Research carried out by a national teachers’ support group has number compared last summer’s GCSE exam results and found that Graveney School is in the nation’s top ten for closing the disadvantage gap among pupils.

The research, carried out by ‘We Are In Beta’, a network of teachers and school leaders who share ideas of ways to improve school performance, studied GCSE results in 2019.

They found only a handful of schools had achieved success for their pupils across the board – regardless of their backgrounds.

At Graveney, a secondary school in SW17, pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds performed just as well as their more advantaged peers.

A break-down of the school’s GCSE results places Graveney within the top ten in the country – equivalent to the top 0.4 per cent of all schools - for closing the disadvantage gap.

Town hall education spokesman Cllr Will Sweet said: “We have long known about the really high quality of teaching and learning at Graveney. It’s no wonder it’s one of the most popular and oversubscribed schools in south London.

“Closing the disadvantage gap and raising the educational achievements of children, who for a range of reasons might not be expected to do so well at school, is something all those in the education system aspire to.

“Hopefully other schools across the country will learn from Graveney’s example and try to replicate its success. In the meantime I would like to pay tribute to all the teachers and pupils at Graveney for their superb achievements.”

School Principal Cynthia Rickman added: We’ve always prided ourselves on the fact that everyone does well at Graveney, not just those of high ability, so we’re particularly pleased to have such a convincing piece of evidence to share. It’s not just our most able that are successful here, it’s everyone."