Welcome to Week 4. In our last newsletter I spoke about our online Parent Student Teacher Interviews to be held that day. We were pleasantly surprised at how smoothly the process ran. Some of the feedback we received was:

• Good not to have travel long distances for the interviews
• The level of privacy was valued by being in your home with your son/daughter
• Some did interviews from workplaces which was appreciated
• A possible consideration for next time may be to offer an online session and a face-to-face session
• Most interviews kept to time

Covid-19 challenges us to do things in different ways, we would be keen to hear of any further feedback to help with future planning.

I had the absolute pleasure of being part of the Student Leadership Interview process on Tuesday. Mr Chifley, Mr McInerney and I interviewed 22 Year 11 students. They are to be commended for their courage and generosity in applying for leadership positions. It was a privilege to listen to these students’ future plans for Hennessy and their personal perspectives on leadership. The next part of the leadership selection process will be the speeches. Due to Covid restrictions, the applicants will present their speeches live to their Year 11 cohort and live streamed to the rest of the school.

Last Saturday was the Feast of St Mary MacKillop. Mary MacKillop is our first Australian saint. She is very relatable for many of us - from a small country town, has endured hardship and disappointment, fought hard for what she believed in, her resilience and determination, her strong faith.

St Mary McKillop had many inspirational and challenging sayings, including:

"Find happiness in making others happy." 

"We must teach more by example than by word." 

"Remember we are all but travelers here."

“Never see a need without doing something about it”

Please keep our Year 12 class in your prayers as they begin their Trial Exams next Monday.

COVID-19 CONDITIONS FOR THE TRIAL EXAMINATIONS

Please note we will have some altered arrangements for the Trial exam to ensure we maintain a COVID safe approach.

These include:

• Student will not be able to bring their mobile phone into E10 to place in an exam box. Instead they need to leave them at home, in their car or in a bag outside the room (not recommended).
• There will be no borrowing of equipment – students must ensure they have an appropriate exam bag with all required equipment – a list has been post to their classroom page but can be found here on the NESA website under https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/rules-and-processes/exam-equipment-list. This has specific requirements for all subjects as well.
• Staff will remain distanced from students as required under current guidelines.

TRIAL EXAMINATIONS

A reminder that if any student is unwell they should not attend and instead contact us at the College to be taken through Illness/Misadventure protocols. Forms are available on their Year 12 Google classroom page under Classwork and then ‘Curriculum and Assessment’. Exams will be rescheduled for when they are well.

YEAR 11 SELECTIONS 2021

Currently the lines are being constructed and will be available soon. Thank you for your patience.

Assistant Principal - Teaching and Learning                            Director of Studies

SHARON HIBBERT                                                                     ANDREW FOURACRE 

Wellbeing At Hennessy

Student Leadership

The College has begun the process of selecting the College Leaders for 2021. On Tuesday Mrs. Holding, Mrs McInerney and myself had the pleasure of interviewing all of the applicants for leadership. The interviews were a great opportunity to witness the enthusiasm and drive of the students and the College is very fortunate to have such a  fantastic group of young men and women to choose from for formal leadership. Every student also mentioned that if they were unsuccessful they still wished to lead.

The next step in the process is the student speech which will take place next Tuesday and will be followed by student voting. Due to Covid 19 restrictions only year 11 will be able to view the speeches live. The rest of the College will have the speeches live streamed and then vote electronically and the successful candidates will then attend the Leadership Retreat.

Wagga Youth Forum

In March our Vice Captains attended a Leadership Forum in Wagga and gave voice to the concerns of students especially of those in rural communities. The report has been released and Hennessy has been acknowledged for engaging and supporting the process. Our students as always were great ambassadors for the College and a very strong voice for rural youth on a national stage.

Student Lateness

A reminder that if students are late the College needs to be informed not just as a courtesy, but also as a legal requirement. The College can be informed via Compass, the Schoolzine app, emailing the front office or a written note.

eSafety  

Today as part of the Child Advocate program Assistant Principals were again informed of the responsibilities of schools to work in partnership with parents to ensure the online safety of our students. As a parent and someone old enough to remember using the World Book to complete assignments can I recommend that you have a look at https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents as a reference point and take time to discuss any issues with your children.

As always please continue to contact your child’s PC teacher, House Leader or any member of the College’s Wellbeing team if you have any concerns arising at the College.

Mark Chifley                                                                    Jessica McInerney

Assistant Principal – Wellbeing and Mission                         Director of Students

Dine & Donate Tuesday 1^st September 6pm 

"Dine and Donate” has been created in order to raise funds and also prepare and donate vital meals to the less fortunate in the Hilltop’s community. The initiative consists of a student coming to school and preparing meals. Due to COVID 19 parents will be unable to attend. The students will then sit and enjoy a meal together. The remaining meals will then be packed and sealed and donated to local charities to be given to those less fortunate. 

The cost of entry for each individual is $10 which will be used in order to supply the food that will be cooked and any remaining profit will be donated to local charities.

This event is open to students in years 9-12 as well as Nagle staff. Information notes are available from Mrs Nowlan in the House Leaders Office. Please contact me at the College if you would like more information. 

Mrs Emily Nowlan 

Interested students were given the opportunity to participate in a CRL run league tag refereeing course today.  Thank you to Tim Bailey for your time and expertise the students and staff involved learnt many new skills which can now be applied on field.

The college lunchtime basketball comp got off to a flying start today.  The competition was tough between various year groups with some surprising results!  The competition was well supported with the stadium full of a very vocal crowd.

Next week will see the competition heat up with the commencement of finals. Good luck to all our players.