A scheme to get the brightest graduates into teaching has helped boost London schools so much they are now the best in the country, experts said today.
New research suggests London state schools are outperforming those in every other part of England.
Children in Westminster can now expect to beat children in a similar neighbourhood in Hull by more than two grades in every GCSE subject.
Lord Adonis, a schools minister under Labour, said the success is partly down to Teach First, which launched in London 10 years ago and parachutes top graduates into schools as teachers.
He added that the academies programme and the London Challenge — a programme of targeted intervention — have also helped.
Lord Adonis also praised all councils in London, regardless of political party, for being “far bolder at education reform than councils elsewhere.”
Sir Michael Wilshaw, head of watchdog Ofsted, said last month: “I’ve been a London teacher all my life. It wasn’t a good place to be in the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties. Now it’s one of the top performing parts of the country.”
The Financial Times analysed GCSE performance over the past six years. London was the fourth placed region in 2006, but by last year it had taken first place.
James Westhead, director of external relations at Teach First, said: “This analysis is exciting because it shows that real change is possible for children from the poorest areas, not just in one or two schools but in a whole school system as large and complex as London.”
