Blair commits himself to education

East End School Celebrates Success

The drive behind the school's dramatic progress was explained by student Corrinne Abela: "We have gone to a school that has had a lot of bad things said about it in the past. We wanted to prove people wrong."

This dramatic improvement has been accredited to students voluntary attendance at extra classes, both before and after school and in the holidays, which have made it "cool" to learn.

Head teacher Alasdair Macdonald explained to Mr Blair, who paid a visit to the school, that when he joined the staff five years ago, pupils who wanted to pass exams were scorned by their classmates as "boffins". He explained that "they were made fun of and marginalised. But we have changed the culture, so that it's now those who don't want to learn who are marginalised".

The scheme, which began with a crackdown on bad discipline and truancy, has snowballed and now claims to have children queuing up to join the extra curricular classes. It has been boosted by funding from a City-based bank - the American Bankers Trust International - whose staff have also given their own time to act as mentors to pupils.

The school's results are testament to its philosophy and although its pass-rate places Morpeth school just under the national average, the improvement has been achieved despite severe social deprivation in the surrounding area.

Former pupils confirm the scheme's success. Suhel Rana said: "The atmosphere here has changed a lot. The teachers give up their time to help you. If they hadn't supported us, we wouldn't have come to these extra classes". The school's honours board shows around 20 or 30 former pupils every year now going to university.

The school's success has provided a boost to Mr Blair's recent announcement that the Government's literary scheme is due to be expanded to cater for 16,000 children next summer.