Harris Boys East Dulwich

[cakeismyfriend]

Does anyone know anything about this school? A friend is thinking of sending her son there. She said the building and facilities are great, but they don't have any GCSE results yet (only 3 years old).
Thanks

I have heard from a friend with a son there ,and also read elsewhere that the school is exceptionally strict .
5 mins late for school earns an hours detention that night ,first offence .
Atmosphere is sort of " well all the pupils are a step away from being gang members and we have to be like this ".
It's not an approach that I like but others may welcome it .

What did this school ued to be called before it was a Harris Academy?

tbh I think all the new schools and 'turned around' schools have adopted a v strict discipline approach, to keep behaviour in check before things get out of hand in in pursuit of a strong academic work ethic. Our local comp has very strict 'no strikes and you're out' approach to detentions for any uniform, punctuality, language, shouting, running, phone rule infringements. Believeing all children to be potential gang members is a bit of a dodgy ethos, though!

Years ago it was Friern Rd Girls School but it was an empty building for many years before new existing school built on ( tiny ) site .
So it's a new school ,not one of the "turned round ones ".
Thank heavens otherwise we'd have to endure even more rhetoric and hype - it would be " before there were gangs roaming the corridors " .

The very polite and neat young men I see at bus stops in Lordship Lane, then. I wondered where their school was.
The demonisation and stereotyping of youth en masse in S London is apalling, IMO.

My friend's DS is in Y7 there. They weren't too thrilled when he was offered a place as they were hoping for Kingsdale or Forest Hill, but they have been really pleased with his time there so far. The facilities are great, the class sizes relatively small, and for more able children there's a great deal of opportunity for stretching and enrichment.

My friend's DS is in year 8 there. It was their third choice school and they were just moving into the new school buildings so initially they were a bit sceptical about how it would be. He has been doing very well there and my friend says they are very happy with the school.

Harris Boys East Dulwich has just been judged outstanding by OfSted so although there are not GCSE results to go by it's very encouraging.

My DS is in Y7 at Harris Boys' and I am more than happy with how he has settled in to Secondary School life.
He used to be so disorganised and forgetful, that I worried he would be in detentions everyday!
However this has not proved to be the case. I am very pleased with his progress.

Some may consider some of the sanctions as harsh but this is not because the pupils are viewed as " a step away from being gang members" but because the Principal believes in teaching ALL children 'old fashioned' morals and values.
I have no problem with this, especially as I have also witnessed an extremely caring atmosphere from the teachers within the school.

I see no harm in a school attaching great importance to punctuality, appearance, good manners etc along side children progressing academically.

As mentioned above by Tattymum, in their first full inspection OFSTED have judged the school as 'outstanding'