Here is how I would do it.
<ion-view>
<ion-header>
// header html
</ion-header>
<ion-content class="list">
<ion-list>
<ion-item ng-repeat="item in items">
</ion-item>
</ion-list>
</ion-content
</ion-view>
Now your list
class needs to set the top of your ion-content down below your header. So the css would look something like this.
.list {
top: 100px // or whatever your header height is
}
Haven't tested this out yet, but something like this should work.