Twitter

01/12/23

Very impressive win vs Chestnut Grove 39-16 in the first game of JNR NBA season. Outstanding Performance by Donnell, Ethan and Shaun K and other Y8 boys. pic.twitter.com/Vb9WbdfXlJ

29/11/23

Year 9 student leadership candidates deliver their speeches in assembly this morning. Excellent oracy and charisma from the candidates in true HABS style. Voting concludes on Friday when the successful leaders will be announced. pic.twitter.com/oocQsHR9D1

21/11/23

On Friday 17th November, our local MP, Ms Marsha De Cordova visited HABS, met with the student council and presented the Academy with literature celebrating Black History Month. pic.twitter.com/Kscmoext1Y

17/11/23

BigBrotherBigSister programme- year 12s meet there y9 mentees for the first time! pic.twitter.com/Dwz2FWzS0N

17/11/23

Y11s finished mock season by revising Geography with Head of Academy, Mr Comerford, ahead of their final exam. Congratulations to all of Y11 for their hard work during this first set of exams, setting themselves up for success in their GCSE year! pic.twitter.com/a7HNX2xqlY

17/11/23

Here at HABS we love a good ol' Sip & Paint! Here are few picks from our latest arts celebration during Black History Month Thursday pic.twitter.com/WnOdnIRN5g

15/11/23

All Y13 science students attended a series of masterclasses at HA Crystal Palace. Students appreciated the opportunity to further refine their exam skills to help them achieve the top grades. Just one of the many additional opportunities in offer to 6th Formers at HABS. pic.twitter.com/4XV61IW301

03/11/23

HAB students celebrated Black History Month in October. Students were educated, celebrated and empowered through author visits, poetry workshops, career insight assemblies and craft opportunities. Thank you to ,  , and pic.twitter.com/rgzt14vUOw

02/11/23

21 Y10 students undertook their Duke of Edinburgh Practice Expedition in the Coney Hall Recreation Ground area of West Wickham and impressed with their skills and general camaraderie! pic.twitter.com/djlXu8UuR0

13/07/23

Well done to the HABS girls' basketball team who after winning the league, made it to the final fours against the best teams in London and won their semi games with outstanding performance! pic.twitter.com/YbKNidYEIJ

12/07/23

Y12 students visited Octopus Energy and engaged with group tasks to learn more about specific job roles within the energy and STEM careers sector. The students then toured the offices and met staff within the different teams, followed by a Q&A session. pic.twitter.com/JBIJqhMWzi

10/07/23

Yesterday some of our students got the chance to create their own superheroes during the visit of Abiola Bello-a passionate and talented author. She spoke about her career and the process of getting a book published. The students also participated in a superhero battle at the end pic.twitter.com/41ctFvQiLd

06/07/23

A great day yesterday for Y7 students who competed in the HF basketball tournament 14 schools involved. The girls finished second winning 5/6 games and the boys finished joint second winning 4/6 games pic.twitter.com/jTFj9nkirA

30/06/23

Simon James Green was with us today for an assembly and comedy writing workshops with Y9 students. Simon’s books are a great mix of comedy and real-life issues many focused on LGBTQI+ characters and promote anti-discrimination and acceptance of all people. pic.twitter.com/InYF98SoBY

22/06/23

Yesterday, Y10 students went to Imperial Uni for a STEM day. They attended talks on pursuing A level science or university as well as the different careers available to STEM graduates. Students also had a tour by a former student who now studies at Imperial Uni! pic.twitter.com/j5OWktNUsf

22/06/23

Yesterday some of our students visited the Black Cultural Archives in Windrush Square, Brixton. They enjoyed participating in a session on the 1981 Uprising and analysed the impact it had on the black community and their relationship with the police. pic.twitter.com/LUYwOfX9zC

19/06/23

Our Y11 student George Lee-Christian has been shortlisted as a finalist in the Music First Young Creative Musician Festival on 27th June. Well Done, George! pic.twitter.com/a9WiyLeJoA

19/06/23

Year 8 Careers and public speaking workshops with Anthony and Mike from Man Group."Is there a woMan group?" - a year 8 🤣The Man Group is named after its founder James Man when it was established in 1783. pic.twitter.com/V7p5rdpWck

19/06/23

Today we celebrate our Secondary Director, Rebecca Hickey! Congratulations on your 🎉👏🏽👏🏼🎉  https://t.co/SYk5SlOvT1

17/06/23

Today we celebrate our Secondary Director, Rebecca Hickey! Congratulations on your 🎉👏🏽👏🏼🎉  https://t.co/SYk5SlOvT1

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

Vocabulary and Reading

On this page we'll include information for parents about how we support reading and vocabulary at Harris Academy Battersea, and how parents can help too.


Reading cloudReading Cloud - online library

Click HERE to access Reading Cloud, our school online library system, where you can search for and reserve books.

Reading Cloud also gives your child access to over 2000 online books. Each student will have been given their individual username and password in school. Please click HERE for the full list of online books available.


Vocabulary glossaries

See our latest vocabulary glossaries for each subject. Students will be tested on their newly acquired vocabulary across all subjects. To help them revise, please see the glossaries for your child’s year group (downloads are Excel documents).

Click HERE to see the 'how to use' guide for parents/carers, including tips on how to use the glossaries at home.


Bedrock Learning

Students are now using Bedrock Learning, an online programme where they can access both non-fiction and fiction texts to improve their reading skills and learn new vocabulary that will enhance the way they read, speak and write across all of their subjects.

Bedrock LearningAs students progress through the Bedrock curriculum, they will study hundreds of new words.

Research has shown that there is a direct link between a student’s vocabulary size and their academic achievement. Children with a wider vocabulary make faster progress at school, in further education and beyond. Narrow vocabularies affect directly students’ grades.

Students will complete two lessons of Bedrock per week. Students will have seven days to complete both lessons. The work will be set as homework by their English teacher. This means that their English teacher will be monitoring the completion.

You can log in to Bedrock at https://app.bedrocklearning.org/

When students first log in they will be asked to complete an alpha test. This must be completed on their own as it means that the programme is designed around them.

Individual login details have been sent to all parents in separate letters.


How can parents help?

  1. Sit through one Bedrock lesson with your child. You’ll get a clear idea of how long it should take them and the level they should be working at.
  2. If you have not done so already, create your Bedrock parent account. You will require the access code sent to you from HABS by email and the student code sent to your child’s email address. Click HERE to download the Bedrock parent guide, if you need help.
  3. Check the Vocab Notebook and the recent activity report to monitor your child’s progress. Congratulate them when they complete a topic- this will keep them motivated through the next one!

Reading Strategies

Here are some reading strategies you can use in Key Stage 3 and 4, depending on the reading level of your child. You can also download these reading strategies as a pdf.


If reading is not yet on track

Not yet able to demonstrate:

  • An ability to deal with large text-based work without continuous help
  • An ability to infer without support and will only be able to infer if they have previous contextual experience linked to the text

Strategies to support reading

  • Support your child to read every day for 20 minutes minimum - you can read to them which helps them read texts fluently or they can read to you. Either one of these strategies supports your child in developing their reading skills
  • Predict content by looking at title/images/questions - Encourages students to actively think ahead and ask questions
  • Infer – guess meaning based on the context of the story – Encourages students to find clues in the text and use what they already know to fully understand the text
  • Ask what kind of word it is (noun/adjective/verb) - Encourages your child to read, understand written and oral material and to communicate more clearly
  • Break down words and say them out loud – Encourages students to decode words that they've heard but have never seen in print, as well as sound out words they're not familiar with

Use their blue vocabulary book to note down new words and definitions – Encourages students to learn meaning of new words that are not part of their oral vocabulary


If reading is on track (reading age matches physical age)

Not yet able to demonstrate:

  • An ability to decode subject specific vocabulary without support.
  • An ability to recognise multiple meanings for the same word without guidance

Strategies to support reading

  • Support your child to read every day for 20 minutes minimum - you can read to them which helps them read texts fluently or they can read to you. Either one of these strategies supports your child in developing their reading skills.
  • Identify and discuss difficult words, phrases and concepts - Encourages understand unfamiliar words so that you can interpret the overall meaning of a sentence
  • Decode word definition from the context and look for clues surrounding the word – Encourages students to become more resilient readers
  • Summarise what was read by retelling the main ideas – Encourages students how to integrate central ideas of a text and improve their memory
  • Paraphrase sentences or paragraphs – Encourages students to discern important information from a text in their own words

Use their blue vocabulary book to note down new words and definitions – Encourages students to learn meaning of new words that are not part of their oral vocabulary


If reading is exceptional

Not yet able to demonstrate:

  • An ability to independently decode new subject specific vocabulary

Strategies to support reading:

  • Support your child to read read every day for 20 minutes minimum
  • Select a book from the reading lists on our website that is appropriate for their reading age (a challenging book should be at least 1-2 years above their reading age). Google also provides reading ages for most books
  • Draw links between words with the same root (child, children, childlike, childhood, childish) – Encourages students to enrich their vocabulary and decoding skills
  • Pronounce and spell words to enhance memory – Encourages retention of ambiguous or irregular words
  • Think of synonyms/antonyms for newly learned words to improve chance of remembering – Encourages students to learn multiple meanings of words
  • Paraphrase sentences or paragraphs - Encourages students to discern important information from a text in their own words
  • Use the blue vocabulary book to note down new words and definitions – Encourages students to learn meaning of new words that are not part of their oral vocabulary

Lit in ColourLit in Colour

Penguin have launched a new initiative, called Lit in Colour, to try to diversify student reading habits and promote writers of colour among school students.

Please click HERE to see a reading list of recommended texts which we now have in stock in our library.

Why not encourage your child to take one of these out during their library lesson and read this at home?


Useful websites to improve reading