From the Principal I was struck by a somewhat strange realisation recently. In a counterintuitive way, I have been fortunate in my first 18 months at Trinity to see our community under stress. While of course I would not wish the pandemic on anyone or any organisation, and the wide‑ranging impact has been awful to witness, I have been given a window into the character of Trinity as we have negotiated a way through the messiness of COVID. Amidst all of the reorganising of schooling, the shift of mindsets, the loss of dearly‑held events and opportunities, and the uncertainty of everything from the calendar to the economy, our community revealed its character in a way that has helped me understand more clearly our purpose. But more of that later.
1903 was a remarkable year in history as it was in December of that year that the Wright brothers made enough progress with their powered flying machine to travel – to fly – 37 metres in their first successful attempt. Theirs was a long and committed journey to reach this extraordinary achievement. By the end of that day, they had flown a few more times, including their final effort which saw the plane travel 260 metres. Their progress was rapid on that day and, ever since, the progress of flight has continued to evolve rapidly. NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter is currently on Mars and demonstrates quite remarkable advances in technology, and the ability of humans to imagine and to innovate. In a nod to flight’s
During the Learning Journeys program, Mr Farrer put his trust in the Year 8s
4 | THE TRINIT Y GRAMMARIAN
pioneers, Ingenuity carries a patch of material from a wing of the Wright Flyer, the brothers’ plane, despite the whole craft weighing less than 2kg. Ingenuity’s flights have mirrored Wright Flyer’s in a way, with impressive gains each try and brand-new possibilities coming as a result. It must have taken enormous vision for the Wright brothers and all of the others trying to achieve flight. It would also have taken faith, money and a good deal of hard work! So too the founders of Trinity Grammar, Kew would have needed these elements to get the school ‘off the ground’. Interestingly, it was in the same year, 1903, that our school community met
