The Harris Group

Education often shapes our futures in unexpected ways. We spoke to Aaliyah about her journey from being a student at Harris Girls’ Academy Bromley, to a dedicated teacher at Harris Primary Academy Beckenham. 

Can you tell us about your journey at Harris?

My journey with Harris started when I went to Harris Girls’ Academy Bromley. It wasn't a conventional start- when I got to Year 8, I had quite a lot of family stuff going on so my behaviour wasn’t brilliant and I had quite a few detentions and reports. However, at no point did I ever feel unsupported by any of my teachers or anyone in the academy. My form tutor especially was really supportive, and he would always check in with me at least once a week and ask how I'm doing and give me a bit of a pep talk which was really nice.

By the time I got to Year 11, my behaviour had turned around, and I even applied and was successful in becoming a prefect. A lot of my friends said that they found that quite helpful because it wasn't just someone that had constantly been top set for everything, it was very much a journey.

I then stayed on for Sixth Form at Harris Girls' Academy Bromley, and still had lots of support from staff like my head of year who was really supportive. I then went to university in Leicester to study English as an undergraduate and postgraduate degree. During my postgraduate degree, I was tutoring, and when Covid happened, the centre closed down so I was looking for jobs. I had a mentor supporting me and when I told him I wanted to teach, he signposted me to a teaching assistant role at Harris Primary Academy Beckenham. I didn’t even know the school existed; I only knew about the secondary school [Harris Academy Beckenham].

I was successful in my interview and then became an HLTA at the same school. I was encouraged by my headteacher to do my teacher training, which I also did through Harris, and now I am the Year 5 teacher in the same school that I trained with.

What’s your favourite memory from being a student at Harris Girls’ Academy Bromley? 

One of my favourite memories is from when I was in Year 9. We had an enrichment week where we had to create a product and the money raised would go towards a school event that the Year 9s wanted to do.

At the time my Dad was recovering from a back operation which meant he was unable to work and the way he wanted to get stronger was to challenge himself with the London to Paris bike ride. I asked the school if I could put my Dad's sponsorship form at the front of office and the next week, my Head of Year came up to me and offered half the proceeds from enrichment week to my Dad’s sponsorship. I remember coming in, and we took a picture together with this big cheque with the staff, and he even came in to do a faculty assembly each day and talk to each of the faculties about his journey and how he prepared for the bike ride. I got such a buzz from that and I think I'll always be thankful for Harris Girls’ Academy Bromley for doing that because not only did it help me, it helped my dad and it helped so many people at St Christopher's.

Why have you chosen to be part of Harris Futures?

I saw Harris Futures come up on my LinkedIn and saw former students talking on a podcast about their journey. I think it’s really exciting that Harris now have a network to connect with other former students.

I really wanted to be a part of it because Harris has been such a big part of my life and made me who I am as a person. I think it's a fantastic opportunity to talk to current students and show that not every journey is linear or predictable. I've had some rocky moments but now I know what I'm doing and what I want to do, and that’s because of Harris. I’d definitely recommend Harris Futures to any current students once they leave.

If you're a former student and haven't yet joined the Harris Futures network, you can do so here.