Year 11

The year began with a note of excitement as we embarked on the Year 11 River Cruise with Mercedes College. The year 11s turned up dressed in their finest clothes and eagerly lined up on the Barrack Street jetty in anticipation of a fine night of dancing, socialising and meeting up with friends. It was a very enjoyable evening with the students singing along and showing off their dance moves through the cruise.

Mr Bobby Emmanuel Head of Year 11

In Term 1, all year eleven students give up a week of their time to go on Christian Service. Students are placed in primary schools, aged care, disabled and charity facilities respectively to help support and assist those who work there. Many students found this experience to be very rewarding and I was extremely pleased with the glowing feedback from these establishments. It is a testament to the outstanding level of compassion and care shown by our students for those who are less fortunate than us. Thanks must go to Campus Ministry for organising such a large logistical event and giving our students a chance to be ‘Men for Others’.

The Quest retreat is an event that can only be successful if boys from the older age groups volunteer their time and effort to make it a memorable event for the younger boys. This year a large number of year eleven students volunteered to be Peer Ministers and they excelled in the role of big brother during the retreat.

Once again the PSA sporting fixtures were upon us and many year eleven boys were called up to shore up our numerous senior teams. It was great to see such a high level of commitment as boys presented themselves for early morning and afternoon trainings, with some teams having sessions in the holidays. Well done to all those who competed especially those who were involved in the Rowing, Basketball, Waterpolo and Volleyball for winning their respective PSA trophies. I would also like to offer my congratulations to Nick Butler, Alex Bugonovich and Michael Storer for outstanding sporting contributions at an elite level this year.

Academically speaking it has been a year of outstanding results. There was a focus on study skills for Term 3 and four as the ‘Elevate’ group were brought in to present some study techniques for better academic performance particularly as year eleven is mainly preparation for many year twelve subjects. The study seminars received very positive feedback as students found the content quite valuable for the management of their study programs.

Every year Trinity College sends a student to NASA to participate in an Astronomy Camp. This student has the opportunity to experience some of the problems and questions that are faced by astronomers in their quest for space exploration. Congratulations to Jack Kay on representing the College with such distinguished grace.

This year the role of ‘Class Councillor’ becomes more distinguished than in previous years. The Councillors were involved in the running of stalls at ‘Unfair Day’, promoting and raising money for the ‘Fun Run’ and designing the 2014 Leavers Jackets. The year eleven cohort raised the most money over all the year groups in the College, with three pastoral care groups in the top five. Well done to Jarrad Hall who raised the most money for those less fortunate in India as well as receiving the Head of Year Award for his openly caring, honest and mature demeanour.

In Term 3, the Prefect nominations for 2014 began and it was very pleasing to see the large number of entries for these coveted positions. I would like to pass on my congratulations to all those who were selected as Prefect in particular Andrew Bottega and Brayden Kaiser who will provide strong leadership as the Deputy Head Boy and Head Boy respectively.

In conclusion, this year has been a very positive one and it has laid the foundations for a very successful year in 2014. I have been very proud of the commitment and generosity shown, as well as being very impressed in the way that boys have become involved in the numerous events throughout the year. My thanks go to Mr Simon Harvey for his guidance and leadership as well as to Ms Rita Basilio, Ms Tanya Vranjes, Mrs Judy Dawson, Mr John Overton and Mr Craig Adams for their support in pastoral care group and making this such a successful year.

Mr Bobby Emmanuel Head of Year 11