Claire Cashmore | Former DESS Student and Paralympian

It was a pleasure to welcome back ex-DESS student Claire Cashmore, MBE, Paralympian and Author to DESS.

A seasoned gold medal winning Paralympian, competing as a swimmer in the last 4 Paralympic games, Claire entered the world stage at 16 years old. Qualifying for the Athens Paralympics in 2004 and Claire went on to achieve a collection of Bronze and Silver medals across three Olympic Games (2004, 2008, 2012), before finally landing an Olympic Gold at Rio 2016. Adding to the three World Championship Golds and six European Championship Golds, Claire has a formidable medal collection.

Claire was chosen to be one of the faces of UK Channel 4’s hugely successful ‘Meet the Superhumans’ campaign, and as such was featured on billboards and adverts nationwide.

In January 2017, she was selected as part of a talent transfer programme to transition to the sport of Triathlon and has had a very successful first year, coming first in both World Cup and British Championship events. Claire continued to build on this success and came home with a medal at every international over 2018 to 2019.

Our children had the chance to meet Claire, ask her questions, swim with her and hear her inspirational story. As well as listen to her new book, ‘Splash’, based on her love of swimming which began in our DESS swimming pool.

We had the opportunity to sit down with Claire and ask her about her time here at DESS.

What was your experience like at DESS?

I was at DESS from 1994 to 1999 and absolutely loved it. I have such amazing, fond memories of my time there. I think it is a really lovely family community feeling to the school. It is lovely to come back to the school and still feel that family community feeling.

What is your overriding memory of DESS?

My overriding memory of DESS is swimming in the pool. It’s funny coming back as it feels a lot smaller than I remember. Having the opportunity to experience that was very different from the UK, as you rarely have a swimming pool in your school, that was incredible. I remember the teachers and how supportive, and great they were. I remember finding it really hard when I was told we were moving back to the UK. I was absolutely gutted to be leaving DESS and Dubai because I just think it is such a great place.

What skills or knowledge did you learn throughout your time at DESS that you found most useful in your career?

One of my biggest learnings from DESS is that there are so many different people, cultures, and religions. I think this is important to experience, understand, and have empathy towards different cultures and races. This has really helped me broaden my horizons throughout life by meeting so many different people and understanding people’s different viewpoints. To me, this is really important.

What is something at DESS that you absolutely loved being a part of?

I remember loving being part of the Leopard’s house, the fact that I can even remember being a part of the green class and the Leopard house shows the big impact the school had on me. I clearly remember the sports days, the swimming galas and all the sporting activities. I remember my love of playing outside, in what was more of a sandpit at the time that I was there, and now it’s changed to the courtyard surrounded by all the classrooms. I remember loving playing with friends and enjoying being happy and having a great time.

What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

The best advice I’ve been told is to never give up and bounce back from the tough times. You should learn from those times, reflect, and move on. There is always a way around things in life that sometimes might challenge us, you just need to try to find another way around it and be willing to work hard.

The advice I would give to current DESS children is to take every opportunity that is given to you, step outside of your comfort zone, and do something that scares you every day. You are so lucky at DESS to have so many opportunities that you might not have in other places, so take it, use it and enjoy it every day.