In October 2002, we began a five-year partnership with Lilian Baylis School in Lambeth. Before selecting Lilian Baylis we had set out to find a school in a disadvantaged area, where our input could make a real difference and where the school's leadership team had the capacity to gain the maximum benefit from our involvement. Lilian Baylis School was chosen from a list of 70 schools which potentially fitted this profile, and we developed a Memorandum Of Understanding with the school to set clear targets for the partnership and to clarify the expectations of all parties.  In April 2008, a further Memorandum of Understanding, for a further 5 years, was signed by the Master, David Morriss, at a reception at the School.

Our work

To date, the main focus of our work has been to raise the aspirations of students by providing them with information and experience of a wide range of business and professional careers and linking these to the academic requirements for developing such a career path. We have done this through activities such as supporting the school’s careers fair - bringing in high-profile companies like IBM, Egg, Prudential and Microsoft. We have also arranged work experience placements, visits to businesses and meetings with leading business figures.

Alongside this work we have also advised the school on ICT issues and we were able to persuade Cisco, HP and Connectix to donate the resources and expertise to upgrade the school’s network and install wireless connectivity across the campus.

Results

The school’s 2003 Ofsted report noted significant improvements, and graded the school as ‘good’. By 2004, the number of pupils achieving five Grade A-C GCSEs was up from 6 per cent in 2002 to 24 per cent. In December 2004 the school moved into new purpose-built premises.

In January 2005, Lilian Baylis was awarded specialist school status and changed its name to Lilian Baylis Technology School (LBTS). WCIT was actively involved with the bid and – along with the Mercers’ Company – provided the £50,000 funding required as part of the application for specialist school status .

One of the key objectives of our partnership has been to raise the percentage of pupils achieving 5 Grade A*-C GCSEs. In 2002 when the partnership began only 6% of students achieved this level and our aim was to raise this figure to 38-45% of pupils by 2007. We were delighted when the students achieved this figure two years ahead of schedule. More

The result of the 2007 OfSTED inspection is shown in the attached powerpoint presentation.