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19/09/25

Come and see what makes our Ofsted Outstanding academy so special. Our Open Mornings are Monday 22nd September, Monday 29th September and Monday 6th October 💙

19/09/25

Thank you to everyone who came to our Open Evening last night. We are looking forward to seeing you again at our Open Mornings, starting this Monday 22nd September 2025. See our website for details! Harris Girls' Academy East Dulwich

06/09/25

I can’t believe my daughter is about to go into her 3rd year of uni. It feels like yesterday that she started her 1st day at . If you are looking for an outstanding girls school please attend one of our open days. When I look back it was the best decision I made! 🎓 pic.twitter.com/A17gkpOFyu

05/09/25

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21/08/25

An incredible set of GCSE results for our exceptional Class of 2025. Over 1/3 of grades at Grade 7+. This cohort epitomises sisterhood, loudly championing and cheering for each others successes. Today was no exception. We could not be prouder 💙

21/08/25

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14/08/25

Milestone for Harris Girls’ Academy as first student earns place at Oxford University Margot Henderson is set to go to Wadham College, Oxford University to study Art History. Dulwich @UniofOxfordhttps://t.co/7lV0etmiPh pic.twitter.com/LJEyAjryYG

14/08/25

Huge congratulations to Margot, who secured a place at University of Oxford to read the History of Art. Margot has been an exceptional student at HGAED since Y7 and is an inspiration to all! Well done Margot! 💫

14/08/25

Incredible results and destinations for our Post 16 students today. Huge congratulations to all - we are incredibly proud of you and your hard work and resilience. We cannot wait to see what the future holds! 💫

18/07/25

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18/07/25

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11/07/25

Always a pleasure to see theatre at  . Our Y9s loved The Crucible.

11/07/25

Our new Y7 enjoyed the performances by our hugely talented HGAED Glee Club 💫

11/07/25

Exceptional from start to this stunning finale ✨ x.com/HarrisFedMusic/status/1943247316263276684

10/07/25

What an incredible evening! Harris Federation Festival of Music showcased the exceptional talent of our students. So proud of our HGAED choir 💫

25/06/25

Our brilliant Y8 English students thoroughly enjoyed their visit to the Guildhall Art Gallery for inspiration for their speeches. Thank you to the inspiring Ms Ore for her passion and making our students feel so welcome.

21/05/25

Excited to launch our brand new student magazine 'Words on the Rye'. Visit our website to access your copy!  harrisdulwichgirls.org.uk/10…

01/04/25

👧 This half term we have been working with pupils from as part of our EmpowerHer programme. These pupils were committed to coming at 7:30am every Tuesday to take part in various activities.#EmpowerHer pic.twitter.com/Qc17faEYA0

28/03/25

A visit to  is always inspirational. Listening to talks from legal experts then learning how to perform surgical stitches. Lawyers and Doctors in the making! 💙 

28/03/25

Y11 Thursday lunchtime football is a welcome break from their laser focus on learning. So many smiles from players to spectators! A joy to watch! 💙

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.

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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.