Five schools in Newham were singled out for praise by a Government minster last week for being among the top performing institutions in London.

The good news shows that the younger generation could improve the current standing of the borough as figures released on Friday showed both constituencies contained some of the highest numbers of working age people with no qualifications in the capital - a total of 14 per cent in East Ham and 13.6 per cent in West Ham.

According to analysis released by the University and College Union (UCU) on Friday, East Ham had the seventh highest percentage of people without qualifications and West Ham came eighth.

But the next generation’s GCSE results last summer prompted Schools Minister David Laws to send letters of congratulations to Brampton Manor Academy and Plashet School, both in East Ham, St Angela’s Ursuline School and St Bonaventure’s RC School, both in Forest Gate, and Little Ilford School, in Manor Park.

It read: “I would like to congratulate your staff, governors, and pupils for their hard work and success and thank you for your leadership in continuing the drive towards high standards of educational achievement.”

Paul Halliwell, headteacher of St Bonaventure’s, said: “Unfortunately in most schools, the most disadvantaged students perform the worst and don’t get the same qualifications as others.

“This means that they aren’t able to go on and make better lives for themselves.

“This is not the case at St Bonaventure’s where all students are successful irrespective of their levels of deprivation or social background.”