Welcome to Week 5.

I have spent most of this week in Bowral at Principals’ meetings and the annual Principals’ Retreat. Thank you to Mr Andrew Morton who has been Acting Principal in my absence.

Last Thursday was a significant day for our community as we celebrated our Opening College Mass. The mass was a very beautiful event which was a fitting way to officially start our new school year and to congratulate Vice Captains, Year Captains and Peer Support Leaders, to recognise the Dux for 2023 (James Cronin), and to welcome new students and staff. A very big thank you to all those involved, especially Miss Emily Coffee (her first major event as Liturgy and Events Coordinator), Mrs Mary Wright and Mrs Catherine Riordan. It was wonderful to see so many parents, carers and parishioners in attendance.

Pastoral care is a very big part of the Hennessy experience. On Tuesday, Years 7 and 8 then 9 and 10 were entertained and challenged by attending a concert called ‘Mentally Sound’. The big themes of this presentation were that it is okay to not feel okay, keep an eye out for your friends and seek support if needed. It was very fortuitous that we were also able to introduce our new Catholic Care counsellor,  Kristin Morris. Kristin will join Laura our current telehealth counsellor. Kristin will be at Hennessy from Tuesday to Thursday each week. We are very fortunate to have Kristin and Laura supporting our students. It is a very complex world which our students are a part of and it is likely that there will be times when the support of an adult who has expertise in mental health is needed. Please remember that students under the age of 14 need parental permission to attend counselling sessions.

Each of our four Houses are busily involved in fundraising for Caritas as part of our mission to ‘Live Justly’. A big thank you to our families who are supporting these very worthy fundraising efforts.