Welcome to Week 6

It has been a pleasure to meet so many parents and carers over the past few weeks. Recent events have been the Community Barbeque held at Sacred Heart at Cootamundra, the Year 11 Information Evening and the Community Council Meeting.

The Community Council Meeting was last Wednesday night and we welcomed Mrs Chloe Powderly as a new representative. We also elected members to the following positions:

Chairperson - Mrs Natalie Turner
Vice Chairperson - Mrs Peita Payne
Secretary - Mrs Tracey Cullen

Other Community Council members are: Mr Charlie Cleveredon, Mrs Jenny Holloway (while Mr Harton is on leave), Mr Mark Chifley, Mrs Sharon Hibbert and Father Jiss.

The meeting was a very productive one and discussed the following topics:

• The uniform committee is being led by Natalie Turner and Peita Payne and will report back to the Council later in the year after doing a review of the current uniform. Please note that if any changes are to be made there is a very long lead in time.
• A decision was made by the Community Council to no longer run a deb ball as its main fundraiser. A deb ball will be held by the Young MND group and students from Hennessy and Young High School are welcome to make their debut at this event in September. There was discussion about an alternative fundraiser involving more students and families and a walkathon was proposed as a possible single fundraiser for 2021.
• Discussion was held concerning the format for this term’s Parent Student Teacher Interviews. A recommendation was made to the College Executive to hold a ‘hybrid’ form of interviews where families could choose either face-to-face or a Zoom option.
• The next Community Council Open Forum will be held on April 28 and there was some discussion about a possible speaker for the night as well as the Open Forum.

On Tuesday, we had a visit from Lulu Mitshabu who represents Caritas and has formerly lived in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Lulu challenged the students with her story of hardship and resilience and encouraged everyone to consider giving to Caritas this year to make a difference to the lives of others not as fortunate as us. Thank you to Miss Doherty for organising this speaker.

I am away most of this week at the annual Principals’ Retreat and Leaders’ Days but please do not hesitate to contact me by email (kathy.holding@cg.catholic.edu.au) if you have any concerns or queries.

Kathy Holding

MINIMUM STANDARDS TESTING

We are currently undergoing the minimum Standards tests for Numeracy, Reading and Writing which is a requirement for the awarding of the HSC. Information about these tests can be found here: https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/hsc-minimum-standard

No student has to do any of these tests; however they are strongly advised as, while students can receive a RoSA and ATAR without passing these, they cannot receive the actual Higher School Certificate.

All possible assistance will be given to student who need additional support.

PARENT/TEACHER CONFERENCES

This year we will be undertaking a hybrid model for our conferences which will be held on Thursday, 25^th March.

Year 12 will remain in normal classes but classes for Years 7-11 will be cancelled though supervision is available in the library.

The format will be as follows:

• 8am-1pm – Interviews will be in person at the College in E block. Please register in the Hospitality room. 

• 1pm-2pm – all Staff break (no interviews) 

• 2pm-6pm – Interviews will be held remotely using ZOOM. ZOOM codes will be available via Compass and student House Pages on Wednesday 24^th

Booking for all interviews will be as usual via https://www.schoolinterviews.com.au/ and the click ‘Make a Booking’. The booking code will be released to all parents next week.

PREPARATION FOR CLASS

A reminder that students must be prepared for class each day and bring the correct equipment. Their laptop needs to be charged overnight and all students need pens as subjects do use writing booklets. Students must also bring the required equipment for Maths including a calculator to each lesson.

SHARON HIBBERT                                                                                 ANDREW FOURACRE 

Assistant Principal - Teaching and Learning                                       Director of Studies

Over the last 2 weeks our students have had the opportunities to be involved in opportunities that have expanded their horizons.

Year 9 Girls Day – Love yourself

The Year 9 girls were part of a day in which they celebrated what it is to be female  and participate in workshops that included, Looking after yourself , Leadership & choices – staying safe online and Physical activity. The feedback from the students has been overwhelmingly positive. Thank you to Mrs McInerney who did an immense amount of work to make the whole day possible.

Be More, not have More - Project Compassion Guest Speaker

Junior students also had the opportunity to listen to Lulu Mitshabu, a refugee who fled the Democratic Republic of the Congo and now works for Caritas Australia. LuLu enlightened the students with the works of Caritas Australia and how the money that the students donate has a direct impact on the lives of people. She shared the story of Olivia, who has broken the poverty cycle through education and the wide effects that this has had on Olivia’s entire community. Lulu challenged the students to – Be more, not have more

Student Voice and Future Leaders

The College’s four Vice Captains attended a Mass at the Cathedral in Canberra celebrating 200 Years of Catholic Education in Australia. They then travelled to Parliament House where Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Michael McCormack was very generous with his time and met with the four captains and shared some of his insights into leadership.  The students also had a behind the scenes tour of Parliament House which allowed them to pass through the security that is normally more tightly sealed then Tupperware. They were outside the Prime Minister’s office and court yard, visited the Parliamentary Library and the Ministerial Wing. They were lucky enough to have a tour of the Channel 9 news studio.  A tour highlight was the portraits of former Prime Ministers.

Vaping

We are aware that vaping is taking place at the College. When a student is found to be vaping they are removed from the College conmmunity. Unfortunately students are under the impression that vaping is less harmful then smoking. Information from the Department of Health disputes this.

Hazardous substances have been found in e-cigarette liquids and in the aerosol produced by e-cigarettes, including formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and acrolein, which are known to cause cancer. Some chemicals in e-cigarette aerosols can also cause DNA damage.

However, many scientists are concerned that using e-cigarettes could increase risk of lung disease, heart disease and cancer.

Please take time to read the links below and have a conversation with your child if you have concerns. Please also contact the College if we can be of assistance

About e-cigarettes

E-cigarettes linked to severe lung illness

We have had a busy two weeks, lots happening in terms of academic activities and sporting competitions. In school, we have art competitions, lunch time basketball championships and handball competitions. We have had lots of sports happening, League Tag, Swimming, Archdiocesan Swimming and Touch football. As well as, trials for up and coming competitions. Lots of Pastoral Care challenges occurring, Gallagher has a puzzle competition and a Easter door decorating competition. Rice is raising money for goats to support Caritas and pastoral care competitions and McAuley engaging in community service, cleaning up the community. We have welcomed back our Year Group assemblies run by our Student Leaders. Well done to Abby Smith for winning the Year 8 Kahoot challenge.

In the past fortnight the following students have been recognised for their House Awards: 

Gallagher - Joy Cass & Elisabeth Hall

McAuley - Emily Pratt, 

Nagle - Poppy Lucas, 

Rice - Grace Gibson, Isabella Turner & Trysta Willoughby

HOUSE CUP LEADERBOARD: 

1st - Nagle - 233 points

2nd - Gallagher - 206 points 

3rd - McAuley - 165 points

4th - Rice - 125 points

LOOKING AHEAD! 

HARMONY WEEK 

We have Harmony Week with Jannat Bakri - Gallagher Captain is coordinating. 

In Week 8, we have lots of fun activities and events happening to support the diverse cultures our community has. 

Bec our Canteen manager is also on board and preparing special foods for the occasion - see attached the menus. Most are required to order in advance so please get on board and support Bec and Jannat. 

A slight overview of the activities occurring are; 

Monday - Display of harmony day dolls, recognise students heredity by placing backgrounds onto a world map.

Tuesday - Orange accessories for a gold coin. Monies raised will go towards building a well for fresh water for a community overseas. 

Wednesday - Cultural trivia in Pastoral Care and students asked to add green and gold coin donation.

Thursday - A multi-faith service and students will experience sweets of the world. We have several students and staff going to bake some traditional goods and they will share with the students. 

Friday - A whole school activity on the oval.

Lots of exciting activities planned. Congratulations to Jannat for her organisation and initiative. 

Caritas Visit

Africa Programs Coordinator for Caritas Australia Lulu Mitshabu travelled to Young on 2 March, 2021 to present to our Hennessy students on Project Compassion and to provide educational development on the principles of Catholic Social Teaching.

This is the first time in a number of years that we have had a speaker during Lent, and her presence really emphasized the importance of the colourful Project Compassion boxes we see in our parishes and schools.

Lulu came to Australia in 1990 as a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Central Africa after a chance meeting in a Church in Zambia.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is considered the worst place on earth to be a woman, because of a thirty-year war that uses gender-based violence as one of its cruelest weapons.

Lulu and her husband Geoff have six adult children, all girls, and if they had remained in the DRC, they would have faced a certain death as they were involved in human rights advocacy.

For twenty years, Lulu has worked for Caritas Australia, and her passion for international aid and development is inspiring and uplifting.

Lulu travelled to Hennessy to speak to the students, giving a short presentation at our morning assembly, and then presenting to most of our Year 7-10 Religious Education classes.

She inspired some of our house leaders to start fundraising for goats, water sources, cows and education, and encouraged each of the students to “aspire not to have more but to be more”, a quote from the martyred Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero.

Most poignant in her presentation was the new commandment to “Love your neighbour as your iPhone”. She expounded on this by getting the students and teachers to imagine how much more we would value others if we started to consider how attached we are to our “things”.

Lulu ran a Religious Education formation for the staff of Hennessy, and despite it being a long day of teaching, they remained engaged and participated in the modules enthusiastically.

We finished the day with a wine and cheese night where four of our senior leaders served parishioners and staff. This was a wonderful opportunity for our staff and students to meet some members of the parish and create some connections with the work of Caritas.

We are so grateful to Lulu for her visit to our college.

Beth Doherty, Religious Education Leader, Hennessy Catholic College.

Year 10 Hospitality students helped the Year 9/10 Food Technology students in the Commercial Kitchen for the first time today.  They did an amazing job which showed great teamwork and helping them to perfect their culinary skills.

7.4 Technology

The  chickens have now grown from 35 grams to 270 grams within 17 days. It is now time for them to move out of the brooder box, to a larger area. The class worked as a team to create and construct a larger environment for the chickens to graduate into. Utilising old school desks, as their perch’s, and enclosing the area with sheep yard panels. The class is to be commended for their designing.

8.4 Technology

How many enterprises go into a Hamburger? This is the question they are asking.

The class has also been very busy establishing vegetable garden beds, planting vegetables that they can use in their Hamburgers later in the term.

New Additions to the Ag plot

Light Sussex Pullets

Spanish White Ear Pullets

Australorp Hens

On Tuesday 24 students travelled to Goulburn to compete at the Archdiocesan Swimming carnival. 

Hennessy finished 4th with Stephanie Clarke winning 12yr Girls age champion and Mia Davidson winning 13yr girls age champion.

Stephanie and Mia were also part of the Junior girls relay team along with Sasha Waugh and Eliza Taylor who broke the 4x50m freestyle record. 

The students below have qualified to complete at the NSWCCC championships on the 29th March at Sydney Olympic park.

Stephanie Clarke
Noah Coble
Mia Davidson
Sarah Dillon
Jesse Glover
Eliza Taylor
Isbella Turner
Sasha Waugh

Congratualtions to all!

On Tuesday 2nd March, 19 students participated in the Wagga/Canberra Goulburn combined Touch Teams trials. The selected individuals will go onto NSW CCC later this term.

There were around 250 participants across both diocesans coming from Broulee right through to Albury. They competed for 48 spots over 4 teams.

Our students made the College very proud, we had several students identified into possible teams based on their skill and ability. The following individuals will go through to the NSW CCC completion for Wagga/CG in Week 10. 

U15s boys - 

Albie Dowling 

U15s girls - 

Makayla Murphy

Hennessy has a very talented range of students who were able to demonstrate their outstanding touch skills to others in our region. 

Jessica McInerney

On 23rd February, the Open Girls participated in the South West Slopes regional qualifier of the League Tag competition. We had a total of 27 ladies participate in two teams. The girls played fantastic, the team work, skill level and enthusiasm were a credit to themselves and their families. Both teams had a fantastic day with the gold team only losing one game, giving them fourth place on the day and, the blue team went undefeated. The grandfinal was played against  Murrumburrah High, who were very skilled young ladies - however, the team work, patience and defence got us through for the win 20 - 4. The winning team will now progress through to Wagga on 19th March for the championships against the other regional winners. We wish the girls the best of luck. 

Gold Teams Best & Fairest - Jasmine Scott 

Blue Teams Best & Fairest - Charlotte Fitzpatrick 

Jessica McInerney

Last Wednesday 24th February, the Year 9 girls paused for the day. The aim of the day was to enjoy the opportunities that life has on offer and to reflect on the choices we are faced with to make the best choices for now and the future. We kept reminding the girls, to think would you straighten the queen's crown, hold your peers up and be women of integrity. 

On the day, there was a range of speakers, presenters and activities given to the girls which challenged and encouraged the girls to step out of their comfort zones. Activities included; a HITT workout session from Keysha from AnyTime Fitness, a choices discussion about phones, images and vaping consequences and effects, a team building scavenger hunt, a master chef challenge in new teams, a resilience and wellbeing game, a guest speaker about self-esteem and looking after your image, Jenny Galvin from Jenny Galvin Brow Treatments, Makeup and Skin Therapy, a skin care session from Tammi Langfeild from Young Stables and finished the day with a mediation and reflection session. 

The winners from the scavenger hunt were: Indy, Majella, Camden, Makka, Shanaw, Isabella, Shatika and Hayley. Well done girls. 

The winners from the Master Chef challenge went to Team 3. The students were: Tia, Grace, Amelia, Hayley, Shatika, Alya, Zarlie and Leanna. Great job girls and the pizza was on point. 

Congratulations to Lizzie Sinclair for winning the skin treatment pack from The Stables Day Spa. 

The girls enjoyed the day, took away many new skills. Well done to all the girls for embracing the day and participating in all aspects with such a positive attitude. 

I would particularly like to thank Keysha from Anytime Fitness, Jenny Galvin Brow Treatments, Makeup and Skin Therapy and Tammi from The Stables Day spa. Thank you to the teachers who assisted and made an enjoyable day for all.

Mrs McInerney

Last Wednesday, 24th February, the boys were given the opportunity to work on their physical fitness and skill level with the amazing team of Chris and Emma from NRG. Chris and Emma came to the school to help the boys build up strength and confidence in themselves and show them ways to engage in physical activity that can be fun and enjoyable. The boys were challenged to see their mental toughness, with some boys coping better than others! It came down to a mindset and willingness to work for your mate that got them through. 

Liam Birk’s strength and determination was showcased on the day. 

We would like to thank Chris and Emma from NRG Fitness Centre for their outstanding workout session with our boys. 

Hi Everyone!

I'm Hannah Hewitson and this year I am participating in the World's Greatest Shave. I'm raising money for the leukemia foundation and next Friday 12th March, I'm shaving my head! My goal is $1500 to support people all over Australia with blood cancer. On the day I'm collecting cash donations and matching them up to $500 so make sure you bring a gold coin to PC, it's for a great cause. I will be shaving my head during Pastoral Care for all students to see. 

Thank you for your support, 

Hannah

Here is the link to my page; https://secure.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?RegistrationID=802031 

The Basketball started today and the hall was alive with competition and great sportsmanship.  Everyone involved had a great time and here are a few photos for your perusal.

Thank you to all involved.