By Jonathan Coles
Welcome to the secondary school where teachers have convinced pupils to delete social media and hand in their phones – and it’s improving results.
Cumberland Community School’s progress score has gone up by a grade and a quarter in recent years, making them among the most consistently improved in the UK.
The percentage of pupils who achieved a grade five and above in their English and maths GCSEs is also well above the national average.
And since 2023, during the GCSE exam period teachers have convinced students to do the unthinkable – give up TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram for two months.
That year, out of 300 students at the school in Newham, East London, 160 agreed to delete the social media platforms and take part in compulsory revision sessions.
Many also agreed to hand in their mobile phones while in school taking exams to avoid any temptation or distraction.
Last year 120 pupils took part – and the school is planning to run the scheme again in 2025.
Headteacher Ekhlas Rahman said: “The social media ban was a game changer for us because all of a sudden our students were 100 percent focussed on revising for their exams.
“The [2023] cohort that stuck to it throughout the revision and exam period did significantly better than they were predicted. We did it again this last year and the results were similar.
He added: “Huge credit goes to our staff and students who have put so much effort into this sustained improvement.
“Five years ago this school was failing its students. That meant they were not getting the grades to go into higher education.
“Now we are among the top performing in the country, it means much greater opportunity for our students.”
The school was also in the news in 2022 for clamping down on truants by sending teachers out in a ‘battle bus’ to knock on doors and get students out of bed in the morning.
