Just as AI has now become a part of all of our lives, it has also been integrated into students’ classrooms, supporting their learning in new and different ways. The following portraits have been developed with the support of AI technology.

It is such an honour to be able to celebrate these results with our young people and to acknowledge the many paths that have led them here.

Last year, our cohort attained a median ATAR of 89.85, a median Study Score of 36 and six perfect Study Scores across four subjects.

27 students (15%) achieved an ATAR of 99 or above, 50% received a 90 or above, and 74% received an 80 or above.

Four students; Ren-Hao Chan, Alexander Chieng, Jeff Dai and Alex Gao, attained the highest-possible ATAR of 99.95.

This spectrum of results is testament to our students’ commitment to become the best version of themselves. While they don’t tell the whole story of our young people, they do give a tangible snapshot of their extraordinary efforts during their time at Trinity Grammar School, Kew.

That they achieved these results alongside so many other significant contributions to the life of the school is impressive. They will be remembered for their efforts on the sporting field, the stage, for their work in the service of others and for their achievements in the classroom.

I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the unwavering support and dedication of our staff, parent and community networks who have supported them along the way.

– Adrian Farrer, Principal

In the Early Learning Centre (ELC) this year, we have taken inspiration from a picture story book The Circles All Around Us by Brad Montague.

This is the story of a circle that starts off small, with just one student in it. It gets bigger and bigger as they make connections with family and friends and bigger still as they get to know people within their community.

Connection and sense of community is an integral part of belonging to Trinity. In the Early Learning Centre, we foster a culture of inclusion, belonging, and respect for all learners through hands on, relational and play-based experiences, laying the foundation for empathy and understanding. By celebrating the spectrum of minds that shape our community, we recognise and
support the unique strengths of every individual.

Together with our families and wider school community, we continue to build a sense of belonging within our space where differences are embraced, and every person is valued.  As our students feel connected, their circles grow wider as their learning alongside and with others starts to happen.

At the Stephen Jones Leadership Breakfast in February, I watched a cohort of young people on the cusp of their next adventure, the sum total of everything, and everyone, that has come before them.

As they took in the words of guest speaker Alisa Camplin-Warner AM & OLY, former Olympic and World Champion in Freestyle Aerial Skiing, they added to the rich tapestry of experiences that has made them who they are today.

As with generations of Old Trinity Grammarians, the skills the Class of 2025 have acquired are unique to their time and place in history. Advances in technology, environmental changes and the ever-moving socio-political landscape have defined their studies, and will undeniably shape their careers in the years ahead. Adaptability, and an openness to change, will be crucial. 

Like them, to remain strong in our place, and secure in our future, growth – considered, strategic and meaningful growth – is important.  

A significant upcoming Masterplan project is the redevelopment of the Bulleen Pavillion. This is an exciting project for the school to undertake and revitalise a much-loved but tired facility with one that incorporates teaching and learning spaces, event capability and state‑of‑the‑art sporting facilities for our home teams and spectators, including our female competitors and community members.

When we think about future-proofing our school, we need not only look inward, but outward. Signaled by the changing and competing priorities of Australian families, today’s Trinity sees students and staff coming from wider afield each day. We’re also seeing a landscape of independent schools challenged by the media, and affected by implications such as payroll tax and legislative change.

To support the advancement function of the school, Trinity is in the process of establishing a Foundation for the first time in its history. After a significant period of research, consultation and collaboration, Council has approved the creation of our Foundation, which will assist in funding our Masterplan as school fees and diminishing government funding and capital support alone cannot achieve our goals. You can learn more about this in the enclosed Impact Report.

We also recently held our annual Community Forum, which was a valuable opportunity for School Council and the Principal to share the outcomes of the year prior, as well as the strategic priorities for 2025 and beyond.

The essence of Trinity’s School Motto, Virilite Agite, encourages its students, and all of us, to be courageous in the face of change.

In their growth, and in Trinity’s, we can find a readiness for the future.

There’s a saying amongst chaplains in Anglican schools: “Nobody needs the chaplain until they need the chaplain.”

The presence of chaplains in Anglican schools suggests that they are a different kind of learning community. If you are new to an Anglican school, you might be curious about why we have chapel services and religious education classes; you might wonder why we commence assembly with prayer and finish with a blessing; you might be puzzled as to why we have Faith and Outreach captains, and why, like today, we start the school year with a church service. You might still ask these questions even if you have worked in Anglican schools for many years. Everywhere you turn in an Anglican school, you will be confronted with its distinctive flavour and culture, which hopefully ought to provoke questions.

One of the beautiful distinctives of Anglicanism is that it encourages critical thought and welcomes honest questions. The Anglican tradition was formed in the creative tension between indigenous Celtic Christianity and the rites of the Roman church. Some argue that Anglicanism’s embrace of the ordinary everydayness of life, its sense of seasonality and its love of poetic language to evoke the beauty of the natural and supernatural worlds dates to Roman and pre-Roman Britain and a more nature-based and mystical spirituality. The benefit of teaching and learning in an Anglican school is that it avails us of that rich heritage and orients us towards a bigger picture of being human.

As a staff, we are invited to embrace and explore our school’s Anglican character. We are encouraged to exercise our curiosity. What you bring to the conversation is precious; we are all better for receiving it. Imagine the positive impact on our students as they witness us engage more whole-heartedly with our school’s Anglican identity.

Many of our students are genuinely interested in exploring faith. They don’t have any preconceptions simply because many haven’t had the chance to encounter the stories. They are hungry for a bigger story, a more generous and dignified vision of human flourishing than the accumulation of academic accolades and the attendant material success.

As I said at the start, “You don’t need the chaplain until you need the chaplain.” Equally, you don’t need faith until everything else fails to satisfy. I sense that this is the territory our world is moving into. It is good to know that we do not go into that future unaccompanied or without resources. The Anglican tradition, and Anglican spirituality, is a rich treasure trove offering valuable things old and new to assist us on the journey.

For now, let’s commit to being curious, exploring what it feels like to engage with our Anglican tradition, being open to the experience of worship, prayer, and song, and seeing where it takes us and what it can teach us about ourselves and others. Above all, let us notice what happens internally as we set foot on this journey and let’s commit to finding ways to talk with each other about what we discover.

Almost everyone considers themselves an “expert” in schooling in some way, as almost everyone went to one. Each person’s experience was different, of course, and undoubtedly varied. Hearing from very many Old Trinity Grammarians in my now more than five years at Trinity, I have heard lots of stories of success, challenge, triumph, disaster and the occasional story that would have challenged those in charge of student discipline at the time! Lots of things are different in schooling now from a generation, or generations, ago, and some are consistent.

For Trinity, we seek a progressive education that is in concert with our tradition of leaning forward into the emerging world, yet we do so grounded in the many elements that have helped define us for over 120 years. There are things about Trinity in 2025 that are vividly new to visiting OTGs, and things that are vividly similar. The Trinity I knew from a distance growing up, and the one chronicled so comprehensively by our former archivist Jane Carolan, can be seen in our current state, but we do not seek to be an echo of the past; rather we are keen to be respectful of ‘then’, invested in the ‘now’ and eyeing a rich future.

In the contemporary version of us, we continue to put a significant emphasis on leadership, both for students and staff, that has long been a feature of Trinity. Not the cavalier leadership that is so highly visible in this part of our global history, but the type that everyone can exercise; the one which asks individuals to consider deeply their decisions that impact others. We look intentionally to build leadership values and leadership opportunities into daily life. We see it in the sport system, in our Outdoor Education program and threaded throughout the school community in myriad structures. Many former students will recognise these features from their time.

So says The Lorax, so ably featured in HPAF this year. While his original commentary as authored by Dr Seuss is directly related to the plight of the global physical environment, the sentiment reflects a worthy version of our motto, Viriliter Agite, which has attended Trinity faithfully since adopted by early Trinitarians in 1904.

Caring for those beyond ourselves is leadership, and The Lorax’s call for each individual to care reflects our motto’s imperative for us to Act Courageously. Our students certainly do that when they step out onto a stage in front of 2,000 people to sing, dance and act, whatever their inclination to do so. More importantly, we ask them to do so in their interactions with each other and the broader world. The mild challenge of conquering striding onto a stage can help enable a readiness to tackle the bigger issues of the world to come.

HPAF is “just” a House competition, but fundamentally it lets us know that we can demonstrate and apply our values when they matter. That’s why we do it, of course. Our school has survived and thrived over many years. Trinity has lived one life, and many. Generations of families have had their experience of us, each with their core similarities and evolving differences. One person’s “Act Courageously” is another’s “Act Manfully”. One’s “School on the Hill” is another’s 40 Charles Street. All are valid.

Everyone is an expert in schooling, but it is usually in their own understanding which is often fashioned by their own student experience. That’s okay. That ensures a rich and varied history. The unshakable parts, as I have experienced, include a student’s ability to make a decision to directly benefit others, a teacher’s inclination to “go above and beyond” and a school family’s faith in a school’s direction.

It seems to me that they “care a whole awful lot” and that is what we are grateful for in supporting our efforts to ensure we are a Trinity with the rich future we seek.