Principal’s Address Administration
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t is with enormous pride that I write a few words for the 2008 College Annual. I have deliberately decided not to give a summary of all the activities of the year. To do so would be to ignore the reports from so many people who have contributed to this Annual; rather, I have chosen to reprint the essence of my address from this year’s Presentation Night. Trinity College offers a superb education for its students, an education that honours the foundations and traditions of our past but recognises the changing landscape of the future. Most of you would be familiar with the journey that we have undertaken to arrive at this point. However, for those not so familiar let me briefly recap our history.
Mr Ivan Banks
Edmund Rice began his first school in 1802 in Waterford, Ireland; many years later in 1894 at the invitation of Bishop Matthew Gibney, the Christian Brothers were invited to establish a school here in Perth – that school was CBC Perth, affectionately known as “The Terrace”. At the end of 1961, The Terrace closed its doors to reopen them the following year as Trinity College with a new location on the banks of the Swan River in East Perth. Therefore, The Terrace, and now Trinity College, have been offering an authentic Catholic education for boys in the spirit of Edmund Rice for over 115 years. What about the future? Trinity College is firmly committed to the ideals initiated by Blessed Edmund Rice and will endeavour to ensure that we have the personnel and the resources to provide a first rate Catholic education for our students.
Christian Ruggiero accepts his award on Presentation Night
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The College sees itself as a leader in boys’ education and to this end has joined a number of other Catholic Schools to include Year 7s as part of our Secondary educational program from 2009. A number of years ago the Government changed the starting age of students entering Primary School, with the effect of students being older when they began High School. I believe that including Year 7s as part of our Secondary School will acknowledge these students will be on average six months older and more than ready to embrace the rigours of High School. All other PSA schools will be following this lead in 2010. Our Year 7 structure and curriculum will be presented in such a way to provide a smooth transition between Primary and Secondary School.
Speaking of our curriculum, we continue to review and refine our educational offerings with all of our Year 11 subjects now being part of the Curriculum Council new Courses of Study. For next year we have added a number of new subjects that our students can choose including Media Production and Analysis, Business Management and Enterprise, Design (with a focus on Technical Graphics), Materials (with a Wood context), Certificate 1 in Engineering and finally Certificate 2 in Outdoor Education and Recreation. The opportunities for our students to explore their spirituality and deepen their faith life continue to grow. Our students’ involvement in the recent World Youth Day in Sydney and the India Pilgrimage are just two examples of ways that our students are encouraged to integrate their faith and culture. The Retreat program
1st XI Soccer Captain Chris Quinn presents Principal Ivan Banks with the Lawes Davies Cup at the Winter Sport Assembly
