Deirdre Finucane was appointed as a Foundation Member of Council in February 2015 after a career in secondary education in the Midlands, Tanzania and London, culminating in the headship of St Edmund’s Wolverhampton, the city in which she was brought up. She holds a BA in English Literature from the University of Liverpool, MAs from London and Birmingham in Modern English Literature and in Shakespeare & Theatre and an MPhil from Cambridge in Education. She trained as a teacher and followed the Catholic Certificate in Religious Studies programme at Christ’s College, Liverpool in 1976 and has pursued her Shakespeare studies since her retirement in 2014.

Deirdre began her career at St Philip’s Birmingham in 1976, after which she spent two years on Voluntary Service Overseas in Tanga, Tanzania. On her return she moved to London where she taught at St Aloysius College and then, for twelve years, at Westminster City School where she was Head of English, Deputy Head and, for nearly a year, Acting Head.

In 1996 she became Vice Principal of St Augustine’s Redditch and in 2000 Head Teacher and then Principal of St Edmund’s Wolverhampton which became part of Bishop Cleary Catholic Multi- Academy Company on 1 July 2013 and moved to a new / renovated build – a Building Schools for the Future project in conjunction with Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, Birmingham Diocesan Education Service, Wolverhampton University and Wolverhampton Local Authority – the following September.

Deirdre still has links with the Parish of St Peter and St Paul, Wolverhampton and, increasingly since 2014, with St Mary’s Harvington.