New Milton Advertiser 9th Oct 2020

Friday 9th October 2020 · 25

news@adt.press · advertising@adt.press · 01425 613384

Our ethos is to engender a bespoke learning experience, where friendship, nurture and predicted high performance outcome equates to a holistic education fit for life. Our children tell us that they are excited and love learning and play- ing together in school. The wild area and class gardening areas are focal points for science learn- ing. Classes share time in the new outdoor story area and YR have a wonderful wrap around garden and play space to explore their environment in a language and number rich experiential setting. We run and play together as one family… Importantly, very small class sizes of 15 with a teacher and teaching assistant enables us to individualise learning from every child’s starting point. Quality first teaching, from well qualified teach- ers, coupled with a deep knowl- edge of how children learn drives us to meet each child’s learning need and develop the whole child.

Our Lady & St. Joseph Catholic Primary School

Our school offers small, individualised teaching groupswith a 15:1 ratio, set in acres of spacewithawide variety of extendedplay facilities. Childrenaspire andachieve.

Our LadyandSt JosephPrimarySchool offers very small class sizeswhichenablesus toseetheindividualanddevelopyourchild’spotential inasafe,nurturingenvironment.

Our children learn in an environment which is designed to excite and engage. Our wider/broad curriculumdevelops the child’s sense of place in the world, as well as their spiritual livesandtheirmoral understanding. They learnhowtorespondtoadversityand develop skills that help themmanage themselves and their relationships.

Our ethos develops a bespoke learning experience where friendship, nurture and predictedhighperformanceoutcomeequates toanholisticeducation.

Happy children thrive in their learning environment. Our ethos is to nurture compassionate citizens of the future, who have a thirst for learning and an understanding of the part they play in making our school family a happy, friendly place to learn and grow.

NURTURE

H appy children thrive in child centred learning environ- mentS. Our ethos at Our Lady and St Joseph Lymington is to nurture compassionate future citi- zens, who have a thirst for learning and an understanding of the part they play in making our school family a happy, friendly place to learn and grow.

HampshireOfficers note: “The high and clear expectations... are evident inmany areas of improvement, most importantly in the correct pitch of learning across the school. Challenge and progress are evident for all attainment groups. There is evidence of additional stretch for higher attainingchildren inall coresubjects. Highandconsistent expectations fromclass teachers have led to stronger attitudes to learning. Thecurriculumisnowbroadandbalanced.”

At OLSJ, very small class sizes of 15 children, enable us to see chil- dren as individuals and develop their potential in a safe, nurtur- ing environment. Set in several acres, with extended play facilities. Our children explore, aspire and achieve. A £20,000 investment in our outdoor environment has strengthened our commitment

to children learning in an setting which is designed to excite and engage. Our broad curriculum de- velops the child’s sense of place in the world, as well as their spiritual lives and their moral understand- ing. They learn how to respond to adversity and develop skills that help them manage themselves and their relationships.

BESPOKE LEARNING

Our children tell us that they are excited and love learning and playing together in school. The wild area and class gardening areas are focal points for Science learning. Classes share time in the new outdoor story area. Year R have a wonderful wrap around garden and play space to explore their environment in a language and number rich experiential setting. We run and play together as one family.

ENVIRONMENT

Children learn through individualised learning which considers their starting points. Class sizes are very small, typically 15children inaclasswiththeir teacher andteaching assistant.Qualityfirst teaching, fromwell qualifiedteachers, coupledwith a deep knowledge of howchildren learndrives us tomeet eachchild’s learning need.

15:1 RATIO

HIGH PERFORMANCE

Aspirational targets and a strong knowledge of children’s learning needs, married with a strong nurturing style of teaching means that we focus on the potential of every child.Our childrenhaveastrongvoice intheschool council andwework together asone family tobring out thebest in all individuals. Small nurturing classes enable us to see the potential and support children tomeet their goals, academically and socially.

Ballard School Fromwildlife to real life

Higher up the School, there are more outdoor initiatives includ- ing: forest and sea-wall runs; ori- enteering and geo-caching; a very successful DofE programme and Ballard Marine, which combines STEM and sailing. Pupils have re- stored our six-metre keel boat and now sail, crew, learn seamanship and navigation on this and our ten-metre cruiser; very useful skills for the Solent. They compete na- tionally and won the ASTO Small Ships Race last year. “I work in education and chose the school very carefully. Once we stepped inside the there was no doubt in our minds that Ballard was the right school. They settled beautifully – it was as if they had always been part of the Ballard family. At the end of the first two weeks, we asked the children if there was anything that they didn’t like about the school. “Going home at the end of the day” was their reply! Worth the daily drive from Alresford!” (Parent) school and met the sta and students,

RamleyRoad, Pennington, Lymington, Hampshire, SO41 8GY T: 01590 672711 E: adminoffice@olsjschool.com W: www.olsjschool.co.uk OLSJLymington

A t Ballard, we have always em- braced outdoor learning and its importance in our pupils’ lives, not just the physical benefits but developmental and emotion- al too. Across curricular and year groups, our pupils are outside and active whenever possible. With 34-acres of beautiful and varied grounds to enjoy, our pupils can run across fields, climb trees, jump ditches and just be children. Whether reading under a tree, or up it; writing about nature, or cre- ating it; experiencing the weather, or predicting it, our pupils have a myriad of outdoor opportunities here. In the last couple of days, Pre-Prep have been weeding the garden and enjoying a singing les- son; Lower Prep (Years 3-5) have been building a sukkah for RS and playing Samba drums; Year 6 has been creating their own drama performances and in science, test- ing their heart-rates; Year 7 has been investigating Ecosystems and Year 8 has been re-enacting Shake- speare. Year 9 was playing hock- ey, football and netball as well as dancing and sailing in PE. Year 10 and 11 pupils were on their DofE bronze and silver expeditions. So much for all to enjoy. At Ballard, we actively encour- age our pupils’ curiosity about T he focus of supporting and promoting STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education in primary and secondary school has increased in recent years driven by estimates that the cur- rent STEM jobs shortage is cost- ing the UK an average of £1.5bn a year. As a results STEM teaching and education has been a key el-

nature and the environment; rec- ognising all the benefits this en- tails. Our Victorian Water Gardens help pupils understand life-cycles first-hand with frog spawn and the Ballard Mallard’s ducklings. Our younger pupils helped set up our award-winning Eco-Committee; setting the agenda for all things green at Ballard. Not only have they developed and driven our green policies, helping with local and national initiatives, but they also initiated the introduction of our Ballard Bee hives. They have now sold our first jars of honey in aid of the New Forest Basics Bank – from wildlife to real life. Another key area of outdoor learning is Forest School, which is well-known for fostering resilient, confident, independent and cre- ative thinkers; perfect for Ballard pupils. We are lucky to have two practitioners and multiple sites, in- cluding a woodland stream, so all pupils from Kindergarten to Year 5 can benefit; enhancing their learn- ing, development and well-being. At Ballard, our ethos is all about nurturing, valuing and encourag- ing each individual and this is very much the Forest School philoso- phy. In the summer, Pre-Prep pu- pils go to ‘Beach School’, another fantastic voyage of discovery.

01425 626900 Fernhill Lane, NewMilton BH25 5SU Award-Winning Co-Educational Day School for ages 2-16, serving Hampshire & Dorset “Quite simply, a remarkable school” (Parent) Scholarship Programme into Years 3, 7 & 9 Inviting applications from exceptional pupils for our ballardschool.co.uk

The importance of STEM

ement of government education policy at primary age and be- yond into secondary education, college and university level. The current STEM curriculum is based on the idea of educating students in the four disciplines — science, technology, engi- neering and mathematics — in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. Rather than teaching the four

subjects independently, STEM learning often integrates the various disciplines to mimic real world scenarios. Statistics show that around nine out of ten of the top earn- ers amongst university gradu- ates are those who gained qual- ifications in STEM subjects, so there is a huge motivation for

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Ballard School Ltd exists for the education of children. Registered Charity No. 307328