30 schools and educational organisations have been awarded almost £7m by the Mayor’s London Schools Excellence Fund.
The £24m fund was established by Mayor Boris Johnson with support from the Department for Education (DfE) earlier this year with the aim of boosting teaching and pupil achievement in English, languages and science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects.
The funding announced today will allow 30 “high performing schools” and organisations to develop programmes to help drive up standards and results in other schools around the capital.
The successful bids include a languages and culture centre led by Pembroke College, University of Oxford and a programme of “Reach Out Labs” led by Lord Winston, Professor of Science and Society at Imperial College.
City Hall says the funded projects could help up to 1,000 London schools and boost the teaching of around 250,000 pupils.
Mayor Johnson said: ‘Parents in London want to know that the school their child attends will give them the best start in life and access to top universities and careers.
“Whilst many London schools are doing an excellent job teaching their pupils and have shown real improvements in recent years, there are still too many children leaving school unable to read and write properly, and without the grades and aptitude they need to succeed in our fiercely competitive city.
“We want even more schools to stretch their children and be ambitious for their future.
‘That’s why we’re making £24 million available for high performing schools and institutions to share their knowledge and expertise with other schools, to raise expectations, bring academic rigour and improve attainment for more pupils. We have to turbo-charge the system so that all London schoolchildren have the best possible education regardless of background or where they live.’
