Department for Education
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Aspirational ad-venture for London’s star pupils

Four top London students are the stars of a new poster campaign which was launched on Monday 2 November to highlight the achievements and aspirations of the city’s young people.The posters, which will be displayed on more than 250 sites across London, feature the four shining stars, aged between 14 and 17, and showcase their achievements, share their hopes for the future and highlight how they are getting to where they want to be.

4 students and a ministerThe posters are part of a drive to inspire and encourage pupils across London to aim higher and go further by celebrating the achievements and ambitions of the students, and providing examples to their peers of where they want to go in the future. The launch comes hot on the heels of the announcement that London’s state schools have achieved the best GCSE results in the country, with a higher proportion of secondary school pupils in the capital achieving five A* to C grades, including English and mathematics, than anywhere else in England this year. 

Launching the poster campaign, the Minister for London Schools, Diana Johnson, said:

“Students across London have really demonstrated their talents and achievements this year with record GCSE results. For five years running, London's state secondary schools have outperformed the national average with results up 10 percentage points since 2005 to 53.3 percent of pupils getting five good GCSEs including mathematics and English.

“The new poster campaign builds on this, demonstrating the diverse range of talent being nurtured in schools across the city. We need to continue to encourage schools, pupils, parents and wider communities to think about how we best support young people to develop and make the most of their skills and talents.

“There are lots of innovative and exciting things going on in London and the Challenge is here to help support and grow this success. These fantastic poster designs are an excellent way of promoting future options and inspiring young people – I can’t wait to see them on show across London.”

Justin Cole, who features in the poster which will go up near to his hometown of Lewisham, said:

“I was very excited to be chosen as part of the campaign out of so many other young people across London. It was great to be recognised for all my hard work on this kind of scale. The posters reflect everything I do and like and what I’m doing to set myself up for the future, with the help of my school.  It’s been a great experience to be involved in the posters and to come along and launch them with the Minister. I hope when other young people see the posters it makes them think about what they want to do and realise that there are lots of opportunities and support available to pupils to help get them there.”

The campaign invited schools to nominate students on the basis of their achievements. The students worked with a top advertising agency to develop posters that illustrate where they’re on their way to, with the help of their schools.

Click on a young person’s name to learn more about what they are doing to get to where they want to be:

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