An assembly was held followed by a tour of the buildings with special guests including respected members of the Catholic community, Christian Brothers and Sisters, Catholic Education Office representatives, politicians Pru Goward, Ursula Stephens and Mayor Geoff Kettle as well as principals and previous principals of Trinity Catholic College and other Catholic schools.

At the beginning of the year the junior and senior campuses of Trinity Catholic College merged to form one school of around 700 students.

“The aim was to provide better educational outcomes by consolidating resources,” current principal Mary-Jane Carroll-Fajarda explained to the Post.

“Ensuring education from 7 to 12 was seen as a continuity instead of being split.”

The new school buildings feature a gym (which was previously an unused laundry) complete with weights and exercise bikes for classes, rugby training, cricket training and staff use.

The state-of-the-art industrial kitchen for hospitality classes used to be the boarders’ dining area. It has been converted into a stainless steel kitchen complete with a change room, an open plan cooking area and theory rooms with a demonstration bench and cook top.

The school’s science department was given a $1.97m grant, which paid for construction of the McAuley Science Centre, a new building with classrooms and a multipurpose area.

What was the boarding house has been converted into a library, several classrooms, a year 12 common room used for study and an open learning room.

“Open learning is designed for students to reach their full potential,” a school representative said. Although already a dramatic improvement to the school, the work is not complete.

“(We’re) still continuing. It’s a major project,” Mrs Carroll-Fajarda said. “We’ve just completed stage one, now we’re onto stage two.”

Next on the list is refurbishment of some of the older classrooms and landscaping several areas to provide pleasant surroundings for the students. “Government funding made it possible,” Mrs Carroll-Fajarda said.