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08/07/25

We have loved meeting our future Year 12s for External Taster day and our Subject Masterclasses so far this week - our Biologists even inspected fish gills in their taster session! pic.twitter.com/kzPs5KnagH

30/06/25

pic.twitter.com/LBohrzLB6N

29/06/25

A proud night for Harris. pic.twitter.com/6fw5gKBFkB

27/06/25

As voting approaches, it's election fever at HABE. Who will be the next Head Girl! Watch this space! pic.twitter.com/GLP0gUJnf4

27/06/25

Staff treats done right! After performing like pro athletes on sports day to bring joy to our students, our amazing team refuelled with laughter, snacks, and ice cream. Childlike joy, serious camaraderie, and a whole lot of crisps! It's just the HABE Way. pic.twitter.com/aBqK7oduwn

26/06/25

Harris Federation wins Large Academy Trust of the Year at the prestigious TES Schools Awards. pic.twitter.com/BluVVU8FRI

25/06/25

Looking forward to see our Year 13 this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/3e2iXGFVCE

21/06/25

pic.twitter.com/Gy1c0zyWam

21/06/25

A few more highlights from the Prom! pic.twitter.com/tci0tQlk0r

20/06/25

One not to miss! Tickets are available via the link - Welcome to Fairfield Halls - https:/tickets.fairfield.co.uk/28659/28660 pic.twitter.com/2RcX6BnfLU

19/06/25

It's getting hot in there, a bit of air please! pic.twitter.com/hYBHTIpIfq

19/06/25

On the dance floor 🕺 💃 pic.twitter.com/FqV88Zp7hX

19/06/25

Prom 2025 pic.twitter.com/RWe3b1WEjU

19/06/25

Thank you to everyone who attended the webinar tonight on Let's Talk About Our Kids and Their Tech with Dr Helen Thomas We appreciate your comments and questions.

19/06/25

It's Year 11 PROM night- looking forward to seeing our amazing Year 11 students to celebrate their time here at HABE. pic.twitter.com/HIz8h4b5Sk

17/06/25

A reminder of the webinar on Thursday at 7.30pm. To register please follow the link below: https://t.co/EC8wu4dzgc pic.twitter.com/KOBhvVO9TZ

13/06/25

🎉 It’s just the HABE way! Today we hit our highest daily attendance ever with 4 year groups above 97% and Year 11s leading at over 99%! 👏 Top 10 tutor groups celebrated with early dismissal. Students love being here—because at HABE, school is where we thrive. pic.twitter.com/NwYqRBWgum

13/06/25

Beautiful Day for Shirt signing at HABE- celebrating our Yr11 students pic.twitter.com/XpNpMYz0Y9

13/06/25

Class of 2025 pic.twitter.com/1a0v0hEP5o

13/06/25

Exciting news - Bookings for Open Mornings are now available! Book here:https://t.co/p6nm61sdP6 pic.twitter.com/KSiALBymDX

Harris Academies
All Academies in our Federation aim to transform the lives of the students they serve by bringing about rapid improvement in examination results, personal development and aspiration.

Central Office

Bexley

Brent

Bromley

Clapham

Croydon

Greenwich

Haringey

Havering

Merton

Newham

Southwark

Stratford

Sutton

Thurrock

Wandsworth

Westminster

Science

Curriculum intent 

It is our belief that a broad and balanced Science education is the entitlement of every student regardless of ethnic origin, gender, class, aptitude or disability. The teaching of Science at HABE is based on the vision, values and aims of HABE, promoting reciprocity, resilience, resourcefulness and reflectiveness amongst all students.

The Science department will deliver a strong knowledge-based curriculum, providing opportunity for students to discover the excitement of the sciences and the phenomena surrounding the subject; it will aim to instil a desire for practical discovery, while fostering the inquisitive nature of students.

For further details of the Science curriculum please see the documents at the bottom of the page or contact Ms. Y. Roper.

A strong focus will also be placed upon literacy within science. There is robust evidence that poor literacy skills result in low attainment in the subject. This potentially limits the number of students pursuing a scientific career after they leave school.  Teachers will be aware of the vocabulary demands of a topic and will make a conscious choice to focus on the words that students most need to understand. New scientific vocabulary will be taught explicitly and by using direct instruction and modelling, students will quickly gain insight into how these words are to linked to other aspects of science.

The department will also strive to provide a current foundation in the elements of scientific method, theory, applicability and laboratory practice that will encourage and inspire students to acquire an in-depth appreciation of the scientific endeavour.  Students undertake experiments or view demonstrations where possible which, in addition to developing their practical skills, will also develop their ability to of hypothesise, predict, analyse, interpret and evaluate.

To fulfil this aim, the Science staff will provide a safe environment in which students’ views and personal aims are valued. Staff will encourage students to actively participate in their well-planned and highly differentiated lessons; where students of all abilities are given an appropriate level of challenge.  Through the careful formulation of the lesson objective, progress should be judged periodically throughout the lesson, week, term and year, followed by feedback provided, thus allowing students to become very aware of their own progress and areas which they can work on to improve. Through a practically based course, skilled, deep and lifelong learning can be achieved, as students are prepared for the world of work and further study in the Sciences.


Implementation

Harris Academy Beckenham will follow the science curriculum as set out by the Harris Federation. This gives the benefit of being able to collaborate with other academies in the federation and undertaking standardised assessments. Year 11 mock exams will utilise AQA secure assessment materials in both Autumn and Spring.

  • In early years, pupils follow a rota of 2/3-week units that cover the national curriculum with most units including at least one required practical (which like GCSE and A Level, are assessed in the assessments)
  • In later years, rotas are produced on the assumption of specialist teaching of 4 80-minute lessons per week – 1 each for Biology, Chemistry and Physics with the fourth session allowing for targeted intervention to meet the needs of the students
  • Targeted intervention will also take place for all year groups to fill gaps in student knowledge and improve attainment in students who are underperforming
  • Teachers will also use assessment data in the form of ‘profiles of need’ which will allow them to target underperforming students in lessons
  • In later years for more specialised content (some of which is quite niche in nature), a fuller set of resources are made available as a starting point for teachers which would commonly include (but are not limited to):
    • A PowerPoint presentation with objectives, key visuals and activities
    • Pupil worksheets
    • Any relevant practical activities
    • Suggested homework activities
    • Health and safety information relevant to all activities
  • All centrally provided resources are intended for teachers to adapt to the needs and interests of their own individual classes

Impact

Pupils sit two assessments annually which are cumulative in nature. These are written by the Science consultant team, who have had past training and guidance from AQA in terms of appropriate levels of challenge. We have developed a common set of rules for the assessments to ensure that there is a consistent level of demand, mathematical skills and scientific skills included in each exam. The assessment model, and indeed the curriculum, are cumulative in their structure and so pupils are expected to know and apply more of their scientific understanding and skills in each assessment.

The constituent parts of the assessments involve:

  • The appropriate percentages of low, standard and high level demand questions
  • Approximately 25% of marks devoted to scientific skills / required practical activities
  • Approximately 20% of marks devoted to mathematical skills in the ratio of 10%:20%:30% for Biology, Chemistry and Physics
  • Assessments will assess subject knowledge AO1, application of subject knowledge AO2, and ability to analyse information AO3. Pupils will also be assessed on practical skills developed through the required practicals.

For every assessment, academies are requested to fill in a question level analysis tracker. This automatically generates statements of strength and targeted questions for development for each pupil which can then be placed in books as marking stickers. The consultant team will then collate the data to generate average scores per question for over 20 of the secondary academies within the multi academy trust. This gives us approximately 3000 pieces of individual data so we can identify common areas of weakness and prioritise aspects of the curriculum for improvement. As an academy, we can then identify our areas of relative strength and weakness compared to the federation average scores to help identify priority areas of knowledge and skills on which to deliver intervention sessions.