|TOP|The headteacher of a leading Church of England school has criticised education bosses in Lambeth, London, saying that they are ignoring the black community by failing to provide more church school places.

Lesley Morrison, headteacher of the all-girls’ St Martin-in-the-Fields High School criticised Lambeth Council after it decided not to expand her school despite a recent Lambeth report that found black African pupils were better achieving in the borough than their counterparts nationally, icSouthLondon reports.

The CofE school headteacher was left angered after Lambeth Council opted to increase the number of classes in non-denominational schools in the borough in order to make up for the chronic shortfall in secondary places in favour of Catholic schools Tulse Hill and La Retraite RC School in Clapham.

Mrs Morrison called on the council to instead provide school places on the basis of the findings of the report entitled The Achievement of African Heritage Pupils: Good Practice in Lambeth Schools.

The report found that nine of the six primaries and six secondaries featured in the report were faith schools. In St Martin-in-the-Fields High School alone 25 per cent of the student body is of black African heritage.

"If you ask the black community if they want more places in church schools, they would say yes but I would suggest Lambeth council is not listening to the black community,” said Mrs Morrison.

|AD|"How can they say there is only a demand for non-denominational places? African families have a strong Christian tradition and they want their children educated in that kind of environment.

"It is almost as if we are an embarrassment to them - they are saying they don't want to expand church school places."

Not only did the research found that in 2005, 79 per cent of black African pupils in Lambeth passed five GCSEs at Grades A* to C, compared with the national average of 56 per cent but Lambeth Council also enjoyed a 23 per cent improvement rate among black African children between 2000 and 2005 – more than three times the national average.

The report attributed the higher-than-national-average performance of black African pupils in the borough to parental support, Christian values, discipline and motivation.

Mrs Morrison said: "It is to do with making sure pupils have a feeling of self-belief - every child can succeed in something.

"Within inner-city areas there is a gang culture and knife culture which is terrifying. Images of violence which permeate the media are counter to achievement.

"We help them to realise there are other values that are better for them. We tell the girls frankly they don't need boyfriends until after they have taken their GCSEs because they need to concentrate on their education.
"Being a church school makes it easier for us to be more overt about these values."

Yasmin Sabih, 14, said: "This school wants to see everyone succeed. Boys come and go and dis-tract you from your education."

A Lambeth council spokesman said: "We have already supported St Martin-in-the-Fields High School in terms of getting them a sixth form.
"They will benefit from Building Schools for the Future Funding but we don't know how much yet.

"We had a request for extra places from the school a matter of days ago but it hasn't been considered yet.

"We will consult with the Department for Education and Skills and look at the proposal properly."