Welcome to Week 6! They say two weeks is a long time in politics and the same can be said for schools! We have just heard that the NSW regional lockdown has been extended until August 28, please keep an eye on Compass and social media for communications and updates. Staff spent Monday and Tuesday preparing for online learning and finetuning their skills in using Microsoft Teams which is the video platform we are now required to use for lessons.

Students began online learning yesterday. Their learning program is the same as the student’s current timetable and teachers will be predominantly using Microsoft teams and Google Classroom. It is important for students to briefly check in with their PC class at 8:45 each day so the PC teacher can mark the roll. Please do not hesitate to contact the school or the individual teacher if you have any concerns or queries.

We also ran an online Year 12 assembly yesterday. Student wellbeing continues to be a high priority and the wellbeing team will be hosting online events and providing ongoing support. Our wonderful Catholic Care counsellor, Bek Sheely, is working online, and new appointments can be organised by contacting Mrs McInerney. Because students are using the online world more than usual, parents might like to visit the website of the eSafety Commissioner to check advice for online safety for various age groups:

https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/skills-advice/online-safety-basics

The student leadership speeches were held in front of the whole College last Tuesday. I am very pleased and proud to announce that the student leadership team for 2021/2022:

Eliza Butt

Chelsea Cleverdon

Sarah Dillon

Charlotte Doldissen

Nicholas Louttit

Charles Tuckfield

Brianee Taylor

Trysta Willoughby

Madeline Wegmann

Ximing Xia 

In these uncertain times, it is so important that we are kind to each other. Please do not hesitate to contact me or the College if you have questions or concerns.

Stay safe

Kathy Holding

Lockdown

With the extension of lockdown the College Wellbeing Team is aware of the impact that this can have on the mental health of students. There are many valuable resources and websites that can support not only students but their families as well. Reachout is a website with information on  supporting-your-teen-during-coronavirus. Support can also be found at Headspace . Please also reach out to any member of the College’s Wellbeing Team

Cyber Safety

Last week staff had a presentation from Cyber Safety and as part of a follow up to the student survey. They hope to return face to face to work with each of the year groups. They will also host a parent evening as parent engagement is an important part  of supporting the students, empowering students and ensuring that the entire Hennessy community has an understanding of issues.

Northern Territory Immersion 2022.

The College is in the last phases of finalising the commitments needed by students to attend this exciting opportunity. More information to follow. 

As always if you have any concerns please contact the any member of the College’s Wellbeing Team.

Mark Chifley

Assistant Principal Student Wellbeing and Mission

REMOTE LEARNING

The students are to be congratulated on the smooth way they have moved into online learning. Of course there will be some ‘teething’ issues but hopefully this lockdown will be of short duration.

Remember to contact the Front office if you have any issues around technology and they will assist or direct you to someone who can depending on the issue.

Students attending must wear a mask and bring ear pods/headphones so they do not disturb other students when in an online meeting.

All meetings are recorded so any student who misses this can access the recoding later. 

Its important students have regular breaks too and should they be struggling with the work, let their teacher know. We are all in this together and will work through any problems.

A decision regarding Year 11 exams will be forthcoming once we know the extent of the lockdown beyond August 28th.

YEAR 11 SUBJECT SELECTION

I was able to meet most of Year 10 before the lockdown but any I haven’t seen, we will catch up when face to face learning occurs.

Assistant Principal - Teaching and Learning                              Director of Studies

SHARON HIBBERT                                                                       ANDREW FOURACRE 

Hennessy is participating in Hangout for the Homeless again in 2021.

Did you know on any given night in Australia 

44000 youths will not have a home or a safe place to sleep

116 427 people will be homeless

460 children under the age of 12 will be sleeping rough

Hangout Sleep Rough ​is where we are you to give up your bed for the night to raise awareness and money for the homeless youth in Australia.

Participants can be adventurous and creative as they like.  Perhaps a tent in the backyard or some cardboard boxes on the floor or crash on the couch.  As school students, registration is free. Come and join the Hennessy team and start collecting donations.  Last year Hennessy had 79 participants, raised $2010 and came 2nd overall.  Let's see what we can do for 2021 and come & join the Hennessy Team

Here is the link they can use to register - its FREE

https://www.mycause.com.au/page/260923/hennessy-catholic-college

Hospitality students made the most of face to face learning last week preparing steamed pork dumplings in the Year 10 beginning class and Chocolate Eclairs in the Year 11 continuers class.

Lockdown is providing the perfect opportunity for the students to refine thier skills at home. 

Parents and carers of the Hennessy Community are invited to attend an Online Retreat on Tuesday 24 August from 3:30-4:30pm, hosted on Microsft Teams. 

Registration via this link:https://tinyurl.com/3pdfezwm

This Retreat will be offered by Jesuit priest Fr Richard Leonard SJ.  

Originally, this was to be an RE formation for Hennessy College and St Mary's Parish in the Hilltops Region, but due to the impossibility of travel, we are opening this up as an online event to all who might be interested.  

So that we can give an honorarium to Fr Richard, you can choose to donate when you register, but this is not required! we want this to be an accessible event so money is not an issue. 

Please pass on this information if you know of others who may like to attend, and the link to the Microsoft Teams meeting will be sent on the day of the event to the email you register with. (This is to enable security for the event) 

For more information, parents and carers may like to contact our Religious Education leader Beth Doherty on 0432 608 310 or by emailing elisabeth.doherty@cg.catholic.edu.au.

Richard Leonard is a Jesuit priest. He has degrees in arts and education, as well as a Master’s degree in theology. Fr Richard did graduate studies at the London Film School and has a PhD from the University of Melbourne. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Catholic University; has been a visiting scholar within the School of Theatre, Film & Television at UCLA and a Visiting Professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He directed the Australian Catholic Office for Film & Broadcasting for the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference for 22 years. He has served on juries at the Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Warsaw, Hong Kong, Montreal, Brisbane and Melbourne International Film Festivals and he has lectured on faith and culture all over the world. He has been published in America Magazine, Eureka Street, US Catholics, is regular columnist with The London Tablet and is a regular guest on ABC Radio.
He is the author of ten books, among the titles are:
Where the Hell is God?
What does it all mean? A guide to being more faithful, hopeful and loving.
Hatch, Match & Dispatch: A Catholic Guide to Sacraments.
Richard’s next book The Law of Love: Modern words for ancient wisdom has just been released.

Beth Doherty

Religious Education Leader | CAPA teacher