated the London Academy of Excellence and Newham Sixth Form Collegiate. The Times has published the table above which shows that The Collegiate, based on the East Ham Town Hall campus, has achieved outstanding results in ‘A’ Levels with 91.7% achieving A*-B passes. The Academy of Excellence did even better, achieving 92.1%.

Two Newham sixth-form providers are amongst the very top in the country. The only council with two in this group. Surely the mayor should be over the moon because of their results and what this means for the life-chances of Newham children.

The two sixth form providers have demonstrated that with good teaching and high expectations, young people from deprived urban areas can do as well as any in the country. The students at the Collegiate and the Academy also have a disproportionately high number from ethnic minorities, giving the lie to the racism of low expectations.

Readers will note that the number of young people entered for ‘A’ Levels at the Collegiate, far exceeded any of the cohorts in either state or independent schools above it. Moreover, the Collegiate specializes in STEM subjects, (maths, science, etc), so this is not a case of young people choosing ‘easier’ subjects.

MyLondon reported earlier in the year, that the same school achieved second place in the country, for students gaining admission to Harvard and Oxbridge. The model pioneered in Newham has been adopted in Hackney and Islington. We noted how the Academy was equally impressive. 

Both the Academy and the Collegiate were made possible by the Gove reforms. Possibly, because the Tories made it possible, possibly because there were those in the Labour Party opposed to anything to do with ‘academies’ some party members and not a few councillors wanted nothing to do with these innovations. Not the least among these was one Cllr Rokhsana Fiaz.

We see this in the ‘pledges’ she made to party members when seeking selection as the candidate for mayor. Ms Fiaz was hostile to academies and pledged to oppose further academisation. We have to remember, this was back when Ms Fiaz was a Corbynite and doctrine was more important than outcomes for children. We note that since her election she has approved two new academies, so the reader will have to form his or her own opinion as to what Fiaz’s real views are.

However, in her campaign, the Collegiate was, in her words, a vanity project and a waste of money.

This does rather suggest that she is none too keen.

It sounds harsh, but there is a section of the Left who would rather children did not do well, if it means abandoning ideologically pure policies, even if those policies do not work. Children ‘failing’ is blamed on poverty, the Tories, ‘deprivation’, funding etc. They get a warm fuzzy feeling being champions of the oppressed. What they don’t do is sort out the problem.

NewVIC is not included in the Times’ table, we are informed that a number of providers did not submit results. But looking at their website we see that 26% of the candidates achieved A*-Bs. This would have put NewVIC second from bottom of the table.

This is mentioned, not to criticize NewVIC, but to note that if Messers Peppiatt and Wales had not taken the bull by the horns ten years ago, 26% as opposed to 92% would be the only option on offer to Newham teenagers.

Political action can change lives for the better if politicians have the courage to do what works as opposed to what fits their dogma.