He added that Education Secretary Michael Gove's academies programme "gives extra resources to outstanding schools in more advantaged communities", therefore hindering improvement in less well-off areas.
Among all the political posturing over academies and free schools, the role traditional primary and secondary state schools already play in raising educational standards has largely been overlooked. While many of the country's primary or secondary state schools might look distinctly 1960s from the outside, some of the teaching and approaches used are definitely from the 21st century.
Take the example of Bonner Primary School in Tower Hamlets, one of the most ethnically diverse and deprived parts of the UK. Identified last year by Ofsted as one of the top 20 performing primary schools in deprived areas, the school's pupils outperform the national average in Key Stage 2 tests despite more than half of them coming from workless households.
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