Principal's Message

Welcome to Semester 2

Welcome back to all boys and their families as we look forward to a positive and productive second half of the year.  I trust that everyone enjoyed the opportunity to rest and re-energise during our extended three-week break.

Term 3 is a very important time as students make important choices regarding Elective subjects and choose Senior Courses for next year. Our Leaving Class of 2024 students will be challenged to ‘pick up the pace’ as they move towards completing their respective Courses, finalise work projects and portfolios, complete Certificate competencies or begin preparing for important examinations later in the year. Regardless of which pathway they have chosen, this term should be viewed as the culmination of many years of endeavour and application. As they progress towards their graduation, we pray that each of them is able to reflect upon their journey with a sense of accomplishment, satisfaction and pride. Our Senior boys have been fantastic role models and established a wonderful legacy and I am very confident that they will continue to work hard as they strive to achieve their best in all areas. 

Our Year 10 boys will also have a special focus during this term as they formally begin the process of career guidance and Course selection. The decisions that they make will be important in ensuring that they enjoy a sense of purpose and fulfilment as they prepare to graduate from Trinity College in the next couple of years. We trust that they will reflect on all advice given to them, research all available options, and we wish them the gift of discernment at this time. 

Personalised Course Counselling appointments for each Year 10 student have now commenced and this process will continue over the next week or so. This provides an important opportunity for each boy and his parents to meet with a key staff member in order to discuss his current progress and explore possible directions and likely future success. The use of a consistently applied matrix for assessing Student Work Attributes and the associated calculation of a student’s Attribute Point Average (APA) will certainly help in such academic goal setting and Course selection considerations. The APA was included on all Student Reports. It provides a general picture of how well a student is engaging in his schoolwork, behaving appropriately in class, contributing to the learning process, relating positively to peers and staff, managing their own learning and striving for personal excellence.  It provides a picture of ‘student engagement’ in their own learning journey.

In a similar way, our Year 6 boys will begin specific work and examine different learning styles that begin to prepare them for the transition into secondary school. The College has embarked on a new program of Transition to Secondary School and we look forward to progressing this throughout this semester and wish the boys well at this important stage of their own educational journey.  

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our Year 7-12 Parents who made appointments to meet with respective College Staff at the Online Parent-Teacher-Student Interviews earlier this week. These occasions allow for meaningful and constructive conversations about student progress and highlight the importance of positive Family/College relationships. Valuable information about your child’s progress can always be obtained through direct communication with respective Teachers. I strongly encourage parents to continually check SEQTA and stay in regular contact with Teachers through personal interviews or via the telephone or email. 

I wish all of our boys well for a most successful Semester 2, and trust that due reward will follow on from their hard work and focussed application.

Live Jesus in our hearts.

Mr Darren O’Neill 

Principal 

Staffing

The start of Semester 2 usually brings with it some significant changes in staffing.  Throughout this term; Mr Kenny Chan (weeks 1–2), Mr Alex Paljetak (weeks 1–2), Mrs Helen Shanahan (weeks 1-4), Mr Dustin Aylmore (weeks 1–5), Mr David Allen (weeks 6–10), Mrs Rosa West (weeks 7–10), Ms Rita Basilio (weeks 7–10), Mr Andrew Jenkin, Mr Joshua Bumbak and Mrs Laura Maloney will all be enjoying some periods of leave. We wish them well on their respective extended break. 

We extend a very warm welcome to a number of Staff members who have commenced at our College at the start of Term 3; Ms Grace Youngs - College Counsellor, Ms Petra Pierre - Junior School Teacher, Mrs Amanda Saraceni - Junior School Science Teacher (Term 3 and 4), Ms Zebby Formosa - Science Teacher (Term 3 and 4), Ms Bridgette Stoney - Information Technology Teacher (Term 3 and 4) and Ms Angela Shannon - HaSS Teacher (weeks 1-5) 

We also welcome back Mrs Sabrina Hughes, Ms Josephine Hutchinson and Mr Bernard le Tessier who have returned from extended leave.