Trinity Grammar School, New South Wales
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Trinity Grammar School is an Anglican day and boarding school for boys located in Summer Hill, in Sydney's Inner West. Founded in 1913, the School is one of the original members of the Combined Associated Schools in New South Wales. The School consists of three separate but closely-linked establishments:
- A Senior (Years 10 to 12) and Middle (Years 7 to 9) School for Day and Boarding students located at the Summer Hill Campus, as well as a Junior School (Years 3 to 6)
- Preparatory and Pre-Kindergarten sections (Pre-School to Year 6) at the Strathfield Campus
- An Outdoor Education Centre at the Pine Bluff Campus.
Recently attempts have been made towards establishing a fourth campus in Sydney's south-western suburbs.
The School is governed by a Council (appointed by ordinance of the Diocese of Sydney). The Archbishop of Sydney is President. The Head Master is a member of the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia, (A.H.I.S.A.) and of the Head Masters’ Conference (U.K.).
The School's motto is 'Detur Gloria Soli Deo', Latin for 'Let glory be given to God alone'.
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Establishment
The Right Reverend G.A Chambers, O.B.E., D.D., subsequently Bishop of Central Tanganyika, founded the School in 1913 at Dulwich Hill, of which Parish - the Parish of Holy Trinity - he was then Rector. The imposing property at Summer Hill, set in 8 hectares of land, was purchased in 1926, and the property at Strathfield shortly afterwards.
Trinity Grammar School
The Summer Hill campus is a mixture of old and the new buildings and facilities. A quadrangle forms the centrepiece of the grounds, with a chapel offset and next to the new Founders building containing an drama theatre, film and sound editing studios, computer lab classrooms, interview rooms, the staff common room and the library. The gymnasium consists of a fitness and weights room, three basketball courts and a squash court, and 25 metre swimming pool. This is complemented by three sporting fields and an off-campus tennis centre. A design centre houses the art classrooms, science laboratories, design and technology rooms and some old computer labs.
Student enrolment is divided into sixteen houses, named after significant figures in the school's history. One of the houses is reserved for boarders. The Middle School acknowledges the particular needs of young boys and signals the School's commitment to providing appropriate level instruction and support, and appropriate programmes for all of the boys of the School. The Senior School commences in Year 10, encompassing the New South Wales School Certificate examinations, and offering the State Higher School Certificate and International Baccalaureate Diploma program for Year 11 and 12 students.
The School has a complement of approximately 200 teachers and offers a wide and varied range of academic, vocational, sporting and co-curricular subjects and activities. Sporting activities offered include:
- Basketball, cricket, track and field, diving and water polo in summer
- Soccer, rugby and cross country in winter
In addition, squash, swimming, tennis, volleyball, lawn bowls and fencing is offered for a limited number of students year round.
Many co-curricular opportunities are also available for students, including:
- The School Cadet Unit
- Many Musical Orchestras, Ensembles and Bands
- Many Visual Art Groups
- Chess, Fishing and Science Clubs
- A Media Production Group
- A Golf Group
- Snowsports
- Drama and Dance Group
- A Debating Society
The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme is also available.
Junior School
In 1946 the then Headmaster, Mr James Wilson Hogg, introduced a Junior School to the Summer Hill Campus and commenced with 36 boys in four classrooms. The Junior School, in various arrangements of classes and with up to 78 boys continued at Summer Hill until 1956, when all the of the primary school boys were relocated to the Preparatory School at Strathfield.
In 2000 the Junior School was re-established by the Head Master, Mr G. Milton Cujes, on the Summer Hill campus as a gesture of good faith to the families who had committed to the Southern Campus, a venture that until this date has not been realised. The Junior School recommenced with 72 boys in four classes from Year 3 to 6. The classes were located in temporary accommodation between No.1 Oval and No.3 Oval.
In 2002 the School Council determined that the Junior School would become a permanent part of the educational profile at the Summer Hill Campus for the foreseeable future. In 2003 the Junior School moved to permanent accommodation in the old Boarding House and was formally recommissioned in a ceremony whose guests included Messrs Neil Buckland and Neil Demeril, both of whom had been students at the Summer Hill Junior School in the 1940s.
Trinity Grammar School Preparatory School
Sir Philip Sydney Jones built "Llandilo House" in 1878 on a large property bounded by The Boulevarde, Albyn Road, Kingsland Road and Wakeford Road and lived there until his death in 1918. The property was then subdivided and a group of Strathfield residents headed by Rev. Wheaton, a Congregational minister, bought the house for a school, which was known as Strathfield Grammar School. In 1926 it was offered to Trinity Grammar School and bought by them but Strathfield Grammar School and Trinity Grammar School continued to function as separate establishments until 1932, when the two became Trinity Grammar School. From 1932 until 1937 all teaching (except some Science) was done at Strathfield and boys were taken by bus to Summer Hill for sport. (The boarders lived at Summer Hill). 1938 saw a division - the Senior School returning to Summer Hill and Strathfield being established as the Preparatory School.
Pine Bluff campus
As a busy inner Western Suburbs independent school, Trinity Grammar School offers its students, who come almost exclusively from an urban environment, a traditional academic program. As a means of encouraging students in an understanding of the broader Australian community and environment, an intensive compulsory co-curricular programme has been put in place. This involves students from Transition to Year 12 spending time out of the classroom in a variety of activities. The general success of these activities encouraged the School to look for a means whereby a small part of the academic program could be taught in a non-urban environment.
External links
- Trinity Grammar School website (http://www.trinity.nsw.edu.au/)