Tilbury and Chadwell St Mary Excellence Cluster

Tilbury and Chadwell St Mary Excellence Cluster was a cooperative group of schools brought together under the government's Excellence in Cities initiative.^[1] The purpose of the cluster was to raise standards of attainment for all children in cluster schools and to support the new Gateway school. The original schools were Chadwell St Mary Primary School, Corringham Primary School, Grays Convent, Hassenbrook School, Herringham Primary School, Jack Lobley Primary School, Landsdowne Primary School, St Chad's Comprehensive School, Torrell's Comprehensive School, Tilbury Manor Infant School, Tilbury Manor Junior School, Tilbury St Mary's RC Primary School and Woodside Primary School. Schools outside of Chadwell St Mary or Tilbury were included either to add capacity or because a large number of their children came from the area. Jack Lobley school was closed in 2003 but the building was used for a while to house a cluster Inclusion Centre. St Chad's and Torrell's were also closed and reopened as one fresh start school; The Gateway Community College, which has since become The Gateway Academy but continues to have problems. Standards and attendance are still significantly below average. Excellence Clusters were originally given additional funding to development provisions over a four "strands": learning mentors, learning support units, gifted and talented and a tailored strand decided by each cluster which is in this case is school improvement.