Welcome to Week 4. It is very pleasing to see how happy and settled the Hennessy students are across all year groups. When you walk around classrooms or the playground, you will see students working hard at their lessons, enjoying the company of their friends and behaving in a respectful way towards their teachers.

This week we focused on our vision to ‘Live Spiritually’. Our Opening College Mass was held on Thursday and our Ash Wednesday Liturgy on Wednesday. Student reverence and behaviour at each of these events was very impressive and a credit to them and their families. I would particularly like to thank Miss Doherty and Mr Foley for their hard work in planning and preparing these significant spiritual events. At the Opening Mass we formally welcomed our new students, teachers and Vice Captains. The 2021 Vice Captains are:

Gallagher - Eliza Butt

McAuley - Charlotte Doldissen

Nagle - Charles Tuckfield

Rice - Amelia Chambers

We also acknowledged the Dux for 2020, Bridie Minehan, who achieved an impressive ATAR of 96.3 and will be studying Law at ANU.

At the Mass I spoke about our 2021 theme of ‘inspiring futures of hope. I used the analogy of hope being:

An anchor

Hope is an anchor for your soul. When storms arise, and the world appears uncertain, you need a device that will provide stability and confidence. Having hope can hold you safe and secure.

A hammer

In Nordic mythology, Thor is the god of thunder. His hammer has the power of lightning. In the same way, hope has the power to light up your life and the world around you. It does this by demolishing fear, driving out insecurity and breaking down the walls of despair.

A ladder

One of the purposes of a ladder is to help you see further. The higher the level of hope you feel the greater the vision you will possess. The ladder of hope allows us to rise above our current situation and see it with a new perspective.

The badges for the year 10 Peer Support Leaders were blessed at the Mass and will be presented to students at a special assembly. The 2021 Peer Support Leaders are - Brodie Smith, Molly Glover, Regan Duncan, Regan Bannister, Lillian Williams, Charlotte Cotterill, Nikita Bell, Ryan Blake, Bella Brownlie, Nicholas Carroll, Sophie Moloney, Jorja O’Brien, Isabelle Turner, Jorja Swanton, Tyson Kentwell, Hayley Grotegoed, Jimmy Cronin

These students are meeting with their small group of Year 7 students each week to do a variety of activities based on wellbeing and belonging.

Our annual Swimming Carnival was held last Friday. Mr Croese and the staff worked together as a team to provide a well organised and fun day for students. Luckily the main events had finished when the rain began to bucket down! Nagle students and staff were overjoyed to be named House winners; the last time for a Nagle swimming win was in 2014.

Please do not hesitate to contact me by email (kathy.holding@cg.catholic.edu.au) if you have any concerns or queries.

Kathy Holding