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22/03/24

Delighted to welcome and his team into our academy this week to film for his latest book. Inspiring our students to develop their reading further.

18/03/24

It is with great pleasure that we can announce that our Science Technician, Rudolf Van Koningsveld, has been awarded The Registered Science Technician Award (RSciTech), a registered mark recognising excellence for technicians working in science education! pic.twitter.com/v7kYxDhU4E

18/03/24

Year 11 students dazzled the examiner with their recent GCSE Component 2 performances, worth 20% of their overall grade.Performing two gripping extracts from 'Starlight Express', the students showcased months of hard work and dedication, leaving the examiner in awe. pic.twitter.com/eAc3eRjgae

18/03/24

Principal's Breakfast on Friday celebrated ten students nominated for 'doing the right thing all the time' this week by their teachers. Each week the winners receive a free breakfast, gift voucher and certificate pic.twitter.com/vfyD3TDyLS

21/02/24

🎉Congratulations to both and on maintaining their Outstanding Ofsted judgments following recent inspections!Read more about their success here:https://t.co/cXhlAIPOFJ

21/02/24

🎉Congratulations to both and on maintaining their Outstanding Ofsted judgments following recent inspections!Read more about their success here:https://t.co/cXhlAIPOFJ

21/02/24

Very happy to be featured in this week along with following both our Ofsted 'Outstanding' ratings. We're incredibly proud of our staff and students and it's lovely to have our success celebrated! https://t.co/UMwA7yMjcG

20/02/24

Year 12 and 13 students were treated to a talk about economics (and careers) by Chief Economist Peter Arnold . "Peter's talk has encouraged me to pursue a career in economics," said Imran. "I look forward to learning more about the macroeconomic policies in my course." pic.twitter.com/y6KPjVpk7K

15/02/24

We had fun last week celebrating our recent Ofsted 'Outstanding' Award with students. We were very proud of the way our students conducted themselves during the visit. They were a true credit to themselves, our Academy and their families. https://t.co/Frz4TrGe5f pic.twitter.com/S27e95IBt4

13/02/24

Get your tickets for our latest school production, Bugsy Malone, 13th and 14th March 2024. Tickets available on ParentPay from 19th February. Don't miss! pic.twitter.com/mfp6r7W1xP

13/02/24

We are thrilled to announce that our student, Sebastian, has emerged as the winner in the Southwark Regional Final of Jack Petchey's Speak Out Challenge. A compelling and persuasive performance indeed! https://t.co/iJGSNARJai pic.twitter.com/lrwpFhyoyL

06/02/24

Our Art Prefects have had their second workshop with ceramicist Marie Tricaud. Students fired their ceramics in the kiln and applied coloured glaze. We experimented with colour and different painting techniques, finishing with beautiful results https://t.co/UyUjtBhnU3 pic.twitter.com/hALsSeg85L

01/02/24

Younes, Lawrence, Artur and Chowdhury competed in the Year 7 Spelling Bee earlier this week, taking on challenging words such as onomatopoeia, armageddon, connoisseur, fluorescent, leprechaun, garrulous and haemorrhage. A superb effort from our team! pic.twitter.com/f3onldp091

29/01/24

Urban Plan delivered a great urban development workshop today. Year 10 students were split into five 'development companies' and had to show industry professionals why their team should gain the opportunity to develop a new town centre. https://t.co/DyBJtLqfuN pic.twitter.com/mT1G2GLMOO

29/01/24

On Friday we held a special rewards breakfast for all the boys who helped with our Winter Showcase music concert at the end of last term.It was the largest amount of students we have had in one concert, so well done everyone. Our next event is Bugsy Malone in March! pic.twitter.com/QmVbi8qwuT

25/01/24

Our debating team made waves at the recent competition held at Sydenham High. Twelve of our best debaters rose to the occasion, demonstrating their eloquence and critical thinking. Judges praised their poise and respectful engagement with their opponents. Well done boys! pic.twitter.com/UIXm2Ec43h

09/01/24

Ofsted have again found our academy to be 'Outstanding'. A huge thank you to our excellent team of staff who work tirelessly to provide our students with the very best learning opportunities. Thank you so much😃. Read more https://t.co/vOQdNotx7K pic.twitter.com/XU2Hy4Cj6E

14/12/23

Our Chess Club enjoy a friendly tournament with six keen players from . The event was held in the school library, where 15 players competed in a series of matches. Great sportsmanship and camaraderie. Watch out for a Chess Competition! pic.twitter.com/5y6mJlKqMs

12/12/23

We were delighted to welcome our sponsor, Lord Harris, to Harris Boys' Academy East Dulwich last week. It was inspirational for many of the students to meet Lord Harris and hear his passion and enthusiasm for our academy. pic.twitter.com/94SSlYjWhh

07/12/23

Sixth formers attend a PwC graduate scheme event for Black students recently, organised in collaboration with . The event catered to Black A-level students in years 12-13 aspiring to attend top-tier universities. Read more https://t.co/a0uJVg5o3G pic.twitter.com/HF5orb2Fto

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Latest News

Posted on September 19th 2019

Principal Peter Groves on Why Teachers Should Sometimes Take Risks

Peter GrovesPrincipal Peter Groves on how Harris Boys’ Academy East Dulwich is encouraging teachers to take calculated risks, and whether he could be educating a future prime minister.

I’ve been teaching at Harris Boys’ Academy East Dulwich since it opened in 2009, so I suppose you could say I'm fairly invested in this school! When we opened, for the first five or six years we were doing everything for the first time, so things evolved rapidly and changed constantly. But in the last four or five years we’ve deliberately set out to reflect more, in order to improve, and carry on reflecting and improving. It means that as an academy we are growing increasingly confident and are far better placed than we were a few years ago, though we've been rated ‘Outstanding’ since 2011.


Doing things differently

One way we’ve become more confident is by encouraging teachers to take more risks and innovate in their teaching, rather than always playing it safe. For example, instead of spending a lesson doing questions and answers from the book, a teacher might organise a ‘marketplace’ exercise with students getting out of their chairs and sharing ideas in a different way. Or the teacher might go outside in the playground with students to enact a Roman testudo formation, so students really get the idea of how the Roman army was organised. In Science we’re looking to do a lot more practicals. It’s these sorts of things that the children will remember, and the ideas will get inside their heads more.

Building up relationships with our boys is key as well. That’s why we greet students on their way into school each morning and get to know a bit about what makes them tick – even small things like knowing what food they like, what after-school clubs they’ve joined or what football team they support. It shows the boys that we care about them as individuals and it really pays dividends in the classroom when it comes to learning.

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Giving people chances

In the last few years we’ve worked hard to improve the behaviour and reward system too. Students are now rewarded with Harris Points when they do something right, just as we are in the real world, and sanctioned with negative Harris Points when they do something wrong. But positive Harris Points can now cancel out the negative ones, so boys have a chance to earn their way out of a ‘negative’ situation. We’ve had some real success stories in recent weeks. One boy, for example, had quite a lot of negative points earlier in the year but has reversed that sufficiently to earn a bronze star. That wouldn’t have happened last year. It gives people chances.


Teaching resilience

Students are growing up in an uncertain world and we need to prepare them for that. Think how much has changed since the school opened in 2009, in terms of the internet and social media. And that change is going to continue. Many of the jobs our students will eventually do have not even been invented yet, so they need to be prepared for the unknown.

We can prepare them partly through the core academic curriculum and the transferrable skills such as thinking and teamwork that are embedded in our curriculum. This will give them the academic credentials they need to get them into the door of wherever they want to go. But they need resilience too. This is a tough world they are going into. They are going to make mistakes and trip up along the way. We are working hard to embed in students the idea that if you get knocked down you get back up and try again, and try harder. The Maths department are really good at that, for example. They teach students about developing the right ‘growth mindset’ before you even start a problem-solving task. Because with the right state of mind you’ll be better equipped to deal with whatever comes your way – including not getting the job you want or when something doesn’t go right in your personal life – and still find a way through.

People often comment on what a calm, purposeful building this is, and members of the public write in and say what good ambassadors our students are for our school. But you can’t stand still. It’s a case of relentlessly questioning ourselves about whether we are doing the right thing and asking hard questions. Because the moment you get an ‘Outstanding’ assessment and great set of results and then sit back, that’s when it all goes wrong.

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Unblinkered

By nature, I’m a very reflective person and the Executive Principal, Chris Everitt and I hold ourselves to a very high standard.  We will pick up on the minutiae that perhaps other people might not notice, but that is what will keep us ‘Outstanding’.

And I’m a big believer in the young people of today. At times the media offers negative stereotypes of young people as ‘social media zombies’ with little to offer the world. Whereas I see children who are questioning and inquisitive and want to find the answers to the challenges the world faces.  Young people are not blinkered. They understand that racism, intolerance and inequalities should not be accepted. For the boys, it doesn’t matter if you are LGBT, or from a particular community, or different religion; you are all part of society.

Our ambition is for the boys here to become whatever they are capable of becoming. Why shouldn’t a student from Harris Boys’ Academy East Dulwich go on to be prime minister or an astronaut, or the entrepreneur that starts the next Apple? They go to a great school.

Peter Groves, Principal