to ask about Harris Academies?

[alostpainting]

All the secondary schools around us are Harris Academies. They are ofsted 'good' or 'outstanding' but they don't seem to get very good exam results and they have a reputation for being very strict, big on discipline and punishment. Also, their architecture is really unfriendly - they look like prisons to me. I live in a liberal part of SE London. Why is this the only option? It seems to be the reason a lot of our friends are moving out of the city.

Am I wrong? (I hope I'm wrong)

What would you like to know?

They chew their staff up and spit them out, the majority don't last two years before being broken. Good exam results - they cheat, every year they are caught out with doctored BTECs or course work or SATS at primary level - just input 'Harris Academy cheating' into google. They also exclude those who will affect their exam results (Google Harris Academy disappearing children').

They are almost as bad a TKAT which is in the same areas, which OFSTED referred to as dysfunctional

oh jesus ... that's what I thought.
how can they get away with it? And how have they been allowed to carry on making new schools?

Money talks.

TKAT is even worse. You only have to do a pair comparison on the DofE site - just about every single school is failing. The Executive Head for the SE is still sweeping up schools.

Agree with the chewing staff up and spitting them out. I know a large number of teachers, and three have quit the profession after spending between half a term and one year in a Harris school, although all in different Harrises. Other teachers I know are avoiding applying, which is actually quite tricky as there are so many in SE London.