As the year ends, I find myself reflecting on my time as Principal at Hennessy Catholic College. This is my third year at Hennessy and I feel that I have made a difference to the life of the school in my time as Principal.

We have had numerous successes including the introduction of the Vertical Pastoral Care Model and the refinement of the learning agenda. We have implemented a new timetable and are working with our data to inform how best to develop quality teaching practices, a refined lesson cycle and 5 quality lessons a day. That way we can be confident we can serve the students at the school to maximise their outcomes.

Part of my role has been to keep the profile of Hennessy high in the community and I feel I have been able to do this through my extensive involvement in the Parish and through my participation on the Economic Development Committee at the Hilltops Council, and most recently on the Joint Library facility steering committee.

I have also had the responsibility of ensuring that our profile remains high in the Archdiocese and I have made a point of ensuring that Hennessy is a school about which everyone is talking!

One of the great privileges of being a Principal is celebrating the Catholic life of the school. I have the immense task of ensuring the Mission of the Catholic Church is embedded in our school. This is a tough part of any Principal’s duty statement. We have had numerous whole school Masses over my time here and these culminated last week with the combined St Mary’s and Hennessy celebration Mass commemorating Nano Nagle and the Presentation heritage on which Catholic Education in Young and the region is founded. I would like to thank Fr Tom Thornton, Fr Trenton Van Reesch, Fr James Onoja and Fr Praveen Paul for being such significant support to me and to the Hennessy staff and students over this time.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the teaching and support staff at Hennessy. I am blessed to have worked with such dedicated people who work tirelessly for the school. Without them, Hennessy would not be the school of choice in the region.

Finally, I would like to thank our students and parents for being in relationship with us. Hennessy would not be the community it is without you.

I welcome Mrs Kathy Holding to Hennessy; she will be an excellent Principal who will lead the school into the future.

I will always remember my time here and I have been blessed to have walked the journey with you all. As I leave, I know that Hennessy Catholic College encourages us all to Live Spiritually, Learn Dynamically, Act Justly and Inspire Futures of Hope. Thankyou.

Good Wishes for Christmas and the New Year

Principal

HSC RESULTS AFTERNOON TEA

Save the date – the class of 2019 are invited back to Hennessy for a final afternoon tea hosted by the staff.

This will commence at 2.30pm next Tuesday 17 December.

YEAR 12 2020 – HOLIDAY TIME

It’s important that Year 12 have a break over the holidays and wind down after a busy year.

However my strong advice is to:

• Have a good break until around January 15

Then get ready for the start of the school year by making sure you:

• Complete outstanding work from this year
• Complete any holiday homework
• Update study notes
• Watch ATOMI clips
• Do a past paper question for the topic you covered in Term 4

Term 1 can be fast and furious and you will hit the ground running so give yourself a head start!

 THE YEAR THAT WAS…

Congratulations to all our recipients from our Presentation Night this week. It’s great to see you excel in different areas of College life.

I would like to thank all the staff for their hard work this year – it has been hard with numerous unforeseen staff interruptions – but we have persevered. I thank the students also for their maturity and willingness to work with other teachers throughout the year.

I’d also like to wish our departing staff all the very best for the new ventures and express my gratitude for all they have contributed to the learning environment at Hennessy.

We have a number of new staff in 2020 and they are super excited to be joining us. Compass will be uploaded the week prior to classes starting and if your child has a blank space it is because our new staff will not be active until January 28^th (and they have one of them as a teacher). We will do an additional upload of the timetable that day.

A NOTE FOR PARENTS WITH STUDENTS DEPARTING THE COLLEGE IN 2019

We are very sad to see your child leave the College.

If your child wants to obtain signatures from their friends to remember what a great school Hennessy is, we expect these signatures would be obtained on a white T shirt or in a book, not on the school uniform.

Any surplus school uniforms can be donated to the school or to Vinnies to support the many families in our community who cannot afford these items.

Thank you for affording the Hennessy uniform and logo the respect it deserves.

DATES for 2020

Tuesday January 28 – Staff Professional Learning Day

Wednesday January 29 – Years 7, 11 and 12 resume

Thursday January 30 – Years 8, 9 and 10 resume.

On behalf of the entire Teaching and Learning team I wish all students and their families a blessed Christmas and relaxing break.

See you in 2020.

SHARON HIBBERT | Assistant Principal - Teaching and Learning

We farewell our Colleagues as they take up new opportunities in 2020.

Staff Leaving

Mr. Gerard Simms - Leaving Hennessy and taking up a teaching position at Carroll College Broulee after 14 years of service to the College.

Mrs. Sue Caldwell - Retiring from  the College administration team, after 25 years of service to the College.

Mrs. Jude Ross - Retiring from  the College administration team after 13 years of service to the College.

Mr. Gareth Logan - Taking up a permanent position in Coffs Harbour after 12 years of service at the College.

Mrs. Trazel Scott - Taking up a position at Catholic Education - Manuka.

Mrs. Maryann Schiller - will be returning in 2020 in a casual capacity.

Ms. Bernie Arnall - has been with us this year covering a maternity leave position.

Ms. Christine Hamilton - has been at the College for 3 years and will be taking on new opportunities.

Staff on short term leave

Mrs. Denyse Buttriss - Maternity leave

Mr. Phill Mitchell - Long Service Leave

New Staff

We have a number of new staff commencing in 2020:

Mrs. Kathy Holding - College Principal

Mr John Krakue - Physics and Science - Permanent

Ms Lucy Woods - PDHPE and Maths - Permanent

Mr Warren Bell - HSIE - Permanent

Ms Zoe Lynch - Maths  and Science - Permanent

Mr Simon Quinn - HSIE- contract

Ms Jessica Buchannan - HSIE - contract

Ms Claire Grantham - French and Library - contract

Parent/Teacher/Student interviews will take place between 10:30am - 12pm on Wednesday 18th December.

These interviews are by appointment only.

To secure your appointment, please contact the Front Office on 6382 1486.

Year 11 Hospitality students got into the Christmas Spirit last week producing Gingerbread Houses.

Some were spectacular, whereas some required a little more work (haha). Nonetheless, the students exhibited some great baking techniques, problem solving skills and even better teamwork.

- Meg Worner, Hospitality Teacher

Recently, George Fuller competed in the Long Jump at the All Schools Athletics Championships in Perth. 

He performed extremely well, jumping a distance of 6.69 metres and securing himself a silver medal for his efforts. The first place jump measured in at 6.75 metres.

Congratulations George!

Connelly's Office National have taken the Hennessy requirements list and converted into an online products list which allows parents access to order their children’s school requirements any time day or night.  It is very easy to use. Recommended quantities have been pre-filled, however these can be adjusted according to individual need (including adjusting to 0 if items have been purchased elsewhere). For older year groups, there are notes about which subjects certain products are for to allow students to select the correct items for their chosen elective subjects.

You will find the online products list at:

https://booklist.officebrands.com.au/connellys/

Connellys have also included the Lenovo laptop device they are making available as a BYOD, in case any students need to upgrade or replace their device.

Parents are encouraged to order and pay online before 20th December 2019 in order to take advantage of the early order discount on offer. This will also help Connelly's ensure stock availability and time to pack the orders ready for return to school.