Welcome to Harris Boys' Academy East Dulwich

A warm welcome to Harris Boys’ Academy East Dulwich from Principal Peter Groves.

If this is your first visit, I hope you find our website useful and look forward to meeting many of you when you visit our school in person.

This is a special Academy, and I am proud to lead a superb group of students, teachers and support staff.

What makes us special goes far beyond the “outstanding” rating by Ofsted we were delighted to achieve in 2011. At the heart of our success is an absolute belief in the ability of every student to shine – no matter what their background, ability or character. We will accept no excuses for being anything but the best we can be.

We combine the traditional values of discipline, respect and good behaviour with contemporary best practice in teaching, learning and technology.

We focus on the development of our students as individuals, and guide them by allowing honest, trusting and equal relationships to form. We do this by regularly monitoring progress and understanding, using our developmental marking policy, class discussion, and role-modelling of expected behaviours.

Watch Mr Groves' video introduction

Take a virtual school tour

Stronger as a team

When a student joins our academy some will already be high-fliers, others will be good all-rounders and some will face significant and individual challenges. Each student will already have a unique personality, gift and character that we will develop further by working together. I have made it clear to everyone at the Academy that we are stronger as a team than a group of individuals, and that by pulling in the same direction we will achieve great things.

We encourage our students to be critical thinkers and promote these skills throughout the curriculum.  A student at Harris Boys' Academy will learn how to engage critically with foreign affairs, religion and society, issues of citizenship and the media, so they acquire the skills, and recognise the value of, thinking for yourself and thinking in a well-reasoned manner. This feeds into our desire to leave our students with the ability to apply these same skills to any context, for example, whether they are being subject to peer pressure, or being actively targeted by extremist ideologies.

Bringing learning alive

• Offering a full, broad and balanced curriculum, and helping every student find something he excels at; 
• Keeping class sizes as small as possible, and employing teachers who make learning fun and engaging; 
• Giving support to students who need it through extra tuition in literacy and numeracy; 
• Offering a range of specialised courses for our Most Able students; 
• Setting regular homework - for Year 7 students this will usually be two or three subjects per night; 
• Encouraging debate, participation, and a spirit of enquiry.

Active Citizenship

Active Citizenship’ is a vital part of the ‘Master Key’ that will unlock opportunities to students in future.

Active Citizenship is about students becoming better people and making a difference to their community on a local, national and global scale. Visit our Vision and Values page to read more about what we mean by Active Citizenship and the key character traits (confidence, curiosity, respect, resilience, ambition) that we encourage all our students to develop.

Clear expectations

Children learn best when their school environment is safe, inclusive and welcoming. We have a culture of mutual respect between students and staff, and zero tolerance of bullying in any form.

We have a proven track record of getting the best from all our students, reinforced by very clear expectations regarding student conduct, manners, uniform and behaviour which are non-negotiable and consistently enforced across the Academy. We believe that success occurs in a framework of high expectations, whilst also acknowledging that mistakes provide valuable learning opportunities too.

This results in our students constructively engaging with resilience-building activities and a positive learning environment where students do not judge or discriminate against one another.  We also support our students in challenging their own preconceptions as part of being meta-cognitive learners and ‘thinking about their thinking’. 

This is a school at which every student has the chance to find his own unique path to success, where everyone is aware of their rights and responsibilities towards themselves and others, and I look forward to welcoming you in person, so you can experience our Academy for yourself.  

Peter Groves, Principal
Harris Boys’ Academy East Dulwich