Three in five students (62 per cent) in Barking and Dagenham have achieved the national GCSE standard of a grade 9 to 4 in English and maths – with one student securing a scholarship to one of the world’s most prestigious colleges.
Sydney Russell School pupil Afzal Hussain, 16, delivered one of the country’s top performances as he achieved nine grade 9s and one grade 8 in his exams.
He will go on to study double maths, history and German at the 15th-century college, whose alumni include Prime Minister Boris Johnson and author George Orwell.