A Message from our Principal

And there goes another term! It has been full of focussed learning, co-curricular activities and competitions, the end of winter sports and the start up of summer sports already, our first snow day in about ten years and our first ever emergency closure this week! I think it is time for a change of routines and a spring break before we launch into term 4 camps, exams, and leaving celebrations.

Today we celebrate McAuley House Day at Trinity, and we are welcoming the other schools who were founded by the Mercy Sisters – St Brigid’s, St Bernadette’s and St Francis Xavier – to join with us at Mass celebrating this special day. St Mary’s, Mosgiel, are celebrating Mercy Day at their own school. Of course, a big event on the calendar for next term is the 150th Anniversary. We acknowledge that the opening of the boys’ school on our Rattray Street site in 1876, five years after the Dominican Sisters began the girls’ school on Tennyson Street, completed the network of Catholic secondary education in Dunedin. That network has continued to stay strong and, indeed, Trinity enjoys working closely with our Catholic primary schools to make sure that collectively we continue to strengthen our unique place in the Dunedin educational landscape providing quality faith-based education for our Catholic community. It is fascinating to think back to that same commitment seen in the various Catholic Orders of the 1800s to establish schools. The founders of these orders knew that education was the way for children to move out of poverty and have a life where they could thrive. The global Mercy Order celebrated Mercy Day yesterday (24th September) and, as part of this, celebrated 199 years since Mercy House in Baggott Street, Dublin, was opened in 1827 and the Mercy Order was founded in 1831. Just 19 years later, the first Mercy Sisters arrived in Auckland in 1850 to establish schools and hospitals.

We remain connected to the Mercy Order, and I have recently connected with Whānau Mercy Ministries who are launching Kākano Atawhai, a social justice and environmental action community for young people as they complete their secondary schooling. As part of this initiative, our year 13 leavers will all receive a package of kōwhai seeds that symbolises new beginnings, renewal, and personal growth with qualities of strength, courage and resilience. It is very fitting then, that our Year 13 leavers are gifting a kōwhai tree to the college with a plaque acknowledging our 150 years. And just like our Catholic school network has strengthened over time, we welcome the opportunity to strengthen the connection to the Mercy Order as we begin our next 150 years.

God Bless,

Mrs Kate Nicholson

Principal