In August 2002 the London Borough of Hackney entered into a ten-year contract with an independent body – The Learning Trust – at the direction of the Secretary of State for Education and Skills. 
The 2001 OFSTED report on education in Hackney called for radical change. The Learning Trust is that innovative change.
We are the first not-for-profit organisation set up in the United Kingdom to run a council’s complete educational portfolio. Since inception, The Learning Trust has been making steady improvement in raising educational standards in Hackney. The last two years have seen significant progress in various areas:
The percentage of pupils with 5 or more A* - C GCSEs is up almost 50% since 2002
Every Hackney secondary school now has specialist school status
£108 million will be used to rebuild and refurbish all existing maintained schools by 2012
A new secondary school is opening in 2006, with 2 others on the way
Primary schools – Key Stage 2 results are significantly improved. The 2004 results showed that English improved by 7 percentage points and Maths by 6 percentage points
Black Minority Ethnic achievement – The 2004 KS2 English results for Caribbean heritage and Turkish speaking pupils were the best achieved in Hackney to date. The 2004 results for Turkish-speaking pupils were the best achieved in Hackney to date.
Secondary schools – Major improvements in GCSE results since 2000, when only 32% young people in Hackney schools achieved five A* to C grades. In 2004, 45% of young people achieved this.
School attendance – In the last 3 years, school attendance rates are amongst the most improved in the country.
Full-service extended schools – Two secondary schools ( Stoke Newington School Media Arts College and Hackney Free & Parochial Church of England School) and one primary school ( Millfields Community Primary School) have become full service extended schools.
Healthy Schools – 34 Hackney schools have been accredited as Healthy Schools, and are now set to achieve level 3 of the Healthy Schools Standard.
Speech & language therapy – The City and Hackney Teaching Primary Care Trust and The Learning Trust have worked together to develop an integrated speech and language service.
Increasing physical activity – Hackney has received significant funding to build new indoor and outdoor sports facilities for school and community use, including outdoor adventure facilities. Four Space for Sports and Arts schemes on primary school sites have already been completed.
Staying safe – Hackney’s Safer Schools Partnership is nationally acclaimed as a model of best practice. The police and schools are essential partners in the prevention of crime and anti-social behaviour.
Early Years – Seven Sure Start Local Programmes in the borough provide many innovative projects that support parents of young children within the community. Hackney has made available free places for 78% of three or four year olds. The borough has made available 800 new childcare places.