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

REMINDER – YEAR 11 INFORMATION EVENING
The Year 11 Information Evening in next Tuesday 23 February starting at 6.30pm in
the College Hall. All students must sign they have been presented with this
information so any unable to attend will need to utilise a study lesson. Due to
COVID restrictions only one parent can attend and should RSVP to the Front
Office.

CHANGING SUBJECTS
Changing elective subjects has now ceased for Electives and I have done my best
to accommodate all requests as places became available. There may continue to
be some movement in Yr 11 English and Maths classes only.
Year 11 students undertaking either a SBAT or a TAFE course will need to stay in a
full program of subjects until later this term so they have had time to sample all
their subjects prior to discontinuing a subject. Students doing a full day away from
school will be permitted to discontinue a subject earlier than those only doing
partial days away.

PAT TESTING
All Year 7 will undergo PAT-R and PAT-M teasing as part of our diagnostic
requirements. This data will be used to identify both strengths and weaknesses in a
variety of skills and also to map student performance in the future. Students with
areas of weakness, in particular, will be offered additional assistance.

SAVE THE DATE – PARENT/TEACHER/STUDENT CONFERENCES
This year the first Parent/Teacher/Student Conference will be held on Thursday
March 25th (move from Week 7). Year 12 students will still have classes but these
conferences are for students in all years. More details to come.

SHARON HIBBERT                                                           ANDREW FOURACRE
Assistant Principal - Teaching and Learning                        Director of Studies

This year we have started a student recognition program.  This program highlights student involvement in all aspects of College life. The awards include; House Award, Bronze Award, Silver Award and then a Gold Award. Students are able to achieve the various levels based on their involvement in different activities which reflect our College vision statement, live spiritually, learn dynamically and act justly. An accumulation of points permits them to progress to each level of the awards system. These individual recognition points also contribute towards their house points in the House Cup competition.

Each week there will be an individual leaderboard that will be uploaded to Compass to reflect the students involvement; this week we had one student achieve the House Award. This award went to Emily Dillon, Emily has been recognised for; volunteering after school, demonstrating school spirit, being an active participant in the College swimming carnival, her involvement in all College activities, demonstrating student leadership and being engaged in the classroom.

The House Cup leaderboard is; 

Gallagher - 54 points

McAuley - 43 points 

Rice - 42 points 

Nagle - 41 points

College Swimming Carnival

Friday 12^th February saw our annual swimming carnival take place with an array of blue togas, red superheroes, green jungle folk and gold beach vibes. We zipped through the carnival and were successful in beating the rain. We had one record broken in the first event of the day, the 12 Years Girls 100m freestyle. Congratulations to Stephanie Clark who swam a time of 1.14.25, beating the old record of 1.15.13 set by Zoe Johnson in 2005.

The final standings for the carnival were:

Nagle 622      Gallagher 576           McAuley 398             Rice 368

Our 2021 Age Champions are as follows;

12 Years Boys Champion:   Banjo Metcalfe

12 Years Girls Champion:   Stephanie Clark        Runner Up: Zoe Walters

13 Years Boys Champions:  Noah Coble &   Oliver Burgess

13 Years Girls Champion:  Mia Davidson            Runner Up: Sasha Waugh

14 Years Boys Champions:  Bradley Dillon & Christian Johnson

14 Years Girls Champion:   Eliza Taylor              Runner Up: Ava Turner

15 Years Boys Champion:  Stuart McEvoy          Runner Up: Harrison Waugh

15 Years Girls Champion:   Isabella Turner         Runner Up: Isabella Grainger

16 Years Boys Champion:   Jesse Glover            Runner Up: Fraser Johnson

16 Years Girls Champion:   Chelsea Cleverdon    Runner Up: Elisabeth Hall

Open Boys Champion:         Liam Stuart             Runner Up: Macklay Brownlie

Open Girls Champion:        Abbey Gammon        Runner Up: Sarah Dillon

Congratulations to Nagle House and all the swimmers who participated in the carnival.

New Secure Chook Pens

Thankyou 8.4 and the boys who came in on Sunday 14th to complete the new chook yards. The hens now have secure yards. Thank you Edward Maloney, Zack Corcoran, Callum Holt and Copper Smith.

The arrival of some Isa Brown and Rhode Island Red hens, quickly made great new friends with 7.4 Technology Class.

Students are very busy with their garden beds.

Chicken or Egg

The baby chickens have arrived, with the Isa Brown female chickens, making their new home at the Ag plot. The 7.4 class will monitor the weight, temperature, habitat and all components of the growth and development of the chickens.

History Challenge!

Students in Years 7-10 are invited to participate in the National History Competition. 

The HSIE Department will cover the cost of entry for each student.

More information can be found at www.AustralianHistoryCompetition.org.au

If you would like your child to participate, 

please email your permission to Megan.Jasprizza@cg.catholic.edu.au