Harris Academy Riverside

Harris Academy Riverside is a warm, inclusive and well-led school where pupils attend regularly and behave well. Inspectors found safeguarding standards are met, with particularly strong practice in attendance, behaviour and inclusion. Pupils benefit from a clear ethos of 'be kind, work hard and take responsibility', high expectations, and effective support for pupils with SEND and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Attendance is above national comparators, and pupils feel safe, happy and respected. The school provides a broad, balanced curriculum and effective teaching, with achievement broadly in line with or above national averages. Personal development, wellbeing and post-16 provision are well planned and tailored to pupils' needs, including careers advice and enrichment. Leaders know the school and its community well, are supported by the trust and governing board, and staff value the professional development and support they receive. Two areas require further refinement: ensuring the personal development and wellbeing programme builds secure and detailed knowledge consistently across all key stages, and ensuring curriculum implementation is consistent across all key stages. Contextually, this was a full section 5 inspection of a school within the Harris Federation, with a headteacher appointed in September 2025 and significant changes to the senior leadership team; the school also uses three unregistered alternative provisions.

Strengths

• High and improving attendance, including for pupils with SEND and disadvantaged pupils
• Warm, welcoming and supportive school culture with clear routines and strong behaviour
• Inclusive culture of care with effective support for SEND and disadvantaged pupils
• Strong leadership and governance, with rigorous trust and local board support
• Broad, balanced and well-considered curriculum tailored to pupils' needs
• Effective teaching with strong subject knowledge and skilful misconception addressing
• Well-planned personal development and wellbeing programme suited to the school's context
• Strong post-16 provision with high expectations and successful student destinations
• Pupils feel safe, happy, polite and kind, and bullying is rare and dealt with effectively
• Robust safeguarding culture where safeguarding is everyone's responsibility

Areas for Improvement

• Personal development and wellbeing programme does not yet ensure secure and detailed knowledge across all key stages
• Curriculum implementation is not yet consistent across all key stages

Admissions: local authority offers data from the Department for Education. A school is oversubscribed when at least 5% of the families who put it first were not offered a place, and undersubscribed when everyone who put it first got in but 10% or more of its places were unfilled in the Department's school capacity survey (the latest survey is used for entry years it does not cover). Places: Department for Education, School capacity, from local authorities' annual survey as at 1 May. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024–25); the survey was not run in 2020. Places include sixth form places. Forecasts are the local authority's own for the school's planning area, an area it uses to plan places that is not the school's catchment area. The forecast starts from a head count in 2025; the dashed line is the Department's estimate of places in that area, including those the authority has firm plans for. Planned places are cumulative, and only those with firm plans are counted.

In 2024–25 pupils at Harris Academy Riverside attended 94.3% of sessions (the national figure for secondary schools was 91.6%). 13.5% of pupils were persistently absent, missing at least one session in ten (nationally 23.4%).

Sessions missed

Pupils persistently absent

Source: Department for Education, Pupil absence in schools in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Persistent absence means missing 10% or more of sessions; severe absence means 50% or more. No figures were published for 2019/20.

In 2024–25, 6.1% of pupils at Harris Academy Riverside were suspended at least once (nationally 7.3%). One pupil was permanently excluded.

Pupils suspended at least once

Source: Department for Education, Suspensions and permanent exclusions in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). A pupil can be suspended more than once, so suspensions per 100 pupils can be higher than the share of pupils suspended. Very small numbers are hidden by the DfE. Exclusion figures dropped in 2020 and 2021 because of school closures.

In 2025–26 Harris Academy Riverside had 15.7 pupils for each teacher (the national figure for secondary schools was 16.7). Of its teachers in 2024–25, 21.3% were no longer at the school a year later (nationally 14.1%).

Pupils per teacher

Teachers who left the school within a year

Source: Department for Education, School workforce in England. Each year is the one the school year ends in (2025 is 2024/25). Pupils per teacher counts full-time-equivalent pupils and teachers. Turnover is the share of a year's teachers (full-time equivalent) who were not at the school the following year, whether they moved to another school or left state-funded teaching. Turnover and sickness figures run one year behind the ratios. Sick leave is the share of teachers who took at least one day in the year, so it swings widely at small schools, where a few teachers can make it 0% or 100%. The national figures are for all state schools of the same type.

In 2025–26, 9.8% of pupils at Harris Academy Riverside were on SEN support (nationally 14.1%) and 2.9% had an education, health and care (EHC) plan (nationally 3.5%).

Pupils by main type of need

Source: Department for Education, Special educational needs in England (the 2025–26 school census). SEN support is extra help in school without an EHC plan. National figures are for all state-funded secondary schools. Counts are as published, with small numbers not hidden.

In 2024–25 Harris Academy Riverside received £7,903 and spent £8,117 for each of its 1,117 pupils. It ended the year with a deficit of £5,000 (-£4 per pupil).

Across all 58 schools of Harris Federation, income was £8,891 and spending £8,882 per pupil.

Income per pupil

Spending per pupil

Source: Department for Education, Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool. Each year is the one the financial year ends in (2024 is 2023–24). Academy figures include a share of the trust's central services, shared out by pupil numbers, and are rounded to the nearest £1,000. Premises costs were defined differently from 2024, so compare them across that gap with care.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools

All schools in Thurrock · Thurrock local authority: places and applications

Harris Academy Riverside is part of Harris Federation, which runs 58 schools. The nearest others:

• Harris Academy Chafford Hundred Grays
• Harris Primary Academy Chafford Hundred Grays
• Harris Primary Academy Mayflower Chafford Hundred
• Harris Academy Ockendon South Ockendon
• Harris Rainham Sixth Form Rainham
• Harris Academy Rainham Rainham
• Harris Garrard Academy Erith
• Harris Academy Falconwood Welling
• Harris Primary Academy Orpington Orpington
• Harris Academy Greenwich London

What is Harris Academy Riverside's Ofsted rating?

The latest Ofsted rating for Harris Academy Riverside is Expected standard, from an inspection in June 2026.

When was Harris Academy Riverside last inspected by Ofsted?

Harris Academy Riverside was last inspected in June 2026.

How many pupils does Harris Academy Riverside have?

Harris Academy Riverside has 1,111 pupils on roll.

What age range does Harris Academy Riverside cover?

Harris Academy Riverside for pupils aged 11 to 18.

What are Harris Academy Riverside's GCSE results?

In 2026 its average Attainment 8 score was 48.1, and 47% of pupils achieved grade 5 or above in both English and maths GCSE.

Where is Harris Academy Riverside?

Harris Academy Riverside is at London Road, Purfleet, Essex, RM19 1QY.