Meet Rachael Johnston: Director of Primary Education
At the start of the school year, we caught up our newly appointed Director of Primary Education, Rachael Johnston, to discuss her background in education, passion for child development and excitement in helping to progress primary education within our academies:
“I was brought up in Cambridge and attended Impington Village College until I went to Goldsmiths College, University of London to study for a degree in Psychology.
Specialising in child development, my interest in children’s learning was ignited and when I graduated in 2004, I joined the Faculty of Education at the University of Cambridge where I gained a PGCE in General Primary Practice.
I started my teaching career at a large infant school in the centre of Huntingdon. It was here I was able to further pursue my interest in child development and special educational needs when I took on the position of SENCo, a role which I was to have for the next 11 years.
In 2009, I joined Bottisham Community Primary School and held various roles including SENCo, EY/KS1 Team Leader and Deputy before becoming Headteacher in 2016. As headteacher, I was fortunate to be able to lead the school to join Anglian Learning in 2018 as one of the first three primary schools, along with Fen Ditton Community Primary School and Stapleford Community Primary School.
I am thrilled to be taking on the role of Director of Primary Education. Having worked closely with my predecessor, Prue Rayner, I know that we have fabulous teams working in our primary academies. I am very much looking forward to working together to continue to strive for excellence for all our pupils across Anglian Learning.”
