Scotland can learn lessons from London schools on how to tackle the attainment gap, the First Minister has said.
Nicola Sturgeon was speaking before a visit to Blue Gate Fields junior school in the city’s Tower Hamlets today.
The school took part in the London Challenge, introduced south of the border in 2003 by the then Labour government with the aim of giving young people a better education.
Blue Gate Fields is now ranked in the top 20% of schools in England for attainment in grammar and reading and in the top 40% for maths.
The London Challenge inspired the £100 million Attainment Scotland Fund recently announced by the Scottish Government.
Seven local authorities with the highest concentrations of pupils living in deprived areas are to receive the first allocations from the fund.
Ms Sturgeon said: “While I have no time for some of the ideological reforms taking place in English education, there are clear lessons for Scotland from the London challenge and the efforts made here to improve attainment.
“Scotland has a distinct education system which is respected around the world.
“As other countries learn from our work on Curriculum for Excellence, so we should be open to ideas from other parts of the UK and elsewhere to help tackle the challenges we face.
“Blue Gate Fields has delivered spectacular results and demonstrates that with the right support children can achieve in education, whatever their background.”