Edition 3, Term 1 2021
MENU: From the Principal | From the ELC | From the Junior School | Senior School News | Music News | Chaplain’s Chat | Community Engagement
From the Principal
Twelve days after our last case of COVID having been locally transmitted, Melbourne is now living daily life almost unencumbered. It has been curious to witness the conventions we have been cautious of recently, such as shaking hands and standing in queues, return almost unquestioned. We are very conscious of ensuring safety here at school, of course, and fist bumping is about as extreme as my interactions have stretched to. Yet, except for those financially or physically affected, there is undoubtedly a lifting of the pall of coronavirus. Sport, a highly successful parents’ evening last week, HPAF rehearsals and camps have continued in earnest too, and I sense significant gratitude around the school from those able to engage in these ways.
One of the events I was privileged to join was our Respectful Relationships BBQ for Year 12 Trinity and Ruyton students on Friday. Organised by the students, the event was held amidst the significantly publicised sexual assault conversation with which Canberra and the rest of Australia is now thoroughly engaged. As indicated in my letter to parents and guardians last week, we continue to work with our students across age groups – and will continue to refine what we are doing in the area – to contextualise the broader discussion and arm them with a contemporary understanding of what our motto, ‘Act Manfully’ should mean. With this conversation going on in earnest around them, it was pleasing to see the students drive the event, have such ease in each other’s company and (unprompted) through the School Captains express a sense of solidarity between the two schools.
Over the past couple of weeks, I have been engaging small groups of students in discussions regarding their experiences of learning about consent during their time at Trinity. From their recounts, it is clear that they are generally well oriented to the issues and these have been formally addressed at various stages within the school’s curriculum. It is also clear that we can do more. As has been publicly aired by some commentators, schools cannot tackle this on their own, however. It is a community issue that needs a community response. As the petition and noise in Canberra continue to gather momentum, we are looking at the prospect of a movement of education for all of society which should give the young people in our care the best chance to understand and live out the values we strive to assist them to adopt.
Adrian Farrer
Principal
Adrian Farrer
Principal
From the ELC
Signs and Symbols carry meaning
The students in the Kangaroo Group (our four year olds) have been sharing their emerging literacy skills through visual representation, and discussions around sounds and car models. Through the use of vehicle and traffic symbols we are developing our inquiry that signs and symbols carry meaning.
Naomi Wright
Director of the Early Learning Centre
Naomi Wright
Director of the Early Learning Centre
From the Junior School
Last week, the entire Year 5 cohort made its way around the bay to Portsea for the Junior School’s first camp of the year. With half of the Year 5 cohort new to Trinity each year the Portsea camp serves a vital purpose: building connections. It was wonderful to see the happiness and enthusiasm amongst the boys as they enjoyed new opportunities to learn away from school. However, more importantly, they relished the chance to get to know each other better. Camp is certainly not something we take for granted these days and there was a great deal of gratitude from boys and staff alike as the opportunity was realised. The cohort returned on Wednesday having had three days and two nights away together. Friendships have blossomed and connections were reinforced. Click here to view the photo album.
We look forward to the Year 4 and 6 camps in two weeks’ time.
Tom Savill
Deputy Head Administration
Code Camp – Term 1 Break
Code Camp will be returning to Trinity for the Term 1 holidays from April 12 to April 16. These camps offer an opportunity to learn animation, coding and more. For more information, please go to www.codecamp.com.au/trinitygrammar or access the flyer here.
Senior School News
You Matter
Trinity has recently partnered with a local charity called ‘You Matter’ which supports women and families escaping domestic violence through the provision of donated furniture and other household items necessary for a fully functioning home. You Matter is a local Boroondara initiative and, this year, aims to help up to 60 families in need throughout the eastern and northern regions of Melbourne. Trinity has a strong commitment to community engagement and we feel this is a meaningful partnership for the school. We look forward to working together with You Matter to support families recovering from crisis.
You Matter, through the Harambee program, will work with the school leaders and students as part of Trinity’s local initiative and immersion. Our students will be immersed through fundraising efforts; collecting donated furniture, in crews, on Saturday afternoon rosters; and making and repairing furniture. Additionally, You Matter will support Trinity in the Respectful Relationships program and provide exposure to the current conversations around domestic violence.
Co-founder Rochelle Anderson (parent of OTGs Thomas and William Bugno) recently addressed students involved in Harambee, while current Trinity parent, Louise Ross (mother of Tom and Ben Ross) is a volunteer with You Matter and is developing the schools’ partnership program. There was a great level of enthusiasm about this initiative. Together, Harambee students and the You Matter team will develop an operational plan for 2021 which will see Trinity students and their families, where possible, actively involved in supporting families in need in our local area.
House Swimming Carnival
Congratulations to swimmers involved in the House Swimming Carnival last week. Results are as follows:
| Place | House | Points |
| 1 | Arnold | 1036.5 |
| 2 | Kent Hughes | 1029.5 |
| 3 | Hindley | 974 |
| 4 | Roberts | 973 |
| 5 | Merritt | 928 |
| 6 | Sutton | 913 |
| 7 | Cowen | 895 |
| 8 | Henty | 892 |
World’s Greatest Shave
On Friday 12 March, Harambee will be organising an event to support the World’s Greatest Shave Foundation. A number of students and teachers will be shaving their luscious locks, most notably Mr Brown will be shaving what he has left. The World’s Greatest Shave is an Australian foundation that supports research into cures and treatments for Leukeamia. The event will be one to remember. Donations to this worthy cause can be made via the link or on the day. Thanks for your support.
Congratulations
Liam Henderson (Year 12) has once again been selected in the U18 Hockey Victoria Boys’ State team. He will play in the National Championships in Launceston from 8-16 April. He has also been selected for the Hockey Club Melbourne Emerging Squad that is a pathway to the U21 National team.
Sam Rusjan (Year 12) will also play at the Nationals in Launceston as part of the Hockey Victoria U18 Boys’ Development Team.
Lachlan Hodgson (Year 9) and Joel Taylor (Year 9) will play in the National Finals in Bathurst in the Easter holidays as part of the U15 Hockey Victoria Boys’ State Team.
Susan Hill
Deputy Principal, Head of Senior School
Flexischools: New Cafeteria Ordering System for the Start of Term 2
At the start of Term 2, we will be introducing a new online, cashless, cafeteria ordering system, Flexischools, which will replace MyMonitor.
Flexischools is a solution which will allow you to easily top up your Senior School son’s cafeteria account, or place a lunch order for your Junior School son.
In the next Trinity News, we will let families know the steps required to set up an account and get ready for the start of Term 2. If you have a child at another school which already uses Flexischools, you can simply use the same account and add the Trinity details.
We hope this step forward will support families with a more convenient and efficient process for using the cafeteria.
Feona Wadsworth
Educational Support Manager
Year 9 Play: Clue
It’s a dark and stormy night, and you’ve been invited to a very unusual dinner party. Come along to the Ruyton and Trinity Year 9 Play, Clue, on March 18 and 19 at 7.00pm, and witness this classic whodunnit performed on the Royce Theatre stage. Join the iconic characters: Scarlet, Plum, White, Green, Peacock, and Mustard as they race to find the murderer in Boddy Manor. Based on the cult classic film and the popular board game, Clue is a hilarious comedy that will keep you guessing until the final twist. Click here to view poster. Tickets available here
Darcie Kane-Priestley
Director of Drama, Ruyton Girls’ School
2021 Senior School Play – Macbeth Re-Arisen
Trinity Grammar School, Kew and Ruyton Girls’ School present the 2021 Senior School Play, Macbeth Re-Arisen, by David Mence. Macbeth Re-Arisen picks up where Shakespeare left off, a comic-infused sequel to the original Macbeth. Back from the dead, zombie Macbeth and his wife, Lady Macbeth, lead their zombie followers in a quest to prise Scotland away from the arms of King Malcolm. The Senior School Play involves students of Years 10 to 12 in both cast and crew. This production has been licensed through the Australian Script Centre.
Click here to book your tickets now.
Stewart Lucy
Director
Ryan Bowler
Head of Drama
Music News
Upcoming Term 1 String Recitals
Students are warmly invited to perform in the last String Recital for Term 1 to be held on Tuesday 23 March. Siegfried Franke will be available to accompany students at the recitals and rehearse with performers during lunchtime that day. Interested participants should contact Therese McCoppin at mccoppint@trinity.vic.edu.au
Annual String Concert
Our Annual String Concert will be held in the South Room on Thursday 31 March at 7:00pm and is planned to be livestreamed to parents.
Over 160 students from Prep to Year 12 will be performing in the following groups: Suzuki Double Bass, Suzuki Cello, Suzuki Violin, Stringlets, Stringers, Marles String Orchestra, Trinity Strings, Senior Strings, Senior String Quartet.
The Concert will open with a première performance of a 17-piece Double Bass Group.
Michelle Stanic
Director of Music
Holy Trinity Anglican Church Kew – Choir Scholarships
Positions available now for all voices.
Trinity students are invited to join!
10-20% scholarship towards school fees, music training, making new friends, confidence building, self-discipline, teamwork and just having fun are some of the reasons for joining Holy Trinity Choir.
Boys perform Sundays at 10.00am during the service, rehearsal at 9.00am and finish at 12.00pm.
All enquiries are most welcome. Contact the Director of Music, Stephen Kerr music@holytrinitykew.org.au or mobile 0422 524 574
Click here for more information.
Chaplain’s Chat
Perspective and change of hearts
Every Friday after school Trinity students and staff visit the African Homework Club in Collingwood to assist children with their homework. Nearly all the children wanting help come from refugee families suffering persecution in countries such as Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Kenya.
It is an empowering experience. Hearing stories from students from worn torn countries quickly gives a person a different perspective on life. Despite the economic hardships families face and personal loss of loved ones, the welcoming and huge smiles our students are greeted with is quite overwhelming. Helping the children with spelling, times tables and reading is a greatly rewarding experience for everyone involved. The diversity of culture and faith is an enriching experience.
Our mission at Trinity is to empower young men and our community to contribute to the global community with courage, humility and integrity. It is only through having experiences with the most marginalised in our society that our hearts grow in the capacity to have compassion and respond where there is a need. The African Homework Club is my favourite ministry. I love the enthusiasm and joy the students bring and the way they share their experiences on the journey home. It also keeps the flame burning within us to help the vulnerable communities Trinity walks with in Uganda and Kenya. At the African Homework Club, our two worlds truly do become one. We can change the world. It just takes a change of our heart. Below, Michelle Gregory, a staff colleague, shares a reflection from her visit last Friday:
‘Isn’t it funny how the universe sometimes knows exactly what you need – and that is precisely what happened last Friday on my first excursion with Tom and our boys to the African Homework Club. I had thought it would be fun and rewarding but it was so much more than that.
I’m not sure what amazed me more – the many bright faces who were waiting for us, the beautiful parents who welcomed us with smiles and food, or our own Trinity students. The younger students attending the homework club just beam with excitement – and don’t they just love hearing you stumble and struggle getting your tongue around their beautiful names! Who was teaching whom?!
I am so proud of our TGS boys – the laughs and conversations that happened in the bus really opened my eyes to their level of maturity, commitment and sincerity in being part of this amazing project. It was all rather humbling. I am not ashamed to say there were a few tears when I boarded the bus back to TGS afterwards – after a hard, draining week somehow in an hour those little people managed to hit my reset button and put everything back into perspective.
Will be going back much more often than my planned once a month – thank you, Tom.’
Tom Purcell
Assistant Chaplain, Director of Outreach
Community Engagement
Last Wednesday, we were so pleased to be able to host the inaugural Parent Welcome Evening on the Birrell Oval, albeit on typically chilly Melbourne night. There were almost 600 guests who registered to attend and the atmosphere on the night was one of great enthusiasm to firstly, be out socialising, and secondly to meet, face to face, new and old families.
We are also excited to be able to host a hybrid version of Trinity’s House Performing Arts Festival this year on Tuesday 16 March at 7.30pm. The evening will be livestreamed so that all families may enjoy the performances. If you haven’t already done so, you can also book your ticket to attend the venue (one per family)
A quick reminder to all the Class Reps to ensure you have completed the online Volunteer Induction training. You can access this training here
The 2021 Class Reps are in full swing creating events for their respective year groups to meet and connect. Please see below a list of some of the upcoming events for your diary. These events are a great opportunity to get to know the parents of your son’s cohort and welcome newcomers.
Lucy Cohen
Director of Community Engagement
Trinity TLC Community Support Group
Thank you to everyone for your interest and support so far this term – it has been amazing! The roster for providing food is steadily filling; there are a number of emergency volunteers waiting in the wings to assist; and there is a healthy balance of funds available due to many generous donations.
We would love your assistance to keep up the momentum. Here are some answers to our most frequently asked questions:
- Is the food really needed?
- Do I need to drop off my cooking on a Monday?
- What should I cook?
- Where are the links?
Yes please – all 2020 food was distributed at the end of Term 4 and the freezer is ready to be restocked. It’s very helpful to have a supply of meals and lunchbox items in the freezer so that the Community Engagement Team can put together care packages as required.
Meal ideas include casseroles, soups and pies. Lunchbox favourites are muffins, biscuits, slices and scrolls. If it’s popular in your household, freezes well and is easily re-heated that’s just what we’re looking for!
Please provide enough for six people, deliver fresh (not frozen) and appropriately labelled. Further details are available in the notes section of the roster.
Please click here to join the roster to prepare a meal/lunchbox item on a date which suits you.
To join the list of Urgent Meal Volunteers, whom we can contact on an adhoc basis to provide meals and lunchbox items at 24/48 hours’ notice, please click here.
Please click here to make a donation which will be used to purchase items such as supermarket vouchers or a meal delivery service.
There’s never been a more appropriate time for this service to be available in our community and we are so grateful to you for helping us to make it happen.
Please don’t hesitate to contact Alice Noonan and Angela Gill (Co-Convenors) via email pa@trinity.vic.edu.au if you have any questions.
Thank you.
Trinity Fine Foods 2021
Trinity Fine Foods welcomes both experienced and novice preservers as well as administrative volunteers to join the Fine Foods group. Share knowledge and friendship whilst contributing to the Trinity community by way of a Christmas sale.
Be inspired by the wide range of produce made at group making days or produce your speciality at home. The Trinity Fine Foods Stall is amongst the most successful at the Trinity Fair held in November, and last year’s online marketplace successfully continued the tradition of a pre-Christmas sale. All jams sold beautifully with berry and stone fruit jams especially popular and tomato preserves of all persuasions: Tomato Sauce, Rouse Hill Tomato Chutney, Spicy Tomato Relish, Tomato Kasundi and chilli sauces, all sold very well.
We also seek support from those who can donate seasonal fruit and vegetables or basic preserving ingredients such as sugar, vinegar and oils.
Cook & Connect (28 March) with the Trinity Fine Foods team
New to the school and want to connect with others while cooking up a storm? Each term, Karlee Scott-Murphy (Simon 7H & Owen 9F) is hosting a day of preparing our fabulous offerings ready for the Trinity Fair in November.
Don’t know much about jams or preserves? Not a problem – we have experienced members of the group who can guide you. We welcome all family members to join in the fun, even if it is just to chop the ingredients or stir a pot. Our first gathering is Sunday 28 March from 11.00am-5.00pm. Bring a plate of lunch to share and spend the day cooking up a storm (or part of the day if you can’t commit to the whole session). Please contact Karlee at karlee@scott-murphy.com or 0413 881 822 to join in. All (including boys, dads and experienced grandparents) are welcome!
Important Dates
Wednesday 10 March
Mouthguard Distribution
Prep-Year 2 Parent Helpers and Parent Reading Information Session 1, 8.45am
2016 OTG Reunion, 6.30pm
Prep-Year 2 Parent Helpers and Parent Reading Information Session 2, 7.00pm
Thursday 11 March
Prep (2022) Morning Tea, 9.00am
Trinity Shop 2.00-4.00pm
Friday 12 March
AGSV Swimming Trials conclude
Saturday 13 March
AGSV Sport
HPAF Weekend Rehearsal
Sunday 14 March
HPAF Weekend Rehearsal, 9.00am
Monday 15 March
Year 11 Outdoor Leaders BBQ, 12.40pm
Tuesday 16 March
HPAF Rehearsal, Melbourne Exhibition & Convention Centre – Plenary, 8.30am
Parents’ Association AGM, Community Engagement Office, 7.00pm
HAPF Performance, Melbourne Exhibition & Convention Centre – Plenary, 7.30pm
Wednesday 17 March
Gold Mitre Lunch, Centre for the Arts, 12.00pm
Thursday 18 March
Senior School Assembly, 8.15am
Trinity and Ruyton Year 9 Play Performance, Royce Theatre, Ruyton, 7.00pm
Friday 19 March
AGSV Centenary Swimming Championships, MSAC, 6.30pm
Trinity and Ruyton Year 9 Play Performance, Royce Theatre, Ruyton, 7.00pm
Saturday 20 March
AGSV Sport Final Round Year Level Summer Sport
AGSV Firsts Teams Semi-Finals
Monday 22 March
Year 4 and 6 Camp Rumbug commences, 8.30am