High-achieving pupils from one of Britain’s most deprived areas have won nearly £1million in scholarships to top private colleges.
The 12 students are from Cumberland School, nicknamed the dream factory, which is in Newham, East London, an area with some of the highest levels of the child poverty.
Many of the students’ families have immigrant backgrounds, with parents fleeing hardship and war in places such as Sudan, Ethiopia and Bangladesh.
In recent years, four Cumberland students won a scholarship to Eton.
All of the 12 gained places after rigorous selection.
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Among them was Ella Wellingbrook, 15, of Canning Town, East London.
Ella will study A level geography, physics, and English literature at £40,000-a-year Francis Holland in Chelsea, which was attended by actress Sienna Miller and Lady Sarah Chatto, the Queen’s niece.
She said: “I am so pleased so many of us got in. It is life changing for us all.”
Four have places at Mount Kelly in Tavistock, Devon.
They are Dina Zhontsa, 15, of Beckton; aspiring doctor Diya Haresh, 15, of Forest Gate; Samir Mazumder, 15, of Manor Park; and Felipe Bento, 16, from Canning Town.
Felipe arrived from Brazil aged four with his family but schools would not take him as he lacked the right documents.
Felipe, who dreams of working in finance, said: “Things were bad for me in the first few years of school.
"I could have ended up on a very different path.”
University College School, Hampstead, will be taking Minnat Mohammed, 15, and Jessica Ezechukwu, 15, from Plaistow.
Meanwhile four pupils will attend Wellington College in Crowthorne, Berkshire – Space Lutterodt-Clowttey, 15, of Canning Town, Naomi Tchesse, 16, Esther Gerezdi, 16, and Kalkidan Briuk, 16.
Salima Chowdhury, 15, of Plaistow, will stay nearer to home to go to Forest School in Leytonstone.
Headteacher Omar Deria said Cumberland aims to send 20 students to top private schools next year.
He said: “It is hard to quantify just how big a deal this is for our students and our community. ”
Trust boss Simon Elliott said the school is the dream factory because “outstanding teachers are making dreams come true for our students.”
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