PUPILS at a Lymm primary school said goodbye to their head teacher at the start of the Easter holidays.

Avril Topping retired as head of Ravenbank Primary School on Pepper Street, after nine years in charge.

After a career in teaching, which started in Orford, she says she now hopes to travel, spend time in the garden and maybe even buy a tandem bike or go horse riding.

She finished her career with Ravenbank being named ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, for the second time in succession.

She said it has been exciting to work with so many different children.

She added: “In three headships, I’ve experienced a devastating fire, six weeks after going to Palacefields, (in Runcorn).

“In 2006, Ravenbank was flooded, and half the pupils had to move into Lymm High School, while the damage was put right. Three months later a large chunk of the school’s roof blew off in strong winds.

“I’ve always been passionate about young children getting the best possible educational experiences, and I had the idea of opening a pre-school playgroup when I was Deputy Head at St Matthew’s in Stretton.

“At Palacefields and at Birchwood, I campaigned succesfully to secure nursery accommodation and in January of this year a Naturgarten opened on the Ravenbank site.

“A particular pleasure of the past few years has been working with four other Warrington schools – the Da Vinci network – who were determined to keep the arts at the forefront of education for primary children.

“The fact that Ravenbank was judged at its last two inspections to be ‘outstanding in all categories’ shows that it is possible to run a more liberated curriculum very satisfactorily.”