View our posts

13/07/22

Brilliant to have our own police cadet unit on site! Our first intake of recruits are into week 12 of their training. Next intake in September! pic.twitter.com/JENh6IouYw

07/07/22

Fantastic trip to China Town for a meal (and to practise our language skills!) and then to the British Museum! pic.twitter.com/bnCRH9DzGK

04/07/22

Our Year 8 boys are south region Federation champions! pic.twitter.com/8anDlr9wTE

30/06/22

Official opening today! Very special event with superb speeches from our students in all three of the languages that they study! pic.twitter.com/b3WXy6cKZ0

27/05/22

Great excitement as we set off for this morning and an added bonus that we got to use the brand new ! pic.twitter.com/wWZCrffT5f

25/05/22

What a show! our students had an amazing time!

25/05/22

Our students as language teachers! Thank you for welcoming us and for allowing us to share our knowledge and enjoyment of learning Spanish and Chinese with you! pic.twitter.com/qLiD1J9sIQ

25/05/22

Thank you to for a very informative session with our students on road safety awareness. pic.twitter.com/FATIIS9VSj

17/05/22

Our amazing students started their work with two weeks ago and we are already in the top 100 schools! pic.twitter.com/w53DNySWEj

13/05/22

Ten Clapham Credits cashed in for ice-cream today! pic.twitter.com/2uoG0b5MKG

13/05/22

Thank you for a spectacular show this week - thoroughly enjoyed by staff and students alike!

31/03/22

Huge congratulations to all our finalists and our first-ever winner of Clapham's Got Talent. You were all amazing and we thoroughly enjoyed admiring your skills and talents! pic.twitter.com/eTJtKEhKu6

25/03/22

Great to see so many of our students taking up the offer of learning to play a musical instrument. Well done for modelling The Clapham Commitment and being both curious and tenacious! pic.twitter.com/EkyAUtvWaN

18/03/22

Very enriching Globe Theatre visit and workshop for our students this week to support them in their study of The Merchant of Venice. pic.twitter.com/wE6PM4Vxdq

18/03/22

Speaker building and gnocchi making in design technology for Year 8 today! pic.twitter.com/0b2vmm9Hsq

18/03/22

Great to welcome to the Lambeth pic.twitter.com/NIA7F4mWfb

16/03/22

Great to welcome to the Lambeth pic.twitter.com/NIA7F4mWfb

04/03/22

Love this ‘micro-reading’ task from , so great for engaging students with different parts of Chinese characters. Can you find the missing parts on the right? pic.twitter.com/jrb4TTgIxn

03/03/22

Love this ‘micro-reading’ task from , so great for engaging students with different parts of Chinese characters. Can you find the missing parts on the right? pic.twitter.com/jrb4TTgIxn

03/03/22

Happy pic.twitter.com/Z9cTBV7to8

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

Bromley

Clapham

Croydon

Greenwich

Haringey

Havering

Merton

Newham

Southwark

Stratford

Sutton

Thurrock

Wandsworth

Westminster

Willesden

Safeguarding

Safeguarding of students is part of the professional responsibility of every member of staff and every person involved in the Academy community.

As an Academy community we take this responsibility very seriously and we work hard to ensure that we reduce all the kinds of harm that children can suffer.

It is of utmost importance to us that our students feel safe and cared for so that they are confident to make the most of every opportunity we afford them to develop into the best version of themselves they can possibly be.

If you are concerned about a child who attends Harris Academy Clapham, this page tells you who to contact.

  • To access our safeguarding policy, please see the download link below
  • To find out about our approach to e-safety, please see the page document below
  • To find out about how we prevent bullying please see our Prevention of Bullying Policy

Our Safeguarding Team

Noga Verber - Vice Principal and Designated Safeguarding Lead

Matthew Holmes - Assistant Principal and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)

Deborah Gostling - Principal and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

Neema Marshall - Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead (non-teaching)

Christopher Dillon – Vice Principal and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead

Sarah McDonald - Assistant Principal and Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead


PRSHE and mental health

Alongside ensuring the safety of the students in our care and supporting them to reach their true academic potential, we are very aware of our role in supporting their mental health and well-being.

Our personal, relationships, sex and health education (PRSHE) programme is designed to ensure that our students receive the appropriate provision to improve their knowledge and understanding of relationships, sex and relationships and healthy living. Young people face complex pressures and dilemmas in developing mature relationships and need to face such tasks confident in their factual knowledge, as well as being given the opportunity to discuss and shape their feelings and attitudes. Alongside this, it is important for them to know how diet and exercise choices impact on our lifestyle and general well-being.

To embrace the challenges of creating a happy and successful adult life, students need knowledge that will enable them to make informed decisions about their wellbeing, health and relationships and to build their belief in their own abilities. Our students can also put this knowledge into practice as they develop the capacity to make sound decisions when facing risks, challenges and complex contexts. Everyone faces difficult situations in their lives. The content we cover will support our students to develop resilience, to know how and when to ask for help, and to know where to access support. This helps with their self-knowledge, self-esteem and self-confidence.

Alongside this extensive programme, we have also invested in a number of other routes to enable our staff to support our students:

  • A group of teachers have completed training in mindfulness and these strategies are shared with both staff and students
  • Mr Holmes is our academy mental health champion and part of his role is to ensure that we are working actively to ensure the mental health and well-being of our academy community
  • We have a Place2Be trained counsellor on site
  • We provide one to one support via Football Beyond Borders
  • We provide art, drama and music therapy

As an Academy community we work tirelessly to embed our culture that cares.


Visitors to the academy

Visitors are welcome to Harris Academy Clapham. It is important for us, as part of a well-rounded education, that our students engage positively with their peers, our staff and any visitors to the academy. Visitors offer our students a window into the world outside of the academy and also an opportunity for them to develop their skills in conduct and communication. It is our expectation that all visitors will conduct themselves as true role models for our students.  

We want our students to develop outstanding habits of behaviour which will prepare them for life after their academic careers.

Please help us to reinforce these habits rather than undermine or break them by acting as a positive influence; as a role model for outstanding behaviour. In particular, we would ask that you please:

  • dress professionally for your visit
  • act with kindness and compassion to others
  • treat everyone with respect
  • do not eat or drink in corridors or classrooms
  • do not use your mobile 'phone in front of students

In order to keep our students safe, please

  • contact Ms Blacket on 0204 513 9350 on extension number 6353 to discuss what documentation you may need to bring to satisfy our safeguarding procedures. We may ask you to bring proof of ID and your DBS certificate if you have one
  • follow the instructions on our 'visitor welcome' leaflet downloadable below; in particular in respect of the lanyard you are asked to wear.

Should you have any concern about a student during your visit to the academy, please contact reception and ask to speak to a member of the safeguarding team.

We hope your visit to our academy is both enjoyable and productive and that you will feel a true, living sense of our vision that ‘everything is possible’.


Sources of help and advice

There are multiple sources of help and advice available to parents and students, in addition to those offered by the academy. The NSPCC is a good source of information for parents and students alike.


If the child is not a student at this academy

If you have a concern about a child who is not at this academy, you have a responsibility to that child to tell someone.

  1. If you believe a child to be in imminent danger, you can call The Police on 101 or 999.
  2. Alternatively, call the school and ask to speak to Ms Verber. He is the designated safeguarding lead for the academy. Our contact details are on the website or email n.verber@harrisclapham.org.uk 
  3. You can call MASH – Lambeth Multi Agency Safeguarding Hub. MASH is the coordinating body for the main local services for child protection. Call Children’s Services please call 0207 926 3100.
  4. If your concern is about online child sexual exploitation you can call CEOP. Search for CEOP online.

For parents 

Lambeth Early Help (lambeth.gov.uk)

Early Help services work with children, young people and their families up to the age of 19, or 25 where the child or young person has a disability. The aim is for families who need additional support to get help as early as possible, so they can tackle their problems and improve their lives.

Tel: 0207 926 5555 (24 hours), email: helpandprotection@lambeth.gov.uk 

Government guidance (www.gov.uk)

The link above offers guidance on a range of issues including:

Online safety

The Thinkuknow  website is created by the police for parents of children at secondary school. It contains useful information about:

  • what children are doing online
  • how to talk to children about what they are doing online
  • what risks your child might face
  • what tools are there to help them stay safe.

They have also produced a Parent’s Guide to E-Safety and also the following booklets to provide parents/carers with helpful information on how to explore and monitor their children’s apps.


For students

If you are in the academy:

  • Speak to your form tutor
  • Speak to any member of staff – they do not need to be your tutor or one of your teachers
  • Speak to someone on the safeguarding team – there are posters up all around the academy, so it is easy to see who they are
  • Put a note in one of the suggestion boxes for us so that we know to help you
  • Sometimes it can be difficult to approach an adult is something is bothering you. If it would help you, ask a friend to go with you.

If you are not in the academy:

  • Speak to a family member
  • Ask the family member to make contact with the academy

Access support via the internet

  •  This website has links to many different organisations who are there to help you: www.youthaccess.org.uk
  • Kidscape particularly focuses on support with bullying concerns
  • Talktofrank offers honest information about drugs
  • Call Childline on 08001111
  • Text P2B to 85258 to get free, confidential support in a crisis any time, day or night.

Remember: If your life, or someone else’s life, is in immediate danger, call 999.


Staying safe

There are many things you can do to keep yourself safe. The first is always, always talk to someone if you have any concerns or worries. At the academy all our staff are friendly and approachable – try talking to them and you will soon find this out!

Staying Safe Online

Keeping yourself safe online is a must. You will learn more about this during lessons, but we’ve also put together some resources for you to find out more.

Remember, if you need immediate help call 999.

Your Digital Footprint

Everything you post online stays around for a long, long, long, long, long, long time. Before you post anything online THINK – Is it True? Is it Helpful? Is it Inspiring? Is it Necessary? Is it Kind?

If you post something unkind or cruel then will make someone else feel unsafe. Do not make posts or comments about other people on any social media.

Staying Safe while travelling

On your journey to and from school

  • Make sure you know your address and home telephone number by heart, in case you get lost or have to navigate home from somewhere new.
  • If you have a mobile phone, fully charge it before leaving the house, and make sure you have all your contact numbers saved.
  • Follow the rules on road safety. Always look both ways before crossing the street, and never be on their phone while crossing a road.
  • Never accept a lift from someone you don’t know or let a stranger into the house. Never give personal information away – in real life or online.
  • If you feel unsafe or uncomfortable at any time, they call your mum or dad or a trusted adult
  • If you ever feel like they’re in immediate danger, they should call the police straight away on 999.

If you are getting the bus then know the times the bus is due and don’t be too early so you are not hanging around the bus stop. On the bus, keep yourself out of danger – remember everything you were taught about keeping yourself safe at primary school. In short, trust your instincts. Avoid getting into arguments with adults you do not know, for example over a spare seat on the bus.

If you are cycling, know your route, wear a helmet and practise the journey! Remember to cycle safely – do not swerve across roads!

Other sources of support

If you need help, including with your emotional and mental wellbeing, then these organisations can help you. Never be afraid to seek help if you are feeling down, stressed or things are getting on top of you.

Young Minds offers lots of help and advice for young people, including in relation to mental health. You can access their website: https://youngminds.org.uk/find-help/feelings-and-symptoms/problems-at-school/

Childline – call or chat with advisors. The website can be accessed on https://www.childline.org.uk/get-support/contacting-childline/

Childnet – secondary. Childnet has lots of advice on bullying, online safety and what they call your ‘digital wellbeing’ You can access Childnet from https://www.childnet.com/young-people/secondary

Remember too that the academy has a counsellor and we also have our safer schools police officer that you can talk to. It is always best to talk to a trusted adult. We are here for you.


Report a Concern

Use this form (click this link or scan the QR code below) to report a safeguarding or bullying concern about a student that attends Harris Academy Clapham. You can do this anonymously or leave your name. This form will alert a member of the safeguarding team (during working hours in term time). 


If someone is in immediate danger or risk of harm always dial 999. 
 

Where possible always speak to the child's tutor, HOY, pastoral manager or a designated safeguarding lead. 

QRCode for Reporting a Concern 

 

Back to Key Information