Success is gauged differently at the Bridge Academy in Fulham, which offers a fresh start for at-risk students who have been excluded from other schools or spent time outside education.

Despite facing a wide range of challenges, the pupils managed an 86 per cent overall pass rate, with nine per cent of their exams graded A* to C.

One of those was 16-year-old Victoria Jenkins, who just a few months after moving from Acton High School achieved a B in English literature, a C in maths and the equivalent of four GCSEs in a business course.

She said: "I could have done better, but I'm happy. At my old school I wasn't able to concentrate as much as I can here, because here we're all in the same boat. It's better than mainstream education."

Associate head teacher Heather Ballantine said: "When students come here they've made their mistakes, and this is their chance to learn from those mistakes."