Engaging schools - Harris Federation

This month we've been running an engaging schools blog series, sharing shocking statistics on disengagement,  talking about what it takes to be an engaging school, what sort of culture, what values are needed. But what do schools that engage students look like in practice? We've worked with several schools that are doing a great job of engaging students and some of these  will be sharing their learning at our Engaging School conference (see below for more details). Next - Harris Federation. 

Harris Federation is a non-profit making educational charity with over twenty years of experience in running schools in and around London.  Harris exists to support and assist schools to build upon their existing strengths and so achieve rapid educational transformation.

Harris Academies comprise schools in both the secondary and primary sectors, both traditionally sponsored academies and schools which have chosen to convert to academy status.  They also work alongside parent groups in promoting Free Schools.  The Harris Primary Free School Peckham will open in September 2012 and the Chobham Academy, a 3 to 19 Academy in partnership with Lend Lease in the Olympic Village opens in September 2013.

Harris Federation has a performance record in terms of improvement in examination results combined with numbers of outstanding Academies which is unmatched by any Academy group in the country. In Summer 2011, their eight Academies with examination results achieved record improvements for the fifth successive year. 

Harris in figures:

• The average improvement in five or more higher grade passes including English and mathematics was 13%, which was more than four times greater than the national improvement of 3% and well above the national Academy improvement of 5.7%.
• In terms of the overall number of students gaining five good passes in any subject, including English and Maths, the average across the group has risen from 30% in 2006 to 68% this year.
  
• 55% of Harris students eligible for free school meals passed five or more higher grade GCSEs with English and maths compared to 33.9% nationally
• The improvement in the percentage with five or more higher passes at GCSE has risen from 49% in 2006 to 95% this year. 
• Seven Harris Academies now have 90% or more students gaining five good passes, with four at 100%. 

Harris’s innovative leadership and governance model has been the subject of a number of studies. It was a field trial site for the next practice programme in 2006, and launched the Harris Student Commission on Learning in 2008.

Watch Dan Moynihan, Chief Executive of Harris talking about leading staff to create Engaging Schools here.

Harris, and some of their students, are going to be joining us at our flipped conference in London to share the secrets to their success. They'll be presenting and holding an informal Q&A so come along and learn more about how they solve the problem of disengagement.You can also read more about their journey here

You can read about what a 'flipped conference' is here, read more about our conferences here, and book a spot at the events by clicking on the following link:

London conference, 4th July