From the Headmaster | Celebrating success in this chapter

Earlier this month, we celebrated the achievements of our top-performing students in the Year 12 Higher School Certificate and International Baccalaureate Diploma. The annual Scholars’ Assembly, which takes place in front of the Senior School students, family members, staff and invited guests, is the final formal event for the graduating cohort. In this event, we bring back those students who have been recognised by the credentialling authorities or who have been awarded significant scholarships from universities and affiliated associations. Nearly sixty students were honoured in this way this year.

The Scholars’ Assembly includes a keynote address by an Old Boy. We were honoured to be joined this year by Mr Ritvik Dinesh, from the class of 2019. Mr Dinesh has just completed his dual degree in Science and Engineering. As such, he is one student generation above the graduating class; he finished Year 12 just before they started Year 7, and he has finished university just as they are about to begin. The Assembly also includes an interview panel with a number of the Scholars, who share something of their story in the journey to this point.

There is an unembarrassed focus on academic achievement in this assembly. As a School, we celebrate student achievements in all sorts of ways, such as presentations on the quad, the seasonal Sports Dinners, Speech Day, the Year 12 Prizegiving, Insite articles and social media posts, and the list goes on. We celebrate every student in the Valedictory events at the end of Year 12 in Term 3. But the annual Scholars’ Assembly is about the academics. These are the boys who have done well in the final credential of their schooling. 

As is outlined in the report on the front page of the School website, it was another strong year for Year 12 results, particularly at the top end of achievement. Eighteen boys achieved an ATAR over 99, with three achieving 99.95. The number of Band 6/E4 results in the HSC was double the number received in 2024 and more than a third of our IB Diploma candidates received their Diploma ‘With Distinction’.

Every year I am struck by the diversity of the young men who are included in the Scholars’ Assembly. The sixty boys we honoured come from fifteen of the sixteen Houses. They are roughly evenly divided between those who came from the Preparatory School, the Junior School, or other primary schools. We had members of the First Teams in Cricket, Rugby, AFL, Basketball, Football, and Volleyball, as well as the Track and Field, Cross-Country, Swimming and Diving squads. There are boys who have represented their country in their chosen sports and boys whose sporting involvement played out in the lower grades. 

Symphony Orchestra members were included, as were players of Chess, Table Tennis and Lawn Bowls. Cadets, Mock Trial, Berea, and the Fishing Club were all there. It was clear that there are lots of different ways to do well as a Trinity student! 

However, if there was one thing that the students had in common, it was the high Engagement Point Average (EPA) that they were demonstrating by the end of their schooling. The EPA is not a number that speaks of the standard that a boy achieves, but the behaviour that he demonstrates. A boy can’t necessarily exercise direct control over the marks that he achieves, or the motivation that he feels, but he can exercise control over his behaviours. 

Each boy in the Middle and Senior Schools at Trinity receives regular feedback from his teachers and his coaches about his self-management, task-management, learning focus and persistence. This feedback is aggregated to give a number out of five, which is his EPA. We have years of data to confirm that the EPA is a lead indicator of academic improvement and achievement, and this was borne out again amongst the scholars of 2026. Trinity boys and parents hear a lot about the EPA, with good reason. We consider a strong EPA to be a score above four out of five. Improving the EPA is the path to improving grades, and ultimately the ATAR.

During the course of the Assembly and the morning tea afterwards, three particular observations occurred to me. The first is that Year 12 results belong to the individual student, not the school. A school can create a context conducive to academic success through the provision of excellent teaching and support, through the development and maintenance of a positive culture oriented toward engagement, and through the myriad small details of the school experience, but achievement is ultimately the responsibility of the student. As the old adage has it, ‘You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.’ This is why it is a bit misplaced to speak of ‘the school’s academic results’. They are primarily the students’ results, not the school’s.

The second is that the academic achievement itself disappears into the rear vision mirror very quickly. The topics of discussion were all about what happens next. The boys and their parents were all focused on the plans for this year. No-one gave any thought to the assessment items in the Middle School, the prizes won or not won along the way, the results in the Trial examinations, or even the achievement that qualified them to participate in the Scholars’ Assembly. All the details of academic process that had loomed large at one point in time were now distant memories. It is not that these things didn’t matter, but that they pass, and the focus moves on.

The third is that the school experience is only one chapter in a much longer story. As each boy walked across the stage, the Deputy Headmaster gave an indication as to that boy’s intention for 2027. These graduates are moving on to study engineering and medicine and commerce and law and music and various other pathways, as are all our graduates. It is the years to come, under God’s good hand, in which they will make their impact and contribution to our world. Professional careers and family commitments and community engagement and adventures and all the rich texture of life lies ahead. As meaningful and significant as the School years have been, it has been just one chapter. 

The Scholars’ Assembly gave me a lot to think about!

Tim Bowden | Headmaster