Our latest College newsletter is now ready to read.
Continue readingFRINGE WORLD at Tranby College
Everything you need to know about our upcoming FRINGE WORLD Festival.
Continue readingCongratulations to our Year 12 Cohort
2022 Year 12 Results Summary
Our 2022 Year 12 cohort comprised of a small group of 52 students with diverse skills and interests. We commend each one of them for all that they achieved, not only academically but also with the co-curricular activities and service-learning opportunities they have undertaken. Over the course of their final year, their learning was once again interrupted by COVID-19 challenges, but even so, they adapted and showed their resilience and determination in achieving their personal best. Below is a summary of their successes:
- Our 2022 Dux, Adam Mattiasson, achieved the highest ATAR rank in the cohort with an ATAR of 96.5.
- He was closely followed by Benjamin Lochbuehler with an ATAR of 95.15 and Alexander Cilia with an ATAR of 94.2.
- 5 students received a SCSA Certificate of Merit.
- 100% of our UniReady cohort, 21 students, were successful and are now eligible for entry to university.
- Three students completed Year 12 as either a qualified childcare worker or and education assistant.
- One of our students, Tom Leo, secured a scholarship in a prestigious performing arts program commencing in 2023.
- Many of our Year 12 students received early offers, including some for interstate universities.
- 31 (61% of our students) achieved AT LEAST one VET Certificate.
- A total of 56 VET Certificates were achieved including three Cert III and one Cert IV.
- 23 endorsed units were achieved. These programs are extracurricular activities undertaken by students alongside their regular WACE studies. Two students achieved three units. This means they completed more than 165 extra hours each on top of their schoolwork.
We wish all our students the very best in their future endeavours. Know that we are proud of you all and we look forward to hearing of your future successes.

Tranby Recognised as a Gold School for Microsoft Surface
We are proud and excited to share news that Tranby College has been recognised by Microsoft as a Surface Gold School – a status which endorses the College’s outstanding level of excellence in digital teaching and learning. This accreditation is thanks to the work of Mr Anthony Britza, Director of Learning and Innovation, and our ICT Team, in preparing for roll-out of Microsoft devices across the College in the next three years. (See below for full details on our change to Microsoft Surface and the planned roll-out.)
For Tranby students and families, being a Surface Gold School means that:
- Tranby is recognised by one of the world’s leading companies as a truly progressive school that is driving successful 21st century teaching and learning practices nationally.
- We innovatively use technology to drive positive impact and student success with future-ready skills in computational thinking, creativity and innovation, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication.
- Teachers are trained and confident in using best-practice technology to transform and enhance student learning.
- Tranby can share, learn from and network with other teachers, students, and industry experts.
- We can prepare our students for the future world of lifelong learning and work by helping them to develop future-ready skills.
- Students, parents, and staff can have access to Microsoft experts for our careers program.
- We can drive personalised learning to meet the individual student’s academic, emotional, and social needs, helping every student realise their full potential.
- Tranby fosters a culture of learning and growth by committing to creating sustainable change in teaching and learning practices.
- We have a genuine commitment to using technology to value-add to the student’s experience and education at Tranby.
Moving to Microsoft Surface devices from 2023
Over the course of Term 3, 2022, Tranby undertook a review of our learning devices and systems. Current research into the use of computers in education identified three key factors we needed to consider:
- Portability – allowing the learner to take their learning out of the classroom and using technology to support teaching and learning in different ways;
- Flexibility – providing students with a mix of devices from a desktop or laptop to a tablet offers them the best possible options that allow for personalisation of their learning experiences; and
- Digital Ink – being able to ‘write’ with a pen-like object helps the learner with deeper knowledge processing. People who type notes or documents have the same level of recall of facts and figures as a person who writes, but a person who writes can process the information at a deeper level, making their learning richer.
Based on the above, we decided that a tablet or a 2-in-1 device would best suit the needs of our students. Google Chromebooks, iPads, Microsoft tablets, and 2-in-1 devices were evaluated. It was apparent that the Chromebooks would not meet our immediate or future needs. Upon comparing iPads and Microsoft, we felt that the Microsoft option would allow our middle-primary to Years 11 and 12 students the best of a tablet and desktop experience. Due to its application-based system, the iPad would not suffice all our needs. Upon evaluation, as a school, we selected Microsoft Surface as our new device (and this is being rolled out as per the table below).
From 2023, students in Early Learning (K – 2), will still have access to Apple iPads as we feel that the application-based platform works well for our younger students. Students in Years 3 – 6 will transition to a Surface Go with a keyboard, digital pen and bumper cover. Students in Years 7 – 12 will transition to a Surface Pro with a keyboard, digital pen, and bumper cover. Roll out of these devices are detailed in the below table.
YEAR | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
---|---|---|---|
K – 2 | iPad | iPad | iPad |
3-5
| Surface Go | Surface Go | Surface Go |
6 | MacBook Air | Surface Go | Surface Go |
7 | Surface Pro | Surface Pro | Surface Pro |
8 | Surface Pro | Surface Pro | Surface Pro |
9 | MacBook Air | Surface Pro | Surface Pro |
10 | Surface Pro | Surface Pro | Surface Pro |
11
| MacBook Air | Surface Pro | Surface Pro |
12 | MacBook Air | MacBook Air | Surface Pro |
Strategic Plan Update and Master Plan Workshop
INFORMING AND INVOLVING KEY STAKEHOLDERS
At the end of August and during early September, a number of workshops were held with students, parents and staff. At the workshops, College Principal, Ms Mahy:
- Presented an update on strategic activities and initiatives, and
- Sought input into Master Planning for the College.
A summary of what was presented and the outputs of these workshops are detailed below.
UPDATE ON STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
Since the launch of the Strategic Plan in 2021, the College has implemented an extensive number of initiatives to support the direction and growth of the College. A summary of key activities is detailed below (although it should be noted that this does not capture everything that has been undertaken).
Learning and Wellbeing
- Implementation of Personal Education Plans.
- Restructure of learning processes and systems.
- Co-curricular programs expanded.
- Broadened music program and elective offering (return of Woodwork, new elite Cricket Program for 2023).
- Specialist Wellbeing Team established.
- Survey data used in decision making.
- Partnership with Prof. Donna Cross (wellbeing expert from UWA).
- Review and update of technology (new devices, displays and systems).
Culture
- Staff Professional Learning – enriched and targeted.
- Professional conversations and reporting.
- Improved communications and facilitated input into decision making.
- Principal visibility and care of staff – strong priority.
- Engagement of students in values and events.
- Feel Good Fridays and wellbeing initiatives.
Community Engagement
- More community social events, forums and information sessions undertaken.
- Stakeholder engagement in Strategic Plan.
- Regular presence of Principal and Deputy Principal at assemblies and events.
- Advisory committees established.
- Implementation of a social media strategy.
- Closer connection to Junior School Parent Liaisons.
Sustaining our Future
- Successful completion of registration.
- Personal Education Plans in development for staff.
- Increased student retention and enrolments.
- Campus renovations:
- Overhaul of Junior School Central Activity Area,
- Update to Junior School Staff Areas.
- Master Planning under way:
- Planning of a new Childcare Centre,
- Refurbishment of Kindy areas.
Master Planning Workshops – FEEDBACK CAPTURED
When considering plans for our College and Campus, workshop participants were asked to think about what opportunities and improvements should be considered as part of Master Planning. Below is a summary of the common themes that came through across all groups that met:
Wellbeing and Learning Spaces
- Design spaces that connect with nature.
- Provide open spaces for formal, informal and independent learning.
- Consider air quality, noise and colour.
- Provide choice in options and style of seating.
- Encourage a sense of wellbeing for students and staff and provide them with a voice in decision-making.
Personalising Learning Spaces
- Be intentional about types of furniture – seating options, fabrics, groupings and single desks/spaces.
- Individualise access and usage of technology.
- Provide flexible learning areas.
- Create indoor and outdoor learning and play spaces allow for differentiation and discovery.
- Allow for student choice, voice and differences.
FACILITIES AND CAMPUS
- Better places/space for students to eat – maybe even a café?
- More outdoor seating.
- Our Childcare Centre and Out of School Hours Care facilities require updating/modernisation.
- Our toilets need updating.
- Landscaping should include fruit trees.
- Consider a meditation room.
- Lockers/locker rooms need improvement.
- Update more classes, adding white board walls.
- There’s opportunity to extend the Junior School library.
PROGRAMS AND OPPORTUNITIES
- Cadets is highly valued and should continue.
- Co-curricular clubs and activities are in demand – do more!
- Subject offering has been limited – expand the offering.
- COVID-19 has impacted clubs and camp opportunities for two years – these were missed. Please do more, ideally for every year group.
- Whilst COVID-19 impact availability of uniform stock, the rules and standards still need to be applied consistently.
- The range and quality of food in the canteen could be increased.
What Happens with the Feedback?
Further to undertaking the workshops, the following has occurred:
- Consistent feedback (as noted above) has been shared with our architects to consider and adopt as part of the Master Plan development process.
- The Senior Leadership Team actively reviewed and considered the feedback, making plans to address various opportunities for 2023 and beyond.
- The number of Senior School subject electives for 2023 has expanded to over 30 opportunities.
- The College has appointed a new Director of Outdoor Education to oversee and implement an improved offering of experiential learning opportunities and camps in 2023 (and beyond).
- A new Uniform Guidelines document is in production to better present information pertaining to uniforms. This has been supported with a reinforcement of uniform standards amongst staff.
- We are in the process of installing digital screens to update the in-class learning facilities in more classes.
Over and above this, the College will shortly be reviewing the data received from the recent MMG survey in order to identify additional priorities and opportunities. An update on survey data responses and further plans will be provided in early Term 1 2023.
Thank you to everyone who contributed towards the workshops and survey.
Reflecting on 25 Years
Year 12 Valediction Speech
By Mrs Jo Bednall, former Tranby Principal, 21st October 2022
Moderator, Tranby College Chair and Board Members, Principal, staff, students, families and guests.
Twenty five years is a big deal. By 25 humans are considered to be adults – we have finished with school (although not with learning), we have passed 18 and the responsibilities and privileges that the law gives us at that age, we have even passed 21, which used to be thought of as the “key to the door” and, by 25, many of us have established our own families and are building careers. It’s even said that by 25 the frontal lobes of our brains are fully formed and we are capable of controlling our impulses and of making wise decisions.
So at 25, we are considered to be adults taking our place in the world and making a contribution – just as so many Tranby graduates are doing.
Although the life cycle of a school cannot be compared to that of a human, after all a whole range of Australian schools are thriving at 175 years and more, it is interesting to reflect on Tranby’s first 25 years, to remember some of the things that have contributed to the journey thus far, to reflect on the contribution that the school is making and to consider what will sustain the school for the next 25 years and more.
But this is a task that is well beyond the scope of any speech tonight. As I have tried to distill the essence of the story of Tranby College, I have returned again and again to the concept of courage. Not the adrenaline rush, reckless risk taking that popular culture associates with courage, but the courage to start something new, to persist when one obstacle after another is placed in your path and to be vulnerable enough to enter into reciprocal relationships with others, to allow others to help you and to grow with you.
It is the sort of courage that those Methodist farmers from Yorkshire exhibited when they charted the brig Tranby and left Hull on September 9th, 1839, heading to new opportunities in the fledgling Swan River Colony.
It is also the vision and persistence that the congregation of the Rockingham Uniting Church exhibited when, in the early 1990s, they started to talk to the church office about their desire to see a new, co-educational Uniting Church school operating in the local area. They had seen the success of St Stephens in the northern suburbs and they wanted similar opportunities for families in this area. But of course it wasn’t a straightforward journey. They had to persist to convince the Church that it could be done- money and land had to be obtained, buildings planned and constructed, families attracted, a principal found and staff appointed.
In particular I also think of the courage of the foundation families and staff. They took an enormous risk to join this new enterprise. By the start of 1997 around 200 students were enrolled from kindergarten to year 8, approximately 20 staff were employed and the stage 1 buildings were complete- basically a hand full of classrooms, a library and admin building and a sandy oval. There really was very little else. Settlers Hills was also just stage one and you drove well beyond the houses to get to the school. My husband, who attended the official opening on May 18, 1997, still talks about “traipsing through sand” to get to the activity area in which the assembly was being held. When I arrived in the second half of the next year, I remember the then Head of the Junior School, Sandra McCullough, instructing the students to zip up their backpacks when they left them in the prescribed neat rows on the verandahs outside of the classrooms. This was to keep the snakes out- they had dealt with more than one unwelcome reptile visitor.
One of the other things that is always missing when a school first opens is a school culture. Yes, Tranby wanted to be an inclusive school community, it wanted its students to be safe, learn and thrive but a shared culture or understandings about what is important takes time to develop. You can have documents full of policies and procedures but until staff, students and families really embrace what the school is about there is no soul. It is a bureaucracy that depends on hierarchy, rules and extrinsic rewards and that was never envisioned for Tranby.
School culture depends on trust which is built on shared values and understandings of “what is important around here”. When that trust develops members of the community do things because they are the right things to do and intrinsically they feel good about that.
But of course, culture and trust can be easily broken and lost. If a community is to continue to thrive, every member of the community has to take responsibility for ensuring they are participating and contributing in ways that are consistent with the underlying values and ethos that define the spirit of the school. And this is particularly so in an Independent school in which there is no head office or outside authority to blame.
As I started to think about school culture I remembered how different the school felt once we grew to have year 12 students- only about 14 in 2001 but the leadership they provided was more valuable than they really would ever know, and the same is true of every year 12 group since then. I’d like the current year 12s to think back to their earlier years at the school. How many of you had an older student whom you admired or looked up to. Please put your hand up if you can think of an older student who you thought was pretty good, who you wanted to be like. Now, keep your hand up if that student knew that you admired them.
Yes, this role modelling was happening even without the older students being aware of the influence that they were having.
And I am sure that there are adults in the room who have had a similar experience. We are all influenced by those around us and in turn we influence those around us and this places a profound responsibility on us, throughout our lives, to be the best people we can be- to create lives that are good.
But this is not easy which brings me back to courage.
My grandchildren and I have recently discovered a wonderful little book called “The Beatryce Prophecy”. It is a fantasy about a young girl called Beatryce and her quest to overcome the danger that she is in and to fulfill her destiny of becoming the ruler of the kingdom. She is helped on her journey by a mild mannered monk who finds that he has to be far more brave than he had ever imagined he would need to be. At one point in the story he asks “what does it mean to be brave?” He answers himself:
To be brave is not to turn away
To be brave is to go forward
To be brave is to love
As young adults leaving school you do need to be brave enough to continue to embrace and live the values that you have come to believe are important. Do not turn away from them.
You need to be brave enough to continue to go forward, to continue to learn about yourself, the world around you and the work that you find yourself doing. AND you need to be brave enough to allow yourself to love and to be loved.
Similarly, Tranby, I believe that your future depends on you not losing sight of your founding values of social justice, inclusion and nurturing the potential of every student. It depends on you continuing to go forward, or of being restless to improve. Above all it depends on not losing sight of people and on resisting the temptation to slide into simpler, bureaucratic, prescribed ways of acting.
It depends on every member of the school community, particularly students and staff, taking the responsibility to enter into reciprocal relationships based on unconditional, positive regard. It depends on treating each other with respect and of holding ourselves and others accountable when we fall short of this and then seeking to do better.
There is no doubt that the school has weathered, and indeed been strengthened by, many storms. Through this it has grown from humble beginnings to establish a reputation for nurturing every student, for recognising the strengths and talents of all and for being a centre of educational innovation. This is worth celebrating and courageously pursuing into the future.
Best wishes as we all seek not to turn away, to go forward and to love.
COVID-19 Update
Update: 18 October 2022 – The latest on COVID-19 requirements.
Continue readingHigh-Performance Cricket Program
Tranby College is excited announce the launch of a new High-Performance Cricket Program for students in Years 7 to 10.
Continue readingKindy 2024
Enrolments are now open for Kindy 2024.
Continue reading25th Anniversary Fair Wrap-Up
Read all about our recent Anniversary Fair, see photos and find out who won prizes!
Continue reading