Great Ballard School

Great Ballard School
Address
Eartham Chichester , West Sussex , PO18 0LR England
Coordinates	50°52′31″N 0°40′00″W
Information
Type	Independent school
Motto	Vincit qui se vincit
Established	1924
Local authority	West Sussex
Department for Education URN	126130 Tables
Acting Head	Matthew King
Gender	Coeducational
Age	2½ to 16
Enrolment	140 (in 2016)[1]
Website	http://greatballard.co.uk
Listed Building – Grade II
Official name	Eartham House
Designated	5 June 1958
Reference no.	1026365

Great Ballard School is a co-educational independent school for children aged 2½ to 16 years.^[2] It was founded in 1924 and set up at its current location in Eartham, near Chichester, West Sussex, England, in 1961.^[2] 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.^[3] The house was subsequently purchased by William Huskisson, a prominent nineteenth-century politician who was a member of parliament for Chichester and served in the governments of Lord Liverpool and the Duke of Wellington. Huskisson, despite his high-profile political career, is best remembered for the tragic manner of his death – he was run over by George Stephenson's locomotive engine The Rocket at the opening of the Liverpool to Manchester railway line in 1830.^[4]

Eartham House was entirely rebuilt in 1905 to designs by the architect Edwin Lutyens, but some Regency decorations and fireplaces are still retained in one room. The house was listed as a Grade II listed building by the Ministry of Works in 1958.^[5]

School history

Since its founding, the school has had many homes,^[6] including the original site at New Milton Hampshire. It remained there until the Second World War, when it was relocated to Dorset and then to Stowell Park in Gloucestershire, where it stayed until 1947. For a short time it was then at Cordwalles, Camberley, Surrey, where the Queen had carried out her ATS 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.

Notable alumni

• Julien Fountain, cricketer and baseball player
• Richard Meredith, author
• Honeysuckle Weeks, actress^[7][8]

References

1. Bosberry-Scott, Wendy (2009). Which School?. John Catt Educational Ltd. p. 234. ISBN 9781904724667. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
2. Great Ballard School inspection report, OFSTED, 13 October 2008.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
3. The Oxford Illustrated Literary Guide to Great Britain and Ireland, Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 76, ISBN 9780192129888
4. Eartham House, West Sussex Info
5. Historic England. "Eartham House (1026365)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 January 2020.
6. History of the School
7. "Honeysuckle Weeks Video - Celebrity Interview and Paparazzi". OVGuide. Retrieved 16 May 2012. Weeks was educated at Great Ballard School, Sussex, Roedean School and Pembroke College, Oxford
8. "INTERVIEW: Honeysuckle Weeks is more than over the moon at her Chichester return - Entertainment - Bognor Regis Observer". Bognor Regis Observer. 22 April 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2012. She grew up just near Petworth, went to school at Great Ballard and started her acting career with Chichester Festival Youth Theatre in 1988.

External links

• School website