Harris Federation
The Harris Federation of South London Schools is a charitable organisation to which all of the Harris Academies belong. Its aim is to operate as a group of collaborating Academies for the benefit of young people in South London.
Two attempts had previously been made to appoint a high caliber school leader to further develop the Academy. Previously the processes had not attracted suitable candidates and therefore no appointment was made. The Harris Federation recognised the need to appoint a Principal as soon as possible and contacted Pentir with the request to help.
As a significant amount of money had already been invested in advertising, our strategy was to carry out an extensive national search for candidates. Our strategy also ensured that this was to be an inclusive appointment and as a consequence briefing meetings were set up with governors, senior leadership team, staff and students.
The search activity identified a number of candidates who had the necessary attributes to lead the Peckham Academy but the context was a cause for concern. This was not helped by a double-page expose in a Sunday newspaper by the previous Principal.
Candidates attended a preliminary interview with Pentir consultants who prepared informative reports to assist the Harris Federation in their short listing process. Four candidates were short listed for an assessment centre and further interviews. Such was the quality of the candidates that the Harris Federation was able to make two Principal appointments. One at Peckham Academy and another for an Academy where a vacancy was due to occur.
Dan Moynihan, Chief Executive of the Harris Federation said:
“We were having difficulty in identifying the leader we required for the Peckham Academy. It was the expertise, support and guidance provided by Pentir that allowed us to make a first class appointment. However Pentir went further for not only did they provide us with the right information to make the right decision they also supported the candidates in a way that allowed them to show us just how good they were. This is clearly an organisation that has great networks and knows who really are the world class leaders in education. Any school or academy looking to appoint an exceptional leader should make sure they talk to Pentir Talent Solutions.”