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More than half of Year 11 students at an inner-city school have agreed to give up social media during their exams to boost grades. Cumberland Community School in Plaistow, East London, has convinced 160 students to delete social networking apps from their phones in a bid to keep them more focussed on their exams.

Throughout May and June, while taking their GCSEs, there will be no Instagram posting, WhatsApp messaging or snapchats for the students who have agreed to take part in the social media ban. Many have also agreed to hand in their mobile phones while in school taking exams to avoid any temptation or distraction.

Since introducing compulsory revision sessions, Cumberland has become among the best in the country for GCSE exam results. Its Progress 8 score jumped an entire grade from minus 0.46 to plus 0.55, making it the most improved in the country.

The school runs compulsory early morning, late afternoon, weekend and holiday revision sessions with year 11 students starting at 7am - and not being able to leave until 4.30pm every day. There are 300 children in the year group. 160 have agreed to delete social media during their exams.

Student Dania Olajide, 16, from Tower Hamlets, said: Doing my mocks I was still on social media so tried to balance revising with socialising. Now that Im off social media I expect my grades to improve. This will be an interesting test to see if I do better than my friends who arent giving up. I think I will.

I spend a lot of time on Instagram, Tik Tok and Snapchat but so far I have not had many withdrawals. I read a lot so now just occupy myself when Im not studying doing that. I think this is a great idea by the school because it pushes us to be the best we can be. They are looking out for us.

Student Amin Opayemi, 16, from Beckton, added: I already feel like it has helped me and its only been a few days. I have stopped procrastinating, checking my phone every five minutes while revising. Social media is highly addictive and so you can easily get sucked in. You say you yourself you will just check your phone then an hour has gone past and you havent revised.

It has massively helped to clear my head as well. Once I put it down for a few days the desire to pick it up started to leave me. I would advise all students who are serious about doing well on their exams to give this a try. Its only a few months and could make a huge difference to their futures.

Headteacher Ekhlas Rahman predicts the students taking part will see a significant uplift in their results. He said: As adults we know what a time thief these social networking site can be. For teenagers the temptation is even stronger.

If you are tweeting or posting or WhatsApping you are not revising. We predict it is going to make a huge difference, possibly an entire grade point in each subject. We will monitor their progress against students not taking part in the scheme with similar grade predictions to see how they get on.

We are always looking for an extra edge to give our students the best possible chance of getting strong grades. We have had the children in every day at 7am studying for their exams and they are here after school every day until 4.30pm.

Newham is one of the poorest boroughs in the country so most of our parents cannot afford a private tutor so we provide it all for free, every day. Cumberland Community School is operated by the Community Schools Trust.

CEO Simon Elliott said: I dont think it is controversial to say that these phones are highly addictive. At a time when they need to be concentrating on their exams many are glued to their phones.

I am very proud of what these students and this school is trying to achieve. It takes a lot for a young person to step away from the crowd, they are pioneers. I am not a betting man but a huge uplift in the exam results of these students is as close to a sure thing as you can get.

Their future selves will be very grateful the made this sacrifice at such a crucial stage of their academic careers.

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Students agree to give up social media during their exams to boost ... - Nottinghamshire Live