About Harris
Working here, you are guaranteed to do purposeful work. You'll be proud of how you are helping to change lives, and you will have real-world impact.
A message from our Chief Executive
We see Harris as a system disrupter – whose purpose is to make life fairer for children in and around London. Our focus is to take on the most challenging schools and turn them into exceptional places of learning where everyone – staff and students – thrives.
The secret of our success is that every Harris academy is different; every school has its own culture and ethos nurtured by its leadership team to suit the local community and context. However, all Harris academies are united by a determination to constantly improve and to quickly identify and share what works to ensure that every pupil is successful regardless of their background.
If you would like to learn more about what a career at Harris can offer you, or you would like to tour one of our academies, we warmly welcome you to get in touch.
Sir Dan Moynihan
Our vision and values
Our vision
Our young people and communities are at the heart of everything we do.
Our core mission has always been to close the educational gap between young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers. Our ambition is one where every child in London, no matter their background, has equal access to high quality education, giving them the same opportunities and potential to succeed.
We know there are many challenges facing our young people and the communities we serve, and that’s why we need determined people like you to help us tackle those inequalities.
Our values
Whilst each of our academies is encouraged to develop their own unique cultures; as a whole Federation, we have four core values which are central to successfully achieving our vision:
- We are agents for social mobility and equality
- We work at pace and are creative and decisive in achieving rapid change
- We collaborate purposefully for continuous improvement
- We provide high challenge and high support for excellence
We established our first academy over 30 years ago, and now have 55 schools, educating over 40,000 young people across London and Essex. We employ 5,000 staff across our academies and head office, all committed to making a difference for our young people and communities.
What sets us apart
We are the leading large multi-academy trust in the country.
Our focus is on rapid school improvement and transforming education for some of the most disadvantaged young people across London.
We have 55 academies, educating over 44,000 students. We are a Federation rather than a chain, and the autonomy of our Principals, and their individual schools is at the heart of our success.
We are led by people who have extensive experience working in education and who know exactly what it is like to be at the forefront of teaching.
With the majority of our academies located in areas of high socioeconomic disadvantage, a high-quality education is key to the futures of the pupils we serve.
Academies across the Federation continuously deliver exceptional outcomes for our students, with 21% of our academies ranked in the top 10% of schools in England for pupil progress (and 62% ranked in the top 25%). Many achieved even higher, with several placing in the top 5% and a notable few in the top 2% nationally.
For disadvantaged students, the results are even more impressive, with 83% of academies in the top 25% and over half in the top 15%. One Harris academy was ranked in the top 1% nationally for progress among disadvantaged pupils.
These achievements reflect our unwavering commitment to closing the attainment gap and supporting every student to reach their full potential.
Unlike other large multi-academy trusts, we are committed to transforming schools in London and the surrounding areas. Our focus is on the most challenging schools in London and turning them into places where every young person has access to a high-quality education.
Education can transform a child’s life chances, breaking the link between their economic background and the opportunities and careers they can access.
In London, there are 700,000 children living in poverty, with local authorities in the capital accounting for 11 of the worst 25 for child poverty . 1 in 6 young people are eligible for free school meals, and there are 15,000 looked-after children.
Our work focuses on social mobility as we change the lives of young people and their communities across London.
Centralised support
From the start, our aim has been to provide the structure and services needed for our schools to amount to more than the sum of their parts. We want our teachers and leaders to focus on the most important thing: the outstanding education of all our students.
Having a central team takes away much of the administrative burden from our academy colleagues, and thanks to economies of scale, saves academies money, all of which goes back into the education of our young people.
We also have 80+ subject specialist, highly-skilled teachers, known as our 'Consultant Team'. Their job is to create curriculum excellence in every subject. Our schools are able to access their full support to ensure the most effective curriculum intent, implementation, and impact.
The fact is, if you are from a poor family, if you are black, or you are white working class in Britain - your background, not your ability, too often heavily influences how far you can go in life. And so our purpose, the reason Harris exists, is to ensure that the types of children who far too often get a raw deal can achieve their potential.
Sir Dan Moynihan, Chief Executive
Diversity and inclusion
We want the Harris Federation to be a great place to work and an organisation that we all have pride in, where every member of our community feels valued, safe, and included.
Our work will impact many generations to come, and our staff come from all backgrounds and walks of life, coming together to inspire young minds. We promote an inclusive culture that embraces the valuable and enriching contribution that all of our community make. We continue to be proactive in uplifting and supporting all voices at Harris.