Harris Academy Bermondsey - Prospectus 2023

UNCOMPROMISING YET CARING

Welcome to Harris Academy

Bermondsey, an exceptional girls’ school in the heart of London.

At HAB, we are passionate about the success of each girl in our care. We are uncompromising in our hight expectations yet take the care to ensure every opportunity is taken to succeed. It is of the utmost importance to us that we identify and nurture each girl’s individual talents. Our teachers are permanent, well-qualified and passionate subject specialists, while the support staff is a team of exceptionally skilled professionals.

HAB is a happy and safe school in which each girl is helped to flourish so that she can fulfil our aim of all girls ‘Conquering the City’ by discovering and achieving her ambitions. There are no barriers that they cannot overcome and we nurture an attitude of empowerment and resilience.

HAB is a harmonious learning community, and the girls are eager learners who are keen to do their best. Exceptional continuous professional development for our staff ensures that we maintain our status as leaders of learning. They are committed to ensuring that every girl can be her best. As a result, the academy continues to achieve amongst the very best schools. It is no wonder that we are #ProudToBeHAB.

Any prospectus can only give you a flavour of life at a school as rich and vibrant as HAB, so we strongly encourage you to visit us and see for yourself. In the meantime, a good way to get a feeling for daily HAB life is to follow our various Twitter feeds, starting with @HABermondsey.

We look forward to welcoming you to our academy.

Gizlé Landman, Principal

HAB girls go on to university, training or employment.

500+

HAB girls have a weekly oneto-one mentoring session with a business or university role model.

300+

HAB girls have the opportunity to receive free weekly private tuition from professional musicians and vocalists.

“Staff are committed to making sure that every student has the opportunity to do their best.”

“Students are spirited, energetic, courteous and well mannered. They are also very caring and supportive towards each other.”

Our Values

Supporting our focus on being uncompromising yet caring, is ensuring that our key values are upheld by all members of the HAB community:

Ambition

To be the best we can possibly be in all that we do Compassion

To demonstrate genuine care towards all Respect

To respect ourselves, each other and our environment

Outstanding Teaching

HAB girls benefit from a dedicated team of exceptionally well-qualified permanent teachers...

...who use the very best approaches in their teaching so that girls can master their subjects, love learning and achieve excellent outcomes.

From her first day with us, each HAB girl is prepared for success with personalised teaching that forms a firm foundation of knowledge and skills across a broad range of subjects, enrichment activities and educational visits.

HAB teachers plan their lessons carefully with each girl’s strengths and areas for improvement in mind. Diaries are used for detailed dialogue about learning between teachers, girls and parents or carers. Our outstanding special needs, literacy and numeracy teams also work with any girl who needs their expert support, whether it be in class, in small groups or one-to-one.

For GCSE, each girl follows the English Baccalaureate (English, Mathematics, Sciences, History or Geography, Spanish or French), as well as at least one creative subject, Physical Education and Religious Studies.

Our HAB6 Sixth Form prepares girls for university, training or employment, in partnership with top city firms and higher education institutions.

All this takes place in a smart and welcoming learning environment. HAB girls’ learning is supported by generous and high-quality resources in every subject, as well as world class specialist facilities. These include university standard science laboratories and a 240-seat professional theatre.

“Teachers use questions skilfully to challenge students’ thinking and to extend their learning.”

Why is HAB for girls only?

We are often asked this question, especially by HAB parents who want their sons to have as good an education as their daughters!

By most measures, girls in England outperform boys in GCSEs and A-levels, whatever type of school they attend. Crucially, though, girls in girls’ schools achieve better examination results than girls at mixed schools.

In addition to better results, universities and employers consider girls from girls’ schools to offer superior leadership skill, to be more resilient and risk taking and to have greater ambition.

At HAB, we certainly know that this is true of our girls. As a parent, you will be giving your daughter the best possible opportunities by sending her to our excellent girls’ school.

“Students’ personal development and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development are excellent. This gives them the confidence to thrive academically.”

Outstanding Behaviour

HAB girls know our rules and abide by them. We expect every girl to be on time, dressed correctly and prepared to work hard, always following staff instructions. Our girls always want to live up to these expectations, but on the rare occasion that one of them fails to do so, she knows that there will be clear consequences, followed by support to learn from the experience.

We offer outstanding care and guidance for every one of our girls. Throughout her time at HAB, we guarantee that every girl will be known by her teachers, support staff and the school’s senior leaders, including the Principal. We also guarantee to every parent or carer that we will work closely with them to raise their daughter successfully, sharing the joys and challenges of this with honesty and integrity.

Key to our success is cultivating good HABits, so that all girls work hard in a happy and safe learning environment, with firm but fair discipline.

“Significant emphasis is placed on supporting students’ personal development. This provides them with the confidence to thrive academically.”

Outstanding Opportunities

HAB Enrichment

“The

HAB girls take up these opportunities and participate in clubs and societies before and after lessons each day. These include the Duke of Edinburgh Award, trampolining, rowing, football, netball, basketball, tennis, archery, cheerleading, coding, dance, orchestra, chess, choir, debating, creative writing, journalism, song writing, textiles, art, HAB Feminist Society, Model UN, Mandarin, robotics, archaeology and engineering. Our daily Homework Club provides the opportunity for girls to get help with their independent work either before school from 8am or after school until 4.45pm.

We believe that learning outside the classroom can be just as valuable as what takes place inside it. With our central London location, there are many opportunities for girls to visit the city’s best theatres, museums and other attractions. We also make good use of how close we are to major transport hubs. Recent visits have included auctioneering at Christie’s Auction House, hiking and camping in the Lake District and research at the CERN large hadron collider in Switzerland. Many of our GCSE and A-level courses include residential field trips, such as Skiing in Italy. Every girl visits at least one university in London and one elsewhere in the UK during her time at HAB.

HAB girls make the most of an unrivalled range of opportunities every day.

curriculum caters exceptionally well for students’ personal needs and for their academic progress.”

HAB Music

We know the value of the discipline and creativity that comes with learning a musical instrument. That is why every girl who wants it is entitled to free private instrumental or voice tuition throughout her time at HAB. This includes the loan of instruments for practice at home. Hundreds of girls take up this opportunity, with many of them passing ABRSM exams and performing in HAB concerts.

HAB Mentoring

Girls benefit from one-to-one mentoring and subject tuition with one of the hundreds of business people and university students who volunteer at HAB. We are fortunate to be located close to the major international law and consultancy firms of London Bridge and the City of London. Many of our mentors are senior executives from these firms, as well as high profile individuals from the worlds of journalism and finance. Appointments with them take place every day, from well before lessons begin until long after they end.

This individual mentoring support is invaluable. It plays a significant role in enabling girls to attain the highest standards in examinations, provides guidance on progression to university and inspires them to be ambitious in their career choices. The subject tuition is of a quality for which parents of children at other schools have to pay.

What our HAB family say about our academy:

“I would like to thank staff for persistent approach in encouraging my daughter to do work.”

PARENT

PARENT

PARENT

STUDENT

“I am grateful for the patience and kindness of staff. I am really impressed with the level of communication maintained between staff and students.”

“You will make friends really quickly – just smile and start talking to other pupils.”

“I would like to thank all staff for their unwavering support. The school is a blessing in the lives of young women in Bermondsey.”

Part of the successful Harris Federation

The Harris Federation is a not-for-profit charity with 52 academies in London and Essex. 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.

The Federation regularly tops academic studies and national league tables measuring progress and performance. Almost all Harris secondary academies are judged ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted.

Harris secondary academies are known for combining traditional standards of manners, discipline and uniform with the best of modern teaching and technology. There are around four applications from parents for every place available.

We send many of our sixth formers to Oxford, Cambridge and other Russell Group universities – winning places on these prestigious courses at a rate of more than twice the national average – as well as top apprenticeships and competitive vocational courses. We are immensely proud of the role that our alumni are now beginning to play in the world and of what we believe our current generation of pupils will go on to achieve.

In addition to running schools, the Harris Federation provides high quality training and professional development for teachers throughout this part of England.

Follow @HarrisFed on Twitter to stay updated.

From the Chief Executive

The Harris Federation is a London charity with nearly thirty years’ experience in education. Our Academies combine the traditional values of good manners, strong discipline and smart uniform with the best of modern teaching and technology.

Harris Academy Bermondsey has established itself as a highly enterprising and very successful member of our group. Working closely together in and around London, our Academies are able to offer a far broader range of opportunities, far better training and professional development for staff and real success for our students.

What makes this Academy so successful? Students who enjoy learning and look forward to coming to school each day; teachers and support staff who are genuinely ambitious for every student; a senior leadership team that consistently sets standards of excellence.

If your daughter wants to come to an Academy with drive and ambition, then I hope you will attend one of its open events to find out more.

From the Sponsor

As an employer and a father I strongly believe that a good education is the best start in life that you can give a child. Harris Academy Bermondsey promotes hard work, curiosity of mind, integrity and ambition. It works tirelessly, in partnership with the other Harris Academies, to ensure the greatest success for every child, regardless of their ability or aptitude.

I hope you will come along to our various Open Day or Evening Events to see for yourself the difference the Academy is making.

Lord Harris of Peckham

Sir Daniel Moynihan Ed.D, M.A., B.Sc. (Econ) Chief Executive of the Harris Federation