Sister Kathleen Kennedy entered the Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul in 1996. She worked in residential child care for fourteen years after which she ran a pre-school group in a primary school setting. She qualified as a teacher with Bachelor of Arts with Qualified Teacher Status (BAQTS) and taught in an inner city primary school for sixteen years. She worked as part of a city wide Evangelisation Team in Hull before being appointed to the Provincial Council.