ST Caimin’s Community School Shannon will have a new principal from the start of September, with Claire Knight taking over from John Cleary.
Ms Knight has been at St Caimin’s since 1985, has taught PE and maths and served as deputy principal for the last five years, a role she enjoyed. “I learned an awful lot from the experience and I enjoyed working with the students, their parents and the teachers.”
Of her new position, she says, “We’re in a very good place now to bring people forward with all the changes that are coming in education. The central theme for us is our mission statement that we have an environment that is structured and that students feel cared for and safe.”
She has seen huge changes in the school over the course of her lengthy career. “We started off that first year with 112 students, then we brought them in one year at a time. It was initially built for 500 but Shannon grew and we grew. It’s at its highest at the moment. We moved into this new building 12 years ago and it was like starting all over again in a way and we were able to expand further from there.”
Regarding her vision for the school, she said, “We like to maintain an environment where you have a fully-rounded education for all the students and try to provide them with every opportunity possible in very difficult times with reducing resources.”
She feels that St Caimin’s has a lot to offer, proven by the success of past pupils. She also says she is privileged to take up the new role. “Our students have achieved success in all walks of life in the four corners of the world and I am very proud to have been part of that. I am very honoured to have been offered the position of principal of St Caimin’s and am looking forward to working with the staff, pupils and their parents in the coming years.”
By Owen Ryan
A native of Ennis, Colin McGann has been editor of The Clare Champion since August 2020. Former editor of The Clare People, he is a journalism and communications graduate of Dublin Institute of Technology.