Holy Spirit promises a class act

Sydney
18 November 2001

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Holy Spirit promises a class act

Schooling the teachers: Holy Spirit School foundation principal, Tony Lo Cascio, shows new teachers, Cathy Coman (centre) and Dee Rotondo, architectural plans for the new school which opens in January

Carnes Hill’s new Holy Spirit Catholic primary school – which opens its doors in January to around 40 ‘kindies’ – is moving into full gear with the appointment of two senior teachers.

The school’s assistant principal will be Catherine Coman, who hails from Christ the King School at Bass Hill. She is pictured (centre) with the school’s foundation principal, Tony Lo Cascio. With such young students initially – mostly kindergarten children – Dee Rotondo, currently literacy coordinator at St Gertrude’s Primary School at Smithfield, will be particularly welcome at the new school.

Ms Rotondo, a former nurse who retrained as a teacher and is a mother of two, said: “I love helping children with their literacy development and seeing them learn to read and write at increasingly higher levels.”

Holy Spirit is the parish school of a new parish – and suburb – located between Liverpool and Fairfield in Sydney’s south west. Growing apace on what is former farmland, the suburb is a veritable nappy valley being home to dozens of new, many of them young, families who have moved into the forest of new homes that have sprung up in the former fields.

“There’s an amazing feeling of life and vibrance in this area. The parents are energetic and optimistic. It’s like a colourful mosaic,” said Ms Coman, the school’s new assistant principal.

Holy Spirit will start out quite modestly in the new school year with just a few demountable classrooms. These will be erected on the site during the summer holidays. But the school will eventually grow into a large, 600-plus primary school serving an area with many Catholic families.

Mr Lo Cascio said the school was fortunate to have found such high calibre teaching staff. “Both these teachers come with considerable experience, qualifications and a strong passion for their chosen vocation – teaching.”

Ms Coman has 16 years teaching experience in Catholic schools and holds a masters degree in educational leadership, together with religious education qualifications. She said she was attracted to Holy Spirit because of the strong community spirit of the parents and children in what was a rapidly expanding new suburb.

Ms Rotondo said she had a passion for the religious dimension of Catholic schools and was looking forward to helping the new school integrate into what is also a fairly new parish.

Mr Lo Cascio said good progress had been made in planning the building the new school and the first parent orientation meeting would take place this month.