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School reborn as a city academy four times oversubscribed
 | | Ann Palmer in the new school atrium: ""Satisfactory is not good enough |
ISLINGTON Green was known as the school that Tony Blair snubbed.
And it was not only the former Prime Minister who did not want to send his children to what was then a struggling comprehensive. Plenty of other Islington parents were also desperate for their youngsters to go somewhere other than the grimy 1960s building in Prebend Street - whose pupils famously sang the "We don't need no education" chorus in Pink Floyd's hit Another Brick in the Wall.
 | | City of London Academy Islington |
But Islington Green has now been reborn as a city academy - with a new £38million building and a new motto that reads: "Where students succeed".
For many parents, it is a sign that money is finally been poured into the futures of teenagers growing up on the surrounding estates - and they have rushed to send their children there since it opened in September 2008. The 850-strong City of London Academy Islington is now four times oversubscribed.
Ann Palmer, the new principal, said: "When I came here, Islington Green had a satisfactory report from Ofsted. But satisfactory is not good enough. When I was appointed, I did an initial assembly to say that. One child - a girl of about 15 - was brave enough to come up to me afterwards and say, 'Are you serious? Do you really expect every child to achieve?'
"I was so shocked that pupils had such a low opinion of themselves."
Ms Palmer has been striving to improve standards - taking a particularly firm stance on poor behaviour and poor attendance. So far GCSE results have risen from 49 per cent getting five A* to Cs in June 2008 - when the school was still Islington Green - to 58 per cent in June 2009.
But she is adamant that things will improve yet further when pupils move into the new building later this year.
"There is a real passion for making this right," said Ms Palmer, who regularly walks around the building site (while wearing a pink reflective jacket with the word "Boss" emblazoned on the back) to ensure that everything is being built exactly as she wants it.
The centrepiece of the new city academy, which is sponsored by City University and the City of London Corporation, will be an indoor "marketplace" that will be used by students running their own small businesses - apt for a school that is a specialist business and enterprise college.
"We are trying to create a business-like environment," said Ms Palmer. "There will almost be a university feeling.
"There is a lot of glass so children can see into each others' classrooms and teachers can observe others' good practice.
"There are breakout spaces so pupils can come out of the classroom with their laptops. And our post-16-year-olds - a sixth-form is opening in September - will be wearing business suits because we want them to feel comfortable going into an office.
"We are producing professional young people. If students want to be electricians or carpenters, that's fine. But we want them to have the skills that will not only allow them to be tradesmen but also to run their own businesses."
But it's not all about business. The city academy is also out to produce responsible community-minded citizens who care about society and the environment.
And that is why it will share an entrance hall and a dining room with the disabled pupils of Richard Cloudesley School's secondary department, which is moving in to another building on the site in 2011.
And that is why a digital display will show pupils exactly how much energy is being harvested from the sun each day (with ground source heat pumps and 230 square metres of photovoltaic cells, the school is hoping to get 20 per cent of its energy from renewable sources).
"I can already see us in the new building," said Ms Palmer. "There is a real passion for making sure every child gets the best opportunities."
But some would say that the real test is whether the well-heeled likes of Mr and Mrs Blair will also back the school rather than shipping their children out to neighbouring boroughs.
So does Ms Palmer think that Tony Blair - who himself introduced city academies as a beacon of the future - would have considered sending his offspring to her new school?
"Well Tony Blair would have been welcome to apply for a place," said Ms Palmer, a grin slowly lighting up her face. "But we are four times oversubscribed - and saying that feels good!
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