Yesterday, 36 students from Eton House at the London Academy of Excellence visited Eton for the day. They were paired up with Year 12 boys from Eton and attended lessons, lunch and a tour together, before returning to London in the afternoon. Eton College is one of six independent school sponsors of the London Academy of Excellence, a free school set up in Newham to provide local sixth form pupils with a route into the country's most competitive universities.
The day started with a briefing from Tom Arbuthnott, Eton's Director of Outreach and Partnership, as well as two boys, where they all talked about how similar both schools were in their commitment to peer-group learning and high aspirations. 'Buddies' exchanged notes about university programmes and the preparation needed to get there, and, according to one Etonian, "learned a lot from each other." The Eton buddies will be visiting the London Academy of Excellence in a return visit in February.
