Harris City Academy Crystal Palace

[EduCativ]

Harris City Academy Crystal Palace is a very special school, which this academic year celebrates its 25th Anniversary. As well as our national achievements, including our third consecutive Outstanding Ofsted (2014), we pride ourselves on the educational experience we give our students. Harris City Academy Crystal Palace has an enviable reputation for academic success and each summer we celebrate impressive examination results both at GCSE and A-Level. Our success is down to the hard work of our students, our excellent teachers, a broad and varied academic curriculum, and an educational environment emphasizing the traditional standards of uniform, discipline, and respect.

Learning not only happens in the classroom the Academy has a rich and extensive extra curriculum offer to support our learners and prepare them for life as balanced, happy individuals. We have a wide range of hugely successful enrichment opportunities available including sports - the Academy competes at both local and national level, extensive arts clubs, and a wide range of other activities such as our award-winning debating society.

Students are actively encouraged to make choices, knowing that they are in a safe and supportive environment. We educate and provide boundaries for students to make choices safely, through the provision of a safe environment and empowering education. Students are encouraged to know, understand and exercise their rights and personal freedoms and advised how to exercise these safely, for example through our e-Safety and tutorial sessions. Whether it be through choice of learning challenge, of how they record, or participation in our extra-curricular clubs and opportunities, our students are given the freedom to make choices.

Harris City Academy Crystal Palace is situated in an area that is culturally diverse and our Academy community reflects this diversity. We place a considerable emphasis on promoting diversity within the student and staff body. Our Religion & Philosophy lessons, Thematic Days, assemblies, and tutor time sessions reinforce this. Members of different faiths or religions are encouraged to share their knowledge to enhance learning within classes, just as our students and staff can share their cultural heritage and experiences.

Harris City Academy Crystal Palace provides an exciting, personalized learning curriculum, which supports and challenges all of our students and is at the heart of our teaching and learning philosophy. We ensure that all teaching and support staff have access to the highest quality training programs to provide the most innovative and cutting-edge learning opportunities for every student.

At Harris City Academy Crystal Palace we provide an extensive program of support, challenge, and intervention for our most able students. Students are assessed and identified at the beginning of each academic year, and the register of most able, gifted, and talented students is regularly reviewed and updated. Most able students benefit from extensive differentiation, our enrichment program of trips and extra-curricular clubs, and regular focussed pastoral support aimed at ensuring that able students are happy and achieve their maximum potential at all stages. Exceptional students benefit from personalized education plans and regular target-setting meetings with staff.

The Academy aims to:

• Meet the needs and aspirations of all students.
• Ensure all students can successfully access the curriculum offer, making any reasonable adjustments required where particular needs are identified.
• Recognize high-achieving students and ensure they are given opportunities to stretch and challenge their learning.
• Plan opportunities for students to develop their potential.
• Establish an agreed range of policies and practices to guarantee a consistent approach towards learning and teaching in every classroom.
• Involve all staff in developing and improving the quality of learning and teaching.
• Provide all staff with developmental opportunities to extend and enhance their range of teaching and repertoires.
• Develop staff to deliver skills beyond their subject specialism and incorporate cross-curricular initiatives.
• Identify students’ achievements and areas for improvement, through rigorous monitoring of progress and plan appropriate interventions to enhance learning.

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