Great Ballard School is a co-educational
independent school
An independent school is independent in its finances and governance. Also known as private schools, non-governmental, privately funded, or non-state schools, they are not administered by local, state or national governments. In British Eng ...
for children aged 2½ to 16 years.
[Great Ballard School inspection report, OFSTED, 13 October 2008.](_blank)
/ref> It was founded in 1924 and set up at its current location in Eartham
Eartham is a village and civil parish in the District of Chichester in West Sussex, England located north east of Chichester east of the A285 road.
There is an Anglican parish church dedicated to St Margaret and a public house, The George, fo ...
, near Chichester
Chichester () is a cathedral city and civil parish in West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. It is the only ci ...
, West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...
, England, in 1961. The headmaster is Matthew King.
Eartham House
The school's main building, Eartham House, was originally built in 1800 and was occupied by the poet William Hayley
William Hayley (9 November 174512 November 1820) was an English writer, best known as the biographer of his friend William Cowper.
Biography
Born at Chichester, he was sent to Eton College, Eton in 1757, and to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in 176 ...
. The house was subsequently purchased by William Huskisson
William Huskisson (11 March 177015 September 1830) was a British statesman, financier, and Member of Parliament for several constituencies, including Liverpool.
He is commonly known as the world's first widely reported railway passenger casu ...
, a prominent nineteenth-century politician who was a member of parliament for Chichester and served in the governments of Lord Liverpool
Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, (7 June 1770 – 4 December 1828) was a British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. He held many important cabinet offices such as Foreign Secret ...
and the Duke of Wellington
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of ...
. Huskisson, despite his high-profile political career, is best remembered for the tragic manner of his death – he was run over by George Stephenson
George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians a great example of diligent application and thirst for ...
's locomotive engine The Rocket at the opening of the Liverpool to Manchester railway line in 1830.
Eartham House was entirely rebuilt in 1905 to designs by the architect Edwin Lutyens
Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...
, but some Regency decorations and fireplaces are still retained in one room. The house was listed as a Grade II listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
by the Ministry of Works in 1958.
School history
Since its founding, the school has had many homes, including the original site at New Milton
New Milton is a market town in southwest Hampshire, England. To the north is in the New Forest and to the south the coast at Barton-on-Sea. The town is equidistant between Lymington and Christchurch, 6 miles (10 km) away.
History
Ne ...
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...
. It remained there until the Second World War, when it was relocated to Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
and then to Stowell Park
Stowell Park Estate is a historic agricultural and sporting estate in the Cotswold Hills, Gloucestershire, England. The estate includes the village of Yanworth. The main house is a Grade II* listed building and surrounded by extensive ...
in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
, where it stayed until 1947. For a short time it was then at Cordwalles, Camberley
Camberley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately south-west of Central London. The town is in the far west of the county, close to the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire. Once part of Windsor Forest, Cambe ...
, Surrey
Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...
, where the Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
had carried out her ATS
ATS or Ats may refer to:
Businesses
* ATS Wheels, or ''Auto Technisches Spezialzubehör'', a German wheel manufacturer and sponsor of a Formula One racing team
* ATS Automation Tooling Systems, an Ontario, Canada-based factory automation company
...
training, until a fire forced a temporary return to Stowell Park. After repairs, the school remained in Camberley until moving to its current location in 1961, chosen because the area around its home at Camberley had become more urbanised.
In the autumn term of 2009, the Great Ballard School began "hosting a group of pupils from Fang Cao Di International School in Beijing, China
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, who have been experiencing British teaching methods as well as sharing knowledge of their own culture". The exchange students participated in the normal class schedule and were also taken on a number of field trips to famous British locations, including Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original cast ...
and Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...
.
Curriculum
Though children from the ages of two and a half to sixteen attend the school, Great Ballard School has a wide number of class subjects, including " ICT, technology, art & design, PE, music and drama". The focus during the school year is to make the students prepared for the Common Entrance Examination
Common Entrance Examinations (commonly known as CE) are taken by independent school pupils in the UK as part of the selective admissions process at age 13, though ten independent schools do select at 11 using different test papers. They are se ...
and for other scholarship examinations that the students will be taking at age 13. While many of the students under the age of seven take classes such as "music and movement, drama, PE, swimming, computing, and cooking", it is at the age of seven that the "prep school" classes start.
Notable alumni
* Julien Fountain, cricketer and baseball player
* Richard Meredith, author
* Honeysuckle Weeks
Honeysuckle Susan Weeks (born 1 August 1979) is a British actress best known for her role as Samantha Stewart (later Wainwright) in the ITV (TV channel), ITV wartime drama series ''Foyle's War''.
Early life
Weeks was born in Cardiff, Wales, to ...
, actress
References
External links
School website
{{Authority control
Independent schools in West Sussex
Grade II listed educational buildings
Grade II listed buildings in West Sussex
Works of Edwin Lutyens in England