London schools are best if you're poor

London is the best place in the country for the poorest children to go to school, a report claimed today.

The most deprived teenagers score better GCSE grades in schools in the capital than anywhere else in England.

The study from campaign group End Child Poverty found that the poorest pupils in Tower Hamlets were second only to those in Chelsea when it came to achieving good results.

The report came as 750,000 teenagers await GCSE grades tomorrow and called into question London's longstanding reputation for a divided school system in which the poorest are forced into failing "sink" comprehensives.

Jason Strelitz, a member of End Child Poverty from Save the Children, said the findings showed there was "no excuse for failing the poorest students".

"In areas like London, where national government has invested in improving education for the poorest, they have succeeded," he said.

Nine out of the top 10 local authorities in the report were in the London area.

Top of the table was Kensington and Chelsea, where 59 per cent of children who are so poor they receive free school meals achieved five A* to C grades in their GCSEs last year.

Second was Tower Hamlets, with 55 per cent, which represented a big improvement since 1997.

The campaigners said: "Overall London is by far the best region for children in poverty to go to school, with an average of 45 per cent gaining five A* to C grades. The average for East Midlands, the worst performing region, is just 29 per cent."