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Posted on July 16th 2024
End of Year Letter to Parents from Mr Brett
Dear Parents/Carers,
The academic year 2023-24 at Harris Boys’ Academy East Dulwich will go down as one of the best in the history of our Academy.
Not only did we achieve incredible outcomes for our students, putting us in the top 5% nationally for student progress, but we also received our OUSTANDING Ofsted judgement in November 2023.
After 11 long years of waiting, we were delighted to welcome to inspection team, and I was so proud of all the staff and students who showed off the incredible academy we know we have. With new changes to the government and pressure on Ofsted to remove single word judgements from their inspection, it may be last grading of its kind that we get. We eagerly await announcements about education from the new government and I know you will trust us to do our best in whatever system of inspection is introduced. It is important students attend outstanding schools because you only get one chance in education and it cannot be wasted.
Celebrating success
Other important success stories for the Academy this year include our highly successful Duke of Edinburgh programme. We have had over 100 students completing Bronze and Silver awards this year, with many progressing to tackle the prestigious Gold award next year. This programme has grown so much under the brilliant leadership of Mrs Pitt and Mr Downs and I am sure anyone who has been involved would agree it is such a good opportunity for all our young students. There are places for Year 9 students next year and I would encourage anyone interested to get involved.
In our careers programme we were excited to be named as Ernst and Young (EY) Foundation Impact award winners. This was awarded to us for our flourishing partnership with them offering students insights in the professional world of work. Working with huge companies like this and having our efforts recognised on a national scale is very pleasing. Even more importantly this year we were recognised by the Investors in Careers organisation who awarded us the ‘Quality in Careers standard’ meaning that our careers programme meets all the gold-standard criteria set out in the Gatsby Benchmarks – the eight criteria which show world class career guidance. Congratulations to Assistant Principal Mr Allison and his careers team who led us to this incredible outcome.
We have also tasted success in Arts with our students successfully winning the Harris Experience Art auction, selling a piece of work designed by the students through Christies Auction house after beating all the other Harris Federation schools in the design process.
Added to that, who can forget our wonderful performance of Bugsy Malone earlier, this as well as the great art exhibitions and musical showcases we have held throughout the year. I eagerly look forward to next year’s production of Matilda to see who the next young people are on our seemingly unstoppable conveyor belt of talent in Performing Arts.
Finally, we cannot forget the brilliant achievements in Sport and Enterprise, our specialisms. Our sports teams have been hugely successful in Football, Basketball and Cricket, winning a number of matches both locally and in national competitions. The students are competing this week in the Federation Sports Day where we hope to retain our title and the Enterprise team will be pitching their business proposition to none other than Levi Roots in the ‘City Pay it Forward’ 2024 Enterprise competition at Draper’s Hall in central London. We wish both those teams all the best in their competitions.
Academy leadership
In some changes to our Senior Leadership Team, you may be aware that Vice Principal Miss Price took up a new role at Harris City Academy Crystal Place at Easter. Mr Stow has been appointed as our new Vice Principal for 2024-25. He will take over as our Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) for the Academy. Mr Ingham, our current DSL will remain with us but will take on the responsibilities for the Quality of Education.
We are also delighted that Mr Zaman was joined the senior leadership team as Associate- Assistant Principal for Personal Development. Mr Gayle has replaced Mr Grant as Director of Maths, with Mr Grant moving on to an Assistant Principal role at Harris Girls’ Academy East Dulwich. Finally, Miss Dixon has been appointed as Associate SENCO, joining Mrs Price and our brilliant SEND team.
The turnover of staff at our Academy is incredibly low compared to national data, and specifically for London. This is because we have great staff team who care passionately about our students and what we are trying to achieve for them. We are always pleased when our staff are promoted internally, and we wish those moving on to promotions within the Harris Federation all the best for the future.
Mobile phones
During this year you will have seen our communication around the mobile phones and in particular smart phones. Harris Boys’ Academy East Dulwich, along with 17 other secondary schools in Southwark, have agreed to work together to encourage parents to be cautious about young people and their access to smart phones. We will be running an enhanced programme of education for students and parents in 2024-25 to support with our message.
In terms of our policy, it remains very similar to what we are already doing and have been doing for the last 10 years. Students are allowed to bring mobile phones to the Academy, but they must be turned off and placed in their bags. If Mobile Phones are seen on-site, they are confiscated, and parents or carers need to come to the Academy and collect the device. If this was a behaviour that was repeated, then we may have to escalate the sanctions for individual students.
Mobile Phone use is not currently a problem in our Academy, but this will only remain the case if we educate students and parents on how to use them safely.
Safeguarding
As we enter the summer holiday, it is vital that students remain safe in our local community. This year we have seen an increase in robbery, with young people targeted for mobile phones and high value electronic equipment, as well as for expensive clothing including coats and trainers. As always, we advise all students to be safe over the summer and avoid having these items out in public.If you have any safeguarding concerns over the summer break, we are available to support. A member of the safeguarding team will be available to respond to emails sent to: safeguarding@harrisdulwichboys.org.uk
School reports
Final reports for students will be released on My Child At School (MCAS) by the end of this week. The data you receive here will the usual key information in terms of attendance, behaviour and outcomes. Remember in most our subjects students sit a Harris Federation end of year exam and this data is standardised across all the 24 Harris Secondary Academies, so we believe it is a powerful and accurate review of a students performance in the assessment.
Logistics 2024-25
The majority of students will return after the summer holidays on Wednesday 4th September 2024. Our students joining in Year 7 and 12 will be on-site from Tuesday 3rd September as they settle in and get prepared for life in a new school.
One important change to note for all students and parents in that our main student gate will be opening at the later time of 8am for next year. Most of our clubs take place afterschool and where there are exceptions students will be able to enter via the main staff entrance to be signed in. Students will still be expected to be onsite by 8.20am for line-up and registration each day.
Lastly, it is important to know that our second-hand uniform sale will be taking place on Wednesday 24th and Thursday 25th July between 10-2pm on-site here at the Academy.
End of term arrangements
On Friday 19th July, students will attend their last day of the year. We will be closing early with students released from 12 noon. It is a non-school uniform day and all students taking part will need to bring a £1 donation in the morning. This year we are raising money for Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) after the tragic death of a former student a few months ago. He was aged only 21 and highlights the huge amount of work this charity can do to diagnose young people at risk and support families when tragedies like this occur.
I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable summer holiday and I look forward to seeing everyone return to Harris Boys’ Academy East Dulwich in September. It is so exciting to see how many more amazing things our young people can achieve in 2024-25.
Yours Sincerely
Chris Brett, Principal
