Morris praises school awards

A million children attend schools in London and the Evening Standard deserves rich praise for celebrating their achievements and the hard work of their teachers.

We have 58,300 teachers working in London, 1,520 more than in 1997, and their dedication day in and day out is helping the continual rise of standards in the capital's schools.

I hope the recent pay award which gives a teacher in London with five years' experience a salary of more than £30,000 will help recruit even more staff and retain those who may be tempted elsewhere. We have also helped teachers with their housing through our Starter Homes initiative.

The rise in the percentage of 15-year-olds gaining five or more GCSEs at grades A-C is startling. In 1997, 40.4 per cent of London teenagers reached this grade and in 2001, 46.1 per cent. This is good news, but across the country the figure for all schools is 50 per cent, which emphasises the challenge we have here in the capital.

In London we have the most improved primary school in the UK: Osmani Primary in Tower Hamlets. Nearly all its pupils enter the school with limited English but, with additional staff funded by the Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant and with good teachers, progress has been impressive.

The success of our primary school strategy has been compelling and now we are rolling out our secondary school programme for 11 to 14-year-olds, which will build on the foundations of our successful numeracy and literacy strategy.

The Government is committed to an investment of £489million between now and 2003-4 on this initiative.

We have increased the number of specialist schools in London with a focus on technology, arts, sports or languages. Our pledge to meet the target of 1,000 specialist schools nationally by 2004 will be met later this year, two years ahead of schedule.

I am sure the Evening Standard awards will reflect all that is best in our London schools and I will be delighted to congratulate the winners at the ceremony next month.