Trinity Preschool is celebrating its 100th birthday in 2024 and the whole community is invited to join the party.

It was in 1924 that enthusiast churchman and educationalist, the Reverend Cannon Taylor, decided to establish a church school in Orange. Supported by a council of local churchgoers, the Trinity C of E Girls Grammar School was established in the rented hall of the Orange School of Arts in Byng Street.

In 1927, the school found a new home in the old Anglican Church, the historic bluestone hall in Anson Street. It continued to operate there until the 1950s when the school community raised money to buy a new premises at 90 Kite Street.

But with enrollments growing to more than 100 children during the 1970s, the site was becoming unsuitable and so the board embarked on building a new school, the current home of Trinity Preschool in Kooronga Place.

“They were gifted this land from a group of families and then they built our current site,” explained Trinity Preschool Director, Sarah Evans.

The last of the primary school classes ceased in 1975, she said, and Trinity has focused on providing quality early childhood education ever since.

To mark this impressive milestone and its century-long history in Orange, Trinity is inviting current and past students, family members, teachers and staff to a big birthday celebration and “Back to Trinity Day” from 11am to 2pm on Saturday, August 24.

“We're going to showcase a lot of the history that we’ve found — through photos, stories, displays —  for people to walk through and also an opportunity for people to share their stories,” Ms Evans said.

“We're going to set up a little ‘sound hub’ space, where people might want to share stories of when they are at Trinity.”

Special guest on the day will be one of Trinity’s most distinguished alumni, Wendy McCarthy AO. Starting her career as a secondary school teacher, Wendy moved out of the classroom into public life in 1968 and since then has worked for change across the public, private and community sectors, in education, family planning, human rights, public health, overseas aid and development, conservation, heritage, media and the Arts. She has a long track record of campaigning and fundraising for women's issues in public life, and has been a strong advocate for accessible high-quality early education for all families.

“We’re honoured to have Wendy McCarthy as our special guest at the Back to Trinity Day,” Ms Evans said.

“I think a lot of families, current families and also recent families that have finished with us, will come back for a visit as well as past staff and board members. So it will be a great opportunity for everyone to get together and to showcase where we are and for people to come back and share those memories and what's changed since they may have been here.”

And the birthday celebrations will continue later this year with a big birthday ball and fundraiser for Trinity Preschool planned for October 19 at the Orange Function Centre.

“So the idea with the ball is that we can fundraise, use the opportunity to celebrate where we have come from, the past 100 years of history and what we want to work towards for Trinity in the future,” Ms Evans said.

“That being to expand where we can, so we can offer more positions for children in the orange community and also improve our indoor and outdoor learning environments — that's our big picture goal through our strategic plan.”

Currently, Trinity Preschool has 160 children enrolled in either a three-day or two-day program.

But with a long waiting list, Ms Evans said they hope to potentially have another room so they can offer more places for local families.

The Back to Trinity Day 100th birthday celebrations will take place at Trinity Preschool in Kooronga Avenue, Orange, 11am–2pm on Saturday, August 24.

Tickets for the birthday ball on October 19 will go on sale later this month.

For more information, or to submit your own Trinity memories, visit trinitypreschool.org.au