[1] For some people it is extreme education: 10-hour days, contracts with parents and very strict rules on behaviour in small, 200-pupil academies. The result in a new type of school in the US is 100% acceptance to college, test results as good as those in private schools, and teenagers from New York’s South Bronx district who play the viola like their neighbours in Manhattan. [2] James Verrilh, principal of the North Star Academy in Newark, America’s second poorest city, said: "These kids know drugs. These kids know crime and violence. Their fathers are in jail. We have a school culture here which is very different from the attitude they have when they first walk through the door. It’s a culture that tells them they can go to college. " [3] At the North Star Academy children like Charism and Queen-Area smile politely as they shake your hand and welcome you in. About 85% of pupils are African-American and 90% get free school meals. Last year 80% got"proficient or advanced" grades in maths, compared with just28% in the local neighbourhood school. This was above the state average. Pupils work in silence with a professionalism they have learned during a three-day process. From the beginning pupils are taught to speak clearly, answer questions in full sentences and look the teacher in the eye. [4] Parents have to sign a three-way contract with their child and the principal, and must promise to participate themselves. When a child’s homework isn’t handed in by 8 am, there is a phone call home. When the parent doesn’t turn up for a meeting, their child is not allowed back into school until they turn up. There are signs saying" No excuses" on the walls. "I was working until 11 last night. I’m tired, but I know I’ve got to work,"says one 11-year-old, as she finishes up her homework over breakfast. "Even my mother"s gone back to school since I’ve been here. Pupils are tested every six weeks and their results are examined carefully. [5] "As a principal of a small school, I know how every child is progressing and how they are behaving," says Mr. Verrilli. He also sits in on classes himself, observing the students and writing notes for the teachers. [6] North Star and other small schools like it have developed from the charter school movement in the US. The 3,500 charter schools are independent schools, funded by the state, and allowed more freedom to set policies, including their admissions procedures. North Star runs a lottery for admissions and has 1,800 children on the waiting list. Parents have to put their child’s name into the lottery; three times more girls apply than boys. [7] Mr. Verrilli strongly rejects the idea that his students might not be the ones most in need. "It’s quite wrong to say that parents from disadvantaged backgrounds don’t care about their kids’education. Ninety-five percent of parents just want a better education for their children. We’re not taking the best kids. I’m defensive about that. It’s something a lot of people say. How hard is it to put your child’s name down on a piece of paperT"he said. [8] Every child who attends the Kipp (Knowledge is Power Programme) academy in South Bronx, New York, plays in its orchestra, the best school orchestra in New York. Every child can read music. Shirley Lee, a director of the Kipp academy in the Bronx, says the school works because there is a consistent structure throughout the school. "The truth and reality is that kids like structure, "she said. "It’s about telling them what’s appropriate and them learning when to use it. I wouldn’t talk to you like I am now if I was out in some of these areas. But if we teach them to look in my eyes when I’m speaking to them, they will use that if they get stopped by the police and that will protect them. " [9] In the UK, there is a growing political debate about the differences in academic achievement between rich and poor in schools in big cities. A recent report highlighted the growing gap in achievement and the government is trying to deal with this problem. Three London academies are experimenting with small school principles and last week a group of British teachers in training visited the US looking for methods they could use to deal with the problems of" complex urban education". [10] Ark, a UK educational charity, is taking key components of the small school model into London academies. Lucy Heller, managing director of Ark, says: "It’s small schools, strict rules on behaviour and a firm belief that inner city children can be just as successfull. "The UK schools minister says small schools can teach disadvantaged children the skills that middle class children take for granted: "High ambition, zero tolerance of failure, an expectation that children will go to university and that schools will give them the education to go to university. " [11] Ark is also helping to fund the 30" Future Leaders" group on the school leadership training scheme visiting the US. The trainees are expected to take some of the ideas they experience in the US back home to the UK. Many of them think it will be difficult to transfer the model to the UK, however. They talk about the fact that most of the US schools are middle schools, for 10-14-yearolds. The model has been tested less in the secondary school age group (11-18). They also ask where the money to fund smaller schools will come from, though others point out the fact that in the US facilities are basic. ’They don’t even have interactive white boards. ’says one of the group’s mentors. "They just teach. Small schools might not be practical in the UK, but what I really want these new school leaders to take back is the sense of culture in these schools. \ A verb meaning provide the money for something that costs a lot. (Para 6)