Principals and headteachers in Hackney have expressed their delight at students’ outstanding A-level results.
Peter Hughes of Mossbourne Community Academy in Downs Park Road said: “We are really pleased. We have an 87 per cent pass rate at grades A* to C and 27 per cent A* to A.
“We also have three students that are going to Oxford and many more who have been accepted at Russell Group Universities.”
Sixth form pupil Ade Olatunde turned down coveted places at Oxford University and the London School of Economics to study in the US.
He will enrol at the University of North Carolina on full scholarship to study geography and city planning this autumn.
Ian Ashman, principal of Hackney Community College (HCC), in Falkirk Street, said: “We are delighted with our results and with the improvement made by the college and our students this year,
“It’s been a particularity good year for us and we are really pleased.
“I want to congratulate the students and the staff in helping them get there.”
Students at HCC achieved an overall pass rate of 97 per cent at the A2 exams, with the percentage of students achieving grades A* to C increasing by 11 per cent.
Mr Ashman said: “We have some fantastic success stories from pupils that joined us from Hackney schools.”
Mohammed Miah, 19, from Dalston, completed both the AS and A2 in Law in one year, and achieved an A and A*.
He is now looking forward to studying at Queen Mary, University of London.
Mohammed praised his lecturer at the college: “Sulliman is the best!!” he said.
Tamanna Ahmed, 19, previously of Haggerston School, in Weymouth Terrace, achieved A Level Biology in one year and is progressing to City University to study radiography.
She said she loved the people, the teachers and the lessons at HCC.
Mr Ashman said: “We have a strap-line for the college: ambition, success and opportunity. What we have been working to do is encourage students to access the best opportunities; our students deserve to access the best.
“Some of them come from backgrounds where it is not always easy to study but they have demonstrated they can achieve.”
Mr Hughes added: “I believe in Hackney children; it used to be seen as a borough with failures but that is completely wrong.
“I have seen Hackney children can be the best in the country.”
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