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Harris Federation

How the Harris Federation uses system leadership to raise attainment in its south London academies.

Summary

This case study outlines the leadership and governance arrangements for the Harris Federation of academies in south London. The purpose of the federation is to support collaborative working practices that raise attainment.  

Key outcomes

  • The first Harris school, Harris City Technology college, was transformed from a failing school to one that routinely achieves around 90 per cent A*-C grades at GCSE. It was described by Ofsted as outstanding in its most recent inspection.
  • Shared approaches and interdependence are increasingly creating opportunities for economies of scale, such as in 14–19 provision and joint appointments.
  • Collaborative leadership has given opportunities for quality assurance, such as in a cross-federation induction programme, a facilitated network for NQTs and a shared approach to self-evaluation.
  • The federation has provided opportunities for leadership development and succession planning, for example through the Harris Master’s course and working groups.
  • Based on this case study, leaders of federations could usefully consider the following questions:
    • What benefits and disadvantages are associated with the existence or perception of a ‘lead’ school or academy within a federation? How can you capitalise on what the outstanding school has to offer while encouraging other schools or academies to lead development?
    • How can a federation insure against being over-dependent on the skills of one charismatic leader in its early days?
    • How do you decide the right time to distribute responsibility for strategic development among the leaders of participating schools? What are the models? What are the risks?

Background

The Harris Federation provides for around 8,000 students in south London, spanning three local authorities. It comprises six academies, sponsored by Lord Harris of Peckham, the philanthropist and carpet retail giant.

Following the outstanding success of Harris City Technology College, the first school to be sponsored, the federation supports collaborative working practices to replicate and develop this success in an increasing number of schools.

The academies in the federation are: Harris Academy, Peckham; Harris Academy, Merton; Harris Academy, Bermondsey; Harris Girls’ Academy, East Dulwich; Harris City Academy, Crystal Palace; and Harris Academy, South Norwood.

Challenges and issues

Poor attainment

In its five most recently acquired academies, the percentage of young people achieving five A*-C grades at GCSE ranged from 24 to 32 per cent.   

‘Lead’ institution

Where one institution in the federation is expected to take the lead in most areas of development, it can be difficult to share responsibility for the success of the enterprise widely. However, this is essential so that the federation exists as a living community that adds value and enhances opportunities for the adults and children in it.

Scale of the task

It is a huge undertaking to tackle organisational design at the same time as improving attainment. Much depends on the resilience and resourcefulness of the existing leadership teams in individual academies.

Federation leadership is consistently challenged by the need to distribute the burden (and the opportunity that it represents) appropriately and to good effect.

Brand identities

For the Harris Federation, there was an almost simultaneous conversion and renaming of six schools (bringing with them their own brands), followed immediately by federation under the Harris brand.

Federating created enthusiasm for a shared brand identity to communicate quality, opportunity and high expectations but also a sense that each academy should reflect its own community’s values and aspirations.

The Harris Federation approach

Trust agreement and federation board

The six academies are formally federated under a single trust agreement, which is legally constituted. An executive board leads the federation and is responsible for strategic governance issues. The legal status of the trust enables the board to enter into contracts for procurement and employment.

The board comprises Lord Harris of Peckham as chair, the chairs of the six academy governing bodies, the chief executive officer, Dr Daniel Moynihan, and the federation finance director. There are currently two senior executive cross-federation positions: finance director and ICT director.

Federation governance arrangements

Each academy has its own governing body, with powers delegated by the board. Centralisation brings cohesion and efficiency but the academies retain a sense of ‘localness’.  

Leadership for the academies

Individual academy principals operate their schools autonomously, but within a cooperative federal framework. Each academy contributes a percentage of its annual budget to the federation.  

The chief executive has worked with a management board of academy principals to create a framework within which the individual academies can operate. Medium-term targets are to: raise achievement across the federation by 10 per cent, improve the range of 14-19 subjects available, and establish a strong Harris brand in which students, parents and staff can believe.

Initial priorities for executive board

The executive board’s priorities for the first few years have been to bring efficiencies and economies of scale, and to reduce the burden of bureaucracy on individual academies through shared maintenance, financial management, purchasing and human resource functions.

It has also introduced common approaches to student target setting, tracking and monitoring, and performance management for staff. A single, high-quality ICT network supports effective communications, data sharing and collaboration.

Mobilise infrastructure to support teaching and learning

Seven new cross-federation development groups have been established to spearhead development work on behalf of the federation. The groups were identified at a 24-hour retreat, led by Prof David Hargreaves and representatives from the Innovation Unit, at which the leadership teams from all six academies worked together.

The priorities are: subject leadership networks in English, maths and science, student voice, continuing professional development, induction for newly qualified teachers, and building a calendar of federation events. Each strand is led by a middle or senior leader and is supported by one of the principals and a reference group of interested staff from across the academies.

Supporting strand leaders

Strand leaders are encouraged to call on external resources and specialist expertise. They are supported through the Bridge Change Leadership Framework model, which the group found “gave real ideas of how to manage change”.

Staff contracts

Existing staff have retained rights to work in their own academy, but future contracts of employment can include a requirement to work across more than one academy. This underpins plans for a collaborative approach to 14–19 provision, including post-16, with a unique single centre number across three academies.

It will also enable advanced skills teachers (ASTs) and others to lead curriculum developments, and teaching and learning.

Recruitment and retention

The sponsor has put together a package of benefits for staff, including healthcare, gym membership, childcare vouchers, discounts on loans and bonuses for attendance, long service and examination success.

The benefits are of significant value both in financial terms and in terms of the recognition they award. They are expected to improve recruitment and retention across the federation.

Subject leadership

The focus on subject leadership in English, maths and science is expected to highlight strengths and weaknesses in departments across the federation. It is achieved through heads of department sharing data, making observation visits to one another and co-developing curriculum and pedagogy.

Sixth form

Three of the academies are working together to develop complementary sixth form provision where previously there was none. It will particularly address the need for students to gain vocational qualifications.

Master’s in Leadership from the IOE

The Master’s in Leadership from the IOE is being developed in partnership with Harris Federation. This is a bespoke programme that reflects the specific nature of improving achievement in schools in very challenging circumstances. It is intended to allow Harris Federation to learn from its own development journey and to address sustainability issues such as succession planning.

Places on the Master’s course are heavily subsidised by Harris Federation. The first cohort of 24 aspiring leaders from across Harris Federation has registered on a gateway module offered by the Network Learning Partnership in association with IOE. The gateway module develops skills in identifying and refining a focus for improvement and then leading a team of staff and students in a relevant collaborative project.