Trinity Grammar School is a multi-campus independent Anglican single-sex early learning, primary and secondary day school for boys, in Inner West Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The main campus in provides a comprehensive education to students from Year 7 to Year 12; the campus in Strathfield provides a comprehensive education to early learning and primary school students, from Kindergarten to Year 6; and outdoor education facilities are located at Woollamia on the NSW South Coast. The school previously enrolled boarders until the end of 2019.
Founded in 1913 by George Chambers at Dulwich Hill, the school has a non-selective enrolment policy and currently caters for approximately 2,000 (during 2007)students. The Headmaster of Trinity Grammar School is Timothy Bowden.
Trinity is affiliated with the International Boys' Schools Coalition (IBSC), the Association of Heads of Independent Schools of Australia (AHISA), The Independent Primary School Heads of Australia (IPSHA), which was formerly known as the Junior School Heads Association of Australia (JSHAA), the Independent Primary School Heads of Australia, the Australian Boarding Schools' Association (ABSA), and is a founding member of the Combined Associated Schools (CAS).
Governance The School is governed by a Council (appointed by ordinance of the Diocese of Sydney), with the Archbishop of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel as the President. The council currently has seventeen members, with six lay members being elected by the Synod of the Diocese of Sydney, six clergy being elected by the Synod, and three being nominated by the Old Trinitarians Union (OTU). The final two positions are voted on by the sitting members of the council. James Mills was Chairman of the School Council for thirty-three years. Richard Pegg is the current chairman.
Trinity Grammar's "sister school" is Meriden School at Strathfield, an independent, Anglican, day school for girls. In 2018, Trinity Grammar School began integrating Meriden's cadet unit into Trinity's cadet unit.
History
George Chambers , 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. At its foundation, Trinity was a small parochial school with 29 boys enrolled. This number had reached 57 at the end of that year.
Having been appointed Warden of the School, Chambers' immediate task was to find a Headmaster. Thus, K.T. Henderson was appointed as the first Headmaster of Trinity Grammar in February 1913. In November 1915, the School formulated its motto, Detur Gloria Soli Deo, which may be translated from Latin to "Let Glory be Given to God Alone". The School colours were chosen to reflect the liturgical season of Trinity, namely green.
A property known as "The Towers" was purchased by the parish and used both as a School and Rectory. Later a larger property, "Hazeldene", was to be bought, also acting as both school and Rectory. The present site at Summer Hill, set in of land, was first occupied by the School in 1926, during the Head Mastership of G. E. Weeks.
By 1942 the prospects for Trinity were grim and it was decided that it should be closed. As a last attempt to save the School, the Council appointed James Wilson Hogg as Headmaster in 1944. By the time Wilson Hogg retired in 1974, Trinity was flourishing and had become one of the leading independent schools in NSW.
Milestones 1988 – 75th anniversary of the whole school. 2013 – Centenary of whole school and also 75th anniversary of the Preparatory school.
Trinity Grammar School Preparatory School
Sir Philip Sydney Jones was the original owner of the site on which the Preparatory School is now located. Upon his death, the area surrounding the house (including the house itself) was split into several areas which were then put up for auction. A small group of Strathfield residents first had the idea of using a portion of the grounds as a school, which became 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, most, if not all, of the teaching was done in Strathfield, although the school still used the Summer Hill Campus for sport. However, in 1938 the Senior School returned to Summer Hill and the Strathfield Campus for the first time became the Preparatory School.
The Preparatory School grounds are actually three separate properties - "Milverton", "Llandilo" and "Somerset." Milverton House was purchased by the school in 1966 and was used for educating "Sub Primary" or infants students. The most recent extension on "Milverton" was completed in 1991 and the building is now large enough to house the entire Infants department. Somerset was designed by Bertrand James Waterhouse and built in 1923 for James and Dorothy Larcombe (1900–1990). James Larcombe died in 1943 and his widow married Sir Percy Joske in 1969. Somerset was purchased by Trinity after the death of Lady Joske in 1990 and the Joske room, located on the edge of Somerset takes her name. "Llandilo" house is the largest of all the properties of the Preparatory School. Since its initial purchase in 1932 it has been the main building of Strathfield campus, providing education for the furthest advanced boys in the Primary curriculum. In 2005, a new sports and music centre was opened opposite "Llandilo." This contains over 10 music studios, as well as several larger music rooms and an underground gym. This allowed all of the Primary School to finally be moved back into "Llandilo," which had ceased to function properly with the sharp rise in student numbers before that date. In 2010, a new library was completed underneath the staff room, which has a connection to the "Llandilo" building.
Trinity Grammar School Preparatory School has grown extensively over the years, but the overall size of the property is much less than the original holdings of Sir Philip Sydney Jones.
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 of the primary school boys were relocated to the Preparatory School at Strathfield.
In 2000 the Junior School was re-established by the Headmaster, 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.
In 2006, the Junior School expanded to include an Infants Campus, based in Lewisham, specifically for children from pre-school to Year 2 age. The site for this development was the land on which the St Thomas Beckett Primary School had been previously located. This portion of the school began with 12 students, and now has over 50 students.
Having received planning permission from Ashfield council, the School has proceeded to demolish several houses on Seaview Street, creating a space in which the new Junior School was to be built. Construction on the site concluded in later end of 2012 and the new Junior School was officially opened on 3 October 2012 by Robert Forsyth. In 2013, Trinity started a preschool.
Headmasters
The following individuals have served as Headmaster of the Trinity Grammar School: Ordinal Officeholder Term start Term end Time in office Notes Kenneth Thorn Henderson 1913 1913 years William George Hilliard 1913 1916 years Arthur Alston 1916 1916 years Frank Archer 1917 1922 years George Edward Weeks 1923 1928 years William George Hilliard 1929 1934 years Percival William Stephenson 1935 1937 years Vernon S. Murphy 1938 1942 years James Wilson Hogg 1944 1974 years Longest serving Roderick Ian West 1975 1996 years Milton George Cujes 1996 2017 years 1968 School captain Timothy Bowden 2018 incumbent years
School Captains
YearSchool Captain1913Mccausland, J B1914Anderson, R1915Kerrigan, A B1916Kerrigan, A B1917Kerrigan, A B1918Hoskins, A E R1919Hoskins, A E R1920Smith, J M1921Osborn, H F1922Burtinshaw, G B1923Mcclelland, H W H1924Laing-Peach, Jas1925Glover, J A1926Burns, N R1927Makram, M T1928Grant, L I H1929Wherrett, S W1930Gilchrist, J1931Pilcher, K1932Greer, B J K1933Greer, B J K1934Dutton, A L1935Marks, H N1936Stroud, R H1937Hutchinson, B W1938Ledgerwood, J A1939Ledgerwood, J1940Edgley, I L1941Edwards, M S1942Young, P G1943Angel, H R1944Allison, G1945Sandars, K L1946Collins, B F A1947Haines, W1948Martyn, K I1949Jolliffe, P S1950Rogerson E C1951Reed, G1952Madgwick, W W1953Harris, J G1954Gilroy, D J1955Cramb, A D1956Cramb, A D1957Andersen, P T1958Allen, M R1959Loy, G I1960Palethorpe, T H1961Wild, R S1962Back, J D1963Edmonds, R F1964Leembruggen, R T1965Gibson, A R1966Fisher, R E1967Christie, P J1968Cujes, G M1969Davison, I M1970Edwards, T1971Allen, R J1972Hibbert, S A1973Moffitt, R C1974Moore, C A1975Collins, P J1976Glover, L E1977Bulbrook, T R1978Connolly, A L1979Norton, R H1980Loxton, D H1981Quinn, D I1982Norman, RJ De B1983Argall, T W1984Shillington, W A1985Gregory, J M1986Lukabyo, A J1987Moffatt, N J1988Jenen, M P1989Eastway, P D A1990Higgins, S J1991Barrington-Higgs, B T1992Kell, J B1993Gibson, P G1994Martin, M A1995Gibson, J M1996Showyin, C R1997Wong, K K1998Higginbotham, A G1999Theobald, A F2000Schafer, L J2001Head, R J2002Moore, N E2003Tatam, S J M2004Ikeuchi, K2005Duchini, A M2006Jones, B W2007Constantin, H I2008Higginbotham, L C K2009O'Bree, T P B2010Dimarchos, N2011Drivas, D A2012Sidiropoulos, D2013Poologasundram, M2014Leva, A M2015Dickinson, T Y2016Bechara, J J2017Payne, K B2018Simpson, S2019Bouletos, N J2020Christopoulos, S2021Christopoulos, J2022Yarad, S2023Kong, C J2024Gillard, L2025Vo, L H K2026Yee, A A2027Nurcombe, M T
Campuses 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 students, as well as a Junior School (Kindergarten to Year 6), located at Summer Hill. Preparatory and pre kindergarten sections (Preschool to Year 6) at Strathfield.
Attempts were made in the early 2000s towards establishing a campus in Sydney's southern suburbs. Such plans have been postponed indefinitely by the School. In 2014 the school decided to close the Outdoor Education Centre at the Pine Bluff Campus, located near Bigga, New South Wales due to the cost associated with maintaining the Outdoor Education Center in a remote location. The land that was used for the Outdoor Education Center was donated previously to the school by an old boy. In 2016 Trinity Grammar School opened a new Field Studies Centre in Woollamia, New South Wales.