Principal & Headmaster

A message from the Principal

Dear Parents,

My family and I have been at Barnardiston for the last 22 years and I have just handed over the headship to Mr Dodgson who himself has much experience of the School; he writes below. We continue to enjoy our time here, made possible by the homely and enthusiastic atmosphere created by our pupils, parents/relatives and staff.

We base our approach on traditional family values, in a friendly, disciplined environment, with the twin aims that our pupils are both happy and challenged. We want children to be excited in what they do and discover. We nurture your child, to bring out the very best whatever his or her strengths, in a caring and sensitive way. Your child will certainly be busy; we encourage maximum participation in wide-ranging opportunities in academia, sport, music, drama and adventurous pursuits.

Our children’s education is both an adventure and a partnership with you and we look forward to working with you should you join us in what will be a fun and fulfilling journey through the formative stage of their development.

Keith Boulter

 

A message from the Headmaster

I came to know and love Barnardiston as a fresh-faced, newly-qualified teacher in 1992.  Years later, I returned so that my own children could experience the opportunities that this wonderful School has to offer.  Barnardiston is a busy environment which encourages the ‘work hard, play hard’ philosophy.  It has always been a family home, catering for the needs of each individual to ensure that hidden talents can be discovered and honed. 

We offer a broad curriculum, taught by staff who are passionate about what they are teaching.  We believe that all Barnardiston Hall pupils should be polite, happy and confident in their ability to succeed at the highest individual level. A typical leaver will have had opportunities to:

• - study French from 2 and Latin from 7, with the usual range of other subjects being taught by specialist staff in small classes.  Some will gain academic, music, sport, drama or all-rounder scholarships to senior independent or State schools.
• - be in a choir or ensembles from age 6 – we take part in the Haverhill, Warrenhill and Sudbury Festivals.  They could have studied singing and chosen from a full range of musical instruments – strings, woodwind and brass.  They would have been in a drama production and School shows / concerts.
• - climb a mountain.  We have been as far as Everest Base Camp and Morocco but normally to Snowdon and Ben Nevis.  Our 3 year-olds camp out overnight in classsrooms, our 5-year-olds in tents and 7/8 year-olds off-site to the Derbyshire Dales to climb Mam Tor, arriving at the 2000’ summit at 10pm. There are regular visits to France (Normandy and Paris) and less regular to Italy (Rome and Sorrento).  Our sports teams have toured Gibraltar, Portugal and Germany where they have played matches and we have been to South Africa.  This year, a visit to Vietnam will take place during the Autumn Term.
• - play for the School in the many teams we put out in all major, and some minor, sports – we are national champions at orienteering and both boys and girls have been Suffolk Hockey Champions 144 pupils take part in gymnastics, judo and tennis.  Many represent counties.
• - go on ‘Out and Abouts’ to a variety of destinations including theme parks, museums and shows.
• - have had a post of responsibility.

We would be delighted to welcome you to Barnardiston so that you can experience first-hand what we call the ‘Barnardiston oomph’.

Tim Dodgson