Trina Faint, Toowoomba Anglican School
head of secondary school
Trina Faint has demonstrated outstanding dedication, influence, and oversight in her leadership of Toowoomba Anglican School, expertly dealing with the day-to-day details of timetabling, subject selections, and various rigmarole, while helping guide students through the range of challenges facing adolescents.
Faint has developed the Gateway Program, which sees students in years 7-10 pressing “pause” on their regular timetables to take part in projects that foster real-world skills and allow them to see the application of the skills and knowledge developed within the curriculum. Projects include a “Shark Tank” development and sale of a product; a “Family Life” project where students are dealt cards outlining a fictitious life situation; a robotics project; Australian Business Week; and a venture on a City Experience Camp. Year-11 and -12 students, meanwhile, still have some timetabled lessons and are also given experiences including: safe driver program, barista course, and responsible servicing of alcohol course.
During the COVID-19 experience, Faint has ensured students received quality guidance through the use of video tools – both live sessions and pre-recorded instruction. She also made an effort to write a personalised postcard to each of the 200-plus students in the secondary school.