Harris Academy Ockendon (formerly The Ockendon Academy, originally Lennard's Secondary Modern School) is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

secondary school and

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

with academy status, located in

South Ockendon South Ockendon is a town, former civil parish and Church of England parish within the Thurrock borough in Essex in the East of England, United Kingdom. It is located on the border with Greater London, just outside the M25 motorway. The area to t ...

in the

Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authority area with borough status and unparished area in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The ...

area of

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, England.

Description

The Ockendon Academy was a popular 11 to 18 medium-sized comprehensive school that was strong on pastoral care, with well behaved pupils and a good sixth form programme. Elsewhere it was struggling and an Ofsted inspection in 2018 deemed that it was overall inadequate. It had converted to academy status in 2012, and now needed to 'refactor' to become part of a multi-academy trust. It joined the

Harris Federation Harris Federation is a multi-academy trust of 52 primary and secondary academies in and around London. They are sponsored by Philip Harris (Lord Harris of Peckham). Description With 52 academies in London and Essex, the Harris Federation educates ...

; it was rebranded as the Harris Academy Ockendon. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th
Open Government Licence v3.0
© Crown copyright

History

The school opened in 1956, named the Lennard's Secondary Modern School. It was part of a wave of

secondary modern school A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usuall ...

s that were built to cope with the post-war baby boom, and the Attlee government policies of 1944. It was a selective system, and young people could leave school at fifteen. The

school leaving age The school leaving age is the minimum age a person is legally allowed to cease attendance at an institute of compulsory secondary education. Most countries have their school leaving age set the same as their minimum full-time employment age, thu ...

was raised to 16 years in 1972. When Essex converted to the non-selective comprehensive school system, Lennard's became Culverhouse Comprehensive School. In April 2009, the school became designated as a Training School. In August 2010, the school received the highest pass rate in its GCSE examinations, with 98% achieving A*-C grades. On 1 January 2011 the school was renamed from The Ockendon School to The Ockendon Academy following an Academy conversion. The school was downgraded to 'good' following an Ofsted inspection in February 2014. It was downgraded again to 'inadequate' in October 2018. The Ockendon Academy joined the Harris family of schools in September 2019, It rapidly has put new detailed policies in place, with the aim of improving student outcomes. The Principal is Jo Rainey.

Academics

The multi-academy trust that the Ockendon Academy selected to join has a reputation for producing 'outstanding schools'. Part of this is the paperwork they produce as evidence for an Ofsted inspection. Schools are obliged by legislation to put in place multiple policies, revise them annually and present them to their governors for approval. Ofsted had divided its criticism in to two parts- *that teachers rapidly learn to promote pupils’progress through an understanding of their starting points and individual needs eingwell trained in both the subject they are teaching and how best to teach it. *that pupils’ outcomes must improve by applying a consistent methodology to the pedagogy. In the 'Learning and Teaching Policy Sept-2020', Harris addresses the first of those two weaknesses. It has introduced a new ethos and has implemented a challenging, knowledge lead curriculum.

Pedagogical approach

The second concern is addressed by the new fixed format lesson. It starts with 'test' on previous work, for example the homework task from the previous lesson, and previous weeks. It moves on to the three phases of fully guided instruction- where the teacher teaches (known as the I do) then works through examples with the pupils (known as We do) then supervises the pupils as they do tasks on their own with out assistance (known as You do). The homework is set- this usually involves the 'read, cover, regurgitate, and check phases of using a knowledge organiser that the teacher had previously prepared while planning the lesson.

Curriculum content

Virtually all maintained schools and academies follow the

National Curriculum A national curriculum is a common programme of study in schools that is designed to ensure nationwide uniformity of content and standards in education. It is usually legislated by the national government, possibly in consultation with state or other ...

, and are expected to deliver a 'broad and balanced curriculum' at Key Stage 3. At

Key Stage 4 Key Stage 4 (KS4) is the legal term for the two years of school education which incorporate GCSEs, and other examinations, in maintained schools in England normally known as Year 10 and Year 11, when pupils are aged between 14 and 16 by August 31 ...

, schools endeavour to get all students to achieve the

English Baccalaureate The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) is a school performance indicator in England linked to the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) results. It measures students' attainment by calculating an average score from specified subject grades. ...

(EBACC) qualification- this must include core subjects, a modern foreign language, and either History or Geography. In additions a range of optional subjects are offered. Harris Academy Ockendon operates a three-year, Key Stage 3 where all the core National Curriculum subjects are taught.

Teaching and learning

The school places the responsibility for subject content to the subject teams. They select what needs to be taught before how it is delivered.

References

External links

Harris Academy Ockenden official website

Essex live school comparison
{{authority control Secondary schools in Essex Academies in Essex Ockendon 1956 establishments in England Educational institutions established in 1956 South Ockendon