Trinity Grammar School Kew

History

Trinity Grammar School, Kew was founded by members of the Holy Trinity parish vestry in 1902 and opened the next year. The school started in the parish hall of Holy Trinity Church with 23 boys. Rev. Edward Taffs was the first headmaster, although Rev. G. M. Long soon succeeded him.

In 1906, the school purchased a property, "Roxeth" (now Henty House), a small distance to the south of the church, on the corner of Wellington Street and Charles Street. Trinity quickly built Arnold Hall, the first classroom block, completing it in 1907. In the same year, Trinity was registered as a public school of the Church of England. The school leased "Molina", a property on the other side of Charles Street and the site of the former Kew High School in 1908. In 1909, the school built a science laboratory beside Arnold Hall.

Two years later, Long left the school to become Bishop of Bathurst and Rev. A. W. Tonge was appointed headmaster. A second classroom building was built, now demolished to make way for the Richard and Elizabeth Tudor Centre for Contemporary Learning. In 1917 Tonge left the school to serve as an AIF chaplain and Trinity appointed a new headmaster, Frank Shann, who would lead the school for the next two and a half decades. Under his tenure, the school grew to a total of 245 boys and many buildings were built, including the now demolished War Memorial Library, the Preparatory (junior) School classroom building and the Health Pavilion. "Molina" was bought from its owner, John Henning Thompson, as was the neighbouring property, "Elsinore". The properties were subsequently renamed in 1925, "Molina" becoming Merritt House, "Elsinore" Roberts House and "Roxeth" Henty House. Frank Shann died in post in 1943.

Alfred Bright became headmaster upon Frank Shann's death. The school built a second storey for the Preparatory School in 1952, and in the following year, the Parents' and Friends' Hall, a multipurpose venue, was built between Merritt House and Xavier College. In 1959, on Alfred Bright's retirement, John Leppitt was appointed Headmaster. The school advanced greatly during his time as headmaster, the number of students reaching 812. The Robertson Science and Administration Building was opened in 1959 and extended later on, and two years later, the Junior School building was extended to almost meet Roberts House, providing art and music facilities. In 1968, the Shann Building was constructed between the Robertson Building and Arnold Hall and a new sports facility, the Cornell Gymnasium, was opened.

21st century

In 2000, a group of Trinity students instigated and organised a visit to Melbourne by Nelson Mandela. Additionally in that year, the school began using wireless technology for their computers and, in the following year, Trinity began the construction of the Science and Technology Building to replace the Bright Laboratories. This opened in 2003, the year in which Trinity celebrated its centenary year.

The school opened a new gymnasium, the Peter McIntyre Sports Centre, to complement the old Cornell Sports Gym, and another block of forested land was purchased at Licola, to complement the Outdoor Education Centre at Lake Eppalock. In 2005 the school also purchased the former Bib Stillwell car dealership showroom, on the corner of Charles Street and Cotham Road, which is currently used as a multipurpose venue, with impending development of the site in the future.

In recent years, the school was given money to further extend and renovate the old Kew Municipal Offices. This included a junior school hall (named the South Room) and a new facade to the building. This, as nearly all new buildings, was designed by former student Peter McIntyre. The building still has heritage features with some doors saying "Kew Town Hall" and "City of Kew".

In 2011, the Poynter Building was demolished to make room for the Richard and Elizabeth Tudor Centre for Contemporary Learning. The building was opened in March 2013 by The Hon. Alex Chernov, the Governor of Victoria. It contains a multi-level library, a cafe and the Year 12 area.

Trinity has developed a reputation as a high-achieving school in the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) and is known for a well-balanced approach to single-sex education. In 2014, Michael Davies (former deputy headmaster of St Kevin's College) took the position of headmaster, succeeding the highly regarded Richard Tudor.

Towards the end of 2015 the school undertook the demolition of Arnold Hall (to be replaced by the Centre for Business & Social Enterprise). The new building was opened in March 2017 by The Hon. Josh Frydenberg, Federal Member for Kooyong, and includes eight classrooms as well as a lecture hall. In 2017, the Junior School introduced the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP). The school also introduced Cambridge University's International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) in Years 9 and 10 English.

Headmasters

Trinity Grammar School has had 12 principals or formerly headmasters since the school was established in 1902.

Co-curricular

House system

A significant part of school life is the house system. Each house is named after a notable contributor to Trinity.

About the House Patrons:

G.C. Arnold: insurer and financier; member of School Council.

H.O. Cowen: physician; founding member of School Council; member of Holy Trinity Church; a founder of St George's Hospital.

A.O. Henty: solicitor, long-serving chairman of the School Council

Archdeacon W.G. Hindley: Vicar of Holy Trinity Church; first School Council chairman.

W. Kent Hughes: surgeon; founding member of School Council; fought in World War I.

J.K. Merritt: importer, company director and politician; member and later chairman of School Council.

W.J. Roberts: founding member of School Council; member of Melbourne Stock Exchange; Council member of Melbourne's Anglican diocese.

Canon G. Sutton: Vicar of Holy Trinity Church; member and later chairman of School Council.

Outreach

Trinity is highly regarded for its outreach and social justice programs, which are organised under the aegis of Harambee (a Swahili word meaning "all together"). The program has three main ministries: East Africa, Indigenous Australians and local ministry. Activities include immersion trips to Africa and Outback Australia, working with community organisations focused on mental illness, and a variety of fundraising events for numerous causes.

Outdoor education

The Outdoor Education program includes participation in bushwalking, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, cycling, first aid, navigation, cooking and rafting. The program is compulsory for students from Year 7 to Year 10. Camps are based around school properties at Lake Eppalock, Lake Nillahcootie and Licola. Trinity also offers The Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

Sport

Trinity was a founding and is a continuing member of the Associated Grammar Schools of Victoria (AGSV).

Trinity has won the following AGSV premierships.

Athletics (30) – 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1946, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1995, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2024

Badminton (1) – 2009

Basketball (5) – 1996, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2010, 2026

Cricket (17) – 1934, 1935, 1948, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1963, 1964, 1967, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2007, 2013, 2019, 2022, 2024

Football (8) – 1935, 1945, 1946, 1948, 1949, 1969, 1976, 2012

Hockey (10) – 1990, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023

Soccer (3) – 2000, 2018, 2023

Squash (2) – 2008, 2009

Swimming (5) – 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1964

Table Tennis (1) – 2001

Tennis (17) – 1921, 1922, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1937, 1948, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 2007, 2011, 2024

Volleyball (5) – 2006, 2008, 2014, 2017, 2020

Campuses

Trinity Grammar School, Kew has five campuses across Victoria. These include:

Kew (Main Campus)

The main campus covers all corners of the intersection of Wellington and Charles Streets in Kew.

Bulleen: Marles Playing Fields (Sport grounds)

Lake Eppalock: Eppalock Outdoor Education Centre (Outdoor education)

Licola (Outdoor education)

Nillahcootie (Outdoor education)

Controversies

In 2016, Mark Watson, a former employee of the school whose work involved caring for boarding school students, was committed to stand trial over 41 historical sex offences against five boys. The abuse is alleged to have taken place between 1975 and 1978, and is the present subject of a compensation claim.

In January 2017, the school was again brought to prominence over allegations that senior members of the school community – including Headmaster Michael Davies – knew of abuse allegations against former teacher Christopher Howell when it sent a tribute letter praising Howell's "extraordinary legacy" to the school after his death in 2016. This action, which was described as "stupid and insensitive" by lawyers representing Howell's victims, attracted a great deal of controversy to the school.

In November 2017, Old Trinity Grammarians' Association president David Baumgartner wrote to the school's leadership, accusing it of being too preoccupied with high ATARs, fundraising and building projects under Michael Davies' leadership. Baumgartner said the school needed to return to its focus on the "holistic development" and wellbeing of students. He said that there was a "resurgent undercurrent of frustration and anger" among the school community. "There is too much inward focus on things like buildings, fundraising, marketing, ATAR excellence, Cambridge schooling program, etc," Baumgartner wrote in his open letter which made its way to hundreds of parents' inboxes. He said he was also disappointed by the school's treatment of many respected and revered teachers. "The constant change of staff and the disrespectful way in which it occurs seriously concerns me," he said (it was revealed in 2018 that 152 staff had left the school since Davies became headmaster. Baumgartner, who is also a former parent at the school, warned that the school should not be run like a business and suggested that its culture would start to break down.

2018

In March 2018, the school council sacked deputy headmaster Rohan Brown following a disciplinary issue which the council felt was "in contravention of school policy and was also inconsistent with community expectations in this day and age". The Age revealed that the dismissal was a result of Brown cutting a student's hair on school photo day as the hair did not meet the school's appearance policy. Some members of the school community – including current and past students, teachers and parents – were outraged by his dismissal and protests (which hundreds of students took part in) subsequently occurred on school grounds.

At a meeting held by the school council to address the community (attended by in excess of 800 people), some members of the community expressed their lack of faith in the council, speculating that the circumstances regarding Brown's dismissal had political motivations and asked for the council to step down and be replaced by a democratically elected body. A large portion of the school community – including a representative of the student whose hair was cut – demanded that Brown be reinstated.

Both Roderick Lyle (the school council chairman) and Michael Davies promised to consider the issue and reflect on the necessary actions. Following a town hall meeting of 13 March, which organisers said was attended by well over 1500 members of the school community, in addition to an online petition with over 6900 signatures, three members of the school council, including Lyle, tendered their resignations. Previous council chairman Robert Utter was installed as chairman, and an independent review of Brown's sacking was announced (led by former Federal Court judge Raymond Finkelstein QC and barrister Renee Enbom).

However, the appointment of Utter sparked only more controversy as it was viewed by many that Utter was an unacceptable choice for chairman as he was an existing council member prior to the incident, that he was partially responsible for the "cultural shift" that the school had faced in recent years, and that – after 24 years on the council – he was no longer connected with the school community. The OTGA called for Utter to resign, strongly urging an independent chairman be appointed.

Brown was reinstated on 11 April before the commencement of Term 2 after the school's independent review showed that he was unjustly removed from his role despite breaching the school's code of conduct.

Notable alumni

Notable alumni of Trinity Grammar School include:

Phil Anderson, cyclist

Hugh Beasley, AFL Footballer for the Brisbane Lions Football Club

Harold Bolitho, Professor of Japanese history at Harvard University

Martin Boyd, author, member of the prolific Boyd Family

John Bunting, Australian High Commissioner to the UK

Mark Birrell, politician

Paul Bryce, Australian rules footballer

Robert Percival Cook, academic and expert on cholesterol

Tom Cutler, AFL Footballer for the Brisbane Lions and Essendon Football Clubs

Len Darling, Australian test cricketer

Scott Ferrier, dual Olympian in the decathlon

Grant Fowler, Australian rules footballer

Josh Gibson, Australian Rules footballer for the North Melbourne and Hawthorn Football Clubs

Todd Goldstein, Australian Rules footballer for the North Melbourne Football Club

Chris Hansen, Australian Rules footballer

Jim Higgs, Australian test cricketer and former Australian selector