Maitland Catholic school St Aloysius

The Catholic school  to be built in the new Maitland suburb  Chisholm  will be called St Aloysius Catholic Primary School, authorities announced on Tuesday.

With planning progressing well and construction expected to start next year, the diocese’s director of schools, Ray Collins, said the new school would help relieve pressure on existing schools.

 ‘‘We’ve had to knock back 30 students a year for the last two years,’’ he said.

 ‘‘We don’t have any spaces to create any extra classes [at existing schools in the area].’’

 Mr Collins said interest in a Catholic education had not waned because of the negative publicity on  historic child sex abuse in  the church and the Royal Commission and Special Commission of Inquiry.

 ‘‘I think people are able to differentiate between historic abuse matters and the church as it is now,’’ Mr Collins said.

To be built on a parcel of land in the Waterford County residential subdivision, St Aloysius  will be a two-stream primary school with a capacity for 420 students.

The name was given to honour the patron saint of young students and youth,  St Aloysius Gonzaga.

The Maitland-Newcastle diocese once had a St Aloysius School at Hamilton, but the name disappeared when the  school closed.

 The new name was chosen after consultation with the community, Mr Collins said.

The Maitland-Newcastle diocese was doing a study into secondary education needs in the region and it appeared that   another secondary school was needed, Mr Collins said.

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