One door closes, another opens
Throughout his career, Mr Kurt Bartelme had heard great things about the opportunities available at Trinity. While he has had many roles before coming to Trinity, it was his work at the NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) that saw him be heavily involved in facilitating the delivery of the HSC. While his feet were firmly in the HSC world, the idea of learning more about the International Baccalaureate (IB) program had always appealed to him.
When a position cropped up, he followed the application process but things didn’t quite go to plan. Despite progressing to the final stages of interviewing, he was ultimately unsuccessful.
Many other people might not be as positive as he was at that moment, but Mr Bartelme isn’t the kind of person who gets stuck on a closed door.
“Even after being unsuccessful, I wanted to go back again. I felt great after that interview,” he remembers. “After the knockback I wanted to give it another go.”
When the next opportunity came his way, he grabbed it with both hands, and this time he secured a position as a teacher in the History department in 2024.
It wasn’t long before another opportunity came along to use his previous curriculum experience in the NESA Aboriginal Studies course and pastoral experience supporting Indigenous students. He took on the role as the Indigenous Education Coordinator at Trinity – a role he was eager to take up after seeing how Trinity was committed to their Vision for Reconciliation and supporting other schools in similar efforts.
“I could see that [Mr Bowden] and the School were committed to building strong relationships with First Nations communities. There was that goal of creating safe and supportive learning environments for all our boys.”
As the Indigenous Education Coordinator, Mr Bartelme supports the School’s engagement with Indigenous communities and works to build and maintain those relationships, as well as supporting and advocating for Indigenous students.
“My goal is to help our Indigenous students to feel connected and supported, part of the community. And not just them, their families as well.”
He speaks highly of all the opportunities Trinity has provided to grow as an educator, including Professional Learning Teams (PLTs) and training.
“I can’t ask for anything more,” he says. “Trinity has provided me with so many professional development opportunities, especially in the last 14 months, to support me in my current role. They’ve been incredibly supportive. They want the program to succeed and they want to equip me as best as they possibly can.”
One such opportunity has been to participate in the partnership between Trinity and the communities at the remote Northern Territory schools, Alekarenge and Murray Downs, and, in particular, to be deployed to Ali Curung for three weeks to work at Alekarenge School.
“It’s beautiful up here. I can see how important it is to be here, building genuine, long-term relationships,” he says, speaking during his deployment in the Northern Territory. “Trinity’s partnership with the schools here is reflecting that broader commitment, engagement, trust, and shared learning.”
“A big part of my role is to ensure the partnership up here benefits both communities; supporting staff and students up here, but bringing back my perspectives and experiences to Trinity.”
“Ultimately, the goal is to build something sustainable: a relationship based on mutual respect, understanding, and opportunity, rather than a one-off program or visit.”
Returning to Trinity ready for Term 2, Mr Bartelme’s first order of business is launching a new Co-curricular group: the Reconciliation Action Group (RAG), designed to give students ongoing, meaningful engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
“It’s going to be student-driven,” he says of the new Co-curricular. “I can’t wait to be facilitating the boys in this. Our Vision for Reconciliation is part of our School identity and we need to enable the students to take an active role in this journey.”
“It’s going to give the students a structured voice to maintain partnerships and shape the School’s work towards reconciliation.”
There are other initiatives supporting the Vision for Reconciliation that Mr Bartelme is excited to be a part of at Trinity, including the Independent Schools NSW (ISNSW) Waratah Project.
“We’re part of this network now. It helps us as a School help to improve those academic outcomes, the wellbeing of our boys, and it helps us to become more culturally responsive, strengthening relationships with our Indigenous students and their families.”
The Waratah Project sits alongside other programs that Trinity is involved in, like Bandu – a First Nations-led social enterprise that supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to transition from school into tertiary education and employment through mentoring, training, and wellbeing support – and the Cronulla Sharks’ Deadly Choices Health Program.
Looking ahead, Mr Bartelme says he’s excited to see how all these programs work in tandem to create better outcomes for the Indigenous students at Trinity, and the staff and students he works alongside through the City-Country Partnership.
“Every Indigenous community is different, but one thing that is consistent across them all is that it’s about listening first. We have to listen and learn from the communities and from there, identify how Trinity can support educational learning opportunities.”
