Twitter

19/03/24

🌟 Thrilled to share moments from the Speak Out Regional Final! 🎤 Megan Farr and May Mbabazi shone brightly, representing Harris Garrard Academy with their powerful voices. A celebration of young talent and the magic of expression. ✨ pic.twitter.com/yI8GICW9uF

15/03/24

Off to the we go, with Year 8 in tow, to witness love's timeless tale in a contemporary glow. Thanks to ’s generous sponsorship, Shakespeare's words will leap and dip. 🎭💔 pic.twitter.com/ezNpvHdema

08/03/24

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07/03/24

📚✨ The halls of HGA have transformed into a literary wonderland as our secondary staff channel their inner bookworms, dressing up as their favorite book characters! From the whimsical to the wicked, can you guess the characters? 📸🎭 pic.twitter.com/y8azMifcNq

06/03/24

The yr5/6 Netball final took place between today.Both teams have done exceptionally well to reach the final & were undefeated in their league so we knew we were in for a close game

05/03/24

The yr5/6 Netball final took place between today.Both teams have done exceptionally well to reach the final & were undefeated in their league so we knew we were in for a close game

01/03/24

Just wrapped up another fantastic week at HGA, proving that even when the skies open up, we find our pot of gold in the learning of our students. 🌈 pic.twitter.com/jKjPQHPkQ2

01/03/24

HGA Sixth Formers' visit to Auschwitz-Birkenau was a powerful reminder of history's darkest chapters. Their solemn reflections will echo in our hearts and history classes. pic.twitter.com/k1CaBME2Ns

29/02/24

Excited to kick off day 1 of the Y12 Biology Residential! 🌿 Stay tuned for updates, insights, and all the fascinating discoveries we'll make together! pic.twitter.com/6nqWUWrZBE

27/02/24

We're looking forward to National Careers Week, 4th-9th March 2024. We will be using the many resources available, such as a virtual careers fair, films, talks and booklets to inspire our students about their future options and pathways. https://t.co/kTXTWlyLix pic.twitter.com/RyYS0u3HQR

20/02/24

🎉 What an inspiring afternoon at our Careers Fair! Students explored a world of opportunities with leading employers, colleges, and universities. Their futures look bright! 🌟 Check out the highlights 📸 pic.twitter.com/D5uRNqGvDW

09/02/24

Congratulations to everyone you have done yourselves, your school and your Borough proud https://t.co/AxU7Tsxvjc

09/02/24

Congratulations to everyone you have done yourselves, your school and your Borough proud https://t.co/AxU7Tsxvjc

09/02/24

We are officially through to the Sports hall finals. We finished inside the top 3 of todays qualifier and now will be one of 12 schools in the grand finals on the 19th March! This is the first time in the 3 years we have achieved this! pic.twitter.com/hw1DbJxEo1

09/02/24

We have officially arrived at for the indoor sports athletics London finals representing to team Let’s go Garrard!! pic.twitter.com/op0BNKu50R

09/02/24

Look what arrived in the post! These adorable handmade worry monsters were ordered from over a year ago. Big thanks to the talented knitters - they will bring comfort to many. Therapeutic tools for little ones. pic.twitter.com/r6GhmtALKl

09/02/24

Love is in the air (and candy in hand!) at HGA! Y11s selling roses & lollipops to make prom dreams come true. Talk about initiative! pic.twitter.com/8T0vOCx0vU

09/02/24

HGA remembered the stories of the holocaust, assembly led by Mr Mukadam. pic.twitter.com/9BTdyy2beo

12/12/23

The girls at our school are selling baked goods all week to raise money for their cheerleading competition in February. The first day was a great success, and we thank everyone for their support! Come and grab some delicious treats to support the Legacy Cheer and Dance 2024 🍰🎉 pic.twitter.com/3Hs1IMb2M6

11/12/23

KS3 students have mastered functions and formulas, so it's time for a little light relief! They're creating pixel art using conditional formatting in Excel. It's a fun way to apply their skills and unleash their creativity. 🎨💻 pic.twitter.com/yOXsbDgDCG

Harris Academies
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Our Literacy Specialism

"But words are things, and a small drop of ink,

Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces

That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think."

Lord Byron, Don Juan, 1819–1824 


Phonics 3

The ability to read and write is a key life skill that every child. Here at Harris Garrard Academy, we ensure that every child learns to read and write through the use of a programme called Read Write Inc.

You can see our age-appropriate reading lists, with recommended books for children in Years 2-6 by clicking the links at the bottom of this page.

Watch our presentation about reading at Harris Garrard Academy.

Download the presentation to Reception parents (September 2023)


English alphabetic code

We begin teaching our children to read from the very first day they walk through our doors. English has a very complex alphabetic code: there are more than 150 ways to represent 44 sounds using the 26 letters in the alphabet. In Reception, children learn individual letters which blend together to make words. In Year 1 and 2, they learn to read the same sounds with alternate graphemes (Set 3).

Here is a list of Set 1, Set 2 and Set 3 sounds in the order that they are taught:

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Whilst a child is learning to read, they are sent home with half-termly booklets. These contain QR code links to videos to support the children to acquire sound knowledge and reinforce what they are learning in school. Alongside handwriting sheets, these videos support your child to practise what they are learning in school.

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QR code booklets look like this and are updated each half-term:

Picture2

Please visit the following website for more information and videos about our Read Write Inc programme, including a guide to pronunciation: https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/


Phonics 2What are phonics books?

Our children experience success from the very beginning. As soon as a child can blend the first sounds taught together, our phonics books (pictured) are introduced. These are closely matched to their increasing knowledge of phonics and ‘tricky’ words.

Your child will practise reading these books three times at school before bringing them home. Sharing the story with you is an opportunity for them to show off how fluent they are becoming at reading.

See below for a table detailing the progression of our core story books:

Phonics 4


What other books will my child bring home?

Alongside these, your child will also bring home an engaging and closely matched ‘book bag book’ (see an example below). As these books are matched to your child’s class story book, they reinforce the sounds they are learning in class at home.

Phonics 5

As well as fully decodable phonics books, our youngest readers will also bring home a ‘free reader book’ from the class library in Reception or our school library (pictured below) for Years 1 and 2. Each week, the students choose a story which you can read to your child to immerse them in the wonderful world of literature. We also have a range of bilingual and picture books so that all parents can get involved.  

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What are red words?

You may hear your child mention learning red words at school. These are words that children need to learn to read and write by sight because they contain parts that are not decodable. The story books and ‘book bag books’ that your child takes home will also include these words. Some of the red words may only be ‘red’ until a specific sound has been learnt.

See below for a table showing at what point your children will learn to read each red word.

Red ditty

put; the; I; no; of; my; for; he

Green

your; said; you; be; are

Purple

to; me; go; baby; paint

Pink

all; like; I’ve; want; call; we; her; she; washing; some; so

Orange

what; they; do; old; was

Yellow

saw; watch; school; watches; small; their; were; who; tall; one; brother; I’m; there; fall; any; where; wall

Blue

does; other; two; could; ball; would; wash; water; anyone; over; wasn’t; through; once; son; whole; people

Grey

should; come; many; mother; above; father; here; buy; bought; great; someone; another; walk; caught; worse; everyone; talk; thought; love; wear

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to find Mrs Sheppard and ask him. Also, look out for our next parent phonics session.


What is reading like at HGA?

Our Primary Library was renovated in 2020, and we are extremely proud of the range of stories which are available for the students to borrow. We now have over 4,000 books which include non-fiction, graphic novels, comics and poetry books. Over the last 3 years, we have built up our Accelerated Reader (AR) programme. Click HERE to find out more about the Accelerated Reader programme.

Students choose a book appropriate to their reading level (not too hard and not too easy) and they complete a quiz to test what they have understood. Students should bring their book to school each day. The expectation is that students are reading for at least 20 minutes each night at home. Children will need a space at home where they are able to read each evening. If this is tricky, please let the school know as we have reading clubs after school (with juice and biscuits) which provide a quiet place for your child to read.

Library 1 copy

There are over 36,000 quizzes on Accelerated Reader, so some of your stories at home may have tests. If your child would like to quiz on a book from home, then they are more than welcome to bring it to school to quiz on! To see if your child’s book is on Accelerated Reader, please visit this website www.arbookfind.co.uk. There is also a ‘suggest quizzes’ button on the same page, so if they don’t have a test for your child’s home book on the system, you can request one!

Before the summer break, we also invested in the online reading platform myON https://www.myon.co.uk/login/. Through logging on their online account, students can choose from over 4 million books to read online on a computer, phone or tablet. They can even link their AR Star Reader account and quiz during school time to earn points for words read.  

For Y2+ students on AR, the username and password is the same their AR account – first initial and 4 letters of their surname and HGA. Please make sure all letters are in capitals. e.g. username: FSHEP password: HGA 


What are our reading successes?

The students are really proud of our reading culture at HGA. It underpins everything that we do because reading really does change lives. Since we introduced AR, you can see in the below table how much our children are reading. It used to be the minimum expectation that students read one book a week, but it is so much more than that. Our students love to read! Ask them about their favourite book, author and genre!

New book requests for this year are flooding in. Get your recommendations to Mrs Sheppard!

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We are so proud of the progress all our students made in their reading in 2022-2023. Our Reception and Year 1 students have been working hard to build their reading accuracy and Accelerated Reader has really taken off in Years 2-6. We have more Millionaire Readers than ever before (see below) and the word count totals for each class (see above) are really impressive!  

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Lit6What is new for 2023-2024?

This year, we have launched the HGA Reading Challenge and the Diverse Reading Challenge. In the library, there are a plethora of books from a diverse range of authors that cover a range of topics. Will you be able to find 16 to read by the end of the year and achieve the Diverse Readers badge? Can you read all of the teacher’s recommended read by the end of the year?

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