ALL IN THE FAMILY

WHILE PETER COFFEY REGARDS HIS SAINT IGNATIUS’ COLLEGE STUDENTS AS THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD, IT WAS HIS 95-YEAR-OLD MUM WHO GAVE THIS PRINCIPAL HIS OWN VOCATION – A LOVE FOR EDUCATION.

- WENDY KAY

Peter Coffey has very strong, not to mention very fondly, memories of his first school teacher at his local Catholic parish school. In fact, it’s probably fair to say, Mrs. Coffey, now aged 95, had a huge influence on the little boy who grew up to become Principal of Adelaide’s Saint Ignatius’ College.

“Yes, my first teacher was my mum,” he laughs. “I was in Year 1 in the local parish school in Henley South with Mum as the teacher. I wasn’t allowed to call her Mum, I had to call her Mrs. Coffey.

“And yes, she’s still around, frail, but mentally she’s terribly sharp. We have the same conversations we’ve always had. I’m very lucky.”

Peter is the first lay principal to head Saint Ignatius’ College, a Catholic school founded on the Ignatian tradition by Jesuit priests in 1951, and lead the 1,365 students across senior and junior school campuses. The Senior School, from Years 7–12, is located in Athelstone while the Junior School, from reception to Year 6, is in Norwood, next door to Ignatius Early Years where an additional 100 families send their preschoolers.