Welcome
I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all families and members of the Trinity College community as we commence the 2021 academic year. I offer my prayerful best wishes for a happy, safe and positive year ahead. A special welcome is extended to those students and families who are new to our College. I trust your relationship with our community will be an enjoyable and productive one.
While our school year did not commence as we had envisaged and the sight of our secondary students and all staff wearing masks was most unusual, we were able to commence our academic school year earlier this week. Much praise must be given to our wonderful students who showed great resilience and determination in successfully commencing classes with little fuss. Similarly, our College staff should be acknowledged for the manner in which they greeted, re-assured and supported students throughout this very different week.
Once again, I would like to thank the many members of the College community who have offered all the College Staff a warm welcome as we commence the academic year. This was particularly evident last week, and with our students back on campus this week, where messages of gratitude and best wishes were commonplace. It has been very humbling to receive the many blessings, genuine good wishes, encouragement and messages of support from families. As the College Principal, I am very grateful for such a positive and sincere welcome and feel it reflects the sense of community and genuine care that exists at Trinity College.
Like most people in the Perth region, we optimistically wait for the forthcoming advice from the State Government and Health Department and anticipate some changes to the COVID-19 restrictions by which schools will be required to operate. As always, we will adjust and plan accordingly, keeping the safety and welfare of our students at the core and wish to thank our families for their continued ongoing support of the College.
While changes and adjustments to the College calendar have been put in place and many events, assemblies and fixtures have been re-scheduled, two significant events have unfortunately been cancelled. The ‘New Parents Morning Tea’ (originally scheduled for 1 February) has been cancelled. However, all new parents (and our current parents) are encouraged to attend the ‘Parent Council Welcome Sundowner’ scheduled for Friday, 19 February, commencing at 6.00 pm. Sadly, after much planning and anticipation of it being a very special community event, our inaugural ‘Trinity College Community Opening Mass’ (originally scheduled for 7 February) has been cancelled. It was expected that this special College event would have had very large numbers and, given the uncertainty around such gatherings, we will plan for this Community Mass to highlight the start of next year.
Welcome to New Staff
As is normally the case at the start of any school year, we welcome the following new members of staff and wish them well as they commence at our College.
- Mr Joshua Crevola: Physical Education Assistant
- Mr Matthew Dekker: Music Tutor
- Miss Melanie Dunn: Events Coordinator
- Mrs Lisa Gibbon: Mathematics
- Mr Charles Gilbert: Physical Education Assistant
- Ms Katherine Ioppolo: Drama/English
- Ms Melinda Italiano: Head of Learning Area – Humanities & Social Sciences
- Mrs Cally Jetta: Aboriginal Education Program Coordinator
- Mr Ciaran Johns: English
- Mr Andrew Le: Rowing Administration Assistant
- Mrs Katherine Licciardello: Mathematics
- Mrs Amanda Mariotti: English
- Ms Abigail McKenzie: English
- Mrs Tahlia Peacham: English
- Miss Natalie Potts: English
- Mr Prahlad Ramnarayan: English
- Ms Heidi Rix: Music Tutor
- Mrs Leah Rogers: Head of Learning Area – Learning Support
- Mr Tom Salleo: Music Tutor
- Miss Elena Santalucia: Junior School
- Mr Morgan Ward: Mathematics
- Ms Ingrid Waters: Music Tutor
Holiday Work
It has certainly been a very busy holiday period with a great deal of maintenance and capital improvements being achieved. This has included ongoing work in the refurbishment of a new Weights and Fitness Centre. I know the boys are very keen to utilise this large, centralised facility and coaches will be keen to set specific programs for the boys.
Further to this, significant network upgrades, scheduled cleaning and maintenance and a range of painting were also undertaken. We also return to freshly prepared school grounds and ovals and, as is normally the case, there has been an enormous number of administrative updates and financial processes completed in preparation for the commencement of the school year.
I would like to acknowledge the work of Michael Burgess (Bursar), Ross Beatson (Buildings and Services Manager) and Dayne Whalan (Grounds Manager), and their respective teams, for their dedication and hard work over the past few weeks, particularly in adjusting to the various restrictions imposed. Such school improvement projects can only be achieved through the ongoing support of the school community and I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank those many families who have readily agreed to commit to our Building Fund Appeal. Information about the College Building Fund will be sent to all families in the coming months.
We hope that this unusual week is behind us and we can enjoy the many opportunities that the year can bring.
Live Jesus in our hearts
Mr Darren O’Neill
Principal
