Principal's Update

One of the many satisfying aspects of my job at Trinity College Colac is working with a community that is passionate about our school. Throughout the College’s long history, innovation and change has continued to improve our educational offerings and facilities, while we have maintained a strong connection with our traditions as a Catholic school that dates back to the arrival of the Sisters of Mercy to Colac in 1888. 

Our close connection to our community and our unique heritage provides us with a solid foundation to keep improving our College on every level. Prudent financial management also means that we have a healthy nest egg and in the near future we are looking forward to being able to reveal some exciting substantial upgrades to our buildings over the next 10 years in our College Strategic Plan.  

As part of our constant drive to deliver the best education for our students, our College Leadership Team is excited to be implementing a new structure for our staff that we believe ensures our culture of high expectations will be further enhanced.  

In 2024 we will have two Directors of Learning. After delivering an outstanding service over a long period of time, Mrs Libby Ryan has chosen to accept another challenge at our College and will commence as our Resource Centre Manager next year. Mrs Karen A Hart and Mrs Kate Geary will be our new Directors of Learning and have already been working with school leadership to develop a learning and teaching model with a year level focus rather than a faculty focus. Each year level will have a Curriculum Leader as well as a Wellbeing Leader who will be responsible for ensuring we set high expectations around behaviour and learning. The year level staff teams will be able to meet and work together to deliver a more consistent approach to learning, assessment, homework and other important areas. They will also be able to ensure that all students are being adequately supported as well as challenged with their learning while keeping their wellbeing as a priority. 

We have also bolstered our careers education by appointing Mr Ryan Geary as a Learning Leader supporting students with career and subject pathway choices. In addition, Mr Luke Featherson and Mr MIchael Tomkins have also been appointed as Learning Leaders, working with Kate and Karen to provide the best possible teaching and learning experience for our staff and students.

Our Director of Students, Mrs Natalie Holt, will continue in her role with a slight change as she will be Director of Wellbeing from 2024. As the title suggests, Natalie will focus more on wellbeing initiatives, student leadership and student voice along with school-wide culture. Last term, we also appointed Mr Matthew Rathgeber to a new position as Head of Students. Matthew is working closely with Year Level Coordinators with a focus on ensuring that Trinity College has a positive student behaviour culture.  

A full outline of the staff positions of leadership will be published at the beginning of the 2024 school year. 

As mentioned in our newsletter at the end of Term 2, Ms Cherie Butcher was appointed as our Development and Communications Leader. Cherie has done some fantastic work around the College’s social media profile and is also in the process of developing a new website and ensuring that our marketing materials are refreshed to authentically capture the essence of Trinity College. As part of her audit of our school’s competitive analysis and key messages, Cherie has spent time examining our current visual profile and talking to people vested in the College. As a result, a redesign of the College logo to complement a refresh of our overall look has been proposed with the aim to modify and update the current crest to make it more adaptable for digital platforms. 

With the support of College Leadership and the Advisory Council, Cherie has been working with our Media teacher, Mr Ryan Geary, to develop a design, ensuring the historical significance of the Trinity brand remains intact while still having a new look with modern elements. Making a change to something like a logo, particularly one that has been in existence since 1983 when Trinity College melded the crests of St Joseph’s College and Trinity College together, drawing on features from both emblems, does result in an understandably emotional reaction from some people who have been associated with the College for a long time. That response can be one of excitement, but also one of trepidation, and maybe even a mixture of both.  

Image: Crests of St Joseph's College (left) and Trinity College prior to the amalgamation of the two schools.

Our logo is undeniably tied to our Trinity tradition. It contains the words ‘Virtus Nobilitat’, which means there is strength in virtue and is taken directly from the crest of St Joseph’s. Tradition is important to a school, particularly one with such strong connections to our area and to our faith. It is a loaded word, bearing the weight of beliefs, customs and heritage from the past. It can feel immune to change, discouraging new ways and ideas, and yet tradition has the capacity to be powerful and inspirational. Tradition is never done; it is always in change and contributes to our current culture and will continue to do so in our future. New traditions at Trinity are being added all the time as we make our students’ lives at school more meaningful and encourage a deeper connection. While we are always looking forward – and we must in order to plan and provide – we are extremely respectful of our past and the fact that we have been a school of choice in our community for generations. A new logo aims to connect all of our elements – our tradition, our heritage and our future – and highlight the growth, development and pride of Trinity College Colac as we step into a new era. 

I encourage any member of our parent community who has strong feelings about this change, positive or negative, to make contact with me either in person, by phone or via email to express your thoughts. Please be assured that we will follow best practices for school rebranding with an extended changeover period for uniforms and other material, and that students’ Trinity branded items that are in good condition will always be accepted as the College uniform. 

Speaking of the present and the future, I offer a huge congratulations to the Year 12 students who all completed their formal education last Friday. The students spent the day together with their Year Level Coordinator and Homeroom teachers celebrating and reflecting on their time at Trinity. As is always the case, I am very proud of the way our leavers honoured their time at our College and the way they thanked each other and showed their gratitude to their teachers for all the support they have provided them over the years was heart-warming. While many of our Vocational Major students have already commenced work, the VCE students are making the most of the study time they have before the English exam next week. On behalf of the entire school and wider community, we wish them every success with all the examinations.