Despite numerous government initiatives the facts remain depressing: it will take 560 years to close the ‘attainment gap’ at GCSE and university, and there is a real prospect that successive generations of talented young people will see their potential wasted by systems that don’t work for them. This book, by Ian Warwick, a leading international figure behind the London Challenge and an expert in raising achievement across sectors, and Alex Crossman, the Headteacher of the London Academy of Excellence, is an antidote to this bleak narrative. Its strength is in its focus: it explores how the London Academy of Excellence has, over ten years, transformed the lives of so many of its students, many from highly disadvantaged backgrounds, supporting them in successfully applying to the country’s leading universities. Never has the slogan ‘think locally, act globally’ been so relevant than here: anyone involved in education today, and committed to improving outcomes for all children, should read ‘Greater Expectations’, learn from the lessons outlined here, and apply them to a national context. We can’t afford to write off another generation of children, and right here we have the expertise to know how to ensure that doesn’t happen again.

David James, Deputy headteacher and co-author of ‘Schools of Thought: Lessons to learn from schools doing things differently’