London schools’ success ‘at risk’ if funding is diverted from capital to help other areas

As reported by the Evening Standard, levelling up should not mean redirecting resources away from London, schools leader says

London’s “remarkable” turnaround in school performance will be put at risk if funding is diverted away from the capital to boost other areas, education experts have warned.

The latest GCSE results show London pupils have pulled further away from those in the rest of the country, with around one third of GCSEs taken in the capital given top grades compared with a quarter or less in most other regions.

But experts fear that in order to narrow the gap between London and elsewhere, resources could be redistributed which would hamper the capital’s hard-won success.

London schools have improved dramatically since the early 2000s, partly due to the London Challenge, an improvement programme that focused on schools sharing good practice.

Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, said: “The turnaround in London’s results has been remarkable — from one of the poorest-performing regions it has risen to the very top.

“London students deserve considerable praise for doing so well.” He added: “The brilliance of its results does tend to suggest it is affluent and mask areas of real poverty and disadvantage, which are as much in need of financial support as other parts of the country.

 “The Government’s ‘education investment areas’ omit London entirely so money will, in effect, be transferred away from the capital. This will put the great gains that have been made at risk, and while inequalities between the regions may be reduced it will be levelling-down rather raising performance.”