I feel enormously honoured and privileged to have been appointed the new Headteacher of Yarrells. I am excited about bringing my breadth of experience and thorough knowledge of the school and pupils, to maintain and enhance the reputation we have worked so hard to achieve.

Having been the Deputy Head for eight years, the SENDCo of the school and Head of Pastoral support, I recognise that in order to succeed academically, children need to feel safe and secure in their environment.

Yarrells is a school steeped in tradition with core values that are close to my heart. I am passionate about ensuring that all children feel valued and we work hard to identify everyone’s strengths to give them moments to shine. All members of our team are committed to the happiness, wellbeing and success of every pupil. The education that Yarrells provides is excellent; children leave as confident, informed, well rounded, caring citizens. Yarrells raises children to be impressed by kindness, loyalty and humility, not just wealth, possessions and power. We teach children to know the value of things not the price. Children are gracious when winning but celebrate and encourage their friends to achieve highly. Children at Yarrells are confident but not arrogant; we are authentic and real.

As a PSB school, we feel strongly that the skills children learn in their early lives will stay with them for their future. The ability to collaborate, problem solve, think critically and be exposed to a variety of opportunities will build adaptability, resilience, curiosity and spark their little fires to have a love of learning.

As the African proverb goes ‘ It takes a village to raise a child’. Working with parents, we aim to provide a healthy environment for children, where they are given the security they need to develop and flourish, to realise their hopes and dreams in the future. I feel that it is important that parents have a voice and that as a school we are approachable and allocate time to listen to your concerns, worries or thoughts.

We have the most beautiful grounds here where children can be children and play freely in the woods, building dens and be immersed in imaginative play. It is a joy to see them making magic potions in the paddock and searching for wood lice and worms under logs, and being curious. We look forward to developing ‘Forest Schools’ to really maximise our use of the outdoors, and enable supported risk-taking, child-centred learning, exploration and play.

Together, we can achieve exceptional outcomes if we are collaboratively ambitious for your children. Please encourage your child to make the most of their time here and to take up every opportunity offered academically and in the wider curriculum to support their overall development.  I am very optimistic about a strong, stable and successful future of the school and look forward to our journey ahead.

Outside of school, I love nothing more than to walk along the beach with Winnie, ending my walk with a nice cup of tea at my beach hut! Yarrells has been a major part of my and my family's life so I am very passionate about helping the children make wonderful memories here to treasure forever.