A-level results: university places all round at school in riot-hit area
Sir Michael Wilshaw, head of Mossbourne Academy
More than one in 10 A-level entries were awarded an A* at a school in a deprived part of the country severely hit by the riots last week.
Every teenager studying A-levels in their final year at Mossbourne academy in Hackney, north London, secured a university place – the majority at the most competitive institutions. Seven have confirmed places at Cambridge and three have places at medical schools.
One teenager turned down a place to study music at Cambridge to go to the Royal Academy of Music instead, while another, who has been unwell, is expected to have her place at Cambridge confirmed later. Two of the school’s pupils achieved four A*s in this year’s A-levels. Some 83% achieved A* to C grades.
Executive principal Sir Michael Wilshaw described the results, Mossbourne’s first set of A-level grades since it opened in 2004, as: “A fantastic feat. It shows what can be done.”
Asked how the school would repeat the performance in future years, Wilshaw said: “With great difficulty is the simple response, but we will work to replicate it each year.”
The school is less than one mile from Hackney’s Pembury estate, which was the scene of the largest confrontation during the riots in London last week.
Mossbourne replaced Hackney Downs, a school described as the worst in Britain before it was closed down in 1995.
It is noted for its traditional approach to teaching and learning – with streaming and a curriculum organised around subjects rather than themes. Wilshaw fosters a culture of discipline, with strict adherence to the school’s blazer and tie uniform and same-day detentions.
The school’s success does not depend on a selective intake. Around 40% of Mossbourne’s pupils are on free school meals, 30% are on the special needs register, 80% are from ethnic minorities, and 40% are from homes where English is not the first language.
Mossbourne is one of the first academies and has been feted by Labour for many years. The Tories admire it too. Michael Gove, the education secretary, has described the school’s head as “a real hero”. Tony Blair went to the school to launch a package of education reforms in 2006, with Gordon Brown by his side.
Wilshaw said the fact that at least seven students would be going to Cambridge was testament to the school’s “very strong relationship with Cambridge”. “We thought we had the same relationship with Oxford. I just think it’s the luck of the draw,” he said. The school’s head, who was born in India, has been touted as the next chief of Ofsted.
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