Our Performance

All 19 Academies in our Federation aim to transform the lives of the students they serve by bringing about rapid improvement in examination results, personal development and aspiration. 

The vast majority of our Academies have come from extremely challenging starting points in terms of performance and standards.  Now they are outperforming the national average and are oversubscribed by an average of four applications for every place available.

9 Harris Academies have already been rated as ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted – just under three quarters of those so far inspected.  This track record is unmatched by any other education body. 

We are delighted and proud that:

  • Since opening, each Harris Academy has increased the proportion of students getting five or more A*-C grades including English and Maths by 33 percentage points.
  • We have sustained GCSE improvements every year since opening.    
  • Based on pure GCSEs (i.e. without GCSE equivalents factored in), 58% of Harris students got five or more A*-Cs including English and Maths in Summer 2012.  This is 7 percentage points higher than the national average of 51%.
  • By summer 2011, every Harris Secondary Academy had hit and surpassed the government’s 2015 floor target of 50% of students achieving five GCSEs including English and Maths.  This was sustained in summer 2012.  
  • Last summer, the average A Level grades achieved at the Harris Federation Sixth Form were A,A,B with many students winning places at Russell Group universities including for Medicine, Maths and Law.

No Harris Academy is academically selective and we have an expectation that children from all backgrounds can achieve when their school has the support and resources in order to help them:

  • 45% of our students come from households where the income is low enough to entitle them to Free School Meals (the national average is 26.7%).  As the table below shows, at Harris Academies they are vastly outperforming the national average for FSM students and very close to outperforming the national average for all students.
  • 44% of students with Special Educational Needs at Harris Academies achieve at least five good GCSEs including English and Maths.  Although we are determined for this figure to continue to improve, this is already twice the national average of 22%.
  • 59% of Harris students who speak English as an Additional Language achieved at least five A*-C passes including English and Maths, 3 percentage points higher than the national average of 56%. 


Summary table

       
  Harris Academies National Average Outperforming the National Average
2012 Results
5 A*-Cs inc English and Maths

69%

 59% +10%
5 A*-Cs inc English and Maths (pure GCSEs)

58%

 51% +7%
5 A*-Cs inc English and Maths - FSM students 56% 36% +20%
5 A*-Cs inc English and Maths - SEN students 44% 22% +22%
5 A*-Cs inc English and Maths - EAL students 59% 56% +3%
5 A*-Cs in any subject 96% 83% +13%
% improvement since opening (5A*-C inc English and Maths) 33% - -
OFSTED OUTCOMES
% rated as 'Outstanding' 69% 21% +48%

 

What others say: recent quotes

"The best Academies — like Lord Harris’s chain in south London — are now taking over schools parents used to shun and turning them into magnets for talent.”  - Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State for Education

“Harris Academies... are a byword for quality and excellence.” - Lord Adonis, Minister for Schools, 2005-08

“(Harris Academy South Norwood) has got the same type of challenging students who used to attend (its predecessor) Stanley Tech up to 80 per cent.  They’ve achieved this with an absolute pig-headed determination that every single one of them has it within them to succeed.  That’s the culture they have created.”  - Councillor Tim Pollard, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Learners at the London Borough of Croydon