Welcome to Harris Science Academy East London

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Welcome from the Principal and Executive Principal

Harris Science Academy East London is on a journey to rapidly becoming the highest performing school in Newham and one of the top schools in the UK. Every child is on a journey make a positive change in their community. As Executive Principal with a wealth of experience within the Federation, I am proud to be working with our community here at HSAEL. I know the team are truly committed to working with parents and students to build an excellent Academy, where all will achieve.

Dan MacPherson - Principal, Lisa Kattenhorn - Executive Principal

20 November 2024Over 100 students head for DoE Bronze and Silver AwardsWe are delighted to report that more than 100 HSAEL students have now enrolled onto DofE (Duke of Edinburgh) Bronze and Silver award scheme. Students from Years 9, 10 and 12 are taking part. Over half of our cohort has benefitted from the DofE funding for disadvantaged children and the award has become an integral part of our vision of Character Education. There are four main sections of a DofE Award: Physical, Skills, Volunteering and the Expedition section. “They are all very excited to get started!” says Mr Anderson*, who runs our DofE programme at HSAEL. “After completing 3-6 months of volunteering, a physical activity, and a new skill, in April, May and July 2025 our pupils will go on expedition in Epping Forest and the South Downs, learning essential navigation and campcraft skills while working in their small teams." The DofE Award scheme is a great way for students to build confidence, gain essential skills and attributes for work and life such as resilience, team-working, communication and drive, enhancing CVs and university and job applications. Congratulations and the best of luck to all our students over the coming months. Well done also to Mr Anderson, who is also Head of Classics, organiser of our after-school running club and staff and student London Marathon team.

30 October 2023HSAEL in top 3% of most improved schoolsThe release of school and college comparison data in October has confirmed Harris Science Academy’s place as one of the most improved academies in the UK. Thanks to support from the Harris Federation, the commitment of families and the hard work of Academy staff, in just one year there was an improvement in GCSE results by an average of more than half a grade. This is an exceptional achievement. Nationally, this places Harris Science Academy 121st for improvement out of the nearly 3500 schools where comparisons can be made. This is in the top 3% of schools for improvement. In London, Harris Science Academy was the 17th most improved school in the city and the 4th most improved school in East London. The Academy is moving quickly to provide every child with the education that will give them the knowledge and skills to become a leader in their chosen field and the current Year 11 and Year 13 are well placed to maintain and accelerate the pace of improvement. It is an exciting time to be part of Harris Science Academy East London. Principal, Dan MacPherson, says, “I am incredibly proud of the work that is going on at HSAEL to move us forward. Our students are amongst the best in London and I am so pleased to be working to ensure they receive a phenomenal education.”

24 August 2023Harris Science Academy East London Celebrates GCSE SuccessJust two years after opening, Harris Science Academy East London is celebrating a set of results likely to place it among the most improved schools in England, with a quarter of GCSEs awarded a top grade 8 or 9 – twice the national rate. Students from the most economically disadvantaged backgrounds did better than all students nationally with the ‘disadvantage gap’ removed from the academy. Special congratulations are due to the large group of students who are collecting some of the best results in the country today – all with straight 7-9s, which are equivalent to A and A*s in the old system: Ahnaf: nine grade 9s, three grade 8s, and an A in Additional Maths Daania: Eight grade 9s and an 8 Binta: Nine grade 9s and an 8 Jawad: Seven grade 9s, an 8 and two 7s Defne: Seven grade 9s, two grade 8s and a 7 Mahabi: Six grade 9s, two grade 8s and three 7s Aamna: Six grade 9s, two grade 8s and two 7s Anaand: Five grade 9s, three grade 8s and two 7s Dillon: Four grade 9s, three grade 8s and three 7s Principal, Dan MacPherson, said: “I am incredibly proud of these results, which are the product of huge grit, resilience, and determination. So many of our students have secured the top grades and demonstrated what can happen when you have hardworking students, excellent teaching and high-quality character development. “A number of our students faced really significant adversity over the past two years, including bereavement and homelessness, yet still found the courage to face their GCSEs head on and score incredible grades. They are an example to us all. Our Year 11 students are well-placed to go and be leaders in their chosen field, something we will continue to nurture in our sixth form, and I could not be happier for them.”

20 November 2024@@HarrisSAEL“They are all very excited to get started! After completing 3-6 months of volunteering, a physical activity, and a new skill, in 2025 our pupils will go on expedition in Epping Forest and the South Downs, learning essential navigation and campcraft skills."

20 November 2024@@HarrisSAELWe are delighted to report that more than 100 HSAEL students have now enrolled onto @DofE Bronze and Silver award scheme. Students from Years 9, 10 and 12 are taking part. Find out more on our website. https://t.co/049wcOiauG pic.twitter.com/Crqv4tpp22

18 November 2024@@HarrisSAELThis week's Community Bulletin is now available on our website. https://t.co/NHsqfD6JLM pic.twitter.com/C0U3t3Wos9

11 November 2024@@HarrisSAELThis week's Community Bulletin is now available on our website. Please see the link below. https://t.co/Xw40GqupGL pic.twitter.com/EvKrlL8PfW

1 November 2024@@HarrisSAELSixth Form Open Evening Out of over 260 applicants last year, only 80 students got a place in HSAEL Sixth Form, if you are interested in a bespoke, human-scale Sixth Form experience, then come to the Open Evening to meet our students and staff. https://t.co/Mm9HKy6CA2 pic.twitter.com/jRq31y2EsB

30 October 2024@@HarrisSAELSixth Form Open EveningOut of over 260 applicants last year, only 80 students got a place in HSAEL Sixth Form, if you are interested in a bespoke, human-scale Sixth Form experience, then come to the Open Evening to meet our students and staff.https://t.co/Mm9HKy6CA2 pic.twitter.com/OAytkTDYpi

23 October 2024@@HarrisSAELpic.twitter.com/MpFFL7jLpY

21 October 2024@@HarrisSAELOur latest Community Weekly Bulletin is out now.https://t.co/6cCECbEXqV

14 October 2024@@HarrisSAELOur latest Weekly Community Bulletin is out now. https://t.co/YDb91DMstk pic.twitter.com/8TGlirhWSO

8 October 2024@@HarrisSAEL'Two pairs of eyes are better than one. Normalising coaching feedback at our academy.' The latest in our series of Teaching & Learning blogs.https://t.co/6wCrkPxykD pic.twitter.com/GQY6xRuOu3

8 October 2024Two pairs of eyes are better than oneNormalising coaching feedback at our academy The principle of having ‘another pair of eyes’ is deployed in many high stakes situations. Pilots fly in pairs using ‘the four eyes principle’ so two experts can agree on the best course of action for an aircraft before it takes place. Before the handing in of a Masters dissertation, another pair of eyes proof reads the work to provide a fresh outlook and correct any spelling mistakes that have become normalised to the writer by the sheer exposure to the project. In medicine, ‘two pairs of eyes’ in the form of the surgeon and their assistant has emerged as conventional in the 21st century as a crucial quality control method. In education, however, and specifically in the classroom, this concept is not practised or viewed as commonplace. A teacher would often only have a second pair of eyes in the room during their termly Performance Management observation. The extra pair of eyes, if not received regularly in a classroom, is then viewed as an intrusion; someone checking up on you, criticising, interfering and judging. Don’t they know you’ve just taught a five-period day that included 8L and 9M? At HSAEL, we are proud of our open-door policy which works two ways. The first, teachers should regularly observe other colleagues to learn from best practise. Secondly, teachers should regularly receive feedback on their practice because (to quote Dylan William) ‘every teacher can improve not because they are not good enough but because they can be even better’. Whilst we began making strides providing our teacher colleagues with regular actionable feedback last year, our initiative never became as embedded as we had hoped. As a staff body, we talked about the difference between being nice and being kind to one another; we talked about what we would want our colleague to do if we had metaphorical spinach stuck in our teeth. We looked at case studies of successful, high functioning organisations such as Netflix and Google which pride themselves on giving and receiving high quality, actionable feedback. We talked about being courageously compassionate to one another. Whilst everybody agreed in CPD that dropping regular coaching steps was the right thing to be doing to propel our school forward, we struggled to embed the initiative long term. So, as we came back to school in September, we set ourselves a challenge to normalise the concept of another pair of eyes in our classroom- 500 coaching steps by Monday 30th September with the additional incentive of a Clock Mill versus Lock Keepers showdown, our two sites battling it out via the Microsoft Forms Coaching Form of who could drop the most steps before the end of the month. Every member of staff contributed from the Senior Leadership team down to the new Teach Firsters, a key lever in this normalisation. Anyone can be the second pair of eyes as there will always be something in the classroom you haven’t seen that another teacher can. To further normalise this concept, live coaching took place too. That meant pointing out to a teacher the area of their classroom where low expectations had become normalised over the course of the lesson; not because the teacher was doing a bad job but because two pairs of eyes in the classroom was better than one. From waving to the teacher at the back of the classroom and pointing at a mini-whiteboard you had used to write “Issue more positive points to Haleemah” or “Give Pavan a second warning” to prompting the teacher there and then to reset their room with language like “Sir this lesson is looking really wonderful and focussed by I think we could make it even better by making sure everyone is sat up proudly like a leader”. Our teachers genuinely welcomed the intervention. Rather than waiting until the end of the lesson to open their inbox and find the coaching form ready for them to reflect and consider for the next lesson, the live support uplifted their classroom culture there and then. It modelled the exact language required to initiate the change in behaviour required from the students. It left them feeling like someone had their back because they had spotted a way to help them and make their lesson even better. It was the opposite of intruding, of meddling or patronising. It showed that, as colleagues we are on the same team. When I am not teaching, I am here to help and support you and vice versa. We hit 520 coaching steps just after 30th September. The Lock Keeper’s victory will be celebrated by a Domino’s pizza order during Monday’s CPD during the Book Look to reward our teachers with the reminder that two pairs of eyes are always better than one.

27 September 2024@@HarrisSAELOur sixth form was three times oversubscribed last year, thanks to a huge improvement in results. Outcomes up by over a grade and %A*-C up by a huge 25%. Apply early to secure your place for 2025.https://t.co/3WIEJKjMCr pic.twitter.com/CQBKKEAGgb

25 September 2024@@HarrisSAELOur sixth form was three times oversubscribed last year, thanks to a huge improvement in results. Outcomes up by over a grade and %A*-C up by a huge 25%. Apply early to secure your place for 2025.https://t.co/3WIEJKjeMT pic.twitter.com/0wysegrwWV

25 September 2024@@HarrisSAELpic.twitter.com/kVMgrTN1hQ

23 September 2024@@HarrisSAELOur latest weekly Community Bulletin is now available on our website. https://t.co/YJ6WMAc8o3