The latest Progress 8 scores are out, and guess what? Michaela Community School in Wembley, run by “Britain’s strictest headmistress” Katharine Birbalsingh, is the top in the country for the second year running.
Progress 8 is a “value-added” measure which indicates how much a secondary school has helped pupils improve since primary school.
One third of Michaela’s GCSE pupils attained a nine (the highest grade) this year, with 98 per cent of pupils achieving grades 9-4 in at least five subjects (A* to C in old money). The sixth form also achieves remarkable results with 82 per cent securing a place at a Russell Group university, including Oxbridge, LSE and Imperial in 2021.
These are truly cracking achievements for a state school in a deprived area of London and yet still Birbalsingh is reviled by some on the Left for adopting an unashamedly old-fashioned educational ethos.
