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Posted on November 14th 2016
Schools Minister Praises Harris Federation Success
Schools minister Nick Gibb MP praised the Harris Federation in his recent speech at the Freedom and Autonomy for Schools - National Association (FASNA) autumn conference.
The schools minister spoke about the ability of successful academies to “consolidate their success and spread excellence across the country”, citing the Harris Federation as an example of this:
Take Harris Academy Battersea with a provisional Progress 8 score of 1.15, one of just 7 schools to achieve that level of progress for its pupils. This school is providing life-changing education to its pupils. But the pupils of Harris Academy Battersea are not the only beneficiaries. Other schools that are members of the Harris Federation are also benefiting from sharing resources and expertise with this leading school.
He also spoke about tapping into “the knowledge and expertise of this country’s world leading universities and independent schools”, using Harris Westminster Sixth Form’s Oxbridge success to demonstrate what can be achieved:
The Harris Federation, in collaboration with Westminster School, set up the Harris Westminster Sixth Form. Earlier this year, the school announced it sent 7 pupils to Oxbridge. We want to see more examples of this sort of partnership.
He commended the Harris track record and the interconnected structure of the Federation:
Sir Daniel Moynihan and the Harris Federation team are rightly proud of the record of having only received ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ Ofsted judgements in their academies. This is testament to the hard work of the teachers and headteachers in those schools, and it is also evidence of the power of schools sharing what works. Schools adopted into the Harris Federation are provided with curricula and school systems that have been proven to work.
You can read the full speech here.
