Edition 5, Term 1 2020
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FROM THE PRINCIPAL
Schools are fairly soulless places without students! As we move deeper into this new reality of empty schools and full houses, much of what we take for granted is significantly compromised – in the short to medium term at least – and we have adjustments to make. As parents and teachers, we are naturally concerned for our young people’s wellbeing. I suspect that for some their usual world of colour seems to have turned grey. It is hard for any of us to ignore the constant stream of media and information; indeed, governments want us listening so that we can heed their warnings. We should guard against being unduly gloomy, though.
At my Commissioning service at St Paul’s (was that really only six weeks ago?) Bishop Lindsay Urwin referred to the famous “Let’s adore and endure each other” graffiti in Shoreditch, East London. As we retreat into our houses and from each other in the community, we can do well to remember his prompting. It is a different kind of adoration and endurance, of course, but keeping our distance is a new form of showing respect. Staying apart reflects a togetherness in our efforts to quell the virus’ affects. Exercising the discipline of changing our social habits may well change the course of the pandemic and help avoid calamity. We have a role to play in achieving this.
As we anticipate a holiday break like no other, we should do so with the knowledge that we are well set up to meet whatever challenges come our way after Easter. Our teachers and support staff have been quite amazing in their willingness to adapt and respond to our requests. The Leadership Team has been impressively cohesive and attentive. The students have trusted us and, largely, have managed their online obligations very well. The support of our parents has been most appreciated.
I am conscious that our Year Twelve students will be feeling somewhat edgy about the way this year is panning out. It is important for them to remember that everyone across the state (and country) is in the same situation, and that they will be looked after by us and by the system at large. We will be relentless advocates for them. In the meantime, if they can embrace the difference and buy in to this new type of schooling, as they have been doing so far, they will come out on “the other side” really well.
So, as we bid farewell this week to an extraordinary term, it is “business as unusual” at Trinity!
Adrian Farrer
Principal
JUNIOR SCHOOL NEWS
I have the privilege and pleasure of penning a note for the Trinity Newsletter on behalf of the Junior School during a unique time in the history of the school. ‘Distance Learning’ has become the new normal for the final week and a bit of this term.
The community has done a wonderful job of embracing the change and we cannot thank everyone enough. Our staff have achieved an incredible amount in a relatively short period of time, our parents have been exceptional in providing new layers of support for their children, and the children themselves have taken to the alternative approaches to learning like ducks to water.
As part of our International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme approach, the students focus on the attributes of a successful learner. A number of these attributes have been tested in recent times and many examples of success have surfaced. There has already been a weight of evidence highlighting the Junior School cohort being open-minded, principled, reflective and, most helpfully, excellent communicators.
Whilst ‘social distancing’ seems to be the buzz phrase at present, our community is moving beyond that and simply practising ‘physical distancing’ to keep one another safe. The collaboration and communication between us all have helped maintain and reinforce our social connections. We are all learning together and what better example for the children.
Stay safe and well and please keep in touch.
Tom Savill
Junior School Deputy Head (Administration)
SENIOR SCHOOL NEWS
Distance Learning
Well, we have commenced Distance Learning. Thank you to the staff who have so willingly tried new ways of teaching and learning. Although it has worked very well so far, there is no doubt that one of the most important ingredients of school is missing: the face to face interaction between the students and students with staff. These relationships are so important in the development of our boys. All holiday activities have been cancelled including trips and sports training. We do not yet know when we will return for Term 2, but hopefully it will be 16 April for the boys. Many Term 2 activities, including work experience, Year 10 Camps and Parent-Teacher Interviews have already been postponed or cancelled, but we look forward to a more ‘normal’ Term 2.
Cricket
The First XI Cricket team played in the Grand Final against PEGS last Saturday. PEGS batted first making a good total of 211. Trinity started slowly, but were in with a real chance after 30 overs. Unfortunately, they were not quite able to keep up with the run rate and fell 21 runs short. It was a terrific game between two excellent teams. Well done to Mr Pateman, Mr Bett, Henry Brown and all the team.
Kayaking
Michael Fan (9G) headed up to Sydney on 11 March to compete for Victoria in the Paddle Australia Canoe Sprint Championships. In the iconic K4 race, his crew placed 2nd, 3rd and 1st in their 1000m, 500m and 200m races. Michael’s results complemented the outstanding results achieved in the Paddle Victoria Canoe Marathon Championships (29 February-1 March), when Nathan Jones and Callan Baker both placed highly in their respective events. Then, on Sunday 15 March, Trinity took the vast majority of first place ribbons at the Combined Schools event!
Lord of the Flies
Sadly, an audience was not possible for this year’s Senior School Play Lord of the Flies; however, last Wednesday’s full dress rehearsal was filmed and hopefully the performance can be replayed on screen. It is wonderful that they were still able to put on the show. Well done to the Senior actors: Nicholas Fallaw, Anton Ruiz-Pedley, Ben Allen, Cinque Howells, Murray Lovass, Morgan Payne and Will Campbell and, of course, to Mr Stewart Lucy as Director.
Please visit connect or Facebook to view the photos online.
Cast
Ralph – Nick Fallaw, Jack – Charly Oakley, Piggy – Anton Ruiz-Pedley, Simon – Ben Allen, Roger – Cinque Howells, Maurice – Maya Wilmshurst, Sam – Murray Lovass, Eric – Gabi Brown, Bill – Zoe Boussioutas, Henry – Morgan Payne, Perceval – Ella Callow-Sussex, Naval Officer – Will Campbell
Ensemble
Mia Avram, James Blanch, Harry Bland, Hugh Craig, Jessica Currie, Ally Denovan, Reece Harrison, Dex Kelly, Archie Shaw, Henry Smith, Lara Tricarico, Aden Wilmshurst, Lily Willmott, Dorothy Ye
Student Crew
Assistant Stage Manager – Nick Molnar
Backstage
Thomas Arbon, Liam Common, Adriaan den Hartog, Annabel Maher, Juliette McLean, Campbell Reeve, Hamish Szegi
Lighting
Tim Crichton, Yuki Hua, Charlie Limmer
Make-up and Hair
Tom Bowman, Grace Wen, Stephen Vas
Costumes
Esther Juebner, Cale Martin, Phoebe Whitehead
Front of House
David Chong, Alvin Doan, Lewis Finney, Owen Grayson, Ben Zhou, Charlotte Sammartino, Coco Shang, Jayden Spring, Ivy Wang, Emma Wong, Archie Vickers
Special Props Design
Ben Allen
F1 in Schools National Finals
Trinity produces another National Champion team! A big congratulations to Year 9 team Seido (Daniel Chong, William Johnson, Charlie Shaw and Oliver Wilkie) crowned 1st Place National Champions Development Class, also awarded Best Team Trade Display, Best Team Marketing and Grand Prix Race.
Congratulations also to Year 9/10 team Hydron (Tim Crichton – Year 10, Alexander Liu – Year 10, Ben Noonan – Year 9, Andrew Yeang – Year 9), which placed 3rd in the Professional Class, and was also awarded Best Graphic Design and Best Team Innovation.
This is a wonderful achievement with both teams being excellent ambassadors for Victoria and Trinity as they competed against 36 of the best teams from around Australia gathered at Bosch Australia HQ.
At the same event, Trinity’s teacher-in-charge of F1 in Schools, Peter Clinton, was awarded the John Button Memorial Award for Outstanding Contribution to STEM Education.
F1 in Schools is the largest STEM competition in the world.
Term 2
At this stage we plan to return to ‘normal’ school for Wednesday 15 April (Staff Day) and Thursday 16 April (Students return). We will keep you posted. In the meantime, I hope all families are safe and well, and that the Easter break may bring a halt to COVID-19 so that we all can enjoy a stress-free time.
Mr Rohan Brown
Deputy Headmaster, Head of the Senior School
Careers Newsletter
Please click here to find the latest edition of the Careers Newsletter.
Chaplain’s Chat
Are there things that are unforgivable?
In the lead-up to Easter, one of the biggest themes in the Easter story is the forgiveness demonstrated by Jesus. So, what is forgiveness? Should there be conditions on our forgiveness? Are there things that are unforgivable?
Forgiveness is, I believe, one of the most unpopular Christian virtues. People understand that forgiveness is a great idea in theory, but in reality, they find it very difficult to do. People like the idea of other people asking them for forgiveness and then maybe they’ll accept their apology. They often really don’t like it when it comes time for others to do the asking or when they’re trying to forgive someone who hasn’t even said sorry.
Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive. This is partly because it’s a difficult virtue to live out, but also because it just doesn’t make sense to us in certain circumstances. For example, why would a person forgive someone who has murdered members of their family? It doesn’t make sense to forgive them, how would that help? What should we do then?
Questions about how to truly, and seriously forgive someone is a good question, one that we will face if we ever give forgiveness a try.
We might start with forgiving family members or friends or people near to us, for something they have done in the past week. Practising forgiveness will make us better at it.
The Bible says to love your neighbour as you love yourself, but in Christianity and through the Bible we see that our neighbour can be our enemy or someone we really don’t like.
Loving my neighbour – whether they are a friend or an enemy does not mean thinking that they are nice or that the action committed was right.
Jesus has forgiven us; He sees us as made in his Father’s image. To him, we are not the worst things we have ever done. We are not just liars, cheats, lazy, selfish, proud, we are God’s children – we make wrong choices, we try to love other people, we ask God for forgiveness when we do the wrong thing.
This changes how we love other people – if Jesus sees us all the same way, we can try to view others not as liars, jerks, or just as bad people, but each one as equally made by God, loved by Jesus, and forgivable, as we have been forgiven.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu (who knows something about forgiveness first-hand) has said that holding on to hate/anger/resentment is like drinking poison and then expecting the other person to die! Author Lewis Smede put it another way: ‘When we genuinely forgive, we set a prisoner free and then discover that the prisoner we set free was us.’
- Desmond Tutu’s The book of Forgiving
- Sarah Montana’s Ted Talk – a very helpful story of forgiveness: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEK2pIiZ2I0
I’d love to hear your thoughts! Please send a message through Trinity Connect or email me at halej@trinity.vic.edu.au
Have a great week.
Rev’d James Hale
Assistant Chaplain
COMMUNITY RELATIONS
At Hudson House, our extended Trinity community has always been the most important thing to us. Just as you are, we are doing everything we can to navigate this interesting time. If there is anything the Community Relations team can do to assist you during the next few weeks, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
I thought I would share excerpts from an article published on social media this week that made me smile, and I hope it resonates with you also.
‘I can’t wait for a year’s time, when all of this is a distant memory…
And there is a rise in small business because all the entrepreneurs had a moment of stillness and creativity.
And all the children remember nothing but a time when all the mums and dads were at home and drawing and playing board games, and we remember it as the time we all got to stop and be present.
We will remember the time our health was the first priority and people learnt new ways to use fresh produce to feed their families, and we were all forced to think outside the box and dream up new things, and reinvent old ways, and for once even amongst the chaos there was community, there was a global rise in togetherness and the streets were quiet but our homes were bustling with love and laughter.
Soon just like other crises before it, this will all be a distant memory, a thing we soon listen to our children discuss in classrooms, a once was…’ (Leila Stead – Instagram)
Keep well.
Kathy Hines
Director of Development & Community Relations
Important Dates
Friday 27 March
Boarders Exeat 3.30pm
Wednesday 15 April
Staff Day
Boarders return
Thursday 16 April
Term 2 Commences
Winter Sport training commences
Friday 17 April
Year 3-6 Bulleen Sport