Inside London's 'best primary school' where teachers 'love pupils most when they deserve it least' and dance is used to build body confidence
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- 16 Mar 2023
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Welcom to Top of the Class - MyLondon's new series of features where we will be visiting some of the city's best schools - and try and discover the secrets of their success
The head teacher of a London primary school in one of the city's most deprived areas, named the best in the country, says compassion is one of the key reasons for its high standards. Mayflower Primary School in Poplar is in an area of Tower Hamlets where children often start school already dealing with difficult challenges at home.
Mayflower was named as The Sunday Times' State Primary School of the Year in 2023 and in 2021 the school was in the top three. This year it has reigned supreme, achieving the best standard assessment test (SATS) results amongst all 1,500 state and independent primary schools surveyed by the Sunday Times.
Dee Bleach has been head teacher of the school since 2008. She spoke to MyLondon about what the award meant and why she believes the school is so high achieving.
Dee said: "It's a real honour and it's a real tribute to our children, and our families and our staff. We feel very proud." But when asked whether it was motivating for teachers to see the school awarded in such a way she told us: "Children have all sorts of challenges. It's about children being confident and happy, enjoying learning. It's great if we get them to achieve really well in their SATS but there's lots of measures for success in our school."
One of those challenges is poverty. In the Office for National Statistics Census 2021, the area in which the school is located was noted as having more than 60 per cent of households classed as deprived in some form. This may be in education, employment, health or housing. This means that before the children arrive at the school, many of them are facing challenges at home. Read More…
