Harris Professional Skills Sixth Form

Overview

Harris Professional Skills Sixth Form is a new academy providing vocational education for 16 to 19-year-olds, rated as ‘Good’ across all inspection categories. The report highlights a ‘very nurturing environment’ where staff provide effective pastoral care, ensuring students feel ‘safe and secure’. Leaders have designed a curriculum tailored to local employment needs, resulting in a ‘very high proportion’ of students progressing to further study or positive next steps.

Strengths

• Staff provide ‘good individual support’ and ‘effective pastoral care’, including therapeutic sessions that help maintain students’ emotional well-being.
• Teachers possess ‘good subject expertise’ and use real-world scenarios to clearly explain topics and develop practical skills.
• The curriculum is ‘sequenced logically’, allowing students to build on earlier knowledge to tackle complex projects.
• Leaders place a ‘strong focus on attendance’, with thorough follow-ups that have resulted in ‘good and improving’ attendance rates.
• Most students receive effective careers advice, particularly regarding university applications and personal statements.

Areas to improve

• Leaders must ensure level 3 students retain knowledge of ‘fundamental British values’ and understand how these apply to their lives.
• Construction teachers need to provide more opportunities for students to develop ‘writing skills’, including correcting spelling and grammar errors.
• Governors and leaders must adopt a ‘more thorough approach to self-evaluation’ to better identify areas requiring development.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are ‘effective’, with designated leads appropriately trained and working closely with partner organisations to address local risks.