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Posted on July 4th 2023
Harris Girls’ Academy Bromley Awarded World Class School Status
On 23rd May 2023, Harris Girls’ Academy Bromley was accredited with the World Class Schools Quality Mark, joining a coveted network of just over 140 schools in the UK.
The Quality Mark is awarded by education charity World Class Schools Quality Mark, whose unique assessment framework assesses the students, not the school, for their demonstration of World Class skills and competencies. The premise is that if the school is truly World Class, then its students should be able to demonstrate this in whatever context they find themselves.
Harris Girls’ Academy Bromley is one of just a handful of non-selective state schools awarded the Quality Mark in the 2023 academic year, following a challenging assessment process in which students worked to identify and demonstrate their World Class characteristics using the WCSQM character development framework as a benchmark.
The framework highlights characteristics across individual areas including leadership, community, learning and workplace for secondary students. Over time students demonstrated how they had met each characteristic, either at school, at home or in their local community, uploading evidence and a summary for each completed characteristic via the WCSQM internet-based app, BeWorldClass. Once a significant number of students are proving World Class characteristics, WCSQM assesses the students’ completed portfolios via a student-led assessment process.
WCSQM was established as a charity in 2018 accrediting students using a framework of skills and competencies young people need to flourish in an emerging global economy. The charity’s mission is to level up opportunities so that every student can develop World Class characteristics both in and out of the classroom, regardless of their circumstances or background, to help them achieve their potential.
“We are so proud of the students for their diligent hard work in proving that they are World Class students. The process of identifying their World Class characteristics, finding evidence and explaining to an external assessor every way they meet the extensive criteria required is incredibly challenging for some of our students as young as 12 years of age, and isn’t dissimilar to the process I went through to put together a portfolio for my Post Graduate Diploma. The students’ contribution to our wider school, their attitude towards being constant learners and improvers is a joy to see.
Ms Hitchings, Faculty Director of Sixth Form
“At WCSQM we wholeheartedly believe it is the students that make a school, and a school that prioritises the development of World Class characteristics in its students will always be World Class. The skills and competencies these students have demonstrated will help them excel in any environment and make them ideal candidates for whichever further education / career pathway they choose to take. These are the World Class citizens of the next generation, and we’re incredibly proud to award them for their achievements so far.”
Miranda Perry, Director, WCSQM