By Dominic Casciani BBC News Online community affairs reporter

The future's bright for these students

When a sponsor of Sir John Cass Foundation and Red Coat Church of England secondary school in London's East End suggested paying for a student place at a top private school, headmaster Haydn Evans politely turned down the offer.

What, he asked, could his students gain by being removed from their community? Today, Haydn Evans has plenty of reasons to have no regrets.

His school is one of nine named by the inspectorate, Ofsted, as a model for tackling under-achievement among Bangladeshi students - a major concern among educationalists.

Sir John Cass has seen rising exam performance, a huge amount of parent and community participation in the school and, most importantly, career success for all to see.

Approximately 60% of the school's students come from a Bangladeshi background, the remaining 40% representing the huge mixture of ethnicities in the modern East End. Three-quarters of the students are from families poor enough to qualify for free school meals.

Unemployment is a huge problem but it gives us an opportunity to involve parents much more than we would necessarily be able to Haydn Evans, head of Sir John Cass school

It has seen some six years of change as Haydn Evans and his team have turned it around and won status as a specialist language college.

Today the school's GCSE/GNVQ results have gone up to 79% of the 15 year olds getting five or more good grades, from 22% in 1999 - with good results across all ethnicities.

The Church of England secondary not only serves a predominantly Bangladeshi community, it now includes a good deal of staff, paid and voluntary, drawn from the surrounding streets.

Its sixth form is growing and, to the clear pride of all, Sir John Cass has seen its first female Bangladeshi student win a place at one of the country's top medical schools.

Haydn Evans says you have to take an obstacle and use it to your advantage - such as unemployment among Bangladeshi families.

"Unemployment is a huge problem but it gives us an opportunity to involve parents much more than we would necessarily be able to," he said.

"These parents hold education in very high esteem as educational achievement is reflected in social class in Bangladeshi society."

Mr Evans says fresh parental support in the late 1990s helped instil a fresh culture of respect and educational discipline. Having won this battle, he says, the school could start using the realities of the East End to its advantage.

"Once we had made the step change, we were in a strong position to get specialist status, which we did in 2000 by becoming a language college.

TACKLING RACISM If there is a fight between students, the older students try to prevent people taking sides on racial grounds. Abdul Wahid, GCSE student

"We have a very high proportion of second language learners. I believe this is an enormous resource of educational potential - we are in a position to turn out excellent linguists."

Ofsted's report into rising performance among Bangladeshi students says this kind of creative thinking is what makes the difference.

It found parents and students did not necessarily want a school to excessively reflect Bangladeshi or Islamic cultures - but they wanted one which included these factors as a means of helping their children develop their identity and confidence.

So successful schools do not leave identities at the door - they use them to their advantage in everyday teaching.

One particularly inspired idea cited by the inspection body was a teacher who illustrated lessons on patterns and angles with examples of the complex mathematics within Islamic design.

In all these schools, religious education or citizenship has become less about what the teachers can tell the children, but what children from different faiths and backgrounds can teach each other.

If the mixture is right, the result can be a vivid learning environment - with improving grades to boot.

Languages

A major barrier to success for Bangladeshi students has been language - but Haydn Evans says all it takes is a positive approach to intensive tuition.

LANGUAGES TAUGHT AT SIR JOHN CASS RED COAT English French German Russian East European languages Two main Chinese languages Bengali Urdu Turkish

Other languages are not entirely banned from the classroom - that would be unworkable - but students are expected to stick to English - and be pushed in it - unless they get completely stuck.

"We have had new arrivals here who cannot speak English, students who do not know how to use a ruler or hold a pen," he says.

"Then, with the intensive support we give them, within weeks you see qualitative changes as it all falls into place.

"But even before they are speaking English, you can see students are bright, through their non-verbal communication. You need to connect with that."

Student views

Halima Begum is about to sit her GCSEs and is toying with the idea of eventually going for a career in international business.

She says the school is utterly different to the one she had been told about by her older siblings.

"I think the reason why this school has a really good name and is successful is because it's just such a friendly environment," says Halima.

A few years ago it would have been almost unheard of for Bangladeshi girls to go off to medical school Haydn Evans

"Students freely socialise rather than necessarily stick to their own groups."

Her friend Abdul Wahid agreed, saying the school's ability to stamp on racism and ignorance of other cultures had contributed greatly to student success.

"Students were not used to different ethnicities. But now you see people growing up knowing how to interact with each other's communities," said Abdul, who hopes to go to medical school.

"I have experienced racism outside of school," he said. "I was once with someone from an African background and got asked why I was talking to that boy because he was from outside of our community.

"But we don't see that in school. If there is a fight between students, the older students try to prevent people taking sides on racial grounds.

"Education is not just about books - it's about educating yourself about society."

I would urge more schools to follow the positive examples set out in today's report Ofsted chief, David Bell Raising achievement

Howard Lee, thinking about a career in music technology, said one of the most valuable elements of his education had been the school's emphasis on bringing cultures and ethnicities together for mutual benefit.

"It helps your own development as a person if you can understand different cultures. It makes you more sympathetic to their needs and less willing to judge people on their background alone."

"What you hear from the students just reinforces my convictions that schools must be multicultural to succeed," said Haydn Evans.

"These students and their families are seeing members of their own community coming back as teachers, mentors and classroom assistants.

"It reflects the value their parents place on education and can only be to the benefit of the wider community.

"A few years ago it would have been almost unheard of for Bangladeshi girls to go off to medical school. But there is a strong drive from their parents to do it.

"I think we have a very bright future."