On Friday 24th September, we welcomed guests to the opening of our new Senior Department and to formally mark our expansion to take students all the way up to GCSE. Visitors were offered tours of our new suite of senior classrooms and pastoral areas and enjoyed talks on the innovative senior curriculum from Ms. Johnson, Head of Teaching and Curriculum and Mr. Beglin, Head of IT. 

Head, Matthew King, told guests that this expansion had been years in the planning and it was significant that the first class of seniors would take their GCSEs in 2024, a year when Great Ballard will also celebrate its centenary. 

He said, “We hope today when you make your way through the new entrance behind me and explore what lies beyond, that you will get a sense of the historic step that the school is making and its exciting new future. At Great Ballard, we will always build around the strongest academic core. Exam results will always matter, but we want to deliver so much more. We want our curriculum to be shaped around our pupils, encouraging each to aspire to reach their own unique potential. We want it to be relevant and forward-thinking, embracing enterprise, creativity, technology, service and leadership, role modelling,character building, healthy habits and an unmistakable sense of purpose.There will be no room for teenage apathy here”

Proprietor, Sue Jay, whose family have owned the school for 30 years, was delighted to cut the ribbon and declare the new senior department formally open. “We are so excited about this new step and the way it is being received. We have recently enjoyed the busiest Open Mornings on record and numbers in our top year group alone have grown by over 100% in a year. We are offering something different and innovative and it is clear there is a market out there for a smaller senior school that really cares.”

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