Our Vision & Values

Our motto - ‘to learn, to think, to act’ - enshrines a core tenet of our philosophy and that is that education in the classroom is only the beginning of a young person’s development and of education in general.

Learning can only come to fruition once it is assimilated and an individual is able to think for themselves. In turn, thought must lead to action and practical application.

A motto cannot just be a soundbite so those values and that ethos will apply to all we do and will be the foundation of the educational and extra-curricular opportunities offered to our students throughout the year.

Our students, boys and girls aged 11-19, deserve nothing less than an outstanding education and our aim is to make sure that our students of today are prepared for whatever challenges await them in the future. For that to happen, our staff must be experts in their field and must always encourage individuals to reach their potential. The curriculum is designed so that students, regardless of starting points, will thrive in an educational environment where the rigours and demands of the different subjects are embraced and taught in a supportive manner without compromising the academic challenges needed for success at all key stages.

We expect our students to be polite, mature, enthusiastic and demonstrate exemplary behaviour and they understand that we work together as a team. They also understand the role they play in the quality of the school and are as integral to our success as every member of staff.

Although our exam results speak for themselves, at both GCSE and Sixth Form, we never rest on previous success and each year we aim to improve the quality of everything we do here at Harris Academy Purley.

Our sporting, music, art and creative facilities are first class and after a difficult couple of years when many of our extra-curricular activities were necessarily curtailed, we are excited to once again offer a full programme of events and enrichment for all our students.

Statement of intent

The HAPU curriculum aims to develop reflective and resilient learners and will offer students a breadth of learning experiences with an emphasis on meaningful and deep engagement within the subjects. The curriculum is designed so that students, regardless of starting points, will thrive in an educational environment where the rigours and demands of the different subjects are embraced and taught in a supportive manner without compromising the academic challenges needed for success at all key stages. An emphasis on links with other subjects will help develop a student’s contextual and intertextual knowledge and understanding of the curriculum.

Our Strategic Intent:

Provide rich and varied contexts for students to acquire, develop and apply a broad range of knowledge, understanding and skills, to encourage a desire for lifelong learning
Achieve the best possible progress for all by encouraging each subject to select and sequence their content in a way that enables our students to master the vocabulary and knowledge of their subjects from the foundation stages and onwards
Enable all students to develop their creativity and talents to the full, including celebrating and being successful in learning a modern foreign language
Personalise our curriculum ensuring it is flexible and appropriate, preparing students for the world of work
Promote students' self-esteem, confidence, and mental and emotional well-being
Enable students to understand and model fundamental British values/SMSC in their everyday lives and as a global citizen
Ensure that no teaching or interaction with students promotes any particular political or preferred ideology.

The Key Values Underpinning Our Curriculum Intent:

Meaningful and deep engagement with subject content
Knowledge and vocabulary as the foundations for subject skills
Personal development supports academic development
Literacy and numeracy knowledge and skills are vital to personal and academic success.

These values will be achieved by:

Students being fully involved in their learning at all stages and by engaging with their teachers to assess and improve their knowledge, vocabulary and skills
Parents and carers being actively involved in working with the Academy to support their child's academic progress, through consistent and regular communication and full involvement in the advice and guidance process at all stages
Teachers being experts in their subjects, planning and delivering their curriculum in line with expectations, meeting the individual learning needs of their classes
Subject leaders ensuring high-quality and coherently sequenced schemes of learning and resources are in place to support lesson planning and delivery at all key stages
Senior leaders and governors leading the way in reviewing the curriculum and supporting everyone to experience an outstanding curriculum.

Strategic Intentions

To have high expectations of all students, regardless of ability, ensuring exceptional progress
To ensure high quality teaching and learning and encourage innovation and new ideas
To provide a secure, caring and supportive environment which sets the highest standards of behaviour and personal conduct
To celebrate diversity and difference in both students and staff
To provide high quality safeguarding provision
To provide high quality leadership and management throughout the school
To provide an excellent governing body which reflects the school’s diversity and offers support and challenge to the school.

Strategic Goals

To ensure all students make exceptional progress throughout the school, regardless of starting points and backgrounds
To deliver a challenging and creative curriculum which is inspiring, nurturing and appropriate for all students
To provide an outstanding Sixth Form curriculum which will equip students with the knowledge, skills and outcomes to be successful in higher education or the world of work
To provide world-class resources and facilities which prepare students for life in a technological society
To ensure that staff receive the highest quality CPD in a learning community which enables them to attain excellent standards of teaching and provides career paths for both teaching and non-teaching staff
To set high moral and ethical standards to ensure that all our students become responsible individuals at the Academy and within the community and to provide an environment which is free from bullying and in which students demonstrate impeccable behaviour inside and outside the classroom
To maintain an outstanding senior leadership team, ensuring effective succession planning and an outstanding governing body with the requisite skills to provide challenge and support and guide the direction of the Academy in collaboration with the senior team
To work in partnership with parents and carers to enable the students to develop into happy, motivated, well balanced and tolerant citizens
Action Plans: These are the detailed operational plans for the year ahead and are produced at Academy, Faculty and subject level.