Scoil Ursula N.S.

The Principal
The principal is the one in charge of other people's children.
She shoulders a great responsibility.
Her task is a privileged one.
She must be the glue that holds a school community together.
She must be its centre, its heart, reaching out and drawing together a very special community who look to her as its leader.
Her day is full of practical duties, answering phonecalls, meeting with parents, paying bills amid a myriad of other school related chores.
But above and beyond all these
There is a far greater calling.
To be the wise one, the problem solver, the decision maker, the listener, the advisor of teacher and pupil.
The symbol of authority tempered with fairness and compassion.
It is a challenging job, a difficult and often a tiring and seemingly thankless one.
Yet it brings unparalleled rewards.
To know you provided a safe and secure work environment in your care.
To know you gave sound leadership to the team you led.
To know you touched the lives of the hundreds of children who called you the príomhoide with love, justice, fairness, firmness and concern.
To know you sent anxious parents away, happy in the knowledge that their precious children were being educated in a welcoming and nurturing environment.
Who could ask for more than this, to be of useful service to ones fellow beings.
A principal sends out ripples that will harvest consequences well beyind those we experience.
Personally, ripples that can illuminate and awaken and transform lives well into the future.
Yvonne, you have had the opportunity to be all of these.
You have been blessed.
You can now close the door of the office behind you with pride and say
'I did this school some service!'