Music teacher & Leader of Music & Performing Arts

Our School 

Our School John Ball School is sited on the edge of the Blackheath Ward in the London Borough of Lewisham. The school is 3 form entry with 612 pupils on roll with a bulge year group in YR3 for 2018/2019. The school has been through two major building programmes to accommodate the extra classes. The School and LA were granted funding from the DfE’s Basic Need Fund to permanently expand the school to 3 form entry. 

The most distinctive characteristic of John Ball Primary School is the exceptionally diverse economic, social and cultural backgrounds of its children and the community it serves. The main aim and overriding ethos of the school is to address this diversity of context and to be a consistently inclusive school under the motto “Achievement, ambition and progress for all…” 

John Ball is one of the highest performing schools in Lewisham and England. Additionally, our Early Learning and KS1 outcomes are consistently above the Local Authority and National averages.
 

John Ball — Our Approach

First and foremost people learn best when they feel safe, secure and happy. Our staff prioritise positive relationships with our pupils as the bedrock of all that we do. From there we focus on learning to learn. We then develop the skills our young people need to be successful learners and confident individuals. 

Without the ability to read, to write and to work with numbers, people can never take advantage of what education and the wider world has to offer. At John Ball we make sure that all of our pupils are taught these basic skills rigorously. 

Our pupils learn in a variety of ways and we believe in varying the learning experiences we offer them in order to best meet their needs. Our curriculum is rich, engaging and exciting; designed to reflect the world and community our children live in. Our pupils will experience high quality direct teaching where they are expected to interact with the teacher through quality questioning. At times they will learn independently, collaboratively and actively through play, discovery, innovation, design and essentially through talking and listening. 

We teach skills and knowledge to children in discrete subject areas and also through the wider curriculum where we group learning together. Our staff are very skilled at taking subject areas and linking them. We also endeavour to ensure that pupils have the chance to appreciate how what they are learning relates to the wider world and their future. We have worked hard to provide our young people with a highly stimulating learning environment. 

We are unique and lucky as an inner London school to have the extensive grounds that we do. Our pupils have a wonderfully green, wooded environment to play and learn in. How many schools can boast having a half acre wood in their grounds? 

Equal Opportunities 

At John Ball, we are committed to developing and maintaining the highest standards of respect and justice for all our pupils and their families. Our pupils come from many cultural and religious backgrounds, reflecting the diversity within our local community. We are constantly striving for this diversity to be reflected by both staff and governors.
 

We oppose and challenge discrimination on any basis. We work in partnership with parents/carers to ensure awareness and understanding of the different beliefs and traditions which co-exist within the school and community. We endeavour to ensure that our resources, code of conduct, school organisation and recruitment policies reflect our determination to ensure equal opportunity for all.
 

The School Community
Staff 

The Headteacher, Deputy Headteacher and Assistant Headteacher lead the school assisted by a Management Team of senior teachers. In addition to this, most members of the teaching staff hold leadership responsibility for a specialist area of the curriculum. We are also very fortunate to have a highly trained group of support, office and premises staff to aid in the effective and smooth running of the school.
 

Governors 

Our Governors are representatives of the local community, parents/carers and school staff. They bring a range of interests, knowledge and skills to this role. They have responsibility for overseeing the organisation, curriculum and budget of the school. Governors meet four times a year and more regularly in smaller sub-committees.
 

Friends of John Ball 

Friends of John Ball is a registered charity. It is a group made up of parents/carers, friends and staff who co-ordinate social and fundraising events during the year. Meetings are held regularly to plan whole school events and to decide where best to target funds raised. All parents/carers and staff are automatically members and your skills and support would be very much welcomed.