From the Head Master

At this morning’s quad assembly, I announced the appointment of the 2022 School Officers.

There are thirty-two School Officers at Trinity: a School Captain; three School vice-Captains; sixteen House Captains; and twelve Prefects. These young men have a formal responsibility of leading our School students during the course of their final year at the School. They take their place in a tradition that stretches back to the School’s inception and I have great confidence in their capacity to carry that tradition forward.

These are not the only opportunities that our senior boys have to show leadership. We have House vice-Captains, Captains of various co-curricular activities and sporting teams, promotional positions in Cadets, Bible Study leadership roles and other such positions, along with the informal leadership that every boy has the opportunity to demonstrate in the ebb and flow of School life.

The process of selecting these young men to serve in this way has been robust. It commenced with nearly one hundred students taking the risk of putting themselves out there by nominating for the role and seeking endorsement from a staff member. The current Year 10 and Year 11 cohorts voted on the list on nominees, as did staff and the outgoing School Officers. I give great weight in the process to the voting results; while this is not an election as such, the voices of peers and staff provide great insight to the regard in which people are considered.

My considerations also included the nominations of the Senior School Housemasters, who consult with the staff of their House in putting forward the names of those who could serve as House Captains. I reflect on the nominees’ respective records at the School. EPA, GPA, Co-curricular participation, disciplinary history, and I consult with senior staff. Every year, my reflection is that I could happily appoint between half and two thirds of the nominees to serve the School in this way, but there are only thirty-two School Officer positions.

Every young man who nominated took a risk in doing so, and sometimes risks don’t pay off. Many boys will experience disappointment today. The great challenge for them will be dealing with that disappointment. Disappointments and frustrated hopes, and doors that don’t open when you want them, are all part of the fabric of life. We do not serve our boys well by either minimising their disappointment as though it doesn’t matter, or by shielding them from it. We do well to help them to sit with it, to recognise it, to process it, and to move past it.

The School Officers at Trinity Grammar from the Year 12 class of 2022 are:

Whilst I would not normally comment in this context about the departure of staff at the close of the term, in this case, in light of more than a quarter of a century of service, I would like to acknowledge the departure of Mr Michael Spratt, who joined the School teaching staff in 1995. Mr Spratt’s contribution to the School is impossible to quantify, covering an immense range of activities and programmes, but it has been most particularly powerful in his service as Housemaster of Stephenson House for nearly two decades, where his pastoral care has been a powerfully formative influence in the lives of generations of young men. We wish him well as he takes up a new challenge on the teaching staff of Shore School.

May God bless you and yours during the term break and, if your plans include interstate travel, may the borders remain open!

Detur Gloria Soli Deo.

Tim Bowden | Head Master