A high school in East London where teachers have convinced students to delete social media accounts and hand in their phones is seeing test scores soar.
Cumberland Community School in London’s Newham is ranked among the most consistently improving institutions year over year in the whole of the UK.
The percentage of students who achieved a GPA of 3.0 and above in their English and math exams is also well above the national average.
It seems undeniably the result of an initiative started back in 2023 during the end-of-year exam period when teachers convinced students to give up TikTok, Snapchat, and Instagram for two months.
That year, out of 300 students at Cumberland, 160 agreed to delete the social media platforms. Many also agreed to hand in their mobile phones while in school taking exams to avoid any temptation or distraction.
Last year 120 students took part and the school is planning to replicate the initiative in 2025.
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“The social media ban was a game changer for us because all of a sudden our students were 100% focused on revising for their exams,” said Principle Ekhlas Rahman.
“The [2023] cohort that stuck to it throughout the revision and exam period did significantly better than they were predicted. We did it again this last year and the results were similar.”
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“Huge credit goes to our staff and students who have put so much effort into this sustained improvement.
“Five years ago this school was failing its students… Now we are among the top performing in the country, it means much greater opportunity for our students.”
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