As we head into a difficult winter for us all, we are very conscious that the cost-of-living challenges faced by everyone will be particularly acute for many children and families at the London Academy of Excellence Tottenham. Therefore, we have launched a cost-of-living fundraising campaign with LAET to ensure that their students can continue to access all the transformational aspects of the school.
LAET is a sixth form free school in the heart of Tottenham. Highgate provides governance and is the lead educational sponsor, seconding 15 teachers and three support staff. LAET is situated in one of the most deprived wards in the country, with 63 percent coming from the lowest two economic groups – being described as living in ‘struggling estates’ or ‘difficult circumstances’ – using the ACORN tool for socio-economic analysis. More than half of the families at LAET were eligible for free school meals in secondary school.
Despite these challenges, LAET students achieve fantastic things with the right support: 75% of the most recent cohort achieved places at Russell Group universities, compared to 1% of school leavers in Tottenham before LAET opened. In the video below, you can see our students receive their A level results and speak about the difference the school has made to their lives.
By supporting our campaign, you can help these students continue to access a transformational, top-class education. Here are just some of the ways your support could make a difference. You could:
- Ensure that LAET can continue to offer music, sport and all clubs and societies (where current music, sport and wellness provision live) free of charge to every student, no matter their circumstances
- Add vital extra capacity to the LAET counselling service
- Ensure that all students in a cohort can attend a fully-funded open day or residential visit to every university to which they have applied. The cost of visiting universities – particularly those outside of London – is often prohibitive
- Ensure that funds are available to support a child’s educational resources where their family is in hardship
- Prevent students from needing to seek part-time employment to make ends meet, giving them more time and energy to focus on their studies
We are delighted that, thanks to the support of some generous match funders, every gift made to this campaign will be matched pound-for-pound, meaning that anything you are able to spare to help these students and their families will be worth double.
We know that everyone reading this will be worried about what the coming months will bring, so we are so grateful for any support you can give LAET students and their families. Thank you.
