Mrs Scott is currently on leave until March 12 and Mr Chifley and I will be acting in her role while she is absent. We wish her well during her study leave.

I wrote to the Hennessy community earlier this week regarding the loss of Lexie Adam. The staff and students have been incredible in their support of each other, which honours Lexie’s life. We are also very appreciative of the support from all of the primary and central schools nearby. Details regarding arrangements for the celebration of Lexie’s life will be made available in consultation with her family. However it is indicated that the celebration of her life will be at the end of next week and we would appreciate an indication of which students will be attending. Advice from Catholiccare is that parents/guardians need to accompany their children. Students attending will be marked as an explained absence for the day and deemed to be in the care of their parents/guardians.

Many thanks to those families who came along to the various community BBQ’s and Information Nights - it’s been wonderful to see you all there. Several parents have asked us during our BBQ’s and Information Night about access to student technology.

• Compass - this is student management system and thus only students can login to this using their Hennessy login and password.
• Google classroom - parents must provide an email the College which is taken from the enrolment form initially but changed if this has been advised. Once ‘invited’ to a class, parents will be linked to all classroom pages to receive an email summary. If you have not received a summary please check your ‘junk’ email or confirm your email address with the House Leader in case of a typographical error.
• Parents should download SZapp (which will slowly replace Skoolbag) as well as QKR for payments to the College.

Next Tuesday, March 5, is our Annual Open Day. This will run from 12-4pm and everyone is invited along. Classrooms are always open at Hennessy so please come along if you can and see us. We will be running the normal school day with some activities planned during break 3 for visiting students.

On March 14th, our Year 7-12 Parent/Teacher/Student interviews will take place. Parents should login via: https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/. The code for the event is: te4xp. Year 12 will have classes during that day and should make appointments before and after school and during study where possible. No other classes will be running that day and students should attend interviews in full summer uniform with their parents. Supervision will be available in the library throughout the day.

I informed parents and student at the Year 11 Information Night this week that students who had not met the minimum standard for the awarding of the Higher School Certificate will be contacted by either Mr Smith (Numeracy) and/or Mrs Tyrrell (Reading/Writing) to make arrangements for them to attempt the next opportunity for the online test. Choosing to attempt these online tests is optional but students will be given the chance to do this if they want to. If you do not want your child to attempt these tests please contact Mr Fouracre. If you were unable to attend the Information Night for Year 11 I have loaded a copy of the presentation onto each House Google classroom page for your child to access.

Parents were informed via email of attendance and the need to provide a more specific reason for an absence, rather than simply writing the student was away. Please take the time to read this letter so that you understanding the legislative requirements when providing absence notes. Furthermore I outlined that there are no flexible attendance arrangements for seniors to leave during study.

Next week, the Police Liaison Officer will here to talk to students about cyber safety. He will also be available to discuss other issues relating to teenagers such as safe partying. The following link may be useful if you have any concerns regarding this:

Cyber safety - https://kidshelpline.com.au/kids/issues/being-safe-internet;

Safe Partying - https://kidshelpline.com.au/teens/issues/partying-safely; and if you are having a party https://www.police.nsw.gov.au/online_services/party_safety/safe_party_tips

Finally, congratulations to Mrs McGrath and her husband Ben on the birth of their daughter, Eadie, and Mrs Dewhurst and her husband Tom on the birth of their son, Edward. We look forward to meeting these two new additions to our Hennessy family.

Mrs Sharon Hibbert

Principal (Acting)