Harris Academy Chafford Hundred (formerly Chafford Hundred Campus Business and Enterprise College) is a
secondary school
A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
and
sixth form
In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...
with
academy status located in
Chafford Hundred
Chafford Hundred, or simply Chafford, is a housing development and suburb in the town of Grays in the borough of Thurrock in Essex, England. Chafford Hundred is north-west of Grays Town Centre.
Its railway station serves the area and Lakesi ...
in the borough of
Thurrock
Thurrock () is a unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Essex, England. It lies on the north bank of the River ...
within the commuter belt of
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, England, United Kingdom. The building was designed by
Nicholas Hare Architects
Nicholas Hare Architects is a UK architectural practice, with a portfolio of award-winning projects. These include schools, higher education, refurbishment, commercial projects, and buildings for the arts. Founded by Nicholas Hare in 1977, the pr ...
. Previously a comprehensive school, it became an academy on 1 October 2011.
Harris Academy Chafford Hundred is closely linked to Harris Primary Chafford Hundred, Harris Mayflower, and the newer
Harris Academy Riverside
Harris Academy Riverside is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Purfleet in the Thurrock unitary authority, Essex, England. Purfleet is bordered by the A13 road to the north and the River Thames to the south and is within t ...
and
Harris Academy Ockendon, sharing executive principals and teaching staff. Before the Riverside building was completed in 2019, Chafford Hundred hosted the establishing school.
History
In June 2000, with a budget of £10 million and under the direction of
Thurrock Council
Thurrock Council is the local authority for the borough of Thurrock in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. Since 1998 the council has been a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council ...
as part of the
Building Schools for the Future
Building Schools for the Future (BSF) was the name given to the British government's investment programme in secondary school buildings in England in the 2000s. Around half of the work was procured under the private finance initiative. The deli ...
programme, work began on the site for Chafford Hundred Campus Secondary School and Chafford Hundred Primary School. A month later the then-
secretary of state for education and skills
The secretary of state for education, also referred to as the education secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the work of the Department for Education. The incumbent is a member of the Ca ...
,
Estelle Morris
Estelle Morris, Baroness Morris of Yardley, (born 17 June 1952), is a British politician and life peer who served as Secretary of State for Education and Skills from 2001 to 2002. A member of the Labour Party, she was Member of Parliament (MP ...
, attended its
groundbreaking
Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, turf-cutting, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such cer ...
event as its host. During the event she compared the future schools to
Stantonbury Campus and
Countesthorpe Community College, stating that they "would be the Stantonbury or Countesthorpe of 2001." The Chafford Hundred schools' headteachers, Alison Banks and Catherin Finn, were appointed in September 2000.
Both schools opened on 1 September 2001, after which the headteachers began to cooperate with the intention to merge both schools by 2004.
They shared the same site and operated
de facto as a unified
all-through school
An all-through school (also known as an integrated school) educates young people throughout multiple educational stages, generally throughout childhood and adolescence.
Definition
The term "all-through" can be legitimately applied to establis ...
under the name Chafford Hundred Campus Schools. They shared teachers, the same system of governance and a senior leadership team.
Alison Banks and Catherine Finn became co-headteachers, presiding over the secondary and primary school respectively. They acted as each other's deputy in these schools.
Finn left in 2002 but Banks remained and continued to serve with two more co-heads.
Banks visualised a "school for the future" that would be the centre of the new
Chafford Hundred
Chafford Hundred, or simply Chafford, is a housing development and suburb in the town of Grays in the borough of Thurrock in Essex, England. Chafford Hundred is north-west of Grays Town Centre.
Its railway station serves the area and Lakesi ...
settlement, and utilised the schools' modern site and unestablished history to work towards this goal. She modified the secondary school's curriculum to follow a framework for the 21st century set by the
Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...
,
calling for the abolition of
school subjects and the transition from an "information-led" curriculum to a "competence-led" one. Other measures included a unified faculty for all staff regardless of their specialist year group or would-be subject department, no
house system
The house system is a traditional feature of schools in the United Kingdom. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries. The school is divided into units called "houses" and each student is allocated to on ...
(which was present in most other English schools), individual tuition for pupils and a wireless laptop for every pupil.
In 2003 the primary and secondary schools officially
federated and began to share the same
board of governors
A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency.
The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...
.
The secondary school had its first evaluation by government education inspectorate
Ofsted
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...
in May. It was found to have secured a "satisfactory" grade, meaning that it had underachieved. The primary school had already been inspected and was also found to be satisfactory.
Headteacher Alison Banks left in 2004, later founding
Westminster Academy and becoming its headteacher. She was succeeded by Christopher Tomlinson, who was the secondary school's first headteacher after it separated from the primary school and reopened in 2005.
By 2006 the school was named Chafford Hundred Campus School and had become a
specialist
A specialist is someone who is an expert in, or devoted to, some specific branch of study or research.
Specialist may also refer to:
Occupations
* Specialist (rank), military rank
** Specialist (Singapore)
* Specialist officer, military rank in ...
Business and Enterprise College
Business and Enterprise Colleges (BECs) were introduced in 2002 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in England. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields. Schools that successfully applied to the Specialist Sch ...
.
In 2007 Ofsted inspected Chafford Hundred Campus School and found it to be "performing significantly less well than in all the circumstances it could reasonably be expected to perform." Ofsted gave the school an "inadequate" grade as a result. It was given a year to improve or else it would be placed into
special measures
Special measures is a status applied by regulators of public services in Britain to providers who fall short of acceptable standards.
In education (England and Wales)
Ofsted, the schools inspection agency for England and some British Overseas Ter ...
and be threatened with closure. Ofsted returned in January 2008, by which time the school had changed its name to Chafford Hundred Campus Business and Enterprise College and gained an additional
maths specialism. Ofsted found the school to be "making satisfactory progress in addressing the issues for improvement" and graded the school as "good" five months later. Improvements continued and the school was designated as a
high performing specialist school
The specialist schools programme (SSP), first launched as the Technology Colleges programme and also known as the specialist schools initiative, specialist schools policy and specialist schools scheme, was a government programme in the United ...
in 2009,
gaining specialist status in
Applied Learning as a result. It was recognised as the "most improved school in England" by the
Department for Children, Schools and Families
Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) was a department of the UK government, between 2007 and 2010, responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including child protection and education. DCSF was repl ...
in January 2010, with the number of students passing their
GCSEs
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...
rising from 16% to 62% over a three-year period.
In January 2011, the
Department for Education
The Department for Education (DfE) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for child protection, child services, education in England, educati ...
appointed Christopher Tomlinson executive headteacher of
Eltham Foundation School, a position which he also gained at Chafford Hundred.
Eltham improved in a similar manner to Chafford Hundred soon after, being recognised by the department as the "most improved secondary school in the country ever".
Chafford Hundred Campus and its adjacent primary school jointly underwent academisation in October 2011, becoming members of the Harris Federation. Chafford Hundred Campus was renamed Harris Academy Chafford Hundred to reflect this. The school retained specialist status in Business and Enterprise and Applied Learning but abandoned its maths specialism, instead gaining a new specialism in
gifted and talented education
Gifted education (also known as gifted and talented education (GATE), talented and gifted programs (TAG), or G&T education) is a type of education used for children who have been identified as Intellectual giftedness, gifted or Talent (skill), tal ...
. Its first inspection as an academy was held in November 2011, resulting in an overall Ofsted grade of "outstanding".
Nicola Graham was appointed head of school in 2012, serving under Christopher Tomlinson's executive leadership.
Eltham Foundation School joined the Harris Federation later that year, becoming Harris Academy Greenwich.
In 2014 Christopher Tomlinson was transferred to
Harris Academy Falconwood
Harris Academy Falconwood, formerly Westwood Secondary Modern School, Westwood Secondary School and Westwood College, is a city academy in Falconwood, London, England. The school is non-selective and co-educational.
History
In September 2008 ...
.
The school's executive headteacher and head of school positions were abolished and Nicola Graham assumed the newly created position of principal. This year saw the establishment of a new
free school on Chafford Hundred's site called Harris Primary Academy Mayflower. Mayflower moved to its own site in 2015. A year later, Nicola Graham became the executive principal of Harris Academy Chafford Hundred and appointed Ms L. Strong as her head of school.
Another free school,
Harris Academy Riverside
Harris Academy Riverside is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Purfleet in the Thurrock unitary authority, Essex, England. Purfleet is bordered by the A13 road to the north and the River Thames to the south and is within t ...
, was launched in 2017. Nicola Graham became executive principal of Riverside and Chafford Hundred hosted it until its own building in
Purfleet
Purfleet-on-Thames is a town in the Thurrock unitary authority, Essex, England.
It is bordered by the A13 road to the north and the River Thames to the south and is within the easternmost part of the M25 motorway but just outside the Greater ...
was completed in 2019.
With this, the sixth form of Chafford Hundred stopped offering maths and science as options, where they were moved to Riverside.
In 2020 L. Strong was succeeded as head of school by Mr L. Glees. His position was renamed to head of academy.
Heather Stannard succeeded Glees in the 2021/2022 academic year and her position was renamed to principal (although Nicola Graham remained executive principal).
In 2022 she was succeeded by Mr B. Keely.
Premises
A new build.
The building was intended to combine a nursery, primary, secondary and public library for the local area. It was constructed by Nicholas Hare Architects and Crofton Consulting. The building is three storeys tall with three halls, a cafeteria, and over 50 classrooms including specialised ones for science, computing and DT. The two primary and secondary schools, and the sixth form, are all accessible by Mayflower Road. The library, once open to the public, has since been closed. Since opening the school has undergone two extensions.
Some time after, the sixth form was constructed by Bespoke Building Control at a value of £1.2m. It is a two-storey building with extra classrooms and a cafeteria.
Harris Academy Mayflower was built by Farrans Construction and FEH Commercial.
Headteachers and principals
Chafford Hundred Campus Secondary School and Chafford Hundred Primary School originally operated de facto as one school with two co-headteachers: one for the primary school and one for the secondary school. Alison Banks presided over the secondary school between 2001 and 2004, serving alongside three primary school heads. They were Catherine Finn (2001 and 2002),
Karen Lees (2003)
and Ms Fergus (2004 onwards).
Christopher Tomlinson was headteacher after Chafford Hundred Campus' separation from the primary school.
He would later become the executive headteacher, maintaining this role after academisation.
He then became the executive principal of other Harris academies, including
Falconwood
Falconwood is an area of south east London within both the London Boroughs of Bexley and Greenwich. It is north east of Eltham and south west of Welling. According to the 2021 census, Falconwood, has a population of roughly 16,600 (Falconwood an ...
,
Greenwich
Greenwich ( , , ) is an List of areas of London, area in south-east London, England, within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London, east-south-east of Charing Cross.
Greenwich is notable for its maritime hi ...
and
Battersea
Battersea is a large district in southwest London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and also extends along the south bank of the Thames Tideway. It includes the Battersea Park.
Hist ...
.
Nicola Graham became the head of school in 2012
and is the executive principal, serving since 2016.
At Chafford Hundred, she has overseen the administration of Head of Schools L. Strong
and L. Glees
and Principal Heather Stannard.
She is also the executive principal of Harris Academy Riverside and
Harris Academy Rainham
Harris Academy Rainham (formerly ''The Chafford School'') is a mixed secondary school with academy status located in the London Borough of Havering in Rainham, London, England.
History
In a 2009 Ofsted report, Chafford School was described a ...
and "assists" Harris Academy Ockendon as the assistant director of the Southeast sector of the Harris Federation.
References
External links
*
{{authority control
Academies in Thurrock
Secondary schools in Thurrock
Chafford Hundred
Chafford Hundred, or simply Chafford, is a housing development and suburb in the town of Grays in the borough of Thurrock in Essex, England. Chafford Hundred is north-west of Grays Town Centre.
Its railway station serves the area and Lakesi ...