Harris Academy Clapham

The new school opened in the peculiar circumstances of COVID-19 pandemic. The building had been designed to accommodate a 7 form entry, 11-16 free school. It was always intended that in the first year, just the year 7s would be on site in September 2020, and the school would fill up behind them in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. It was designed by the architects, Stride Treglown. The academy shares a plot with Glenbrook Primary School which had recently been rebuilt by the same architects. The available external area is limited; a key driver was a need to maximise outdoor play area. In order to do this the footprint of the building is as compact as possible. The result is that the school is 5 storeys tall. The sports hall is elevated to the second floor on columns, which provides a large covered external play area for the school to use as well as reducing the ground floor footprint. Traditional internal adjacencies were rethought, leading to ground floor elements being placed on upper floors. The external finishes were chosen to blend with those at Glenbrook Primary School, the main building is brickwork with feature detailing between window panels, and bright coloured columns supporting the sports hall.[4]

The school curriculum has been designed and published, and it has been trailed that the school will teach Spanish and Chinese to all of Key Stage 3.[5] Theory speaks of five views: the intended curriculum as published here, the enacted curriculum being the one that the teachers teach, the assessed curriculum- beloved by the GCSE boards, the learned curriculum being the parts that are remembered in later life. The fifth view being the hidden curriculum, values and views being accidentally transmitted.[6] The Harris Academys value depth before breadth, that knowledge and vocabulary come first, enabling skills to develop. Personal development supports academic development and literacy and numeracy knowledge and skills are vital to personal and academic succes.They insist that their students consolidate their learning at after school co-curricula events which they provide each evening. [7] Virtually all maintained schools and academies follow the National Curriculum, and are inspected by Ofsted on how well they succeed in delivering a 'broad and balanced curriculum'.[8] Schools endeavour to get all students to achieve the English Baccalaureate(EBACC) qualification- this must include core subjects a modern or ancient foreign language, and either History or Geography.[7]

A sixth form college is to be built by the Harris Federation on the site of the former Territorial Army site in 73 Kings Avenue.[9]

The site is tight, and there was opposition from residents about the mass of the building and the lack of outdoor space. According to the planning statement: “The building will accommodate some 600 sixth form students aged 16+ in Years 12 and 13, with some 70 teaching and other staff; in the first year of operation it is anticipated there will be 300 students in Year 12 and 50 staff. It will be 3, and in parts 4 storey, with a footprint of 6,027m².[9]

• Official website