Our School

At Monsignor Philip Coffey Catholic School, we are called to celebrate and nurture the God-given talents of each student as we serve with excellence in the light of Christ. We recognize our call to love and serve from our Master teacher Jesus Christ, and we are committed to creating a Catholic learning community under the protection of Mother Mary.

The Catholic Graduate Expectations are our foundation as we strive for academic excellence and the acknowledgement of those who achieve it. We recognize God as the source of all life and actively work to focus on social issues within our local and global communities.

We celebrate the diversity within our community with a collaborative approach to learning, in cooperation with parents, the Catholic faith community, and other organizations that recognize the value of our mission. Within the context of Catholic teaching and Sacramental living, our school community strives to demonstrate respect and reverence for all life, thus nurturing a safe, Christian environment for the entire school community.

Patron Saint

Our patron saint is Monsignor Philip Coffey (1898-1963) who resided in Oshawa for more than 24 years. For 20 of those years, he was the Separate School Representative on the Board of Education of Oshawa. He helped organize fundraising activities for the expansion of churches and schools. Monsignor Coffey was a strong advocate for national unity between Canada's different ethnic groups. In memory of his contributions to our community as a skilled organizer, excellent administrator, hard-working priest, teacher and sportsman, the school was renamed in his honour in 1977.

Philosophy

As Catholic educators, we live according to our Father's code and to lead our students, by example, to live the basic truths of the gospel message. This is an awesome, yet inspiring challenge which we share with the parents of our young men and women. Children learn what they live. Each day we have the opportunity to teach our students:

• to love by the way we love;
• to be generous by our generosity;
• to be passionate by our compassion; and
• to be forgiving by the way we forgive.