Headteacher struck off after changing school dates to go on luxury cruise

A headteacher used school funding to buy a car for herself to drive to France, having changed term dates to fit her holidays.

Joy Ballard, who led Ryde Academy on the Isle of Wight, also wasted public money on camping equipment, karaoke machines, and televisions that were barely used by the school, an inquiry found.

Mrs Ballard, 49, purchased a Peugeot 5008, which typically costs upwards of £38,000, without authorisation to carry out school visits.

However, evidence showed she used the car for her own personal trips, including a ferry getaway to France during the 2024 Easter holidays.

She had insisted she had procured the vehicle because of high taxi costs on the island but admitted to using it to commute to work.

Suspicions were further aroused when it was found she had clocked up 22,000 miles in the Peugeot, with the car registration found to have been used to book a crossing between Portsmouth and Caen in Normandy.

The Peugeot was also pictured with a UK sticker of the type required on British vehicles being driven on the continent.

The headteacher later admitted to using the car for the journey, for which she would not have been insured.

A teacher misconduct panel also found that Mrs Ballard had tweaked school term dates to suit her own holidays.

She delayed the start of the 2023/24 Christmas holidays by three days from December 15 to December 18, returning a day later than planned on January 3 rather than January 2, in order to accommodate a cruise holiday.

Despite evidence she had decided this as early as February, staff were only told of the change a week before the school was due to break up.

Mrs Ballard admitted she was away from school on January 3, with her ship having docked at Southampton that morning.

She also left school early on February 10, 2023, during an INSET day, to board another cruise.

The teacher also conceded to ‘wasting’ taxpayers’ money on camping equipment meant for school activities but in practice loaned out to staff for family holidays.

Colleagues contradicted Mrs Ballard’s insistence of a lack of facilities and electricity at the school, pointing to available playing fields.

Mrs Ballard also used the school reward budget to order at least one karaoke machine for ‘house competitions’ and X Factor-style events, but accepted it was not needed after the school invested in new technology.

The headteacher also bought two LG televisions with public money for the school gym, only to raffle them both off.

She also admitted to keeping much of the cash made from mufti days in her handbag rather than putting it in the safe as per school protocol, leading to a delay in banking the money for the school’s account.

Formerly head of Willows High School in Cardiff, Mrs Ballard made a name for herself on the Channel 4 show Educating Cardiff for her role in improving the school’s results.

She also appeared on This Morning with Eamonn Holmes and was interviewed on Capital FM.

Marc Cavey, a decision maker at the Teaching Regulation Agency, said Mrs Ballard’s conduct was both ‘dishonest and lacking in integrity’ and had ‘fallen ‘significantly short of the standards expected of the profession’.

He added that while there were several representations of support for the headteacher from fellow staff, she had shown little evidence that she had ‘developed full insight’ into her behavior.

Mrs Ballard has been banned from teaching indefinitely and will have to wait at least two years before being able to request a review of this decision.

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