For over 30 years, financial services firm UBS has worked to help disadvantaged communities in the London Borough of Hackney, an initiative that culminated in the 2007 founding of the Bridge Academy secondary school. Launched to break the cycle of deprivation and educational inequality in the borough, the Bridge Academy caters to higher than national average numbers of students on free school meals, with English as a second language and from minority ethnic backgrounds. The 2013-2014 academic year was a milestone year for the partnership and saw the first intake of students complete their A levels. A strong result placed the Bridge Academy in the top 10% nationally for ‘value added,’ a key measurement of progress made by every student. Just as impressively, 56% of the Bridge Academy’s 2014 school-leavers went on to university, 60% of whom were the first in their families to do so.

 

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