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Harris Academy Orpington: Ofsted 2023

We are pleased to share the outcome of our recent Ofsted inspection. Having looked carefully at all aspects of Harris Academy Orpington, the inspectors have upgraded our rating to Good with two areas (Personal Development and Sixth Form Provision) judged Outstanding. This is a very positive judgement and reflects the huge amount of progress underway at the school.

Inspectors were impressed with a number of areas of our school particularly the breadth of our curriculum and extracurricular programme, our focus on reading and student behaviour. We were very proud of the way our students conducted themselves during the visit and how courteous and polite they were to the inspectors.

Your can read the full report here.

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Below are some highlights:

On our High Expectations:

· Leaders have established a culture that embodies the school’s motto, ‘Together we can’.

· Leaders have high expectations of what pupils can achieve.

On our Well-Designed Curriculum:

· Leaders have constructed a curriculum that is ambitious for all.

· Teachers have strong subject knowledge and present information clearly.

· Leaders place a high priority on reading.

On our Welcoming, Inclusive, and Safe community:

· Pupils are safe, happy and well cared for by staff.

· Pupils develop a strong sense of community.

· Staff know pupils extremely well and as a result they are safe and happy.

· Leaders encourage pupils to respect people from different backgrounds and to challenge stereotypes.

· Leaders have developed an extremely strong culture of safeguarding in the school.

On our Students’ Personal Development:

· Leaders have developed an exceptionally high-quality personal development programme, including in the sixth form.

On our Broad Extra-Curricular Programme:

· Pupils have access to an exceptionally large range of wider opportunities which most pupils take part in.

On our Outstanding Sixth Form:

· In the sixth form, leaders provide students with excellent academic and pastoral support.

· Teachers ensure students in sixth form develop their knowledge and understanding very well.

· In sixth form, students produce work of a consistently high quality.

· Teachers support students in the sixth form extremely well to make choices about their future education and employment.

· Leaders make sure that students receive personal mentoring to help with applications to university courses.