Newham Council has once again joined forces with the Metropolitan Police’s Volunteer Cadets in bringing to justice more traders caught selling prohibited goods to children, including a number in Forest Gate.
Stratford Magistrates handed out total fines and costs of £6,700, together with two six-month conditional discharges to 12 traders across the borough found guilty of selling alcohol or fireworks to children.
The Forest Gate traders caught selling alcohol to the young police cadets who posed as undercover test purchasers were:
Bharat Samji and Meeta Samji of Katherine Food & Wine, 521 Katherine Road, Forest Gate; and
Janice Bonsu of Somerfield, 67-73 Woodgrange Road, Forest Gate.
Councillor Ian Corbett, Mayoral Adviser for Anti-Social Behaviour, said, "Traders who think they can make a quick buck by selling dangerous goods to children should think again. We will not hesitate to bring them before the courts and press for the harshest penalties."
The school with the highest proportion of students gaining grades A* to C in Newham was St Angela's in Forest Gate, where 88 percent of pupils received five or more A* to C grades, an improvement of 6 percentage points on last year.
Overall, the number of Newham students achieving five or more top GCSE grades (A* through to C) rose by around four per cent from 46 per cent in 2003 to 50 per cent this year.
The most improved school in the borough was Sarah Bonnell, where results improved by 27 percentage points on last year's results - from 45 percent A*-C in 2003 to 72 per cent in 2004.
Cllr Graham Lane, Cabinet member for Education, said: "Education in Newham is going from strength to strength and we are delighted with the individual achievements today which are a credit to Newham. This is due to hard work by the students, support from parents and extremely effective teaching by our dedicated teaching force."
Cllr Lane praised the borough's teaching staff as "one of the most effective in the country".
Elsewhere in Forest Gate St Bonaventure's achieved a 'five A* to C' rate of 68.5 per cent; Stratford got 54.5; and Forest Gate scored with 48.4.
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