Belong, Believe, Become
Our Ethos At HAR we hold that our Academy should provide students with a deep sense of belonging to a caring community, the belief in themselves and their unbounded potential and the opportunities to become more than they thought was possible.
These are the values that we hold to be true and that drive our Academy forward:
BELONG We are a community where all students are accepted as they are and are enabled to discover more of themselves and to grow into the person they wish to be.
BELIEVE We help our students to discover their innate potential for greatness and we strive to enable them to believe they can aspire to great heights and achieve remarkable success. Our students can reach any university or career they desire.
BECOME We deliver a knowledge rich curriculum that ensures we fulfil two essential elements of education. Firstly, that our students gain qualifications that enable them to choose their career and path in life. Secondly, we help our students to become profoundly human by helping them to engage with the greatest that has been thought and said. At HAR we believe that education is a vehicle to a better life.
“You can be yourself at HAR.� Michael year 8
Welcome to Harris Academy Rainham Harris Academy Rainham is a thriving and successful school with high standards and great ambition for its students.
Nicola Graham Executive Principal
We strive consistently to create an environment in which our students are challenged and supported so that they can flourish. We achieve this through excellent teaching, high standards of behaviour and strong pastoral care. The Academy is calm and purposeful and its staff are driven by our values – Belong, Believe, Become. These values are the cornerstone of everything we do and the lens through which we look at our Academy and make our decisions. We are unashamedly ambitious for our students and our school and we are proud to serve our local community.
Gareth Stananought Principal
If you are interested in applying for a place, please come and see us. The dates of our open events are published on our website and we also welcome visitors throughout the year who want to come and see the Academy in action. We look forward to meeting you.
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Harris Federation
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There are FIVE applications from parents for every place available.
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Government data puts the Harris Federation at the TOP of the league tables for the progress students make at secondary school.
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Nearly A QUARTER of our sixth formers went on to top Russell Group universities, this year, about twice the national average.
19 out of 20 inspected Harris secondary academies are judged by Ofsted as ‘outstanding’ and the 20th is ’good’. This record is unmatched.
All the Harris secondary academies created as brand new schools are rated ‘outstanding’.
“HAR is a fantastic school. All the teachers are kind and they help you in every lesson.� Betty, Year 8
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Education with ambition
We are driven and ambitious on behalf of every student. We have high expectations of our students, particularly in the way they should conduct themselves. Our consistent approach of encouraging good behaviour results in a culture that is friendly, orderly and respectful. We teach in mixed ability groups, except in maths, which is divided into sets. Where students need extra help, our teachers coach them in small groups or provide one to one support. Special educational needs are catered for with care and expertise. For students looking towards university we provide plenty of opportunities for challenge. We aim to nurture our students’ self-belief and ambition through a wide range of opportunities including our inspiring sixth form programme, senior staff mentoring and visits to sixth forms and universities. Meanwhile the Harris Experience gives students unique cultural and academic experiences to prepare them for entry to the top universities.
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Creating a sense of
belonging Our staff get to know all our students as individuals and provide the support and care that is needed to enable them to feel a part of our community. All students are assigned a learning guide who provides mentoring, guidance and support. They are also the key point of contact for parents and carers. Where students require additional support our pastoral team (including a full time counsellor) are always available to students and parents. These are just some of the ways in which we provide high quality and personalised support. Parents are encouraged to get involved with their children’s education and to visit on regular occasions. During the year there are two parents’ evenings for each year group so that parents can attend and discuss their child’s progress. Parents will also receive termly reports about their child’s academic progress.
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Our curriculum Our year 7s study an academic curriculum that encourages breadth and depth.
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This incorporates the core subjects – English, Maths and Science – as well as History, Geography, RE, PE, a modern foreign language and a range of subjects including the creative arts and design technology. As they advance through the academy, students begin to make choices about the subjects they study. Through high quality advice and guidance our students start to refine their subject choices in year 9 before beginning to study their GCSE subjects in year 10.
Outside the
classroom As well as striving for Academic excellence, we encourage our students to become involved in the wider life of the school. We want our students to experience the joy of playing in a sports’team , performing in a play or becoming a student leader. We offer a full range of extra-curricular clubs and activities from early in the morning until late after school. These clubs range from football to robotics and from gardening to debating! We also offer a full range of revision sessions during the holidays. There are also numerous trips during the school year, including residential ones in the UK and abroad.
Some of our recent trips have included visits to Germany, Iceland and Cumbria. Students also play an active role in shaping our Academy. There are opportunities to become a part of our student leadership team, year group councils or the learning commission. These all provide opportunities for students to develop their leadership skills and to grow in self-confidence.
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Harris Federation Our academy is run by the Harris Federation, a not-for-profit charity with nearly thirty years’ experience of running happy and successful primary and secondary schools in and around London. The Harris Federation has an exceptional track record with academic progress far greater than the national average. Every Harris academy so far inspected by Ofsted is rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ with the majority rated ‘outstanding’.
As well as joint working between the teachers at our academies, there are many shared experiences for our students. These include federation-wide sports days at the National Sports Centre; Harris Experience, a unique programme that readies our most able students for life at top universities; and inter-academy events such as one-to-one reading partnerships between our primary and secondary schools, World Maths Day and Debate Mate. You can follow the Harris Federation on Twitter: @HarrisFed.
The founder and Chairman of the Harris Federation is Lord Harris of Peckham. His vision of delivering happy and successful education is brought to life by an excellent team of teachers and leaders.
EACH YEAR FOR SPORTS DAY, THE HARRIS FEDERATION HIRES THE CRYSTAL PALACE SPORTS STADIUM. WITH THOUSANDS OF STUDENT AND STAFF SPECTATORS IN ATTENDANCE, HARRIS SCHOOLS COMPETE IN TEAM AND INDIVIDUAL SPORTS.
Apply for a place There are 180 places available in Year 7 every September and applications are made through the London Borough of Havering’s coordinated admissions process. If you are interested in a place, please consider attending one of our open events – the dates are on our website. We look forward to meeting as many of you as possible.
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Lord Harris of Peckham Harris Federation Founder and Chairman When I set up the Harris Federation, a not-for-profit charity, I did so because I wanted London’s children to have a better education than I was able to receive. I had no choice but to leave school when I was 15, to go to work to support my family after my father died. Although I am dyslexic,
it was never diagnosed when I was a child and I struggled in school to read and write. Fortunately I succeeded in business, but I could so easily have failed to do so. My family and I give our time and money to education because we believe in the lives of children and want their futures to be happy and successful. The Harris Federation is led and run by world-class teachers who share our vision. We have built our reputation on a family of schools that are setting new standards of excellence and fulfilling high expectations.
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Lambs Lane South, Rainham, Essex  RM13 9XD T: 01708 552811  Email: info@harrisrainham.org.uk www.harrisrainham.org.uk @HarrisRainham