Barely a decade ago it was at the bottom of the heap. Highbury Grove School had some of the worst exam results and truancy rates in the country and undercover filming shown on TV featured scenes of shocking behaviour – including a lesson descending into a riot. But now the North London comprehensive has marked an extraordinary transformation after being hailed as one of Britain’s best state schools by the high society magazine Tatler. Highbury Grove School in Islington, pictured, is now one of the most successful state schools in England . The school, pictured, has been turned around according to a survey by Tatler magazine . For the second year running, the magazine has produced a guide to state schools amid concerns that readers are finding it increasingly hard to afford private education. Until 2014, the magazine only produced a guide to the country’s leading fee-paying schools, but now Tatler sends out teams to find the ‘very best of the state education system’. Highbury Grove is among 22 state secondaries featured, taking its place alongside top-performing grammars and the girls’ comprehensive chosen by former education secretary Michael Gove for his daughter. Tatler details how the school is now ‘the big noise’ around Islington. Five years ago, it says, a group of mothers banded together and presented the then head with a wish list which included Latin lessons and better music tuition. Now the school is ‘transformed’ with a ‘brilliant new head’ who is keen on ‘impeccable behaviour’ and ‘details’ including top buttons being done up at all times. Its music programme is backed by Lord Lloyd-Webber, and offers every 11 to 14-year-old free tuition on an instrument. It marks an astonishing turnaround for a school whose low point came in 2005 when Channel Four’s Dispatches sent an undercover teacher to film in classrooms as part of an investigation into education standards. The footage shows pupils clambering across desks, throwing books across the room, taking a fire extinguisher off the wall and attacking each other. A member of staff said at the time that they didn’t ‘make a big thing’ about enforcing rules. The school was founded in the 1960s under head Rhodes Boyson, who went on to become a Tory MP and education minister. Then all-boys, it was conceived as a comprehensive that would serve as a ‘grammar school for all’. It thrived from the outset but by the 1980s, Boyson had departed and a belief in progressive teaching methods had taken hold. In 1991, inspectors highlighted bad behaviour and unsatisfactory lessons. Former head Truda White was credited with turning the school around, culminating in a 2010 Ofsted report which described it as ‘outstandingly effective’. ‘Attainment has risen rapidly in recent years from a low starting point to close to the national average’, the report said, adding the transformation is ‘remarkable’. Tatler notes that the institute is now attracting parents who would have previously shunned state education, meaning it now has a ‘properly comprehensive’ intake. As well as the music programme, there is ‘an amazing gym, a swimming pool and good pitches and running tracks’, according to the complimentary write-up. Meanwhile the school website now features a clear list of rules and sanctions for breaching them. Other schools in the guide include The Grey Coat Hospital School, a Westminster comprehensive chosen by Mr Gove for his daughter.
Tatler has rated Highbury Grove School as one of England's best .
The comprehensive school in Islington had been among the worst in UK .
However, a 'brilliant new head' has turned around the school's fortunes .
Now it is being hailed as one of the best state schools in England .
Barely a decade ago it was at the bottom of the heap. Highbury Grove School had some of the worst exam results and truancy rates in the country and undercover filming shown on TV featured scenes of shocking behaviour – including a lesson descending into a riot. But now the North London comprehensive has marked an extraordinary transformation after being hailed as one of Britain’s best state schools by the high society magazine Tatler. Highbury Grove School in Islington, pictured, is now one of the most successful state schools in England . The school, pictured, has been turned around according to a survey by Tatler magazine . For the second year running, the magazine has produced a guide to state schools amid concerns that readers are finding it increasingly hard to afford private education. Until 2014, the magazine only produced a guide to the country’s leading fee-paying schools, but now Tatler sends out teams to find the ‘very best of the state education system’. Highbury Grove is among 22 state secondaries featured, taking its place alongside top-performing grammars and the girls’ comprehensive chosen by former education secretary Michael Gove for his daughter. Tatler details how the school is now ‘the big noise’ around Islington. Five years ago, it says, a group of mothers banded together and presented the then head with a wish list which included Latin lessons and better music tuition. Now the school is ‘transformed’ with a ‘brilliant new head’ who is keen on ‘impeccable behaviour’ and ‘details’ including top buttons being done up at all times. Its music programme is backed by Lord Lloyd-Webber, and offers every 11 to 14-year-old free tuition on an instrument. It marks an astonishing turnaround for a school whose low point came in 2005 when Channel Four’s Dispatches sent an undercover teacher to film in classrooms as part of an investigation into education standards. The footage shows pupils clambering across desks, throwing books across the room, taking a fire extinguisher off the wall and attacking each other. A member of staff said at the time that they didn’t ‘make a big thing’ about enforcing rules. The school was founded in the 1960s under head Rhodes Boyson, who went on to become a Tory MP and education minister. Then all-boys, it was conceived as a comprehensive that would serve as a ‘grammar school for all’. It thrived from the outset but by the 1980s, Boyson had departed and a belief in progressive teaching methods had taken hold. In 1991, inspectors highlighted bad behaviour and unsatisfactory lessons. Former head Truda White was credited with turning the school around, culminating in a 2010 Ofsted report which described it as ‘outstandingly effective’. ‘Attainment has risen rapidly in recent years from a low starting point to close to the national average’, the report said, adding the transformation is ‘remarkable’. Tatler notes that the institute is now attracting parents who would have previously shunned state education, meaning it now has a ‘properly comprehensive’ intake. As well as the music programme, there is ‘an amazing gym, a swimming pool and good pitches and running tracks’, according to the complimentary write-up. Meanwhile the school website now features a clear list of rules and sanctions for breaching them. Other schools in the guide include The Grey Coat Hospital School, a Westminster comprehensive chosen by Mr Gove for his daughter.
heap. Highbury Grove School had some of the worst transformation after being hailed as one of successful state schools in England . The school, pictured, has been turned around according to a school is ‘transformed’ with a ‘brilliant new