David Lammy MP today welcomed the news that four schools in Haringey serving Tottenham pupils will get a share of £400 million to improve their results over the next three years.
The new funding is part of ‘National Challenge’, which will give extra support and investment to help the 638 schools where less than 30% of pupils get five or more good GCSEs including English and Maths above that target by 2011.
The following schools in Haringey will be part of the National Challenge programme: Woodside High, Greig City Academy, St Thomas More and John Loughborough. Working with school governing bodies, Haringey has been asked to revise their improvement plans for each of these schools by the end of the summer term.
Each school is different and some will need more support than others. Many National Challenge schools are already improving and on the right path to success, while some will need greater investment and change.
David Lammy commented:
"I have always made school standards and attainment one of my personal priorities in Tottenham - I've visited every school and talk regularly to parents, young people, Haringey Council and teachers.
“Because of this engagement, extra investment and our close working relationship school standards have risen substantially in Tottenham over the last ten years.
“Yet I know we need to go even further to transform results in some of our schools - with a particular focus on the core subjects of English and Maths.
“I’m pleased today that four schools in and around Tottenham will get extra investment and support to help them get above the 30 per cent target over the next three years. I want to work with all these schools to assist them in using this extra investment to transform their results.
“This money is alongside funds already committed under the Building Schools for the Future programme to rebuild facilities and invest in state of the art ICT facilities - including £4m at John Loughborough, £27.9m at Woodside High, and £7.4m at St Thomas More.
“Schools in Haringey are making substantial progress, and in Tottenham I am particularly proud that only one school is failing to meet the 30% target. It is a testament to all the hard work of pupils, teachers and parents at Northumberland Park, Park View and Gladesmore which has led to this sustained improvement in standards across the board.
“I know the other schools have robust turnaround plans and have recently visited the new teams at both Woodside and John Loughborough, but it is always right to keep these under review and offer more support where necessary. It is also right that improvement plans are drawn up with the engagement of governing bodies, teachers, heads and parents.”
Cllr Liz Santry, Cabinet member for Children and Young People, added:
“The vast majority of our schools have been judged as either outstanding or good by Ofsted inspectors. “Substantial improvements in exam results have been achieved in recent years.
“In Haringey we have a very good track record for working with schools which have been identified as under-performing and taking decisive action where necessary.
“This is one reason why GCSE results in Haringey have been rising much more rapidly than the national average.”
