The Harris Group

Congratulations to all 5,180 Harris students who collected their GCSE results this morning. 

Our headline results are higher than the most recent national averages on all the key measures:

• High attainment: our average Attainment 8 – which is calculated by totalling the GCSE scores of students in 8 key subjects – is 50.4. This is significantly higher than last year’s national Attainment 8 of 46.  
• English and Maths: 52.2% of our students secured a Grade 5 or higher in English and Maths, compared to 45.4% of students nationally last year.
• Ebacc: 30% of our students achieved the Ebacc at Grade 5 compared to 18.7% nationally last year, and 41.4% did so at Grade 4 compared to 25.8% nationally last year, close to double the national average.
• Closing the gap for disadvantaged students: our students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds have secured results that are not only better than results for disadvantaged students nationally, their results are comparable to and sometimes better than results for all students nationally. 
• Attainment 8 for disadvantaged students at Harris is 45.1 compared to 34.9 nationally for these students last year. 61% of disadvantaged students at Harris achieved a strong pass in English, compared to just 53.9% of all students (not just disadvantaged) nationally. Similarly, 63% of disadvantaged students at Harris achieved a strong pass in maths, compared to 53% of all students nationally.

A huge thank you, as ever, to all staff from across our academies. They have enabled our students to achieve fantastic results. Some notable achievements from individual academies are:

• At Harris Science Academy East London, which replaced a school in special measures just four years ago, a third of students got an average of a Grade 7 across all their subjects and 30% of students achieved at least one 9.
• For the percentage of students securing both English and Maths at Grade 4+, the biggest improvements over the past year were at Harris Academy Beulah Hill and Harris Academy Orpington, where there was a nine-percentage-point increase.
• At Harris Chobham, there was a 11% increase in students securing both English and Maths GCSEs at 5+. 
• At Harris Girls’ Academy Bromley, 90% of students achieved a Grade 5 in English.
• At Harris Academy Merton and Harris Academy St John’s Wood, three-quarters of disadvantaged students achieved a Grade 4 in both English and Maths.
• At Harris Academy Riverside, over 70% of separate science GCSEs were a Grade 7 or above.
• At Harris Academy South Norwood, in one of their top performing subjects, Chemistry, the average grade for the academy was over 8 and a third of all students achieved a 9.
• At Harris Academy Sutton, over 40% of GCSEs were awarded Grade 7 or higher.
• At Harris Academy Wimbledon, the top-performing subject was Latin, where all students secured at least a Grade 7 and half achieved a 9.
• Across the Harris Federation over 900 students achieved at least one grade 9.

There are many students who stand out for their courage and achievement, these include: 

• D’Kai from Harris Academy Chafford Hundred. Just ahead of the start of his examinations, D’Kai’s mother, his sole carer, passed away. He showed the most incredible dedication, travelling to the academy each day from his uncle’s home in Gravesend, even showing up for study sessions before and after school, to secure his achievements. 
• Kateryna from Harris Academy Purley, a refugee from the Ukraine war, where her father remains as a soldier.  When she arrived in the country with very little English she decided to go back a year and, following two years of hard work, has been awarded 8 GCSEs including in English, Maths and Triple Science and is set to join the academy’s thriving sixth form. 
• Salman from Harris Lowe Academy Willesden. Salman has spent this year in temporary accommodation far away from Harris Lowe Academy Willesden, leaving home at 6.40am in order to get to school on time. Although he was given a late pass, he rarely used it. Salman wants to work in the NHS and will be staying on at the academy to study Biology, Chemistry and Maths at A Level.
• Samuel from Harris Academy Rainham, celebrating 8 GCSEs. Samuel’s mother has been undergoing cancer treatment throughout Years 10 and 11, yet he regularly arrived at school at 7am and stayed until 5pm in order to study. 
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• Adding up to something special: Harris Academy Peckham’s Michael achieved 96% and a Grade 9 in his Maths GCSE.

Ellie Reeves MP visited Harris Boys’ Academy East Dulwich as students collected their results.

Siblings Leah and Kyle from Harris Science Academy East London. Kyle achieved ten Grade 9s and last week Leah achieved 2 A*s and an A in her A Levels.

Elvis, the top performing student at Harris Academy Sutton, with an exceptional 11 grade 9s and 1 grade 8.