Harris Academy Battersea

School summary

Harris Academy Battersea will be in its 8th academic year in 2021-2022 and has established itself as one of the highest performing schools in London, judged to be Outstanding by Ofsted in 2018. In 2017, it was awarded the Evening Standard School of the Year as well as being named one of the Sunday Times Top 20 Schools in the country. We are immensely proud of our students’ achievements at Harris Academy Battersea, where their progress measures (1.08, 1.47, 1.22, 0.92, 1.39* and 1.36* P8) defy expectations and set out what it is possible to achieve with hard work from all stakeholders. This is achieved through high expectations for all stakeholders, a high-quality curriculum, brilliant teaching with each teacher wanting to get better every day and, most importantly, an embedded culture that drives every decision in the school. This strong culture wraps around the three key characteristics of the most successful schools: high aspiration, high motivation and strong social norms.

Academy Ethos

The development of our students academically, personally and professionally is at the heart of everything we do at Harris Academy Battersea. We have created a new vision for the school to reflect this: ‘We develop aspirational young people to thrive in a changing world’.

Our core values of Knowledge, Integrity and Resilience underpin this vision and will form an integral part of student’s daily school life. Students should leave us not only having fulfilled their personal best in terms of academic results, but also equipped with these core values to enable them to thrive in all stages of their lives. Equally, we wish for our school and young people to serve the community and a school that the community is proud to have on its doorstep.

The values of Knowledge, Integrity and Resilience embody the qualities we expect to see in our young people. Our definition of these values is outlined below.

Knowledge: ‘I want to learn something new every day’

• I will gain knowledge to be able to confidently engage in any discussion, any time.
• I will think carefully before I trust information I see, hear and read.
• I will share knowledge to help others.
• I will always seek to further my own knowledge, now and in the future.
• I will make links between different pieces of knowledge and subjects.

Resilience: ‘Try, fail, try, fail, try, succeed’

• I will give 100% effort 100% of the time.
• I will understand my emotions and work hard to manage them effectively.
• I will develop and maintain positive relationships with others even when it is tough to do so.
• I will take any setback as a learning opportunity.
• I will try new things outside my comfort zone.

Integrity: ‘I do the right thing even when it is difficult to do so’

• I will do the right thing even when  no one is looking, and I will encourage others to do so too.
• I will treat others as they wish to be treated.
• I will take responsibility for my actions and encourage others to do so.
• I will support others to be the best they can be.
• I will respect the diversity, cultures, beliefs and differences of others.