London Academy of Excellence
| London Academy of Excellence Stratford | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Address | |
 | |
Broadway House 322 Stratford High Street , E15 1AJ England | |
| Information | |
| Type | Free School |
| Motto | The academic sixth form for independent thinkers |
| Established | 2012 |
| Local authority | Newham |
| Department for Education URN | 138403 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Chair of Governors | Tony Little (headmaster) |
| Headteacher | Alex Crossman |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Age | 16 to 19 |
| Enrolment | 483 |
| Houses |
|
| Website | http://www.lae.ac.uk/ |
The London Academy of Excellence, Stratford (LAE) is a selective free school sixth form college located in the Stratford area of the London Borough of Newham, England. It has approximately 460 pupils and 32 teachers.[1]
Background
The school first opened in 2012 in collaboration with seven independent schools - Brighton College, Caterham School, Eton College, City of London School, Forest School, Highgate School and University College School, six of which continue to support the school as 'partner schools'.[2] Its close relationship with Eton College has led to the school being dubbed 'the Eton of the East End' by the national media.[3]
LAE is a flagship of the Conservative government's academies programme. It was visited by Michael Gove in February 2014, who called it a "superb new free school".[4] As well as state funding, the school receives £500,000 annually from HSBC, and thus is able to offer sports and recreation activities, clubs, societies, a lecture programme and an outreach program to complement academic studies.[2]
The school offers an academic A-Level curriculum designed to facilitate student's entry on to competitive degree courses at leading universities. Conditional offers of places are made on the basis of student's predicted GCSE results. For 2018 entry, students require a minimum of 5 GCSE 7-9 grades, including a minimum of grade 6 in Mathematics and either English Language or English Literature.[5]
In 2015, the Sunday Times awarded the school with the title of 'The Sunday Times Sixth-form College of The Year'. It was the first free school to be named the best sixth form in the country".[6] In 2016 eight students gained offers from Oxford University and the University of Cambridge, receiving much national media attention.[7]
In 2017, the school adopted a gender-neutral dress code.
Controversies
Since 2014, an ongoing dispute has been occuring whereby Muslim students of the school were banned from praying on premises. After protests, students were given a reflection room but sermons were closely monitored by staff. Students allege that the close surveillance of Muslim students was unusual and showed that Muslims were being treated in a discriminatory manner and presumed to be criminals without any evidence.Further allegations include students being punished with detentions for praying on site and seniors shouting and reprimanding students who were found praying.[8] [9]
In 2022, an online campaign was launched by a group of LAE alumni accusing the school of institutional Islamophobia citing examples of accusatory treatment of Muslim students, such as being pulled out of lessons and questioned about their stances on ISIS and Shamima Begum as well as being probed about wearing
the hijab.The group of LAE alumini further accuse the school of allowing them to leave the building during a bomb threat.
In 2022, an online campaign was launched by a group of LAE alumni accusing the school of institutional Islamophobia citing examples of accusatory treatment of Muslim students, suc as being pulled out of lessons and questioned about their stances on ISIS and Shamima Beguma as well as being probed about wearing the hijab.The group of LAE alumini further accuse the school of allowing them to leave the building during a bomb threat at the local Westfield Stratford rather than permitting prayer on site. [10]
A petition demanding that an inquiry goes into the school's Islamophobia and staff who have failed their duty of care towards LAE pupils has been signed more than 25,000 times.
The school denies being institutionally Islamophobic and cites that it has recently offered local prayer facilities in a bar, despite it being widely known that Muslims are prohibited from drinking alcohol and frequenting bars. [11]
Results
The school was inspected in October 2017 and was awarded “outstanding” in all areas.[12]
In 2019, LAE achieved record results with 65% of all A-Levels grades A*/A, and 93% A*-B. More than 850 LAE students have taken up places at Russell Group universities since the first cohort left in 2014, 67 attended Oxford and Cambridge, and 95 have embarked on highly competitive medicine, veterinary medicine and dentistry courses.[13]
References
- ^ "London Academy of Excellence - GOV.UK". www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
- ^ a b "Headmaster of 'East End Eton': Our school raises aspirations". Evening Standard. 20 January 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
- ^ "Eton of the East End | The Sunday Times". www.thesundaytimes.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 January 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
- ^ "Michael Gove speaks about securing our children's future - Speeches - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
- ^ "Entry Requirements - London Academy of Excellence". www.excellencelondon.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
- ^ O'Reilly, Judith (22 November 2015). "Free school sets gold standard". The Sunday Times. London. Archived from the original on 2 March 2016.
- ^ Furness, Hannah (17 January 2016). "'East End Eton' pupils beats top public schools to Oxbridge". The Telegraph. London.
- ^ https://5pillarsuk.com/2022/03/09/london-academy-of-excellence-stopped-students-praying-created-climate-of-islamophobia/
- ^ https://5pillarsuk.com/2015/09/04/muslim-pupils-feel-targeted-at-london-college-after-prayer-room-dispute/
- ^ https://laeexposed.co.uk/
- ^ "Multi-faith facilities at LAE".
- ^ "Ofsted report" (PDF).
- ^ "Latest results - London Academy of Excellence". lae.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
51°32′22″N 0°00′03″W / 51.53938386858997°N 0.0009330485125105662°W
