Seven schools from Tower Hamlets in the nation's top 500

Students at Mayflower Primary (December 2020)

Seven schools from Tower Hamlets have been named in the nation’s top 500 schools by Parent Power Schools Guide, published in The Sunday Times on Sunday 5 December.

The twenty-ninth edition of Parent Power identified the 1,600 highest-achieving state and independent schools in the United Kingdom, ranked by their most recent moderated, pre-pandemic examination results.

Mayor of Tower Hamlets, John Biggs, said:

“Our schools are an engine of opportunity, giving children and young people some of the best education in the country.

“We have a fantastic family of schools in Tower Hamlets, and we work very hard together to ensure our children and young people receive the high-quality education they deserve.

“I’m grateful to our education staff, children, young people, families and the wider community and education partnership for their continuing and coordinated action aimed at improving lives locally.”

Tracy Smith, Executive Director, Tower Hamlets’ Education Partnership, said:

“We believe disadvantage is not a barrier to learning — that all children can succeed. There is no ‘secret’ to our success, other than the hard work, dedication and high expectations of our staff, children, and their families. We think schools thrive when they learn from each other to tackle shared challenges and build capacity together.

“Our successful Tower Hamlets’ Education Partnership is a collaborative partnership between schools, which promotes joint approaches and focuses on learning, teaching and school leadership as the route to improvement.

“We are also active in our community, helping children and young people to take full advantage of the opportunities on their doorstep.”

Mayflower Primary School, in Poplar, which finished third in this year’s ranking, has remained one of the nation’s best schools, having topped the table in 2020 and 2021.

Dee Bleach, headteacher of Mayflower Primary School, said:

“The Mayflower School community are extremely proud to be recognised as one of the top three Primary schools nationally, for 2022. We strive for excellence and for ways to make learning exciting. Creativity, inclusion, and innovation are at the heart of all we do. This achievement is a real tribute to the hard work of our staff, pupils and the wider community who support us.”

Other schools from the borough to be named in the top 500 include George Green’s Secondary School (10) Bigland Green Primary School (190) Sir William Burrough Primary School (216) Blue Gate Fields Infant School (269) English Martyrs Roman Catholic Primary School (343) and St Edmund’s Roman Catholic Primary School (464).

For over two decades now, schools in Tower Hamlets have been continuously improving, to the point that 96 per cent of schools are now rated ‘Good’ or better by Ofsted, the school’s inspector.

Ends —

For more information about this release contact the London Borough of Tower Hamlets communications team on 020 7364 4389 or email communications@towerhamlets.gov.uk.

Notes to editors:

Education in Tower Hamlets

• In primary school, pupils attain higher than the national average in all subjects at both KS1 (seven-year-olds) and KS2 (11-year-olds).
• In 2019, 72 per cent of pupils achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics in Tower Hamlets compared to 65 per cent nationally at the end of Year 6.
• In 2019, 14 per cent of pupils achieved the higher standard in reading, writing and mathematics in Tower Hamlets compared to 11 per cent nationally at the end of Year 6.
• In 2019, 69 per cent of disadvantaged pupils achieved the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics in Tower Hamlets compared to 52 per cent nationally at the end of Year 6.
• Pupils in Year 1 consistently achieve higher than the national average in the phonics screening check, with 84 per cent achieving the expected standard in 2019 compared to 82 per cent nationally
• School leaders understand the importance of high-quality learning and teaching impacting on outcomes for pupils and invest heavily in ensuring that all staff receive professional development to improve. This applies to teaching assistants, early career teachers and leaders at all levels.
• There is a real culture of sharing good practice across schools and learning from each other. Leaders in Tower Hamlets have a strong moral compass that schools do not work in isolation, but for all children within the borough.
• Within the borough, there are high expectations for all pupils. Disadvantage is not a barrier to learning – all children can succeed. Schools take full advantage of the fantastic opportunities in the locality; be that museums, the rich history and culture within the community, business partners in the area coming in to work with our pupils or by making links with universities. The curriculum is made real for our pupils through experiences and opportunities to ensure aspirations are raised and children have access to places and people that will inspire and equip them for the next stage in their learning.

Visit https://www.the-partnership.org.uk/ to learn more.

About the Parent Power Schools Guide

Parent Power is widely acknowledged as the most authoritative survey of the country’s best schools.

As well as assessment of all academic results on a school-by-school basis, Parent Power enables parents to compare the performance of a given school with other schools in the same town, local authority or nationally. There are also live links to school websites and a schools’ most recent inspection reports.