New head at Lichfield Primary aims to open up school to community

The new Head of School at a much-loved Lichfield Primary say she has ambitions to open the site up to make it the ‘heart of the local community.’

Dr Rhian Warrack took over at Scotch Orchard Primary in February, and is already welcoming members of the community into the school, which is part of the respected Arthur Terry Learning Partnership (ATLP).

She said: “I’ve already made lots of links with children and local families. It’s a fantastic community and the school is clearly an important part of it.

“We have children here whose parents were also Scotch Orchard pupils when they were little, so there really is a connection with the school that goes across generations.”

On Wednesday 8th March Dr Warrack invited families into the school to meet her and then opened the school up again the following Tuesday (March 14^th), so that parents could look at their children’s books in their classrooms, prior to parents’ evening later in the month.

She said: “We want to open our school up so people have better access to see what their children are doing, and to share in their learning adventure.

“It’s about building bonds between families and the school, so that we work together in partnership.”

Key to Dr Warrack’s approach to education is an ethos of belonging, believing, learning and achieving.

She explained: “I think that in order for children to succeed they need to feel they belong and develop trust with those around them, so they feel safe. That way children can believe in themselves, and then they become open to learning.

“If we get that right, our children can go on to achieve whatever they want to.

“Aspirations are really important as well, so they believe that anyone can become anything they want to, if they work hard and never give up. That’s something we really want to instil in them.”

Long term, Dr Warrack has a vision that could see the school become even more of a hub for the community.

She said: “The school has such an amazing amount of space and fantastic grounds. The potential is vast.

“I would really like to open us up more, to make us really at the heart of our community.

“For example, with the amount of space we have in the building, we could potentially have a toddler group here. We’ve got the resources and space, and we have got early years expertise with the nursery on site as well.

“That would mean our local community would be able to come in with their youngest children and get to know the building, and engage with the school.

“Looking ahead, we could even link in with health visitors, hold breast feeding clinics, or host similar health access points.

“I think it’s possible, and I think it could be a valuable resource for our local community.”

Dr Warrack also has ideas about how to best use Scotch Orchard’s ample outside areas.

“We have a forest area here, which is a little bit tired, and I would like to really look at revitalising that.

“If we could develop our outside area to be more of a forest school offering, it would give the children the opportunity to learn in a fantastic open air environment.

“Again, we could potentially get the community behind us to work together to create that kind of space for the school. There is so much potential here.”

Before becoming an educator, Dr Warrack was a biochemist, who trained at Imperial College in London, before gaining her PhD at the University of Birmingham.

Married to Chartered Surveyor Charlie and mother to daughters Maia and Molly, Dr Warrack grew up in a household that valued education – her mum was a Head Teacher at a school in Wales.

After changing careers to become a teacher, she is now relishing the opportunity to develop her skills within the ATLP.

She said: “The support that ATLP provides is really unparalleled, both for schools and for individuals.

“The partnership’s underlying ethos that we are all part of a family fits with my educational ethos, and it’s absolutely true that children sit at the heart of everything the ATLP does. That really resonates with me, because it’s how I function too.”

It was at another ATLP School, Hill West Primary in Sutton Coldfield, that Dr Warrack developed her leadership skills.

She said: “The support of the Head Teacher at Hill West, Dr Beth Clarke, was so important as I developed as a leader.

“Beth believed that there was something about me and supported me to first become an Associate Head Teacher in 2018 and then made me Acting Deputy Head Teacher in December 2021, which became permanent in November 2021.

“Beth’s belief in me and the development opportunities she gave me during my time at Hill West have helped shape me into the practitioner I am today.

“Knowing that she believes in me, alongside other members of the senior leadership team in the ATLP, gives me the strength to take on this position at Scotch Orchard, knowing that I can call on the support of the ATLP family at any time if I need to.”

Caption:

Dr Rhian Warrack, new Head of School at Scotch Orchard Primary School, with pupils Libby, Hayden and Connor.