College Board

On behalf of the Trinity College Board, I am pleased to report another very successful year for the school.

Mr Christopher Sutherland (’81) Board Chair

We have seen outstanding results across all four educational pillars covering our faith, academic, cultural and sporting programs.

With the major school building works and land purchase arrangements completed at the end of 2011, the Board has used the 2012 year to set in place the structure and capacity to reconsider the challenges and opportunities that the school may face in the future and how we best put in place strategies to ensure the continued growth and prosperity of Trinity.

Of high importance to the Board is to ensure the student community remains a reasonably broad cross-section of the WA community. To achieve this we must find further ways to support some families and students who may not otherwise be able to attend the school. This delivers significant educational benefits to all students as well as continuing the tradition of Edmund Rice.

With this in mind we have reinvigorated the Trinity College Foundation chaired by Mark Mony de Kerloy (’75) with a goal to build a capital base that can provide scholarships for future students, who without financial support, may not otherwise be able to attend Trinity. In particular, we have launched the Karrik Bursary for Australian Indigenous students. This Bursary targets individuals and corporations who wish to support the education of Indigenous youth and who may also provide vocational training support and apprenticeship opportunities. To date we have secured the support of four partners and plan to grow this support over the coming years.

We established our Capital Strategic Planning Committee under the stewardship of John Driscoll (’79) to consider a range of opportunities and challenges facing Trinity over the next 20 years and to ultimately produce an updated master plan for the school by the end of 2013. This committee must consider a range of long-term factors, including substantial developments underway on our east and west boundaries and opportunities to develop the recently acquired land to the north; the significant forecast rise in population and traffic directly surrounding the campus and its impact on security; safety and student demographics; the rapid advancement of computing and online technology in delivering education and its impact on the size and shape of school facilities in the future. After a detailed tender and review of proposals received from a number of planners/architects, a firm has been appointed to work with the committee to develop the updated master plan.

Trinity College Board 2012 Back Row: Mr Greg Clune (EREA Regional Administrator), Mr Andrew Whitechurch, Mr Chris Sutherland (Chair), Mr Ivan Banks (Headmaster), Mr Andrew Watson Front Row: Mrs Margie Tannock, Br Kevin Paull, Mr Michael Burgess (Minute Secretary), Mr Tony Metcalf, Ms Jane Deykin-O’Dea Absent: Mr Chris Ellison, Mr John Driscoll

The Finance and Risk Committee has continued its work under the chairing of Andrew Whitechurch. This year the committee has focused on controlling expenditure, paying down some debt and monitoring the outcomes of the Gonski review and its possible impact on the school finances. In addition, the committee has worked with the school team to implement a risk management framework that mirrors the best practice in many major companies. This approach will increase the safety and security of the students and staff as well as protect the reputation and assets of Trinity.

Throughout the year, the Board has been an active participant in dialogue with the school’s parent entity, Edmund Rice Education Australia (EREA). The Board fully supports the ideal of co-contribution where all schools in the EREA community contribute to support some of its member schools that may need extra financial support from time to time. However, the Board believes there is a limit to available support for funding of new growth initiatives and ongoing administration burden, and will work with both EREA and the Trinity community to ensure the right balance is achieved.

I wish to thank all Board members for their significant and valued input this year; John Driscoll (’79), Andrew Whitechurch, Br Kevin Paull, Chris Ellison (’71), Margie Tannock, Tony Metcalf, Jane Deykin-O’Dea and Andrew Watson (‘83) all volunteer their time and expertise and together represent a body of knowledge that I believe no other school Board could match. I also thank the significant contribution of Ivan Banks as the executive on the Board and Michael Burgess as the board secretary. They perform their Board duties, often after hours, with efficiency and to a high standard whilst still managing the day to day operations of the school.

Finally, I would like to thank all the staff members who make extra efforts every day to improve the experience of our students.

I wish the Trinity community a Merry Christmas and a safe and rewarding 2013.