Ballard Life 20pp 2018

2017 / 2018

Award-Winning
Highlights 2017/18

Yet another award-winning year for Ballard. Not only were we

judged to be ‘Excellent & Outstanding’ in all areas by the ISI

but we have also been recognised in all areas of School life

by many National bodies.

STEM arts

Welcome Shortlisted by the ISA for Artsmark Gold
‘Ballard Life’ Innovation in STEM Gold ISM Award
Education in Business
Second in the Education in
Business STEM Awards Music Award

life sport

Eco-Schools Silver School Games Gold Mark
Eat out Eat well Gold Award

At Ballard we are proud of our ‘four pillars’ of strength: STEM, Arts, Sport and finally, Life.

‘Life’ covers everything from our humanities provision to our incredible extra-curricular opportunities and the vast array of activities and
trips we offer. Within this magazine, you will get a taste of all the great activities we undertake here at Ballard. Of course, we haven’t been
able to fit in all of the exciting things our pupils get up to but you will certainly get a flavour!

It is a really exciting time to be at Ballard. Earlier this year, the school was As you know, Ballard is about more than just great teaching and learning. Record-breaking
inspected and achieved ‘Excellent & Outstanding’ in all categories. Our GCSE We are proud of our holistic offering and our exceptional pastoral care. GCSE results
pupils achieved record results, with 98% gaining five GCSEs 9-4 grades, which Furthermore, our Sports and Performing Arts provision is outstanding. In both
places us 30% above the national average and a long way ahead of other local, of these areas, we coach and challenge those who excel, as well as encouraging 100% A*-C (grades 9-4) in Maths, English, all three Sciences, Art,
comparable schools. all to join in and particulate. Even the staff and parents’ sports matches and
We are very proud of our curriculum here; we strive to meet the needs of every choirs are well attended. Food Technology, French, German, Music and Religious Studies.
single one of our pupils. We call this, ‘Bespoke Education’. When you come to Ballard and talk to our pupils and staff, you will hear a great
At GCSE, our pupils can choose from a wide-range of GCSE subjects and are deal about the Ballard family and community – our values are at the heart of 98% of pupils attained the ‘Gold Standard’ of 5 GCSE ‘good’
supported in and outside of the classroom by our subject specialist teaching everything we do and we firmly believe that sets us apart from other schools.
staff to ensure that they are challenged, focused and confident in all of their The ‘Ballard Values’ are to be; respectful, responsible, safe, honest, positive, passes including English and Maths.
chosen subjects. curious and kind.
This year we have supported our younger pupils who were able to take GCSE I am a great believer that happy children thrive at school. Ballard pupils are the 40% of our pupils gained the top grades of an A*/A
Spanish and GCSE German early by putting on extra lunchtime and twilight happiest I have experienced in my career, so it is no wonder that they leave our
classes. Our staff support all of our pupils and run a host of academic sessions school rounded, thoughtful, curious and driven; ready to go out into the world (grades 9-7) – double the National average with four gaining more
every day after school and offer GCSE revision classes throughout the Easter and make a difference. We call this, ‘The Ballard Way’. than 10 A*/A (grades 9-7) each and one pupil scored five grade 9s,
holidays in Year 11. Staff at Ballard really do go the extra mile.
Andrew McCleave - Headmaster two A*s and three As!
2

STEM
We have seen another exceptional year for Ballard’s STEM
departments, with two national awards recognising our strengths Year 7 paid a visit to the Ageas Bowl for the 2018 ‘Big Bang’; a STEM careers
in this area. We were shortlisted for the ISA Award for Innovation showcase offering a chance to experience a range of careers through hands-on
in STEM and we came 2nd at the Education in Business awards activities. Our pupils had a great time with highlights including the virtual
for the quality and variety of STEM projects and activities we reality and the human flying experiences. They also took part in parachute-
undertake. testing in a wind tunnel.

The awards highlight the wide range of extra-curricular STEM opportunities Our STEM team got nautical this year restoring Garana, a 30-year-old, 20' racing
experienced by our pupils and their incredible results - 100% of our pupils keel-boat alongside original designer, David Alan-Williams. For our annual Open
gained an A*- C grade at GCSE in Maths, the three Sciences and Food Day, parents were able to compete against pupils in our ‘Ocean Challenge’ by
Preparation & Nutrition this year. designing and making electrically-powered boats race in a 10-metre test tank.
We love to show our pupils rather than just tell them, so we took our Year 10
GCSE product design students to visit Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR), where they STEM club also constructed a wind tunnel to test the aerodynamic
toured the ‘tech deck’ and learnt about construction materials, aerodynamics characteristics of rocket cars. They used CAD to design their parts, which were
and control systems. Activities included a sailing simulation with virtual reality cut out on the laser cutter to form the casing. A smoke machine was used to
glasses, winch ‘grinding’ and hydraulic model building. investigate streamlines and vortices.

For our annual ‘Gifted & Talented’ Day, we invited local schools to come to
Ballard for fun STEM activities. Pupils had to make space stations out of midget
gems and toothpicks; create the most profitable farm with some creative
mathematics; compose a soundtrack for an advertisement using our iMac
suite; and create their own sparklers and set fire to methane bubbles in Science.
What a great day!

Ballard also hosted a couple of big Maths’ events including a Year 5 Maths’
Challenge with 15 local schools with our Year 9 mathematicians acting as
adjudicators and ‘House of Maths’ workshops for Reception to Year 6 pupils as
well as pupils from seven local schools.

Some of our Year 10 girls took part in a ‘Women in Maths’ day, organised to
encourage high-achieving pupils to continue studying Maths post-GCSE. Three
Year 5 girls also had their solution to a Maths’ problem published online.

In Science, pupils continued to get creative with jelly-baby waves, biscuit and
strawberry lace circuits, balloon cells and kinetic dinosaurs, to name just a few.
One of our Year 7 girls’ work on mortality and spider webs was published by
'How It Works' magazine.

Year 6 investigated the Science of Cycling for their CREST Discovery Award,
whilst Year 9 looked at the Antarctic.

3

Dance

Ten of our Y9 pupils gained a Bronze Arts Award with their contemporary dance
and choreography skills. The moderator was very impressed, not only with the
creative and thorough set of portfolios that the girls had produced, but also
their discussion with him. As part of their award, the girls visited the Mayflower
Theatre for an incredible workshop, Q&A session with the dancers, a chance to
watch the ballet company’s class before sitting down to see them perform in
the Nutcracker.

Art

We welcomed two very different artists into Ballard to work with our pupils.
Y8 worked with illustrator and graphic-artist, Roger Mason, creating their own
storyboards and cartoons. While Sharon White worked with our Y10 GCSE Arts
pupils pushing their boundaries in mixed-media, with an emphasis on colour
and surface texture. Y10 also went to the ‘Picasso 1932’ exhibition to see his
ground-breaking series of paintings and prints. Our GCSE students put on
a fabulous display of their work with one visitor asking if they could buy the
paintings! It’s no wonder 100% of them achieved an A*- C grade at GCSE.

Music

Ballard has won an ISM Gold medal for GCSE music with over 20% of all Y11
taking and achieving A*- C in Music, placing us 35th for all schools in England
in 2017. This really is an amazing achievement. We also had great success with
ABRSM and Trinity external examinations (61 merits & distinctions) and at the
New Milton Music Festival (9 winners).

Over 100 residents and carers from 12 local care homes were invited to join in
with our annual Christmas Community Concert. We were also out and about
singing at St Thomas’s in Lymington, then St Aldhelms in Poole before our
annual carol service, held at Christchurch Priory, where pupils from Y1 to Y11
joined alumni, staff and parents on stage for a beautifully festive service.

Our Show Band was the only school band to be invited to play at the
Christchurch Food Festival and wowed the crowds so much, they were invited
along to the Bournemouth Air show as well!

In summer, our Informal Concert had an expansive repertoire from Beethoven
to Earth, Wind and Fire. More than 100 children performed from Y3 to Y11 and
the rousing finale of ‘Happy’ had the audience dancing in the aisles.
4

arts
Another bumper year for Ballard Arts with the re-award of the
‘Artsmark Gold Award’ (we are one of only five schools in the whole of Drama & Performing Arts
Hampshire with this award). Amongst other things, The Arts Council
highlighted our ‘diverse and extensive range of Arts enrichment Upper Prep pupils brought Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to life with
and extra-curricular activities… exciting and inspiring learning multi-coloured oompa loompas and an incredibly entertaining show. We were
opportunities’. All our Y6 pupils passed their ‘Arts Award - Explore’, whisked away to ‘Wonka Land’ with some great production pieces and lots of
which is a considerable achievement. laughs. We also put on two, fantastic musical productions this year. Happy Days
saw our senior talent rise to the occasion, transporting us back to the 50’s with
the Fonz and The Gang, ably supported by our Show Band. Lower Prep took
on the incredibly complicated words, songs and choreography of Seussical
Jnr and turned it into dazzling entertainment. Once again our pupils shone
magnificently in all our shows.

New for this year was a Pre-Prep variety show with dancing, singing, poetry
and prose from a group of incredibly talented pupils. Further up the school, our
‘Performing Arts Scholars’ put on a showcase, which delighted the audience
with an eclectic but brilliant evening of poetry, song and dance from our
incredibly talented scholars and dance groups.

External success continues: since 2009, 375 students have taken the New
Era Academy exams and 700 students have taken LAMDA exams - all of
them passing! However, it is the number of pupils that reach the top level of
distinction that is exceptional - 61% this year for LAMDA and 66% for New Era.
Again one of our pupils won the national award for New Era.

Parents and staff alike were treated to another stunning showcase of incredible
music from our talented senior pupils at the Beaulieu Abbey Concert. From the
haunting choral start, through the ensembles and individual performances, it
was a wonderful evening of music.

Our Senior Chamber Choir also took part in a workshop and performance
with the Bournemouth Symphony Choir and ‘Armonico’, a professional vocal
ensemble led by Christopher Monks. They performed 40 and 60 part motets by
Tallis and Striggio.

5

sport
Ballard has been awarded the ‘School Games Gold Mark’
Skiing as well as winning a huge array of local, regional and

Five members of the Ballard ski team won the ISA national titles this year. Here are just a few of the highlights.
‘Indoor Skiing National Open’. The Ballard team
was outstanding; winning both the ‘Senior Open Football
Mixed Team’ competition and the ISA ‘Closed
Mixed Team’ competition. Our U13 girls’ football
team became ISA national
Rugby champions, scoring an
incredible 20 goals in
Another strong season for the five matches, without
U14/U9 teams. Ballard hosted conceding a goal.
and won the ‘New Forest Our U11 boys won the plate
Mixed U11 Tag-Rugby’ festival. at the BCS tournament and
our U11 girls’ team won
Sailing the ‘New Forest Football
Sixes’ tournament and
Our team gained a silver and Athletics were undefeated in all their
a bronze at the ISA National matches!
Sailing Festival. This year Ballard took a record-breaking 50 pupils to the regionals! We had our
best ever haul of medals (30) and top-five finishers. One of our pupils won the
Gymnastics national title for the 200 metres (Y8/9), as well as the relay.

Following the success of Ballard’s Key Stage 1&2
Gymnastics’ Festival, we now run a weekly club,
which is a great opportunity for our pupils to
learn key skills.

Basketball

This growing sport at Ballard is gaining massive popularity
and has extended from the U16 & U14 teams to add U12 & U13
teams. We have had wins at both festivals and league.

6

Netball Swimming Hockey

Our U16 girls won silver at the nationals as Ballard brought home seven medals from this year’s ISA An incredibly successful year for Ballard
a result of great teamwork and some very national swimming championships at the London Aquatics hockey, with many wins across the board
‘gutsy ‘ performances; losing by only two Centre. Our swimming team also won a number of galas and and our Y3 -Y8 Hockey Academy every
points in the final moments of the match. medals locally and regionally. Wednesday is going from strength to
Our U14 girls won the Liddington festival strength.
during a netball residential training weekend, Our U16 boys achieved silver and our U14
receiving their trophy from Bath & GB netball boys took home the bronze in the ISA finals.
star, Eboni Beckford-Chambers. The U13 boys reached the final of the
The U13 team travelled all the way to York Jersey Tour tournament, only to be beaten
for the nationals, making a superb start to on penalties. Our U13B girls won the New
the tournament, coming top in their pool Forest Hockey Tournament, despite being
and going all the way to the final, where they comprised of the U12 team. Whilst our
only lost by a golden goal. They also won the U13A girls’ team got through to the ISA
Walhampton tournament, beating Twyford, nationals and only just missed out on the
the reigning champions the last two years, final, however they did go on to win bronze.
in the finals! Our U11 girls became national champions
Ballard Y8 netball won the ‘New Forest at the Olympic Park Stadium, utilising some
Sports Partnership’ tournament and were excellent skills and incredible teamwork; the
unbeaten in all their games. girls fully deserved their title.
Our U10 girls’ hockey festival was won by
Cricket Ballard, who were undefeated in all five
games! In the U10 boys’ festival, Ballard won
Our staff won their match against our U13 both the plate and bowl competitions.
team by just three runs! By calling in some Our annual hockey tournament was won by
talented alumni, the staff also managed to a very strong alumni team, which contained
beat the U16 team this year by one run. our England U21 player. Our parents’ team
came second, with staff and pupils in joint
third.

Cross Country Team GB Visits

Our Y7/8 team took bronze Issa Batrane and Harry Jones, players for team GB volleyball, came to Ballard
in the London SW finals for the day to meet our Pre-Prep and Lower Prep pupils. They talked about
and four pupils made it their challenges, achievements and ambitions during a special assembly
through to the ISA national before joining the pupils for a fun gym session. The pupils were then able to ask
finals. questions about life as a GB athlete.

Individual Success

As well as winning a wide-range of team competitions, we also support
pupils in their sporting endeavours out of school, across a wide-range of
representative sports including: Athletics, Badminton, Cricket, Cross-Country,
Diving, Equestrian, Football, Gymnastics, Hockey, Karate, Netball, Pony Club
Triathlon, Power-Boating, Rugby, Sailing, Skiing , Squash, Swimming, Triathlon,
Volleyball and many more.
Two of our Y11s were international athletes, who managed to gain great results
in their GCSEs, as well as play their sport to an international standard.

7

Charity & Community

Ballard pupils and parents are
incredibly generous when it
comes to raising money for a

lifeworthycause,notleast

through our houses.
Broadley
The Dust Project (helping the Setthorns
forgotten children of the world The Honeypot Children’s Charity (offers
through funding construction respite breaks and outreach support to
and education projects). young carers and vulnerable children).

Holmsley Wilverley
Home Start New Forest (helping Mosaic (provides a pathway of support
families with young children to to bereaved children, young people
deal with challenges). and their families).

Our Y10s started their Kenya fund-raising at Christmas with a raffle and sale of India Trip
homemade goodies. The sale of Valentine’s Day roses raised over £650 to put
towards their community work in Kenya in Summer 2019. Our Ballard family of pupils, parents, alumni and staff had an incredible trip
to India at Easter, enjoying the sights, customs, traditions, history, smells and
Pre-Prep raised nearly £600 for Oakhaven Hospice with their cake sale, helped tastes of India! So hard to pick highlights from such a special trip where we
by our Lower Prep & Upper Prep pupils’ popular face-painting stalls. visited Agra and the Taj Mahal, wildlife in Rajasthan, the Palace of Winds and
Amer Fort in Jaipur and the Holy City of Pushkar. One minute we were whizzing
The Ballard family turned out in force for the annual Oakhaven Santa Dash, around crowded roads “Whacky Races” style in a motorized three-wheeled Tuk
earning lots of money for this very worthy cause. Tuk, the next, we were walking in the desert with nomads. An astonishing trip.

As part of their Apprentice challenge, Y5 were given £10 to spend in Lymington Healthy Eating
on items that they could use to raise more money for Meningitis Trust. The
pupils behaved impeccably, impressing many residents, with one even Our wonderful school catering team, led by Head Chef Richard Whiting, gained
donating £5 to the cause! They raised £109 with a game of ‘Sweet Ping-Pong’ the highest ‘Eat Out Eat Well’ award. Our gold award recognises the work we
at School. have done with our children via the School Council, senior prefects and form
groups in order to deliver delicious, nutritional food and achieving significant
Head of Mathematics, Mr Shaylor, took a sabbatical volunteering in a number reductions in sugar and salt content.
of countries including the Philippines, where he worked with The Rise Above
Foundation helping with Maths’ lessons, mural painting and fundraising.

8

Forest School Around the World with Ballard FOBS

We have always taken learning outside Our Summer Open Morning was a great success with lots of adventures, Friends of Ballard School (FOBS) do a tremendous amount for the School and
and now we have an official Forest creativity, learning and fun. Each area of school represented a continent. In have recently paid for half of the Y11 cabin, a set of samba equipment, harp
School. Y4 were lucky enough to take Europe, there was a definite foodie-theme with a wonderful French Café, mini- and many other items around school. They run our fireworks’ display, ‘Quiz and
the first session and worked together pizza making, jelly baby wave and custard pools! There were lots of fun sports Curry Night’, our summer ice-cream stall, amongst other things. This year they
beautifully, showcasing their creativity, in the Americas as well as Big Chief Winkworth telling tales of adventure around also ran a chocolate tombola, pet photo competition, summer ball and worked
along with excellent reasoning and the campfire, whilst his fellow braves painted faces. Gorgeous elephants and with our School Council to make the summer fair the biggest and best! They
problem-solving skills. peacocks created by our Pre-Prep pupils helped decorate Asia and the Far have raised £XXXXX
East. The Oceans hosted wonderful up-cycled seagulls and some incredible
ECO Warriors entertainment from an array of talented pupils in bands, choirs and dance
groups. Ballard at its best.
Ballard, under the watchful stewardship
of our outstanding Eco-committee and “A lovely morning at Ballard School, a very nurturing school, with a
ambassadors, has been awarded the team of staff and leadership team who regularly go above and beyond
Silver Eco Award less than a year after to inspire youngsters to help them realise their potential. Superb
achieving Bronze. The award recognises music and dance today + exhibitions from all subject areas. Thank
that we have included environmental you!" Parent
issues in at least three areas of the
school curriculum including a wonderful
assembly on recycling delivered expertly
by Reception. Next stop; Green Flag!

Into the Den

Y8 excelled in this year’s Dragon’s Den as part of their English lessons. An
open-brief to create a new breakfast cereal, complete with packaging and
advertising, didn’t phase any of the teams. Presentations were professional
and persuasive with good use of evidence and research. The winning team
were Activ 8 - watch out Kellogg’s! Our entrepreneurial Y10 Business Studies’
pupils had to go one further and come up with a brand new concept or one that
would vastly improve a product. They rose to the challenge and the winning
idea? Watch this space...

9

pre-prep

Pre-Prep were delighted with their new classrooms and play areas when they came back
after the summer holiday. They soon got stuck into all the new equipment and took full
advantage to try out new learning techniques whether in Maths, English or Science.

Performing

Our pupils love their dance and music sessions with our specialist teachers and this year they have put all
their talent to good use. ‘Sheik Rattle & Roll’ was the nativity this year, with lots of singing and characters.
The audience were lucky enough to get an encore of the catchy main tune –‘Sheik rattle and roll’ with some
of them even joining in with the actions.
In the summer Pre-Prep led us on a marvellous ‘Magical Mystery Tour’. We had witches and superheroes,
robots and teddy bears, singing, dancing and poetry recitals and some fabulous acting. All our KG to
Year 2 children took part and parents and staff alike were delighted with how well they all did. It was
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

The Natural World

Y1&2 learn about animals in their habitats and how they adapt to them. They
had some special extra cute visitors - puppies! The children asked about why
the puppies had big, floppy ears and discussed how the dogs will develop as
they get older.
We welcomed more furry friends - in the shape of baby guinea pigs - into the
classroom to aid pupils weighing skills. Unfortunately, we couldn't measure
their length accurately, on account of the guinea pigs' speed!
Reception have reintroduced frogs back onto Ballard School pond after they
hatched them from frozen frog spawn which we rescued before the cold spell.
"So why are they called Bluebells when they are purple?" Our curious Y2
children investigate the natural world during a photo shoot.
As part of World Book Day visiting author, BB Taylor came to visit, with
Yoshi, the friendly yeti, and Lumpy the baby African tortoise. Ms Taylor has
a menagerie of animals at home - 156 at the last count - and she explained
that she used to tell people stories about her animals, until one day someone
challenged her to write a book, and she hasn’t looked back!
10

Pre-Prep Athletics’ Festival

Our pupils love their PE lessons and one of their favourite times of year is the
summer and athletics. The festival proved to be a great afternoon of athletics
from our pupils. Sport for all and exemplary sportsmanship were mixed with
determination and joy as each child had a go. A fantastic atmosphere was
supplied by parents, staff and fellow pupils cheering the competitors on to the
last – well done all!

Family

Out & About The Ballard family includes all family members and in Pre-Prep we invite the
family to see what exciting things our pupils are doing in School via our Parent
YR visited Hengistbury Head and enjoyed a train ride, a beach exploration and Information Breakfasts, Pre-Prep Assemblies and work sharing. After PE and
made pictures in the sand. dance, pupils help their family members make biscuits and get creative with
Y1&2 learnt all about how the forest has developed since being claimed as a building blocks and art work.
royal hunting ground by William the Conqueror to how it is managed these
days at the New Forest Centre. They also visited Bolderwood where we looked OucromsupneftlitoiwoneWre IsVliesitoifngWtigheht
at a holly wood and a fir tree wood, followed by a long walk, on which we were
thrilled to spot over seventy fallow and roe deer, grazing in the sunshine! also love to Lovely
Y1&2 went to Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight. After an exciting ferry
journey across The Solent we arrived at the castle, walked through the ouMrcaorkernianedgring listen to our pupils teachers
gatehouse and looked around the Chapel of St Nicholas, which had beautiful and here are a Gardening
stained glass windows. Then we climbed up lots and lots of steps so that we
could walk along the castle walls and enjoy the spectacular views. After lunch few of their lovely
we visited the museum to learn all about life in the castle. We were very lucky to comments about
be able to enjoy an ice-cream on the ferry on the way home. eNtxoaeppbSwieoccariuFeinwtomndropceerlaesnkantn,tisTtmlser,iaaptlrrsnaewiennchsdtagehGtirtshtyeeieyftailtro.Eic.v.neavdgteesrpLyaoitnithnsitAniorngtfg! 11
Y1&2 also went to Marwell Zoo as part of their animal studies, having a lovely
day meeting all creatures great and small.
Y2 visited local churches, including meeting Rev Ben Sargent and being told all
about the golden eagle lectern at the church.

Explosive learning Adventure Trips

Y5 created a cross-curricular assembly based on Volcanoes for Pre-Prep. The Children from Y3 & Y4 had a fantastic time at Longdown Activity Farm, where we
focus included live Science experiments where three different lava mixes were thoroughly enjoyed everything, including holding tiny chicks, bottle-feeding
tested live. They also read their poetry, talked about the Geology of volcanoes, calves and goats, collecting eggs and we even had a crazy tractor ride!
showed a video of their Plasticine earths being cut in half to reveal the layers of
the earth and then talked about Pompeii. Y5 visited PGL in Weymouth for a wonderful fun-filled summer trip this year.
There were picnics on the beach, raft-building, fencing, zip-wire, ‘Jacobs
Creative Learning Ladder’, aero ball, football, ‘ambush’ and songs around the camp fire.

With access to our specialist teachers and all our GCSE equipment, Lower Prep Young Designers
pupils can let their creativity fly. As part of their ancient civilisations theme,
Y3 made some colourful monoprints before creating beautiful clay Pharaoh There are so many exciting STEM projects in Lower Prep, here are just a few;
masks. Y4’s art was linked to their India theme. Y3 created moving-picture books for our Pre-Prep children. Having researched
In Music lessons, they composed their own music in our iMac Suite and in the market-place, they decided on fairy tales and designed interesting moving
Dance and Expressive Arts, they focussed on their summer musical, ‘Seussical’. features.
To prepare, they visited the Mayflower Theatre for a tour and a glimpse of what
goes on backstage to make a production come to life. They then enjoyed Y4 took part in the annual ‘egg-drop challenge’ - pupils are all given exactly the
a selection of workshops around the theme of ‘Seussical’, including a craft same materials (card, paper, string and a plastic bag) and a 1.5 hours to build
activity as well as singing and dancing. something capable of protecting an egg from a 15ft drop.
Lower Prep also joined Pre-Prep for a wonderful workshop and show, based on Y4 also created a colourful, electric, fairground carousel to decorate one of their
the ‘Wind in the Willows’ in the PAC. classrooms.

Investigative Science In Y5, our pupils get to use GCSE equipment including laser-cutters and design
packages under the watchful eye of our specialist DT teachers. They made
Our pupils have had a whale of a time in Science. Y4 studied food chains before keyrings, photo frames and a foam glider.
getting to grips with human anatomy; including different types of teeth and
what they are used for, they then had a chance to construct their own teeth. International Intrigue

Y5 took to Skype in their Languages lesson for a ‘Mystery Call’ challenge. Their
task was to guess where in the world the other school was before they guessed
where we were, by asking and answering questions in turn. By clever deducing,
pointed questions and research using atlases and Google, they were first to
work out that the school was in Istanbul, Turkey.

12

Back in Time

Y3 celebrated everything Roman with a re-enactment and lavish banquet.
Our pupils absolutely loved dressing up in Roman outfits and getting stuck
in; making Roman jewellery, mosaics and even trying their hand at Roman
cooking!
Y4 had an amazing time ‘flying’ to India, where they had a go at making Indian-
style patterns, eating a sumptuous Indian feast (with their hands!), playing
cricket and celebrating Holi. They also had an Anglo-Saxon feast with the
thane, Aldred, having found him asleep in their reading corner! He was hard to
understand and gave the pupils a letter in a different language that they had to
decode.

lowperrepY5rebuiltStonehengewithmodellingclay,tryingtoworkouthowitwas
created. They then practised cave-drawing under their desks.

Family Time

With plenty of opportunities
for parents to get involved,
Lower Prep ran open
classrooms, including a
particularly fun game of ‘Danish longball’ as well as the summer
BBQ and Parents’ sports afternoon – fun for all the family.

13

Bringing learning to life upper

Whether it’s an outside performance of Pyramus & Thisbe; building Tudor
houses or Marie Rose cakes; getting into character at Harry Potter World; re-
enacting King Henry the 8th’s court or Black Death doctors; making balls out of
plastic bags as children do in Africa; taking part in the ‘Big Garden Birdwatch’;
creating ceramic sea monsters; practising Spanish vocabulary through games
or depicting Shakespeare’s work and life by creating a board game, our Upper
Prep pupils and teachers are full of great ideas!

This is underpinned by some wonderful educational trips: Y6 geographers
visited The Living Rainforest to learn all about the different layers and amazing
adaptations of plants and animals that live in this biome. They even spied the
elusive sloth. Did you know that a banana tree is actually a herb?

Y8 attended Cogit-8, which aims to challenge students intellectually; they
particularly enjoyed the problem-solving treasure hunt and successfully solved
all the puzzles to allow them to open the treasure box.

Teamwork & Leadership

Y8 prefects visited Altitude for a number of teambuilding activities. These
involved climbing to the top of the tall pole and balancing on the seesaw, whilst
singing a song. They also completed the low-ropes course, both with eyes
open and then blindfolded. The highlight for many was the high-ropes course,
culminating in the free-jump off the high tower!

Y7 & Y8 sports’ teams went to Jersey and brought back 2 silver medals in the
hockey tournaments, for the girls and the boys. The pupils worked so hard and
were only narrowly beaten into second-place on both occasions.

Y7’s top House Credit scorers were treated to an exciting day of fun and
challenging activities at Tile Barn. Teambuilding and problem-solving activities
enabled them to develop their skills, with noticeable improvement in listening
as the day progressed. It was interesting that for many of them, these were the
best activities of the day, appreciating how good it feels working together and
achieving your goals through teamwork. They also enjoyed mountain biking,
archery, orienteering, climbing and abseiling. They showed real support for one
another and not a crossword was heard, even when under pressure.
14

prep

Off we go!

The ski-trip to Vallandry had some incredible highlights: roof skiing, sledging,
powder, giant airbag and luge.
In preparation for their Y6 Normandy trip, pupils learnt how to order their
food in French. They also had to use their French on a town-trail in Avranches,
following directions and looking for clues, they all showed great team work and
superb French! Another highlight was a visit to Mont St-Michel and its sinking
sands.
Y7 went to Bude for a jam-packed itinerary of discos, fancy dress, karaoke
and games on the AstroTurf, oh and some dragon-boating, kayaking, caving,
canoeing, mountain-boarding, team trail, bodyboarding, surfing, high ropes,
abseiling and climbing!
Y8 had a wonderful tour of discovery; starting at Longleat; getting close to
animals and learning about conservation. Then onto the Roman Baths in Bath
before heading to the Fashion Museum, which covers fashion from the 1700’s
to the present day. Pupils were excited to try some on! We then went to watch
Henry V. Next on the itinerary was Bristol and a visit to SS Great Britain for a ‘60-
day voyage to Australia’. We then learnt about slavery at the M Shed Museum,
finding out how the slave trade impacted on Bristol. Then a day of overcoming
fears at the Cheddar Gorge; rock climbing and abseiling, showing what can be
achieved with support and encouragement from one-another. The trip finished
at an activity centre with a giant zip-wire and a massive water-slide; exhilarating
and refreshing!

15

Across the Channel senior

We ran two foreign exchanges this year; a French exchange
from Collège Trémolières in Cholet and a Spanish exchange
from the English Centre in Seville. The programmes were
fully packed as usual, with our French guests making day-
trips to London, Beaulieu and a walking tour of Highcliffe
and Christchurch, as well as attending the 3rd annual ‘Fish
& Chips and Bingo Night’ at Ballard! Their final trip was to
Portsmouth, where we visited HMS Victory, Spinnaker Tower
and lastly, Gunwharf Quays, for a spot of retail-therapy. Our
Spanish visitors were treated to some very English activities;
learning how to play croquet and make scones before having
a traditional cream tea. They visited Salisbury, Stonehenge,
Hengistbury, London and the sea-water baths. All had a
wonderful time.

The Big Apple

Further afield, a jam-packed Y11 trip to New York took in all the key sites; 9/11 Memorial
Museum, Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Natural History Museum, Central Park Zoo
and Madison Square Garden to name but a few! They watched ‘School of Rock’ on Broadway;
attended a New York Islanders’ ice hockey match at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn; ice-skated
in Central Park; took a tour of Radio City Music Hall and watched a New York Knicks’ Basketball
game, all of which added to the excitement and buzz of this amazing city.

A fantastic year for our Seniors at Ballard, not least for those Y11s, who raised the
bar with an exceptional set of GCSE results; 98% of the cohort achieving the gold
standard (a minimum of 5 GCSE good passes A*- C, which must include English
and Maths). 40% achieved the top grades of A*/A, double the national average.

Our pupils fully immersed themselves in all that Ballard has to offer; including the
new Y11 cabin, funded in part by FOBS.

16

Classroom Escapes Challenge Week

There were trips and visits a plenty to enjoy. The English department took Y10 The Y9 ‘Ballard Challenge Week’ certainly introduced some new challenges this
to visit the Imperial War Museum in London to gain a deeper understanding of year! One particularly perplexing challenge involved moving a bucket of water
conflict in its many forms and to assist in their understanding of conflict poetry effectively from one point to another using ropes and an A-frame; encouraging
for their English Literature GCSE. Pupils were struck by the brutality of the First teamwork. A Personal Trainer came in to put them through their paces with
World War and the recurring theme of how war impacts on the family lives of so more team – building exercises, including how many pupils could balance on a
many. newspaper. Pupils then stretched their bodies with a healthy dose of yoga. We
heard from an amazing motivational speaker who came from the back streets
GCSE History also covers these harrowing times and our pupils took a long day- of Calcutta to achieve a stellar business career.
trip to Belgium and France to visit World War cemeteries. After visiting many
sites and memorials, our pupils laid poppies and plaques to commemorate the D of E
sacrifices made. It was a quiet, respectful atmosphere there; several pupils and
teachers were moved to tears. As one pupil wrote, “It was a day that will live with We have an incredibly strong Duke of Edinburgh programme at Ballard with
me for a long time. Hopefully all those who went on the trip will be better able 40 bronze and five silver participants this year. Hampshire County Council
to say, ‘we will remember them’’’. presented a certificate to our School in recognition of 100% participation to
completion for Bronze Duke of Edinburgh awards. To put this into context, the
Y10 also visited the ‘Escape Rooms’ in Southampton; undertaking a series of county’s completion rate is only 62%.
puzzles developed to promote teamwork, leadership development, problem-
solving skills and resilience. Afterwards they attended a talk by Southampton They think it’s all over...
University on how information is encrypted when, for example, products are
purchased from websites such as Amazon. They also learnt how to crack basic Y11 enjoyed themselves at the annual ‘Sports Ball’ with prizes, dinner, a live
codes. band and disco courtesy of our very own ‘DJ Marshall’. They also had their Prom
at Elmers Court, which was a chance for them to dress up and let their hair
Our Y10 GCSE Geography students visited Southampton to study land-use down after all their hard work. We are so proud of all our Y11 leavers and their
zones including Ocean Village, Southampton University, Southampton incredible GCSE results.
University Science Park and the Common. They also experienced some
physical geography in action - it was rather blustery day!

Y10 & Y11 GCSE Drama students enjoyed a packed day of theatrical experiences
in London in preparation for their exam. They saw two productions, including
a live performance of ‘A Woman in Black’ and enjoyed a fascinating backstage
tour of the National Theatre.

17

alumni

Hannah Snellgrove, our three-time National Champion Laser Radial sailor,
freelance writer and Cambridge graduate, has been selected by ‘British Sailing’

as part of their build-up to the Tokyo games.

Tom Morgan played in a side-by-side performance with the Academy of Matt Aldridge Matt took home a silver medal for the Men’s (U23) 8’s team
Ancient Music. He has also studied the baroque bass this year. He played with at the 2017 World Championships. He was also part of the winning ‘Oxford
the London Symphony Orchestra, under Rattle, in Trafalgar Square (as a senior Brookes Rowing 8s’, who competed in the recent Ghent International Regatta.
Guildhall musician).
Isaac Hadfield, a Y11 leaver in 2015, has been awarded
Tim Nurse, who represented Great Britain at U21s Hockey in Malaysia, where ‘Student of the Year’ from Brockenhurst College for
GB came away with a silver medal. He will represent Great Britain in the U23s his outstanding performance, both in and outside of
Hockey, playing against Belgium and in the Six Nations; held in Antwerp. He the classroom. Isaac is about to go to Oxford to read
will then play against Belgium, India, Netherlands, Ireland and Malaysia the Philosophy, Politics and Economics.
following weekend! During a visit to us, Tim had the opportunity to watch some
of our hockey players in action as part of their activity session. Mikey Jones MBE Despite a shoulder surgery earlier this year, Mikey was
selected as a wildcard for the European Championships and did not disappoint;
Jack Acton, who left Ballard he struck gold again in the S7 400m Freestyle.
after Y11 (2017) and accepted a
sailing-scholarship in Ryde, on Jonathan Harding came back to Ballard to speak with our pupils in PSHE
the Isle of Wight, took part in the about his life at Ballard and his subsequent career. Jonathan now works in
2018 U21 ‘Laser Standard World Germany as a sports’ reporter and is just finishing a book on football coaching
Championships’, in Poland this in Germany. His main advice, “you all have an amazing opportunity here at
summer. Jack worked incredibly Ballard – don’t waste it”.
hard throughout the qualifiers,
often in freezing conditions, with
final rankings of 3rd U19 and 9th
U21 in the Laser Standard class.
Many congratulations to Jack!

18

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