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06/02/26

The Glee Girls were fabulous and represented HGAED beautifully. Congratulations are due to each of them!        

28/01/26

Character - Courage - Conscience       

27/01/26

Our Year 10 students recently took part in an exciting and highly rewarding Mock Trial competition at the Inner London Crown Court. The day provided a fantastic opportunity for students to experience the workings of the legal system first-hand, inside a real courtroom setting.

23/01/26

Read the Autumn edition of our Newsletter! Keep up to date with life at HGAED via our website or through this link:  canva.com/design/DAG3KM6omC4…      

22/01/26

Some incredible art created by Margot, Roadah and Sarah.         

20/01/26

We celebrated Blue Monday today! Students got free hot chocolate and treats, quiz's and more to promote positive mental health a great day!     

12/01/26

Interested in learning more about HGAED Sixth Form? Visit our website via the link in our bio to learn more!        Video  

06/01/26

Welcome back to all of our students and staff! We hope you are well rested and enjoying the snow.     

06/01/26

Throw back to the Debate Mate launch! HGAED have a long standing history of success at Debate Mate and many of our senior members are Debate Mate National and Regional finalists.     

31/12/25

Happy New Year!  Video  

23/12/25

Wishing everyone a happy holiday and a restful break from all of us here at HGAED!     

16/12/25

Eunice, Tyra and Isla performed at the Hope Collective’s Day of Hope celebration. In memory of Damilola Taylor, students came together on the stage to advocate for young people’s hopes and ambitions for the future.        Video  

15/12/25

Meet 2 of our Head Girls - Eleni and Maxima! We are so excited to see the leadership they bring to our school this year.     

12/12/25

Our talented musicians were giving rehearsals their all yesterday, ahead of the big Winter Showcase!        Video  

10/12/25

Today we want to shout out our brilliant Volleyball team and coach!     

02/12/25

Miata Noah, Director of Pastoral Care introduced the Prime Minister Keir Starmer this morning before he delivered his 'Britain built for all' speech. Miata delivered an incredible speech about all the challenges that our students and all children living in poverty face.  Video  

01/12/25

A Day in the Life at HGAED!      Video  

01/12/25

We have launched our new Instagram. Follow us @ harrisgirlsacademyeastdulwich to stay up to date with all things HGAED!

28/11/25

Our November edition of our Newsletter is here! You can read it via this link: canva.com/design/DAG3KM6omC4…

20/11/25

What a fantastic trip to Harry Potter World with our Year 7's! The day was filled with magic and wonder, as they entered the fictional universe. The snow edition has really got us in the mood for winter at HGAED!    

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

Literacy at HGAED

Fundamental to every student’s future success is the acquisition of effective literacy skills. This belief underpins the development of literacy at HGAED through our WORD (writing, oracy and reading development) programme. 

By focusing on the subject-specific literacy skills needed to succeed, students are able to access and comprehend all parts of the curriculum. This disciplinary literacy also ensures that our students are able to articulate their understanding using communication methods appropriate to each subject.  Consequently, our students are fully prepared for the challenges of higher education and employment in their futures.

Literacy encompasses reading, writing, speaking, listening and vocabulary development across the curriculum. How we read, write or speak in science compared to history compared to French is very different. Therefore, we aim to equip students with the knowledge and skills to flourish in each academic area.

We are leading this work across the academy with the current foci being on promoting the reading of academic texts, varied and challenging fiction and non-fiction texts, improving the quality of oracy and independent writing.

Students are introduced to a range of texts appropriate for each subject area and are shown the strategies needed to unlock those texts. This may include exploring the origins and structures of specialist, academic vocabulary; identifying the type of text; predicting the content of a text; clarifying its meaning or summarising the content after close reading.

Students are encouraged to read aloud in lessons in order to develop their fluency when reading. Literacy is also being developed through the Bedrock learning programme, VSPAG marking and feedback in exercise books as per our marking policy, and Friday coaching sessions centred on reading for pleasure (see our ‘reading for pleasure’ page under personal development for further information).

Oracy development is a real focus here at the academy with students frequently participating in structured discussions within lessons in order to practise articulating their ideas prior to completing written work. High expectations are set with academic language being used and responses being phrased in full sentences. Opportunities are provided for the development of debating skills both in lessons and through the Debate Mate club.

“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development, an essential complement to investments in roads, dams, clinics and factories. Literacy is a platform for democratization, and a vehicle for the promotion of cultural and national identity…Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.” Kofi Annan

Bedrock Learning

Bedrock Learning is an online curriculum that students can follow at school or at home. The digital literacy curriculum teaches students the language they need to succeed at school through a series of multi-modal and interactive activities. The rigorous assessment feeds data back to the teacher, enabling us to easily monitor progress. The English department sets and tracks all its homework through the Bedrock programme.

Literacy interventions

We offer additional support to students to help them improve their literacy across Year 7-11. The need of the individual determines the type of support they receive, as detailed below:

  • In-class support – teaching assistant (TA) support within lessons
  • SALT - specialist speech and language support
  • TA led literacy - small group literacy support
  • 1:1 paired reading intervention to improve struggling readers
  • EAL - 1:1 or small group English as an additional language support

Academic reading lists

In order to support students' reading skills and their wider academic studies, each subject area has compiled a list of texts related to the curriculum for each key stage. Some of these books will be introduced in lessons whilst others provide an opportunity for students to explore a particular topic in greater depth outside of lesson time. These reading lists are available on each subject page in the curriculum area of the website.

Getting in touch

If parents/carers would like to get in touch with our literacy team please contact:

Download our Literacy Policy from our Teaching and Learning page.