2020 P&F Annual Report - extracted from the Triangle (2020)
2020 P&F Annual Report - extracted from the Triangle (2020)
The Trinity Grammar School Parents and Friends' Association is setup specifically to allow parents of the school to hear directly from the school's executive on the events and happenings of the school. At our meetings. parents are encouraged to ask questions and raise general issues that they feel are impacting their boys' education at Trinity and their own participation in that.
The P&F is also a body that tries to raise funds for the benefit of all boys across Trinity's campuses. The desire to add something extra to the boys' experiences, through our fundraising activities while also promoting volunteerism and community values at the same time are large parts of our mission.
At each of our meetings we aim to welcome parents into an informal and friendly environment designed to foster a sense of belonging to our school community. Meetings are held generally once a month during term time. In 2020 there have been fewer opportunities to hold meetings because of the disruption of the COVID-19 virus. We have though. still managed a few electronic meetings and hopefully this newfound flexibility will enable more busy parents to attend meetings online going forward.
From time to time we invite members of the school's staff along to present at meetings, to provide parents with more information on the various areas of the school, so that they are more in tune with what their boys are experiencing and are better informed to help their sons when needed. We also facilitate a number of presentations during the year where parents can hear about parenting skills, career opportunities and general welfare assistance for the boys.
All parents are members of the P&F and are encouraged to attend these meetings.
As President for the last three years I have been fortunate to see, firsthand, how useful it is to attend and participate in P&F meetings. Many parents have taken opportunities to ask the Head Master questions about the direction of the school and recently about the stress that the restrictions have had on students and staff. The need for parents to have easy access to the management of the school is something I feel very strongly about and going forward I would encourage all those who would either like more information, or just want to have their say, to come along to meetings.
Our major community and fundraising activity during the year is the Trinity Fiesta held on the last Saturday before school ends for the year.
The 2019 Fiesta was again a great day. It is always a terrific spectacle - to see the school community come together with so many parents boys putting in a day of hard work.
We were very fortunate that the 2019 Fiesta was blessed with a beautiful sunny day. We were fortunate to have the involvement of the Delmar Art Gallery with opportunities during the day to participate in drawing classes amongst other things.
The most significant goal of the Fiesta is for it to maintain a "whole of Trinity Community" feel Parents and boys from the Prep. the Junior School and the main Summer Hill campus ail join together to make it a great day. A major highlight remains the camaraderie between all those parents who come along on the day to put in some time to help out and raise some funds for the boys. In 2019 we had more parent volunteers than ever before.
The funds raised at the Fiesta go towards a number of good causes designed to benefit the boys. In this past year we have either funded or contributed funding toward the following.
Year 7 Welcome BBQ
Ice Block Days for the JS and Prep Boys
Requests for extra equipment
We pledged a large amount of funds to add to facilities at the Fields Study Centre .
One of the greatest challenges of the P&F is to stay relevant to the boys and parents.
Our goal is to become more visible in funding and organising worthwhile activities and encouraging parents to show their boys the importance and value of being involved in their community Obviously the COVID-19 virus has slowed us down in these aims, but like all things. this will pass and our fellowship will be stronger for having lived through it.
The second hand uniform page on Facebook continues to be well patronised. There are now 750 contributors. I would encourage all parents to join this amenity and offer any uniforms that your boys no longer need to the rest of the community.
I would very much like to recognise the great support and contributions of the Summer Hill Auxiliary, the Junior School Auxiliary, and the Strathfield Auxiliary, who host events on their respective campuses and who also do an amazing amount for the school community. This year these bodies have been ably led by Petty Heather, Michelle Reed, and Wasfieh Nwiran.
I would also like to acknowledge the long-term resilience and stellar contribution to the school community of Kay White during the past ten plus years. She has been tireless in her hard work for parent bodies within the school and she will be sorely missed and impossible to replace.
I would like to thank the 2019/20 P&F Committee office bearers, Sarah Vaughan, Kay Stephandellis, Stephan Greaves, Mike Miller and Bob Fozzard for their excellent efforts in making the operate. Your work has been valuable and appreciated.
I would like to thank our Head Master for his attendance, involvement and support of the P&F. A special thanks also to Mr. Stephen Heanly and Mr. Richard Bishop who work hard to ensure the success of all school and P&F efforts.
Good luck to all in the coming year. Welcome to our excellent and very able incoming committee with Jinan Ammoura as our new President.
I hope to soon see you around the school joining in with other members of our vibrant and invested community.
Drue Prentice I President of the Parents' and Friends' Association