Principal's Message

At Trinity, connecting with our College families, as well as the broader Colac community, is very important to us. Over the last fortnight we have had two opportunities to bring our community into our school and both occasions were a tremendous success. 

We held our Open Day on Wednesday 20 March and reveled in the opportunity to show families around our campus and show them the Trinity Difference. In the morning, our students led the tours, and families were able to see our school in action that provided an insight into the learning opportunities and facilities available here at Trinity. More importantly, perhaps, being immersed in the College operations, with students just doing what our students do, reveals the true essence of the Trinity ‘vibe’.  

Our students are our biggest asset and their behaviour and demeanor captures our Trinity values. We meet them all the time out in the community -- at the checkout, serving coffee, playing sport – and it doesn’t take much to recognise a Trinity student even out of uniform. They are respectful, look you in the eye, and speak with confidence. Of course, their families are their first and major educators and we truly honour the privilege they provide us in partnering with them on the development and education of their children. 

In my address to our visiting families, I touched on the wide variety of academic and extra-curricular opportunities we have on offer, our support for the individual learning and wellbeing needs of students along with our commitment to continue to improve our buildings and facilities. I also focused on our point of difference as a Catholic school, the fact that the Gospel values of love, patience, kindness, acceptance and compassion are at the heart of all we do. I reinforced the point that here at Trinity we are committed to ensuring our students leave the College not only as successful learners but as young men and women who will have a positive impact on their world. 

As part of this commitment to every one of our students, members of the broader Colac community were invited into the school on Monday as part of our Year 10 Careers Day. Staff members Ryan Geary and Julie Demasi organised the day that included ‘speed dating’ with various employers and businesses, a panel discussion and even a mock job interview. It was fabulous to have a large number of former Trinity College students who are now business leaders in our community tell their stories to our students, with the aim of inspiring them to do and be their best as well as opening their eyes to the many future employment opportunities that are on offer.  Trinity graduate from the Class of 1998, Sam McGuane, led the panel discussion. This was the first time Sam had been back on the grounds of the College since his graduation and he was amazed with the facilities on offer to our students in comparison to his time here. Sam has had an incredible journey and is currently Director and General Manager of Carrie’s Beanies 4 Brain Cancer Foundation. As part of this role Sam supports people diagnosed with brain cancer and their families, often a heart-wrenching undertaking but one that provides so much hope and support for those he works with. In his down time, Sam runs marathons to help raise money for the foundation and is currently training to compete in the Great Wall Marathon in China. Trinity College has so many alumni doing amazing things in the world and we are committed to reconnecting with as many past students as possible and sharing their stories with our current students. 

Congratulations to our newly elected student leaders who were presented with their leadership badges at our school assembly this week. Taking on leadership roles provides our students with so many opportunities to make a positive contribution to their school community. We are very fortunate here at Trinity to always have lots of students putting themselves forward for  leadership positions and I would like to congratulate all the students who were elected and all those who may have missed out on a formal role who had the courage to put themselves forward. 

Our final week of the term has certainly been a busy one. On top of our Year 10 Careers Day, we had our House Athletics Carnival, a school assembly, our annual Easter raffle and an Easter Liturgy to make sure the final focus is centered on the Church’s Easter story, a story of sacrifice and love. 

I wish all our families a safe, holy, and happy Easter and look forward to seeing the students back at school well rested and energised for the start of Term 2.