New era at Offaly primary school
The re-opening of Scoil Bhríde IN Clara and the return of the staff and pupils this week will herald a new era for the school. Scoil Bhride is an all-girls primary school with a staff in excess of 30 and over 200 pupils. It caters for all the educational needs of the children from Clara and the surrounding area and also has a state of the art facility catering for children with additional needs.
Sandra Grennan, former Deputy Principal in the school took up her new role as Principal this week.
A native of Tullamore, Sandra's appointment to the role is a highly popular choice with staff pupils and parents alike and she is looking forward enthusiastically to her new role.
She joined the staff of Scoil Bhríde as a class teacher in September 1999 from Scoil Eóin Phóil in Leixlip having just achieved her Masters in Education. Over the next number of years, she taught as a mainstream class teacher and immersed herself in the life of Scoil Bhríde. In more recent years she took up a role as a Special Education teacher. Sandra has many skills and talents but her accomplishment also as a pianist is much lauded and has been a tremendous asset to the school as Scoil Bhride has always placed a strong emphasis on developing the musical talents of the children.
She was appointed to the role of Deputy Principal in 2011 following the retirement of Mary Ledwith.
During her years in the school, she continued to upskill and achieved a Post Graduate Diploma in Educational Leadership in 2013 and a Postgraduate Diploma also in Special Education in 2016.
Sandra is a highly qualified and experienced teacher who has played a major role in the management and running of Scoil Bhríde with former Principal Nora Kavanagh over the last 11 years. Her commitment to the children, the families, the school and the future of education in Clara will be in no doubt and she has many plans to continue to develop the school and prepare the children for the future.
Sandra is married to Ken ,a well know Tullamore businessman and they have 3 children Pat, Ellen and Kate and she is the daughter of Kay and Tony Dempsey Tullamore.
Sandra will be joined also this year by Scoil Bhríde’s newly appointed Deputy Principal Triona O’Lone.
Triona, a native of Birr, has been a member of the Scoil Bhríde staff since 2010. She has worked as a mainstream teacher during her time in Scoil Bhríde and in 2021 took up a role in Special Education. Triona also holds a Postgraduate diploma in Educational Leadership since 2015.
A very dedicated teacher, who has specialised in I. T. in the school she recently led a group of pupils from 5th and 6th class from Scoil Bride to success at county level in the Vex Robotics Championship where children design and learn to operate robots. Achieving a 2nd overall result from 60 schools in Co. Offaly who took part was a testament to the hard work by Triona in preparing the children for the competition.
Triona is also an avid runner and recently completed the Tullamore half marathon.