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13/02/26

Children's Mental Health Week   

11/02/26

Children's Mental Health Week: This is Our Place!     Video  

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!

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Latest News

Posted on February 28th 2023

Debate Club Competes At First Inter-School Competition

Debate Mate Update: we am so proud to announce HGAED debaters are 11th of 86 schools in the national Debate Mate Urban Debate League, and 9th of all 58 schools in London.

The Debate Mate mentor have been so impressed with our students and wrote a very encouraging email congratulating and praising our students. "It's an incredible achievement for them and a testament to their hard work and dedication," they wrote. "An extremely well-deserved placing! I've been telling every single person who will listen about what a pleasure it is to teach your students and how I'm so happy for them getting their passion for debating recognised."

Great work everyone!

Our after-school Debate Mate club has got off to a flying start this academic year with a large number of students getting involved.

Debate Mate aims to empower our students through the teaching of skills related to debate. We have two inspirational university students who act as our peer mentors in the club, leading the sessions and providing advice. Our current members have big boots to fill as some of our previous teams managed to win The Urban Debate League, as they were the highest scoring secondary school team across the nation.

Debate Mate

Through the sessions, students work on the rules and format of debates and participate in competitions against other schools. These sessions and competitions encourage students to work on skills such as teamwork and public speaking but also encourages them to further develop personal skills such as confidence and resilience.

First competition

Recently, our current team competed in their first competition of the year, travelling to Sydenham School to compete against five other local schools for the first round of the Urban Debate League. The motions were challenging and topical:

  • "This house would make Maths compulsory up to the age of 18"
  • "This house believes the monarchy does more harm than good"

Our students rose to the challenge and performed extremely well (especially considering this was the first time debating at a competition for some of them!) winning five out of six of the debates they took part in. A big well done to all students involved and thank you to Ms Morris and Mr Brown for their support on the trip.

The team is supported by Ms Halnan, Ms Morris and Mr Pooley from the English department. All of us have been so impressed by the inspiring attitude the girls take when grappling with some very tricky concepts. What has been most inspiring though is the supportive environment they have created within the club – it is a real privilege to be able to watch the students give one another feedback, support and create such a welcoming and friendly atmosphere within the club.

So a big thank you to all of the students involved for making it the success it has become and we encourage anyone who is interested in the club to come along – it is never too late to join!

Ms Halnan

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