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‘Stronger Together’: colleagues across the Harris Federation unite to shape the year ahead
Senior Leaders from all 59 Harris Federation academies met for two days of training in October 2026 under the theme Stronger Together - Every Academy, Every Community. Alongside them, subject teachers shared best practice in specialist groups and support staff gathered for a training day of their own.
These were the first Federation-wide training events for the colleagues from four schools in Essex that joined our group in September: Harris Academy Benfleet, Harris Academy Billericay, Harris Academy Kingswood and Harris Academy Wickford.
In his keynote, Chief Executive Sir Dan Moynihan looked back on a year of outstanding results and remarkable individual stories – from the 73 Harris sixth formers heading on to study medicine, dentistry or veterinary science, more than half from disadvantaged backgrounds, to ten-year-old Musa at Harris Primary Chobham who achieved an A* in A Level maths.
He then set out four priorities for the year ahead: managing on tighter budgets, raising the achievement of white working-class and socio-economically disadvantaged young people, building a culture of belonging, and developing pupils’ confidence and oracy.
He reminded colleagues that for a trust educating 50,000 young people in some of the most challenging parts of London and Essex, “the whole point of Harris, what we are here for, is to drive social mobility through education.” Above all, he said, Harris is about “making life fairer”, so that “background is never a barrier to opportunity, achievement or success.”
The conferences were enriched by a number of external speakers and partners who generously gave their time. We were especially grateful to Sir Hamid Patel, whose powerful address on the underachievement of white working-class children spoke directly to one of the priorities Sir Dan set out for the years ahead. Our thanks also go to Debate Mate, The Economist Educational Foundation and the National Institute of Teaching, for workshops that will help our leaders to strengthen pupils’ oracy and confidence.
Also, thank you to the Maikai Group who spoke to colleagues at the support staff conference. This generosity, from partners and colleagues alike, is what Stronger Together is all about.
For more information about the culture and training opportunities Harris, visit our careers website, www.harriscareers.org.uk.