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Children in London receive the best and the worst primary education in the country at schools sharing the same name and situated only 15 miles apart.
More than half of 11-year-olds in Hackney failed their Sats in reading, writing and maths this year, leaving the borough with the worst grades of any English local authority. Only 49 per cent of pupils passed.
But in Richmond, children achieved the best results in the country. Seventy-six per cent passed the tests in the "three Rs" at the grade expected of the age group.
St John the Baptist Church of England primary in Hackney comes towards the bottom. The figures show that 56 per cent passed their Sats in English.
Headteacher Louise Rosen stressed that results were much better this year. Ofsted is keen to praise the 320-pupil school's recent improvements but teachers face a tough task.
Seven out of 10 children at the school do not speak English at home and 94 per cent come from ethnic minority backgrounds including African, South American, Turkish, eastern European and Pakistani. Many have behaviour problems, and one third - a much larger than average proportion - receive free school meals.
Mrs Rosen said: "Pupils come in with no English. Many have seen things that children shouldn't, such as those from the Congo. Some of them have had horrific times."
But her biggest challenge had been recruiting teachers in an area with expensive housing and a bad reputation for schools. Without excellent teachers, pupils with so many problems will never progress, she said.
Such problems are now in the past and recruitment has improved. The school is popular with parents and receives more applications than it has places. But staff face constant pressure to improve results.
"When those Sats scores come in I feel physically sick," Mrs Rosen said. "My whole career and that of my senior staff are dependent on those scores." As a result, heads feel "vulnerable". But she insisted she loves working in Hackney, adding: "I relish the challenge." On the other side of London, St John the Baptist Church of England Junior School in Hampton Wick has no problem recruiting the excellent teachers so badly needed in Hackney.
Inspectors noted that the staff are "highly qualified and successful" and have reached high standards of education themselves.
"Only the best will do for these pupils," Ofsted observed. As a result, standards are "exceptionally high". Last year 88 per cent of pupils at the school passed their Sats in English and the same number maths. Head Susan Sawyer acknowledged the advantages of working in one of the most affluent parts of London.
She said: "It would be wrong if I didn't say we work in a nice area. But it's a misconception if you feel that in a leafy borough there are no problems. There are issues we have to deal with. Our parents are committed and supportive but we have a lot of working parents as well."
Some children come from families who cannot afford to send them on school trips. As the school is not oversubscribed it must also take on pupils arriving in the area during the school year. Such high levels of "mobility" are the major difficulty facing Mrs Sawyer. Inspectors were impressed with the way the school copes. They commended Mrs Sawyer's passionate leadership and rated St John the Baptist "outstanding", the highest praise Ofsted bestows.
The school has links to another in Africa and started a club teaching children the language and culture of Japan. But Ofsted said, as the school itself acknowledges, that children "need an even greater knowledge of cultures and communities different from their own".
Reader views (3)
The biggest difference is the children's backgrounds and not the schools. How do you change that? If a child can not speak the language how can they attain the same standards as a native speaker? Mass immigration will just compound this problem and you end up with a large, uneducated underclass. Still wondering why crime's so high in London?
- Mark, London
'children "need an even greater knowledge of cultures and communities different from their own" '. OK, let's translate this shall we?
- Jules_London, london
'children "need an even greater knowledge of cultures and communities different from their own" ' - so why not second staff between the two schools to improve standards and do exchange visits for pupils so they can see how the other half live?
- Diplomat, Battersea
