Harris Boys’ Academy, East Dulwich

‘My teachers are fantastic and have made learning fun and interactive.’ Junad aged 12.

The Harris Boys’ Academy East Dulwich is a brand new school which opened for the first time in September 2009 with 150 year 7 boys; currently, it is in a temporary location at Langbourne Primary School. The reason being, because the school’s building is currently being constructed near Peckham Rye Park, and is not due to open until September 2010.

The building was designed by award winning architects (GallifordTry, Mouchel and Cundall) to be a “pavilion in the park” (Peckham Rye Park); the building will also be environmentally smart and sustainable.

Staff at Harris Boys’ Academy strongly believe that children learn best when they feel stretched, nurtured and engaged. Thus Harris Boys’ Academy promotes hard work, integrity and good manners, whilst encouraging a spirit of fun and adventure. The school’s aim and expectation is for students to be equipped to reach their personal best and become responsible young citizens.

My younger brother Junad attends Harris Boys’ Academy; it is a joy for him to be part of the school. The school values and promotes good behaviour among all students and I have observed this myself whilst visiting the school; I somewhat felt that Harris Boys’ Academy’s culture and ethos is similar to a private school, since the school combines the traditional values of discipline, respect and good behaviour, but they also provide the best practice in teaching, learning and technology. The teachers take their time to get to know and understand each boy and they always work to inspire the best in all students. Harris Boys’ Academy’s environment is safe, inclusive and welcoming, but best of all there is a culture of mutual respect between students and staff and a zero tolerance of bullying. Junad made this video of the new building.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtZjM9WISCM

Since attending Harris Boys’ Academy East Dulwich, my brother Junad wakes up every morning at 6am and leaves the house at 7am to take the bus to Harris Girls’ Academy East Dulwich, where he has to get on the coach at 7.30am to reach Langbourne Primary School. Junad’s timetable is 2 weekly, so he is provided with a full, broad and balanced curriculum, as well as regular set homework, and he has also been given the opportunity to be a learning commissioner at the school. Here is what Junad thinks about his life as a student at Harris Boys’ Academy East Dulwich:

“I think Harris Boys’ Academy is a great school. At first it was a struggle getting up at 6am in the morning but I am used to it now. My teachers are fantastic and have made learning fun and interactive.

My favourite subjects are Science and Maths but I also enjoy the enrichment lessons, especially Drama and Latin. I am a learning commissioner at the school; this involves me and other learning commissioners to discover how to make learning better for other students.

At the end of term we have a school trip, the first trip we had involved a trip to Bewlwater and our last trip was to the theatre where we watched The Lion King, and I really enjoyed it.

There are strict rules at Harris Boys’ Academy, for example we have to be silent when we line up and we can’t bring in mobile phones to school, but I think the rules help us to be better and respect each other.

I have several friends at the school and I have learnt to be more confident, I am grateful that I attend Harris Boys’ Academy and I can’t wait for our new school building to open in September 2010”.

Here is a link to the Harris Boys’ Academy website where you can find further information about the school and the new building http://www.harrisdulwichboys.org.uk/index.asp.
Look out for the new school in September 2010, especially the wind turbines and grass roof.

Photo: thanks to Paul from Flickr.com (with CCL).