March, 2022

On Monday this week, students from the North, South and Senior schools were given the opportunity to engage in a virtual workshop with the founder of CDW Studios, Simon Scales. CDW Studios School of Visual Effects and Entertainment Design was establishing in 2011 and offers the most up to date and relevant education available for people hoping to work in the VFX and the entertainment design industry.

Trinity has had a long relationship with CDW, that has recently been strengthened through a partnership between Trinity, CDW and Flinders University. We are now able to offer budding young artists early access to the Bachelor of Creative Arts (Visual Effects and Entertainment Design) degree.

During the workshop students were able to develop an understanding of what this partnership looks like and build some fundamental skills in using a WACOM tablet, Photoshop and the 3D modelling program, Blender.

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) has released new examples of how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures intersect with the Mathematics curriculum. Trinity teachers have taken the initiative to develop their understanding of the meeting place between (western) mathematics and First Nations Peoples' Histories and Cultures and importantly, how it can be taught in the classroom.

The Association for Independent Schools in South Australia (AISSA) is coordinating the project, which involves professional learning, bespoke school-based coaching sessions and action inquiry, using the Goompi model to connect mathematics and culture, and to investigate ways to enrich mathematics teaching and learning as well as provide a more culturally responsive curriculum experience for students (and teachers).

Trinity is one of five schools from different Aboriginal Nations across the state to be part of this project. We will be part of a network of support to AISSA member schools located in diverse communities, as well as providing useful feedback to ACARA in relation to the appropriateness of the elaborations for different Nations.

Trinity College, through its Reconciliation Action Plan, is committed to Reconciliation with Australia's First Nations Peoples. Engaging in this project with Aboriginal partners will provide Trinity teachers with increased knowledge and understanding about the mathematics curriculum content and their interface with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures and teachers are wanting to know how to authentically, appropriately and sensitively incorporate First Nations knowledges into their teaching. It's difficult when you don't know how or are not the keeper of this knowledge how to do it. We wanted to participate in this project to bring more of that know-how into classrooms. The project began on Wednesday 2 March and runs over the course of this year.