Week ending 28 June 2013 - Trinity School

Trinity School
Headmaster’s Newsletter
Week ending: Friday 28 June 2013
From the Acting Headmaster
Dear Parents
The Glittering Prizes
It’s the time of year for various kinds of prizegivings and thanksgivings
but, one hopes, not much in the way of misgivings. Last week, our Fifth
Year boys saw the end of their time in compulsory secondary education
marked with a Colours Award Assembly. As this is the end of a
complete stage in their educational careers, I think some mentions are
in order for the departing Fifth Years. Sporting Half Colours went to
Matthew Chatfield, James Holderness, Harold Pearson and Adam
Smith while Full Middle School Colours went to Jack Abrahams,
Michael Kelly and Satbir Mann. Unusually for a Fifth Year, but
reflecting the exceptional standard of his play, Full Senior Colours were
presented to George Jackson. Music Colours went to Leo Benedict,
Sebastian Blount, James Dugan, Freddie Meyers, and Andrew
Samarasekara.
We have had a similar Assembly this week for boys in the Fourth Year,
and next week boys in the Junior to Third Year will also be recognised
for a range of sporting, musical and other achievements. This week, the
Upper Sixth had their Graduation Evening, at which a good number of
school awards were also given, and next week the formal end of the
academic year is marked with our annual Prizegiving ceremony. And
it’s not only pupils who are being publically recognised: we’ve been
delighted to learn that one of our governors and a former Trinity
parent, Ms Nita Clarke, was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday
Honours list, for her services to employee engagement.
It’s hard to be anything but delighted for those who are receiving a
reward in recognition of their personal achievements, but it’s around
this time of year, especially, I’m inclined to remember that line from the
film “Cool Runnings” (you know – the one about the unlikely-but-true
exploits of the Jamaican bobsleigh team at the Calgary Winter
Olympics) which goes “A gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you’re
not enough without the medal, you’ll never be enough with it.” Some
get to win awards, some get to be the people who applaud those who
get the awards. Both are noble positions, if accepted with a glad heart.
It’s a largely unmentioned aspect of life at Trinity (and one I’m
desperately proud of) that, as well as never having heard a single pupil
express any opinion other than being pleased for another member of
the School who has won something, the applause you hear in
assemblies and ceremonies like those mentioned above is warm and
sincere.
Sports Results
v Sutton Valence School
1 st XI Won by 117 runs
Trinity 260
Sutton Val 84
2 nd XI Won by 4 wickets
Trinity 177
Sutton Val 176
U15A Won by 13 runs
Trinity 110
Sutton Val 97
U15B Won by 34 runs
Trinity 120
Sutton Val 86
U14A Won by 115 runs
Trinity 188
Sutton Val 73
U14B Won by 10 wickets
Trinity 55
Sutton Val 54
U13A Won by 14 runs
Trinity 111
Sutton Val 97
U12A Won by 54 runs
Trinity 123
Sutton Val 69
v St Joseph’s College
U12C Won by 6 wickets
Trinity 96
St Joseph’s 95
v City of London Freemen’s
County Cup Semi-Final
U14A Won by 49 runs
Trinity 166
City of Lon 117

The range and the depth and the height that Trinity students reach, whether in academic studies, in music,
in sport, in drama, art, community service, fundraising, film making, debating and so much more, never fails
to astonish me. Do any of them take it for granted, I wonder – what it feels like, to be living with all three
of aim, belief and ability? I feel an especially bittersweet sense of admiration and (in the nicest sense) envy
when seeing sports awards collected. It may shock you, gentle reader, to learn that my own sporting
career at school could not be filed under “Glorious” without a serious breakdown of administrative
efficiency. Not one certificate, not one medal, not one trophy. As for a mention in an on-line newsletter –
well, in those days such things were but the stuff of a madman’s dreams. And yet it was not for want of
trying that my name never adorned a plaque hung in the assembly hall – though I did once achieve
reasonably honourable mention on the back of a lavatory door in connection with a frozen Cornish pasties
scam, a tale for which the world is not yet ready. I can at least claim, with absolute probity, that I was
picked for every single rugby game ever played in my school’s history. A grand total of two matches.
Mine was not a rugby school. This is only one of a number of ways in which it diverged from a place of
learning like Trinity. We also didn’t have things like German, or Latin, or CCF or A Pleasing Absence Of Grim
Faced Police Officers Pulling Into The Car Park On A Pretty Much Daily Basis. Rugby was introduced to my
school by an enthusiastic and fresh-faced young Games teacher called – slightly presciently – Mr Leeder.
To us he was known as “Bulldog”. Quite from where that sobriquet originated I can no longer recall. There
was nothing notably dumpy and Churchillian about his appearance, though his rhetoric was suitably upand-at-‘em.
He brought with him the strange game of rugby – or “egg-chasing” as it’s still generally
referred to round my old neck of the woods – and, within two weeks of arriving at the school, had
organised a first match, so that those of us who had cautiously volunteered (i.e. been pressganged) could
gain some practical sense of how this strange, foreign ritual was actually meant to work. As far as we could
see, this “rugby” was a faintly absurd pursuit in which a leather ball was chased, to no very great effect,
around a muddy field on a cold afternoon. Imagine! Our game was football which is, of course, completely
different. But a fixture was arranged so that we could play for real. That first fixture was against
Manchester Grammar School, a level of sporting mismatch perhaps comparable only to a hypothetical
situation in which one imagines 80s pop icon Boy George offering the entire Texas branch of the National
Rifle Association “outside”.
Boys attending Manchester Grammar are immersed in the game of rugby for so long and so fully that it
would not be difficult to believe they emerge into this world with their fathers calling out scrummaging
advice from touchlines that they have insisted on having painted around the delivery room, whilst they also
try to flag the midwife for having handled illegally. We had been playing the game for only two weeks and
had barely any concept of the basic rules. Our opponents looked like they could legitimately hope to see
themselves, one day, as British Lions; we looked like we had little chance of making it as British Terrapins.
In these circumstances, the result (a mere 96-0, in favour of Manchester Grammar) is one I still like to
regard as a moral victory. Although what the actual moral might have been escapes me. Were we
downhearted? Were we broken? Oh, you bet we were. Absolutely. Never wanted to do that again. And
please don’t imagine I’m now going to turn this into some schmaltzy, inspirational tale of triumphing over
incredible odds. Not going to happen. That’s just not how we “roll” in the North.
We had one more game, about a month later, this time against a similarly incapable school. This involved
my only real, quasi-intentional contact with the ball. I played number 8 and, without any particular warning
and to my considerable surprise, found the ball had somehow arrived in my hands. Having no especial
sense of how to progress this situation, I simply responded to what I took to be the consensus emerging
from the advice now being offered to me on all sides. This was, in essence, “Run, you lanky streak of
uselessness”. Thus I did, and I have never forgotten the pure, existential freedom I felt on realising that I
had quickly left the chasing pack behind me and was away, away and gone, far beyond the grasp of any
opponent, running free and knowing only the purified now, the liberated geometry of eternity, the
sanctified moment that is man, ball and space. (I hope you’re hearing Vangelis, at this point.)

Sadly, being required to play without my spectacles on I had not successfully factored in the significance of
my instinctively chosen direction. Not only had I somehow turned around and started running back towards
the end my team was defending, I had also then carried on straight through the posts, stopping only on
reaching the goal posts at the far end of the pitch adjacent to the one on which our game was being played.
It was a long walk back, towards a line of still figures, players and parents, silhouetted against the sun going
down behind the cemetery next to the pitches. (Seriously. You can see it on Google Maps. Look up “Hough
End Playing Fields” in Manchester – right next to Southern Cemetery. Well, they’re spectators of a kind,
one supposes.) Everyone was so very silent. Everyone. Possibly a dog howled, somewhere in the distance.
Still, a final result of 8 – 8 represented, surely, one of the most significant improvements in the history of
the game. But there were no other fixtures where this improvement could have been built on. No chance
to play and grow and, perhaps, even to hope for an award, or just a mention in an assembly. I recall being
the last to be collected that day, the daylight having run out with an odd, almost embarrassed suddenness,
like an old acquaintance met on the street who hurries away with barely hidden haste, giving off a clear
sense that one’s all-too-evident misfortune is regarded as, very possibly, contagious. Hours passed as I
waited alone. The electricity meter of the world wanted feeding. My Dad was late because he had run
over a dog on the way to pick me up after the game. Even at the age of 12, my nascent literary-critical
sensibilities saw in this a potent symbol suggesting it would be right to hang up the barely used boots. The
writing was on the wall. Much like some parts of that unfortunate Alsatian, in fact.
Trinity’s students can, as another year ends, all point to a far, far, far greater level of ability and dedication
and achievement and spirit in what they have done, both as individuals and in every conceivable manner of
team, than anything I can scrape together from my time at school and I salute them all, whether receiving
an award at this year’s end or not. There are many things we don’t have prizes for. The Good Bloke/Good
Lass Trophy you won’t see listed. The No, Please, After You certificate is notable by its absence. There’s no
photograph for our marketing material showing the mildly embarrassed recipients of the “You OK, Mate?”
Prize. The could-be, should-be winners of these imaginary accolades are all around us, though. You may
well know one and even have told them to sort their bedroom out, recently. For me, David Bowie is a
reliable source of truth about most things in life and how right he was when he sang about what we all
could be, just for one day. Then again, he also once sang “I’m the laughing gnome and you can’t catch me”
so, y’know, thanks for that, Dave.
Croydon Heritage Festival
Trinity helped bring the Croydon Heritage Festival to a successful close in the final weekend of celebrations.
Last Friday our ever-brilliant Big Band played a medley of jazz classics at Fairfield Halls and on Saturday, in
Matthews Yard, “Pirates” was performed one last time, to the considerable appreciation of a substantial
audience. Three Trinity pupils saw their writing picked out by the editor of the Croydon Advertiser as the
winning entries in the newspaper’s “Celebrating Croydon In Writing” competition. Neal Kesterton (First
Year) was third with his chilling tale of “The Airman Ghost of Addington” while Thisura Silva (Fourth Year)
was second with his vignette of every day life in Croydon, “The Tram”. The winner, to whom enormous
congratulations are due, was Josh Leigh (Fourth Year) for his story “Pickles, the Curious Canine” which told,
from the eponymous hero’s point of view, the story of one very notable piece of local history – when the
Jules Rimet Trophy (the original trophy awarded in football’s World Cup competition until – I think – Brazil
got to keep it, in 1970) went missing during the 1966 World Cup tournament. As you may know, and as is
related by Josh, the trophy somewhat bizarrely turned up in a park in South Norwood.
Trinity’s students and staff have made a massive contribution to the Heritage Festival and I would like once
again to voice my thanks and appreciation for all that’s been done, in and around school, to ensure we have
played a part in this major event in the life of our immediate community.

Keeping Busy
With a week of term to go, our students are keeping busy through a variety of activities. As well as those
described below, we have also had a Drugs Education talk for Third Year boys, the A Level Biology Field
Class setting out for Pembrokeshire, our Fourth Year geographers studying urban regeneration in the
Docklands area and our Third Years setting off into the wilds on their Outdoor Pursuits expeditions. We
have Lower Sixth students heading for a study day at the University of Cambridge and our Second Years will
be investigating both the National Army Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, before rolling their
sleeves up for a day of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) challenges. We still have
cricket and tennis fixtures to complete including the annual visit of the MCC side, who take on our First XI
next Tuesday. Matters of great pith and moment are yet to be resolved, such as the Second Year interform
competition where 2J currently lead; that could change, though, in just one taxi-for-Federer moment, as we
still have Lower School Sports Afternoon, the STEM competition and the Miller-Rama-Roo tournament to
come. The latter refers to a sport unique to Trinity, devised by Mr Beresford-Miller, which combines
elements of rugby, cricket and dodgeball. It is hoped that Miller-Rama-Roo may be an Olympic sport by
2018. Or possibly later.
Colombian Day
Last Thursday, the Spanish Departments at James Allen’s Girls’ School and Trinity joined forces to offer a
Colombian Day to Fourth Year students. This included art, music and film workshops, allowing the students
to gain insights into, and appreciation of, Colombian culture. The event was sponsored by Costa Coffee who
ran some competitions and awarded prizes to the following winners and runners up on the day:
Winners: Nathaniel Sewell (1 st ), Fred Willis (2 nd ), William Brady (3 rd )
Runners Up: Connor Simpson, Joshua Richardson, Ifedapo Agiri, and Janarth Duraisingham
K’Nex Challenge
Earlier this week, Trinity hosted one of its popular K’Nex Challenge events in the Concert Hall, whereby
teams from local Primary Schools were invited first to design and then to construct models for a new,
‘green’ Trinity pavilion, with a working wind turbine to provide electricity. A morning of enthusiastic and
imaginative work from all the teams taking part culminated in a narrow victory for the eight boys and girls
from Hazelwood School, who were awarded prizes for their efforts by Mr Rod Edwards, Chief Executive of
Young Engineers.
Mr Rudi Oppenheimer
Last week, I mentioned a number of superb speakers who came into Trinity and shared their wisdom with
pupils of different age groups. This week, we were honoured by the visit of Mr Rudi Oppenheimer, who
spoke to boys in the Second Year about his experiences as a survivor of the Holocaust. We are profoundly
grateful to him for his time and help in ensuring that pupils understand why there are aspects of history
that must never be forgotten.
Summer Music
This week, we enjoyed very successful recitals over two evenings for boys in the Junior to Third Years. Next
Wednesday, 3 rd July at 7pm our Summer Gala concert will be held in the Trinity Concert Hall and this will be
a further opportunity to see the full breadth of musical talent within our bands, ensembles and choir. This
is an un-ticketed event and parents and friends are most welcome. This is always such a pleasant concert
and a lovely way to enjoy a summer’s evening.
A number of our younger singers have been performing in the opera “Hansel und Gretel” with Garsington
Opera, over the past few weeks, and will be doing so again up to the very end of term. The pupils have
won widespread critical acclaim with The Guardian newspaper describing their contribution as “simply
terrific” while the reviewer from The Stage wrote “An energetic chorus of children from Old Palace School
and Trinity Boys Choir provides an upbeat and touching conclusion to an overwhelmingly joyous
experience.” All the boys involved have rehearsed and performed in this professional production whilst also

continuing with their other commitments in school. This, on its own, represents a huge achievement for
which they should be congratulated.
Two other marvellous musical developments this week to let you know about: William Gardner (Second
Year) has been invited to sing the role of Miles in Britten’s “Turn Of The Screw” for Oper am Rhein, in
Dusseldorf, this November, while Geoffrey Niu (Fourth Year) has just achieved Grade 8 with Distinction on
the cello. Well done to both of you.
Sports News
Cricket
Oops, they did it again. With the full-house against Reigate Grammar still fresh in the mind, our cricketers
offered a reprise performance against Sutton Valence. A particular highlight was Jamie McCulloch’s
imperious 121 for the 1 st XI, complemented by George Jackson and Chris Webster who both completed five
wicket hauls. And again, without wishing to be triumphalist, given that the U14As have rightly been in the
spotlight this week, I would like to salute their compadres in the U14Bs on that emphatic victory in what
looks like it was very much a bowler’s match.
Now, about those U14As. What a week it has been for them. On Monday, they played their Surrey semifinal
and beat City of London School, scoring 166 and seeing off their opponents for 117. Jonty Logan put
Trinity in the box seat by hitting 52 and then taking 5 for 19. The Surrey Final followed post-haste on
Thursday and, sadly, it was not to be. Cranleigh, who beat Whitgift in their semi-final, scored 152 for 8 off
their 35 overs. Trinity battled to within touching distance, but we were bowled out for 131. While that will
be a little agonising for the boys, they must not have any doubts at all about how proud we all are of them
for reaching this final, and of the commitment and team work they have shown which put them there.
Cricket 6s
Well done to our U13A 6s side, on finishing second in their group at Thursday’s Reigate 6s competition. It
was a close run thing, though: with four needed off the last ball, Thomas McKinnon hit a good, straight
shot which the bowler somehow managed to get a hand to, meaning we lost by just 3 runs. From there,
they contested and won the Plate with a 58-50 result against Wallington. Good stuff, gentlemen – and I
hope this gives you just the bounce you need to take you into your Surrey Cup final next Wednesday.
Tennis
New Trinity Sports Legends, the U12s, beat Ewell Castle 6-0 in the latest round of the Aegon Cup. That
overall score doesn’t adequately reflect what a great match this was, and what a high standard of tennis
each side offered: our number 1 pair found themselves 0-4 down at one stage and then turned it round
completely. Well done, gentlemen, on another great team performance following on from last week’s
Surrey title win.
Athletics
After Wednesday’s Croydon Primary Schools Athletics Championships, we have a winner to congratulate:
Alex Zaborniak won the cricket ball throw with a rather impressive effort of just over 49 metres.
FORTHCOMING EVENTS
TPA Proms
This annual event, run by the Trinity Parents’ Association (TPA), takes place next Saturday 6 th July and we
can now confirm the full line up for the evening. Our special Guest Star will be Harry the Piano from
Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast. Also appearing will be Opera Duo Ross Scanlon & Helen Bailey, Trumpet
virtuoso Andrew Crowley, Harpist Amy Turk and our very own Concert Choir and Big Band. The proms will
have a special guest compère - Tim Bentinck - aka David Archer from The Archers.

The TPA will also be selling Trinity Mugs and Umbrellas on the evening. If you wish to purchase either of
these items but are unable to attend on the 6 th July, please contact the TPA for an order form and further
details tpa@trinity.croydon.sch.uk
This promises to be an excellent event and it always is. I would like to encourage as many parents, friends
and family to come along, have a picnic and support this event, with all proceeds going to the Neuro
Foundation. Tickets can be purchased online at www.trinitytpa.ticketsource.co.uk. You will also be pleased
to learn that the Met Office currently predicts warm weather for the evening of 6 th July.
Diary Dates
Lower School Sports Afternoon - Monday 1 July, 1.30pm
Prizegiving - Friday 5 July 11.00am
Reports to Parents (J,1,2,3) - Friday 5 July
Term ends - Friday 5 July 12.30pm
Summer Sports Course - Thursday 18 & Friday 19 July
TMWHC Summer Hockey Camp - 7, 14, 21, 28, August & 4 September (free of charge)
Contact hockey@tmwa.org.uk
Pre-season Rugby Training - Tuesday 27 – Friday 30 August (U15A, B & C)
- Thursday 29 & Friday 30 August (U15 B,C & D players
not currently in Daily Mail Squad)
(see school website for full details)
U15A Pre-season Rugby Tournament - Saturday 1 September
Start of Term - Wednesday 4 September
Prizegiving
A reminder that if you are attending prizegiving next Friday, the deadline for reply slips to be returned to
the Headmaster’s Secretary, Mrs Rimell, is noon Monday 1 st July.
Headmaster’s Summer Project
Each year during the summer holidays, all boys in the Lower School have the opportunity to produce a
piece of work for submission for the Headmaster’s Summer Project Prize. This is, of course, entirely
voluntary and any entries should be returned via your son’s form tutor at the start of the new school term
in September.
This will be the last on-line newsletter of the school year and I do hope you have enjoyed reading about the
many and varied achievements of our students. An end of term letter will be produced next week. During
this brief period as Acting Headmaster, I had hoped to instigate some significant changes at Trinity, such as
the acquisition of a School Panther (to be called “Ralphie”), the compulsory singing of “Blue Moon” at each
end-of-term Assembly, and the banning of the word “sesquipedalian” from casual use in the boys’
restaurant. In order that a final note of suspense may be generated, I will refrain from saying which, if any,
of these plans may or may not have come to fruition as part of everyday life at Trinity, from next
September. You will simply have to come back next term to find out.
Before I mumble “thankyoufortheopportunitylordsugar” and scuttle back into the crepuscular, velvety
shadows which are the natural habitat of deputalis headmasteria, may I take this opportunity to wish you
and your family a most peaceful, relaxing and happy summer.
With my best wishes
Joe McKee
Acting Headmaster