National Recognition for Trinity College

Trinity College won the 2024 Best STEM Programme in Australia at the Australian Education Awards held in Sydney on Friday 9 August. 

This award recognises the most outstanding STEM-based project or education program implemented by a school in Australia during the 2023 academic year.  When judging this category, the following criteria is considered:

• Demonstrated school leadership and support of STEM education.
• Consistently high standards of STEM teaching.
• Staff participation in professional learning and collaboration to improve STEM education. 
• Evidence of student engagement and outcomes in the 2023 school year.

The Trinity College STEM Programme is called – SPARK. The curriculum spans Early Years to Year 10 and is committed to creating holistic STEM experiences that foster lifelong learning, incorporates innovative technologies and illustrates how the union of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics will drive future innovation and change.   Incorporated within the SPARK Programme is an immersive 5-day experience for students in Year 7. 

The SPARK curriculum is strategically structured as a learning continuum, ensuring that at each developmental stage the program;

• develops inquiry skills, digital literacy, computational thinking and creativity;
• aligns with the Digital Technologies National Curriculum;
• promotes cross-curricular connections; and
• empowers a collaborative learning community amongst educators. 

Establishing a professional learning exchange across Trinity College, The University of South Australia and the wider education community is what makes the SPARK program rigorous, innovative and impactful.  To promote wide-spread STEM teaching and learning, professional development is strategically scheduled and staff are invited to co-construct learning objectives, experiences and team teach with College STEM leaders. 

The SPARK Programme is evidence based and informs contemporary educational research. Student self-reported attitudes towards STEM subjects are regularly measured by researchers from the University of South Australia. Over the past 12 months, the lead STEM educators at the College have presented the following professional development opportunities to local and national audiences:

• Assessment Design in the Age of AI.
• Promoting Creativity and Critical Thinking with AI.
• Creative Communication with A.I.
• Integrating Technology authentically across the Middle School curriculum.
• STEM Educator Series.
• Curriculum Mapping: A Cross curricular approach.

The SPARK Programme has had wide-spread impact on the way technology is embedded by staff across the College. By strategically prioritising collaborative planning and staff professional development, there has been increased teacher capacity, enabling STEM opportunities to evolve beyond the SPARK curriculum.  For example, Virtual Reality creation and drone flying is now regularly utilised in Geography, Artificial Intelligence supports creatively communication in Science and 3D Modelling is applied in Mathematics to assess student learning of probability concepts. See a full list of national winners here.