Trinity Catholic College is an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

co-educational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

secondary Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...

day school A day school — as opposed to a boarding school — is an educational institution where children and adolescents are given instructions during the day, after which the students return to their homes. A day school has full-day programs when compar ...

, located over two adjacent campuses in the

Northern Rivers Northern Rivers is the most north-easterly region of the Australian state of New South Wales, located between north of the state capital, Sydney, and encompasses the catchments and fertile valleys of the Clarence, Richmond, and Tweed rivers. ...

region, on the northern fringe of

Lismore, New South Wales Lismore is a city in northeastern New South Wales, Australia and the main population centre in the City of Lismore Local government in Australia, local government area; it is also a regional centre in the Northern Rivers region of the State. It ...

, Australia.

History

St Mary's College for Girls was founded by the

Presentation Sisters The Presentation Sisters, officially the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, are a religious institute of Roman Catholic women founded in Cork, Ireland, by the Venerable Honora "Nano" Nagle in 1775. The Sisters of the congre ...

in 1886, as a single-sex

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

, and continued its development when the

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic religious institute of brothers. In 1817, St. Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from France, founded the Marist Brother ...

opened St Joseph's High School for Boys in 1911. The two schools formally amalgamated to form Trinity Catholic College, Lismore in 1985, with a ceremony in late 1984 which laid the banners of St Mary's and St Joseph's schools to rest, and marked the official amalgamation of the two schools into Trinity Catholic College. Brother Peter Pemble, a former principal of the College between 2001 and 2007, was sentenced in 2015 for child sexual abuse crimes against a boy that occurred in the 1970s while Pemble was a teacher at Marist Brothers High School, . After pleading guilty, Pemble was given a custodial sentence of 18 months, with a non-parole period of nine months. In 2017, College Principal, Brother John Hilet, reported to the media that he felt privileged when two FTM transgender students confided in him that they were experiencing gender identity issues and sought to be identified as males. On the 6th April 2022 it was announced that Jesse Smith would be appointed the role of College Principal following the conclusion of Brother John Hilet's tenure, having been acting principal since late 2021. He is the first

lay Lay may refer to: Places *Lay Range, a subrange of mountains in British Columbia, Canada *Lay, Loire, a French commune *Lay (river), France *Lay, Iran, a village *Lay, Kansas, United States, an unincorporated community People * Lay (surname) * ...

principal to be appointed at the college.

Symbols

Motto

Trinity's motto is; ''In Word And Deed''. This is based on from the New Testament: "Little children, let us love one another, not in word or speech, but in truth and action."

Badge

The triangle is an age old symbol of the blessed trinity – The father, Son and Holy Spirit. The cross stands as a reminder of the Christian nature of the college, and is the symbol of the life of Jesus. The Holy Trinity is a belief held by some Christian denominations, but not all, that the father, the son and the Holy Spirit all exist separately but together as a divine being.

Colours

The college colours of blue and gold were chosen by students to preserve the Marist tradition. Gold is the metal that never tarnishes, it is a symbol of God and love. Blue is associated with Mary, the mother of God who holds a special place in the college. The royal blue of the vest, jumpers and blazer also is symbolic of the morals and goals for the college.

House structure

The College's pastoral care structure is based on a

House system The house system is a traditional feature of schools in the United Kingdom. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth countries and the United States. The school is divided into subunits called "houses" and each student is allocated to o ...

that consists of ten Houses, led by a Head of House (HoH) and two house captains. Within each house, tutors care for a horizontal house system, where each year is split into house tutors. Families generally belong to the same house. Students meet with their tutor each day for fifteen minutes, to carry out administrative duties and build a relationship with their peers. These houses are also the students sporting houses. The ten houses are: *Cannane House (aqua) – named after the first principal of Trinity *Carthage House (magenta) – named after St Carthage of

Lismore, County Waterford Lismore () is a historic town in County Waterford, in the province of Munster, Ireland. Originally associated with Saint Mochuda of Lismore, who founded Lismore Abbey in the 7th century, the town developed around the medieval Lismore Castle. As ...

, Ireland *Champagnat House (royal blue) – named after

Marcellin Champagnat Marcellin Joseph Benedict Champagnat (20 May 17896 June 1840), also known as Saint Marcellin Champagnat, was born in Le Rosey, village of Marlhes, near St. Etienne (Loire), France. He was the founder of the Marist Brothers, a religious congregat ...

, the founder of the Marist brothers *Chanel House (red) – named after a principal of St Mary's College *D'Arcy House (gold) – named after the founder of the

' Lismore congregation *Dennis House (green) – named after a teacher from Trinity *Doyle House (purple) – named after the first Bishop of Lismore, Jeremiah Joseph Doyle (1849–1909) *McColl House (black) – named after the first principal of St. Joseph's High *Nagle House (white) – named after the founder of the Presentation Sisters,

Nano Nagle Venerable Honora Nagle ( – 26 April 1784), known informally as Nano Nagle, was a pioneer of Roman Catholic education in Ireland despite legal prohibitions. She founded the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (PBVM), com ...

*Wilson House (orange) – named after the pioneer family of Lismore (William Wilson (1805–1886))

Facilities

Because of the ancient nature of the school, it appears as very unusual architecture with some buildings dating back to foundation and others being as recent as 2010. Trinity has facilities for both the arts and sport which include: * State of the art commercial kitchen capable for catering large functions (Graduation Ball). * Equipped visual art and music rooms * Chapel * Three large halls * Separate cafeteria, canteen and café * Two libraries, each with computer areas, printing stations, air conditioned rooms for viewing movies and comprehensive collections of fictional and non-fictional texts * Six computer rooms, each with enough computers for a class * The Chanel theatre – used mainly for practicing dramatic performances; it includes adjustable seating, colour lighting, movable canvas backdrop and state of the art flooring * The dance studio – for practicing dance; this studio has air conditioning, colour lighting, one permanent mirrored wall and a second collapsible mirrored wall, and sound system * The Champagnat theatre – used to perform musical and dramatic pieces to a student or public audience. It features amphitheatre style seating for 250 people, air conditioning, extensive lighting, state of the art flooring, cinema-style screen and projectors and adapted acoustics. * Sporting fields * Trinity Sports Centre – includes: ** Two basketball/netball courts with extending divider ** Step seating for 250 people ** Foyer & storage areas ** Two PD/H/PE classrooms ** First aid room ** , 8 lane, indoor, heated swimming pool ** Outdoor basketball/netball courts ** Language center The basketball area (known as the TSC hall or Trinity Sports Centre) is also used for full school assemblies. The hall includes space on the floor able to seat 1,300 students, a large stage area, spotlights, sound system, retractable basketball hoops, large projectors and screens on either side of the stage used for multimedia displays, responses and lyrics during ceremonies. The entire sporting complex is air conditioned.

Extra-curricular activities

The school takes part in a number of extra activities such as

debating Debate is a process that involves formal discourse on a particular topic, often including a Discussion moderator, moderator and audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for often opposing viewpoints. Debates have historically occurred ...

public speaking Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech deliver ...

and NIE (a local newspaper writing competition that takes place in the Lismore area).

Notable former pupils

Simon Baker Simon Lucas Baker (born 30 July 1969) is an Australian actor in television and film, as well as a director. He is known for his lead roles in the CBS television series ''The Mentalist'' as Patrick Jane and ''The Guardian'' as Nicholas Fallin a ...

, actor

References

External links

* {{Association of Marist Schools of Australia Educational institutions established in 1985 Catholic secondary schools in New South Wales 1985 establishments in Australia Association of Marist Schools of Australia Presentation Sisters schools Lismore, New South Wales Roman Catholic Diocese of Lismore