Head of Primary Report

Administration

As the Head of Primary at Trinity

I have a vision that encompasses all aspects of school life. An integral part of that vision is to provide a variety of meaningful learning opportunities enabling the students to grow and experience a well-balanced education. Critical to the success of that balance is providing learning experiences that cater for the academic, physical, social and cultural needs of the students with spiritual nourishment underpinning all of these needs, endeavouring to develop the whole child.

A major part of my vision also involves the development of staff and empowering the school community, allowing families to be part of their sons’ education journeys. In 2003, we have put into practice a number of new initiatives with a great deal of success. School curricula evolve and constantly change. The challenge that faces both the staff and the students is to adapt to new programs allowing students to meet outcomes, and maximise student learning. I am a firm believer that our students can achieve their full potential if we, as a school community, provide a safe and challenging learning environment. For students who are new to Trinity it is very important that their initial experience is a very positive one and the Peer Support program provides a means of allaying the concerns of boys commencing in Year Four. The program is also beneficial to students in Year Seven as it provides an opportunity for them to reflect and pass on valuable knowledge and traditions that are unique to Trinity.

Curriculum

Spiritual Dimension

Pastoral care has always been a strength at Trinity and core values such as respect, tolerance and service to others are common to many facets of school life. Our Religious Education and Sacramental programs continue to flourish and it is especially pleasing to see the amount of community input, particularly for the First Holy Communion and Confirmation celebrations. The willingness of families to be part of Sacramental programs and to share in their sons’ faith development is, from my perspective, very reassuring. I must acknowledge the outstanding work done by Father John McGannon, Father Michael McMahon and Mr Gordon Dean. They all provide spiritual leadership and friendship to staff and students alike.

Developing literacy skills has been our major focus in 2003 and the results we have achieved are very pleasing. We implemented a new reading program titled “Four Roles of the Reader” across all year levels. All staff have noticed a greater desire to read more amongst the boys. This in itself is a major achievement! Mrs Wyatt has also noticed a significant increase the interest of the boys at library time. A further bonus from our new initiative is that many students, who were previously reluctant readers, have now developed a Mr Mark Hackett very positive attitude towards theHead of Primary program and now enjoy a healthy appetite for reading.

Highlights

There have been numerous highlights during the course of the year. The Mothers’ Day Mass and Fathers’ Day Breakfast were very well attended and extremely successful. I have previously mentioned our wonderful Sacramental programs and the very meaningful Eucharists that have enriched them. Our sporting program has experienced success both on and off the field and the boys have learned valuable lessons from being part of a team. The camps and retreats have provided some wonderful opportunities for boys to grow socially and spiritually. The Performing Arts have once again provided many highlights including the successful choirs and instrumental groups as well as the ‘Boys in Groove’ who, for the second year, were presented with the Presentation Sisters Award for the best creative dance performance. All of the above highlights have three common threads. Firstly, they all involve talented young men. Secondly, dedicated staff provided many hours of hard work and preparation, and finally all of these achievements had the assistance of parents who were very generous with their time and talents. With these three ingredients, success is always guaranteed!

Mark Hackett

Head of Primary

PRIMARY PREFECTS

Third row: Andrew Lillywhite, Jack Edwards Second row: Martin Sneeuwjagt, Evan Pendreigh, Ryan Platts, Hugo Seymour, Sam Birrell, James Ambrogio Front row: Liam Hill, Jim Colreavy (Head Boy), Mr Mark Hackett, Thomas Drage (Deputy Head Boy), Dannel Yeo

Student Leaders