Ms. O’Brien retired from her position as Principal of Holy Child Killiney on 1st September, 2024. Mrs O’Brien completed forty years in Holy Child Killiney, by any measure this is truly a lifetime of service.

Caroline’s devotion to the ethos and community of the school was unstinting. As Principal, her outstanding guidance got us through the challenges of the pandemic with a decisive pivot into remote working for all, insisting on strong outreach of pastoral care to our community in that life-changing time. Under her leadership, we have developed state of the art facilities in STEM and Sport making sure that our girls have the best on offer and the space and resources to thrive. Caroline proudly ensured that HCK was accessible to anyone with a physical disability in keeping with our ethos of inclusion. She supported and led our school community in the winning of the Leinster Schools Senior Cup (hockey) in the 2021-22 season, throwing herself into this excitement with gusto and never missing a match.

It was so important to Caroline that she knew every student by name and for this reason she took First Years for registration in the mornings, for ever after welcomed by name and making it difficult to get away with anything! This, together with her warm and engaging connection in every encounter,  helped to increase our pupil and staff numbers, while the Holy Child Killiney character remained. The achievements of our students in the academic world remain of the highest order under her leadership.

Throughout her term she continued to be there for her students, her staff, the students’ families, and her Board and Trustees. As Principal since 2017, her deep fostering of the spirit of HCK as a centre of excellence, where the potential of each girl is encouraged and cherished, made our school what it is today, and we are deeply grateful. We wish Caroline the happiest of retirements while not keeping too far away!