Return to Face-to-Face Teaching

By God’s grace, and after most of a semester of learning remotely, we have been able to start Semester 2 with in-class teaching, albeit with some modifications.

A rigorous cleaning regime, social distancing, and personal hand sanitisation procedures have been put in place to ensure the safety of our students and staff.

Here are some snippets of what life has been like at College during the last six months, and since returning to Trinity House.

“The last six months have been a tremendous trial due to life circumstances, COVID and doing 4.5 units via technology. I was initially fine with remote learning but as it went on I realised many aspects of my life were negatively affected. I am so grateful to the Lord for enabling Trinity to be so flexible, professional, accommodating and caring during this time. I am incredibly glad to be back. Please pray that the Lord would allow myself/us to know Him more.” Jordan Stevensen, BTh Student

“I was skeptical at first as to how classes would go over Zoom, but I
was pleasantly surprised! Although I missed the face-to-face contact and
the relationships that are built by learning together, I was grateful to God
that we could still continue at college, and thankful to the staff and faculty
who made the process of transitioning online very clear and easy. Although
there were some advantages to being online, such as less travel time and
a hidden mug of coffee behind the screen, it is a joy to be back!” Ashlynne Davis, MDiv Student

“There are so many reasons to thank our Lord for being physically back
together as a college community. Even with the amazing technology we’ve got, it can’t replace the deep digging into God’s word that we’re able to do week by week in the classroom together. On top of that, being together gives so many more opportunities for sharing life, fellowship, and prayer together that are so important in preparing for a life-long ministry of the gospel.” Dan Cole, Lecturer in New Testament

“Life has been busy since COVID-19 happened. Lots of learning about Zoom and trying it out for bible studies as well as organising the study room so
it becomes a good study space. When COVID-19 happened, I felt initially
glad that I would spend less time on public transport but unsure about what
that meant for lectures and exams. However, the COVID-19 Response Team at Trinity was regular and clear in their updates on what was happening
so the transition was not difficult. On returning to the building, I felt more
engaged and part of the community at Trinity which has been a great blessing!” Shawn Tan, MDiv Student

“There was an eeriness at Reception during the online period of teaching.
We knew lectures were taking place, assignments being submitted and books being read, but there was no sound, no notes to print and no people.
Debbie and I continued to support the faculty and provide student support,
but where were the students? Needless to say, we are both super excited to
reconnect with our friendly students and prepare for the new and returning students. There is once again a sense of life, vitality, fun and friendship as we greet our students and visitors at Reception and we are very happy!” Neridah Deering, Administration Assistant

“Like a lot of people, life for me in the last 6 months has been tiring, stressful, uncertain, but also full of small moments of joy and thankfulness. I was pretty devastated when College was forced to go into remote learning – a huge reason why I decided to study at Trinity was because I wanted to build relationships and networks with the people I’d be doing ministry with when I graduate. When I heard that we would be back in person this semester, I think I cried with joy a little bit and was so excited to come back to College and set up my study space again and get settled in; I felt like a new kid on the first day of school, all full of excitement and anticipation! I’m so glad to be back in the library, back to in-person classes, and being able to hang out and chat with students again. Given the suddenness of the the situation with COVID-19, I’ve been so thankful for how College has handled it, and the priority that has been student safety while returning to in person learning” Liz Shanhun, MDiv Student

“It’s great to be back to a physical classroom again. It means I get a whiteboard back! Students are again able to ask questions at any point. We
are able to “bump” into one another outside of class. To begin second
semester in the way we have, we are all very thankful” David Kummerow, Lecturer in Old Testament