New post for Ennistymon school principal

AFTER seven years in Ennistymon Vocational School, Mary Joyce has moved to Galway City to become principal of Coláiste Iognáid on Sea Road.

Ms Joyce retired from the service of County Clare Vocational Education Committee at the turn of the year to direct the Jesuit Order’s academy of over 600 pupils in her native county.
In the meantime, the committee has chosen as her successor Elizabeth Flanagan, currently principal of Scoil Carmel, Limerick. Ms Flanagan assumes her new duties in North Clare following the mid-term break. Until then, Ennistymon deputy principal Geraldine Greene is acting principal.
Ms Joyce came to Ennistymon in the first instance as a teacher of home economics for a brief period before moving to Kildysart Vocational School as home economics and Irish teacher.
Those appointments were the first in Ireland after her return from Japan, where she had spent two and a half years directly after qualifying as a teacher. While on the staff of a secondary school there, she gained a Masters in Japanese Studies.
Ms Joyce returned to Ennistymon Vocational School in 2004 to succeed the retired principal, Maura Vaughan. That move was from St Michael’s Community College, Kilmihil, where she had been working subsequent to her Kildysart post. In the West Clare school she became moderator of an EU programme under the Comenius flagship to design the house of the future and while there, introduced a programme new to Irish curricula, social, personal and health education.
Ms Joyce assumed the mantle of principal two years ago on the retirement of Enda Byrt.
The choice of her successor, Elizabeth Flanagan, by an interview panel was ratified by last week’s meeting of the vocational education committee. Also at the meeting, during a discussion on the projected amalgamation of Ennistymon’s three second-level academies, Flan Garvey, former chairman of the board of management of the vocational school, wished Ms Joyce well in her new post and extended a formal welcome to Ms Flanagan.
Elizabeth Flanagan previously worked with Cork Vocational Education Committee in St Aidan’s Community College, Cork City and with the Leadership Development for Schools programme in the Department of Education and Skills, being its assistant national co-ordinator for a four-year seconded period ending in 2009.
Ms Flanagan is a graduate of University College Dublin with a BA in Irish and English, as well as a HDip in Education. She also has an MA in Nua Ghaeilge from UCC, an advanced diploma in applied educational studies from University of Hull, a graduate diploma in information communications technology from University of Limerick and is studying for a Higher Dip in Translation from NUI Maynooth.
“We wish Elizabeth every success in her new position,” said Shelagh Graham, human resources manager, on behalf of County Clare Vocational Education Committee.
“The greatest group of staff I ever worked with” is how Ms Joyce describes the personnel she directed in Ennistymon Vocational School, which has seen a rise in enrolment from 75 to l85 since 2004 and where much refurbishment and improvement in facilities has been dictated by a consistently growing student cohort in a 50-year-old public building.
Ms Joyce went on to say that her years in Ennistymon were the best of her career to date.
“It was a very enriching experience. Clare people have a great sense of fun, warmness and openness, while at the same time being very professional in their approach to work. That is a wonderful combination,” she commented.
Acting principal, Geraldine Greene returned the compliment, saying that their former principal is herself a fantastic person exuding phenomenal energy.
“Her first concern is always the good of staff and students. A most caring person, she is ever highly motivated and focused. She has left an indelible mark here. For the school and its personnel, nothing was impossible because she is such a fair-minded person.”