Background
The College was once Sylvan High School, a newly built mixed comprehensive school, opened in 1974. The school, considered to be significantly under-performing, was closed, only to re-open in 1990 as a City Technology College sponsored by Lord Harris of Peckham.
The new Harris CTC introduced new systems and structures and results steadily improved. In recent years the examination performance of the school has been excellent.The school became an Academy in 2007 and received the promise of £10 Million for new buildings and facilities. The work on the new buildings will be completed by November 2010 with the construction of a new Sixth Form block and reception.
The Academy achieved exceptional examination results in 2009 with 99% of students achieving 5+ A*-C grades at GCSE and 82% of students achieving 5+ A*-C (including English and Maths). The Sixth Form results were also the best ever achieved by the Academy with 100% of students passing their A-level exams and 82% of all grades achieved resulting in a grade A, B or C.
In October 2009, under the new tougher Ofsted inspection criteria, the Academy became the first secondary school in the country to achieve an outstanding grade in each of the 30 categories. By Easter 2010 the Academy was still the only school in England to have achieved this result.
Over 2000 applications were received for 180 places in Year 7 for September 2009. The intake of the Academy is mixed ability.
The Sixth Form is part of a federated Sixth Form with Harris South Norwood, Harris Merton, Harris Purley, Harris East Dulwich Boys and Harris East Dulwich Girls. The Sixth Form at Crystal Palace delivers primarily AS and A level courses and around 350 students are based there. The other two sites offer some AS and A levels but also a range of vocational courses. From September 2010 the Harris City Academy Crystal Palace will offer the International Baccalaureate to Sixth Form students. Harris City Academy Crystal Palace is also a registered Cisco Networking Academy and offers the CCNA course to Post-16s throughout the Federation as part of the enrichment programme.
The Academy is a Gifted and Talented specialist school. Specific new opportunities for students include: an annual opportunity for three Post-16 students to visit NASA astronaut training facilities in Houston and Florida in the USA and many residential trips.
Read more about this topic: Harris City Academy Crystal Palace
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