Greater Expectations: Enabling Achievement for Disadvantaged Students

This book reveals the successful strategies behind one of the UK's top schools, offering insights for educators to enhance student outcomes and promote social mobility.

This insightful book delves into the strategies, policies, and culture that have contributed to the exceptional success of one of the UK's top educational institutions, the London Academy of Excellence. Greater Expectations: Enabling Achievement for Disadvantaged Students breaks down the school's achievements into universal ideas that can be applied by school leaders in various contexts. It poses the critical question of how raising expectations can lead to improved outcomes for both schools and their students.

The London Academy of Excellence (LAE) in Newham stands out as a premier sixth-form school in the UK, dedicated to addressing educational disadvantage. Its mission is to provide ambitious young individuals from lower-income backgrounds with an education that rivals the best available in the independent sector. Over the past decade, the LAE has successfully guided more than 1,300 students to Russell Group universities, including over 200 to medical schools and more than 150 to prestigious institutions like Oxford and Cambridge, with many being the first in their families to pursue higher education.

The authors, Alex Crossman and Ian Warwick, meticulously analyze the school's practices to extract universal strategies that can enhance educational outcomes. They emphasize the importance of viewing the curriculum as a vehicle for social mobility, planning for high-quality post-graduation opportunities from the outset, and implementing challenge strategies to foster academic excellence across all subjects. The book concludes with a comprehensive list of actionable strategies aimed at cultivating greater expectations in any educational setting.