Alumni Stories

Your experiences since leaving could help to motivate and inspire our current students to feel more confident in making decisions about their future. We’d love you to join our alumni network and stay connected with the school.

You can choose how and when you help – perhaps you can act as a career and education role model, or visit our current students at the careers fair or help provide work experience.

You might like to present an assembly, become a mentor in person or online, or help with donations, fundraising or even apply to become a governor.

It doesn’t matter when you left us, whether you’re in further education or employment, whether you still live nearby or have moved further away, there are still ways you can help.

If you'd like to help or want to know more, then please get in touch with Ms Boothe , Director of Sixth Form on r.boothe@harrisbromley.org.uk

If you're a former student and haven't yet completed or updated your Harris Futures Profile, please take a moment to do so.

Alumni story : Libby

Libby Powell attended Harris Girls' Academy Bromley and has had an exciting journey since leaving school. While at Harris, she was actively involved in extracurricular activities, including the robotics team, which she not only participated in but later coached. She also had the opportunity to showcase the team’s work at Parliament, and enjoyed performing with the Harris and Harmony Choir at the annual Harris Conference.

Libby’s academic path included studying design and technology, geography, and Latin at GCSE, and later taking maths, further maths, and physics at A-level. Despite the challenges of visiting universities during the pandemic, Libby found her perfect fit at the University of Leeds.

She credits Harris with providing the support and encouragement she needed to pursue her goals. Teachers at the school never discouraged her from aiming high, always believing in her potential. This nurturing environment, she believes, gave her the confidence to follow her ambitions.

Now, Libby is preparing for an exciting new adventure- moving to Orlando, Florida, to work for Disney. It’s a big step in her career journey, and she looks back on her time at Harris as a key part of the foundation that has supported her growth.

Alumni story : Aaliyah

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.

Alumni story : Alex

Alumni student Alex works as a consultant for a marketing firm and recently came back to the academy to work with students on the importance of data analysis in the media industry.

Alumni story : Tyashah

Alumni student Tyashah is training to be a veterinary nurse and returned to the academy to deliver an assembly and workshop to students on personal statement writing, what she's learnt since leaving us and how to work in veterinary medicine. 

Alumni story : Tolu

Alumni student Tolu is training to be a midwife and recently sent in some life updates via email, offering to be featured on our 'Career of the Week' slides. Our students loved seeing and hearing about her life since leaving Bromley!