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08/10/24

Year 10 drama students have all created wonderful homework based on Drama Practitioners we have been studying this half term. Here are a few excellent examples. pic.twitter.com/cS6fJ9k7p8

04/10/24

Three of our talented students have had their final Harris in Harmony rehearsal today ahead of next weeks performance! Can not wait to watch them. pic.twitter.com/lJDXHJYHGP

03/10/24

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01/10/24

Year 10 were lucky enough to experience a workshop by last Friday, in which they got to explore the use of movement and the written word. This will enable them to be more physical in future projects! Thanks hope to work with you again soon. pic.twitter.com/aQ7PGDjAdg

25/09/24

🚨 U16 Netball Rally 🚨 was due to take place on Monday 30th September. This has been postponed. Netball club will continue as normal after school on Monday.

23/09/24

HAOC is welcoming Yr 6 students into the academy for an Open Evening on Thursday 26th September from 5.00-7.00pm. We look forward to seeing you there! For full details and to BOOK YOUR PLACE click below. https://t.co/Ef6Ki9a8EO

19/09/24

Some of our sports leaders completing a blindfolded obstacle course to work on their communication and teamwork. pic.twitter.com/Rl9CRNLYPh

17/09/24

Exciting and positive start to Year 7 Performing Arts Enrichments today. pic.twitter.com/RpGXWEH9Pc

16/09/24

Excellent turn out for netball club tonight. pic.twitter.com/UK850o8QYn

16/09/24

🚨 ⚽️ Year 10 boys football training is CANCELLED tonight. Please see a member of the PE department if you have any questions. ⚽️ 🚨 All other clubs are going ahead as normal.

05/09/24

Please see the table for PE clubs this half term. Clubs will begin on Monday 9th September 3:30-4:30pm. If you have any questions please see a member of the PE department ⚽️🏐🏈 pic.twitter.com/MpdUYzNFzq

19/07/24

Moving onto our afternoon events. Who will be this years overall sports day winners?🏆 pic.twitter.com/GAi4ULATrE

19/07/24

Sports Day 2024 is underway 🏆 pic.twitter.com/H3u4tYMTMy

18/07/24

Year 8s having fun at Hever Castle 🏰 pic.twitter.com/7cTDO2Qbf9

18/07/24

Visiting Hever Castle and having an amazing time making memories! 🏰✨ pic.twitter.com/sG3g4tO6fh

17/07/24

Students presenting their sustainable hot sauce Dip ‘n Season at Drapers’ hall Enterprise Challenge. Sharon, Jasmine, Anais, Divine, Capprice 💪🎤🎯 pic.twitter.com/309SAXuSN5

17/07/24

Students preparing for the Enterprise challenge! From 20 teams, down to the final 4. Wishing our Harris Ockendon team best of luck tonight 🍀 pic.twitter.com/XNJtgHDUcF

17/07/24

Year 12s had a great time making memories at Chessington World of Adventures today 🎢🎡😎 pic.twitter.com/ezEhvFJYdY

17/07/24

Students having fun in the Natural History Museum 😎 pic.twitter.com/B8DPY5UpJ7

17/07/24

Feudal system? 🏰 Completed it already 👍 pic.twitter.com/2hJSPmfwIa

Harris Academies
All Academies in our Federation aim to transform the lives of the students they serve by bringing about rapid improvement in examination results, personal development and aspiration.

Central Office

Bexley

Bromley

Clapham

Croydon

Greenwich

Haringey

Havering

Merton

Newham

Southwark

Stratford

Sutton

Thurrock

Wandsworth

Westminster

Willesden

Guided Reading

Our vision is to foster a culture of reading across the school in which students read ambitious and diverse texts for pleasure, whilst gaining cultural capital.

Students will develop the habits that enable them to read with fluency and confidence throughout their academic journey and in later life.

Guided reading"The best moments in reading are when you come across something which you had
thought special and particular to you. Now here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone who is even perhaps a long time dead…. And it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours.”

                           The History Boys, Alan Bennett.

 

Vision and Philosophy

Here at HAOC, we believe that the embedded weekly practice of guided reading for thirty minutes, twice per week is essential in broadening vocabulary, enriching cultural capital and ultimately improving exam performance.

According to Renaissance UK’s biggest-ever literacy study of more than 1 million children across hundreds of schools from all different demographics, exam results improved massively where guided reading was routinely practiced.

Guided reading helps students develop greater control over the reading process through the development of reading strategies which assist in decoding meaning. The teacher guides or ‘scaffolds’ their students as they read, talk and think their way through a text, completing various small text directed, focused tasks such as sequencing, text completion, scanning, skimming and inferring. 

When readers have the opportunity to talk, think and read their way through a text, they build up self-confidence as well as their own systems in the future of decoding and ultimately enjoying reading. Quality literature is highly motivating to both students and teachers. Students prefer to learn with these texts and given the opportunity will choose these texts over traditional, ‘easy readers’.

Moreover, coupled with reading eclectic and ground-breaking books, the students will also experience a diverse range of short non-fiction texts throughout the year linked thematically to the novels. These are designed to help students comprehend more challenging texts through activating prior knowledge; understanding issues such as racism, religious extremism or PTSD before encountering them within a novel.

The Curriculum

During the autumn term our scholars begin the year reading a novel that will enrich their understanding of culture, identity and diversity; year 7 read The Bone Sparrow, year 8  The Edge and year 9, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.

Then students move on to a compelling, nail biting thriller in the spring term; year 7 read Wolves of Willoughby Chase, year 8 War of the Worlds, and year 9 the chilling and edgy horror novel Carrie.

Finally, the summer term sees them exploring prestigious, and much celebrated classic novels: year 7 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, year 8 Lord of the Flies and year 9 Brave New World.

Immersed with the novels are a range of non-fiction texts to support comprehension through the activation or prior learning. Among others, they will read a true account of a lynching in Mississippi, they will read about Russel Brand’s crippling drug addiction, the inhuman child slave labour of Victorian England, and Nando Parrado’s 2 and half months existing on a frozen mountain in Chile after a plane crash. They’ll read a stirring speech delivered to survivors of domestic abuse, they’ll learn of the terrible trolling and bullying of Little Mix’s Jessie Nelson, about the London 7/7 bombings  and the terrible tragedy that was Grenfell.

To find out more about our guided reading curriculum, please click HERE.