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30 THE RIVER AUTUMN 2015 EDUCATION In just five years an east London school has been transformed into a beacon of aspiration uccess is the best word to describe what is happening at the Bishop Challoner Catholic Federation of Schools. Academic success community success organisational success and spiritual success. Just five years ago only 50 of pupils at Bishop Challoner were achieving 5 GCSEs including English and Maths and this was not surprising taking into consideration the challenges and disadvantages facing the pupils staff and community of Whitechapel and Tower Hamlets. This year it is celebrating four students going on to Oxbridge universities and recent results that show 79 of pupils achieving 5 GCSEs including English and Maths. The Bishop Challoner Federation offers a traditional academic education with less emphasis on BTECs or GNVQs to achieve targets focusing on GCSE and A Level qualifications for all students instead. Nick Soar the newly appointed Executive Principal for the federation of all three schools suggested a number of reasons behind this positive change. Firstly the federation structure has made a big difference. We now have three schools working in unison Nick explained. This allows the sharing of the best teaching research and ideas standards and staffing budgets. As Britains first federated school the campus now has a Boys and a Girls School as well as a Sixth Form College. Another contributing factor Nick continued is the quality of teaching that has radically improved over the last five years. 80 of the 125 teachers are new faces from five years ago. Teach First based on an American concept is a model in which high-flyers fresh from university are encouraged to take a year or two teaching in under-privileged communities. This way some of the success dust is sprinkled where it is needed most before these super able and ambitious individuals go on to high-powered city jobs. A disproportionate number of these individuals have come to Bishop Challoner because of the schools early engagement with the scheme. Nick also explained how the school has been both patient and brave in its approach to recruitment. Not only have we grown talent from within nurturing individual staff turning teachers into pastoral leaders and bringing talent into the leadership team but we have resisted filling positions if the individuals were not right. We have trusted our judgement and often taken on additional exceptional teachers in order to secure quality individuals even when positions are already filled just to get and keep that talent. This may be a luxury that most schools could not afford but the Boys School Pupils Science at the Girls School