The Harris Group

New data from the government’s Department of Education shows that, with a Progress 8 score of +0.39, students at the Harris Federation make more academic progress than students at any other large multi-academy trust in the country. 

Progress 8 measures the progress students make in eight key subjects at secondary school and is determined by comparing their achievements at GCSE with how they did in their Year 6 SATs. It tells us how much progress they made at secondary school, and whether they were able to meet or exceed what was expected, or whether they fell behind.  

Nationally, the average Progress 8 last summer was -0.03, showing that on average in England students fell very slightly behind what was expected. At Harris, our score, at +0.39, was the highest of any large academy trust and showed our students significantly exceeded expectations.   

The data also compares the Progress 8 scores achieved at different trusts by students from disadvantaged backgrounds, with the Harris Federation the top performing large trust on this measure.

We are one of only two large trusts in total where disadvantaged children – around forty percent of our students overall – achieve more in their GCSEs than could have been expected of them based on their test scores at Year 6. 

With the vast majority of our secondary academies having joined the Harris Federation because Ofsted had found them to be inadequate, the data shines a light on the impact of the great teaching, curriculum, and support on offer at Harris academies. Congratulations to all staff – and of course to students and families – on these terrific achievements.