Newsletter

The students arrived at COPACC in a dazzle of colour and elegance, excited to be looking their best for a special evening with their friends.

Posing in their finery for photos with family, the young people entered the COPACC ballroom through the Trinity Ball 2024 sparkling lights and signage put together by the creative team of Jade and Rob Elborough

Inside, the DJ kept everyone on the floor, with formal sets breaking the ice and allowing the young people to show off their dance skills.

The annual College Ball celebrates the inclusive community of the Years 11 and 12 cohort as they recognise their special bond and lasting friendships that have been forged in their years at school.

The event also highlights the social etiquette of the developing young adults and is a rite of passage for their transition towards becoming Trinity College graduates and stepping out into the wider world.

Supper and refreshments kept energy levels up, and the students danced the night away under the disco lights until it was time to go home. With sore feet and happy smiles, the students bid their friends and teachers goodnight after a big day that will be remembered forever.

More photos will be available via our email link sent to Year 11 and 12 students.

Playing their way through the day, the Junior, Intermediate and Senior teams participated in seven rounds of 15-minute games against quality opposition to see who would progress on to the state finals.

Congratulations to the Intermediate team, who will be giving it their all at the next challenge later this month, and commiserations to our Junior and Senior teams who just missed out on progressing through. Every Trinity player showed great determination and commitment to achieving their best and supported each other during the long day.

“There is no room for hatred in this world and choices we make impact upon so many people,” Peter shared with the students.

“Anger kills the hater much quicker than it kills the hated. There is no room for hatred in this world,” he reiterated.

In 1942 Peter was just five years old and living in Bratislava when his family went underground, living in secret cellars, attics, garden sheds and orchards to escape the Nazis. They were moved from one place of hiding to the next in the dead of night, staying ahead of the Nazi death squads, and staying hidden until the end of 1944 when they were forced to turned themselves in after Peter fell gravely ill.

Peter and his mother were sent to Terezin, separated from his father who was sent to a labour camp in Germany.

“Terezin was a holding operation, a halfway house to extermination,” he said.

“From Terezin every week transport vans left for extermination camps, mainly Auschwitz. You never knew how long before you were put on the van. Terezin had been built to hold 7,000 people – in 1942 to 1945 it contained 30,000 Jewish prisoners. I was one of 120 children that survived out of 15,000 children that were held in the camp.”

Terezin was not an extermination camp, but tens of thousands of people died within its walls from starvation and malnutrition riddled with lice and disease.

In May of 1945, Peter and his mother were liberated from the camp. Only two other family members survived the Holocaust – Peter’s father and his uncle. In 1949 they arrived in Australia to start a new life, far away as possible from Europe.  Peter has since returned to Bratislava to thank the people who helped save his life. Yan, the son of a family who hid Peter, told him they were grateful that they had helped and given the opportunity to prove to themselves that they were the people they thought they were.

The goodness of humanity is found in the darkest of moments. “They saw our common humanity, rather than the fact that they were Christian and we were Jewish.” Peter said of the people who risked their lives to hide them.

Mrs Anne McCrickard
ATSI Coordinator

You can read the 2024 Non-government schools census collection notice here .

Over the past weeks, Year 9F Homeroom has assisted in rolling out further recycling options at Trinity. Additions to our already established paper and cardboard recycling program, the Home Economics recycling process and the initial bin for the Container Deposit Scheme include:

- New mixed recycling bins and bins for the Container Deposit Scheme (bottles, cans and juice boxes) in the Years 7 and 8 areas.
- New mixed recycling, CDS and organics bins in some staff kitchenettes.
- New mixed recycling, CDS and organics bins for the Year 12 Common Room.
- These opportunities have been well-used so far and serve as important steps in waste-reduction education, as well as helping us to divert recyclable materials from landfill.

Homerooms 7C, 8C and 8D enjoyed their plastic-free hot chips and chocolates as group winners for the World Environment Day competitions at the end of Term 2. Homerooms 7C and 8C had the most students bring lunch items free from single-use packaging, acknowledging the simple steps that we all can take to reduce waste and better protect our environment, and 8D showed their environmental knowledge in the World Environment Day quiz. Individual winners across the school also received new re-usable stainless steel drink bottles and lunch containers for their efforts in the quiz.

Ms Sarah Glennen
Sustainability Coordinator

Change Starts with Us artwork by Jennifer Colbron

As teens develop an interest in sex, technology and apps make sexting easy and, unfortunately, acceptable amongst today’s youth. However, many parents are shocked to learn that children as young as 10 are sending naked pictures of themselves to friends and classmates via text and social media. This type of behaviour is seeping into primary school playgrounds causing irreversible damage to young minds.

Sending this type of content is problematic for a child of any age, but over the years there has been a staggering increase of pre-teens using mobile phones to share sexual images and videos. Not only is this type of behaviour detrimental to a young person’s moral and ethical wellbeing, it also has legal implications placing them at risk of a criminal record.

In this edition of SchoolTV, parents will learn how to approach the subject of sexting with their children, as well as offer helpful strategies on dealing with the fallout should their child send or receive content containing sexual imagery.

Here is the link to your edition.