New partnership to provide further opportunities for Tottenham’s brightest school students

The London Academy of Excellence (LAE) Tottenham has announced its involvement in a ground-breaking new initiative, thanks to generous support from investment firm Rokos Capital Management.

Chrysalis East will see LAE Tottenham supply independent school-standard teaching in its four Tottenham feeder schools – Duke’s Aldridge Academy, Gladesmore School, Park View School and Woodside High School – from January, 2021.

The project aims to enhance the academic outcomes for higher ability students and increase the proportion of Tottenham school leavers going on to the most competitive university destinations and employment.

It follows an existing Chrysalis programme model delivered by Highgate School in the west of Haringey since 2008, becoming a year-round programme with more than 20 Highgate teachers working on projects with over 40 partner schools.

Based within the Club’s stadium development scheme, LAE Tottenham is sponsored by Tottenham Hotspur and Highgate School – the principal academic sponsors who, together with support from other leading independent schools, deliver expert teaching.

In the past year, LAE Tottenham has supported 11 students to go on to study at Oxford and Cambridge, with hundreds more achieving places at Russell Group Universities, as well as universities in the US and elsewhere.

The Northumberland Park ward of Tottenham, where the school is situated, is among the two per cent most deprived wards in the country. Over half of LAE Tottenham students were eligible for free school meals at secondary school.

Using a selective recruitment model, LAE Tottenham prioritises local students most likely to benefit from an academically-rigorous curriculum and those from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.

Jan Balon, Headteacher, said: “LAE Tottenham has a transformational impact for our students. Chrysalis East will broaden the impact beyond the four walls of the school and into the wider Tottenham community, delivering on our core aims to combine academic rigour with social responsibility.”

Adam Pettitt, Head, Highgate School, said: “This wonderful partnership is a clear sign of how seriously LAE Tottenham is taken as the place for academic rigour. I am delighted that this collaboration enables LAE Tottenham to extend and intensify Chrysalis work across the whole borough, reaching more pupils who have the ability to thrive at a school like LAE Tottenham. At Highgate, we are looking forward to supporting Chrysalis East, drawing on our experience of building successful, sustainable partnerships which change lives.”

The school and its partners have been working hard throughout the pandemic to raise funds for members of the student body who have experienced extreme financial hardship, parental job losses and bereavements in their immediate family.