Sharing knowledge beyond Trinity | Term 2, 2026 

Term 2 saw many of Trinity’s staff out and about, presenting at conferences and sharing their expertise beyond the Trinity community. 

Check out some of the conferences, presentation, and network opportunities they’ve been involved in below: 

The evolving identity of our libraries

Ms Lily Young (Leader of Teaching and Learning – Arthur Holt Library) attended the National Education Summit in Brisbane, engaging with fellow library and information specialists in the Capacity Building School Libraries stream. 

“It reinforced the role school libraries play in fostering informed, engaged learners,” she reflects. “As centres for reading, inquiry and collaboration, they provide opportunities for creativity, critical thinking and personal growth.”

In addition to this opportunity, Ms Young has also participated in the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) National Conference where sessions highlighted the evolving identity of school libraries as learning commons – not just passive archives, but active engines of scholarly identity, research skill development, and critical thinking. 

Additionally, Ms Young’s volunteer work with ALIA Schools led her to facilitate a national webinar: ‘Promoting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice Through Diverse Collections’. It was an experience she says is a standout highlight. 

“As educators, we hold a key responsibility to ensure our collections reflect diverse, authentic perspectives and support meaningful reconciliation.” 

“By staying actively engaged with national education and library networks, we ensure the Arthur Holt Library continues to serve as an inspiring, innovative, and essential hub for teaching and learning at Trinity.”

Boosting a culture of reading 

In May, two of the Arthur Holt Library’s (AHL) Teacher Librarians, Ms Vicky Courtenay and Ms Andrea O’Driscoll, presented at the School Library Association of NSW’s Annual Summit. 

Their presentation focused on how the AHL team has used research to inform their re-evaluation of Trinity’s reading culture. In particular, they shared their work alongside Literacy Researcher Margaret Merga, using her data which uncovered seven distinct strategies to support a positive reading reading culture: shared reading, independent silent reading, modelling, shared discussions about books, access to books, responsiveness to student interest, and conducive environments. 

The AHL now uses these seven strategies to audit all its programs and events and, in their presentation at the Summit, the concept was well received. 

“While some of them were familiar with Merga’s work, they hadn’t considered the possibility of using her strategies to evaluate reading culture and spread the word about why the Library does what it does,” noted Ms Driscoll. 

Bringing EAL/D educators together 

Ms Nora Straker has been appointed the ISNSW Network Convener for English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D). Appointed alongside Ms Nicola Hoffman from Wenona School, the two have been working together to boost the network’s effectiveness, connecting other EAL/D teachers with resources, support, and guidance. 

“Many of our network members are EAL/D teachers with qualifications behind them, but many are also part of the diverse learning teams or English teams who have been asked to take on this role with new arrival students,” Ms Straker says. “We’re always receiving questions and answering emails and we’re creating teacher resources as we go.” 

Each term, they host an online network meeting with an invited guest speaker as well as dedicated focus time on a topic that is relevant to those in the network, sourced via a survey. 

The network now has approximately 140 members and since Ms Straker and Ms Hoffman’s appointments, attendance at network meetings has grown significantly from about 10-15 participants, to 40. The two are currently in talks to host the inaugural EAL/D Symposium in Term 2 2027 and they have plans to create greater connectivity between teachers so they can support each other through new situations. 

“We are very pleased with what we’ve done in just two short terms and we’re excited to continue growing together,” says Ms Straker. 

Leading and learning as Visual Arts educators 

At this year’s Visual Arts and Design Educators Association of NSW (VADEA NSW) conference, two of Trinity’s staff had the opportunity to present. 

Ms Nicole DeLosa presented on ‘Designing Visual Arts Curriculum for Deeper Learning’, an opportunity to explore how collaborative faculty planning and research-informed curriculum reform can drive meaningful renewal in Visual Arts education. The session focused on preparing for the implementation of the new NESA 7-10 Visual Arts Syllabus (2027) through evidence-based curriculum design and collaborative professional learning. 

“Throughout the conference was the idea of teachers as active designers of future learning rather than simply implementers of curriculum,” says Ms DeLosa. “The greatest value of the conference is that Visual Arts educators come together to share practice, research, and ideas, creating opportunities for genuine professional exchange and collaboration.” 

Ms Cassie McClenahan also spoke at the conference, presenting on ‘Inside Out – Stage 4 Curriculum Reform’. Throughout, she shared her own experiences of developing and implementing the Year 7 ‘Inside Out’ portraiture program, in direct response to the new Visual Arts 7–10 syllabus. 

“As an early career teacher, the conference offered a wide range of perspectives from a variety of contexts,” says Ms McClenahan. “It was a fantastic opportunity for me to meet fellow Visual Arts teachers and to share ideas, helping me to build a professional network that is both collaborative and supportive.” 

“These conversations encouraged me to think critically about my own teaching and how I can continue to create meaningful and engaging learning experiences for my students.” 

Navigating curriculum reform 

As the ISNSW Business Studies Convenor, Mr Kai Ikeuchi has designed the ISNSW Business Studies Workshops since 2019. This year’s theme was ‘Change Agents: Navigating the HSC Business Studies Shift’ which has focused on the transition between the old and new curriculums. 

Sessions have focused on various aspects of this transition, including the leveraging of AI, how teachers are changing their teaching environments to gamify learning, insights into HSC marking scaffolding, and, more broadly, the transferable skills for Business Studies teachers as they navigate the curriculum reform. 

In addition to designing the workshops, Mr Ikeuchi also presented on his experience of curriculum reform in the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, sharing change management strategies that have been implemented to improve Trinity’s Learning Management System (LMS) interface over the years.