London Academy of Excellence

The London Academy of Excellence (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]

London Academy of Excellence Stratford
Address
London Academy of Excellence Stratford Show map of London Borough of Newham London Academy of Excellence Stratford Show map of Greater London London Academy of Excellence Stratford Show map of England London Academy of Excellence Stratford Show map of the United Kingdom
Broadway House 322 Stratford High Street Stratford , 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	Barnaby Lenon CBE
Head Master	Scott Baker
Gender	Coeducational
Age	16 to 19
Enrolment	483
Houses	Eton Caterham Highgate Brighton University College School Forest
Website	http://lae.ac.uk/

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.

Results

The school was inspected in October 2017 and was awarded “outstanding” in all areas.[8]

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.[9]

References

1. "London Academy of Excellence - GOV.UK". www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
2. "Headmaster of 'East End Eton': Our school raises aspirations". Evening Standard. 20 January 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
3. "Eton of the East End | The Sunday Times". www.thesundaytimes.co.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
4. "Michael Gove speaks about securing our children's future - Speeches - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
5. "Entry Requirements - London Academy of Excellence". www.excellencelondon.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
6. O'Reilly, Judith (22 November 2015). "Free school sets gold standard". The Sunday Times. London.
7. Furness, Hannah (17 January 2016). "'East End Eton' pupils beats top public schools to Oxbridge". The Telegraph. London.
8. "Ofsted report" (PDF).
9. "Latest results - London Academy of Excellence". lae.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 November 2017.