Welcome to Week 5. It has been such a pleasant change for students and staff to no longer be required to wear masks. I know students have also really enjoyed the change in rules so year groups can now mix in the playground. Visitors are now welcome in the school and we are looking forward to parents and carers attending our Opening Masses on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. Sadly we were not permitted to have just one Mass.

At the first Mass for Years 7, 11 and 12 we will formally welcome all new students and staff and acknowledge our new Vice Captains and the 2021 Dux, Amy Knapman. The new Vice Captains are:

Gallagher - Jack Murphy

McAuley - Luke Jewitt

Nagle - Sophie Moloney

Rice - Charlotte Cottrell

At the Years 8, 9 10 Mass we will also be acknowledging the Year 10 Peer Support Leaders: Fraser Johnson, Jenson Coupland, Brianna Davis, Grace Slender, Annabelle Banwell, Amelia Rowan, Liam Birks, Elyssa Davis, Sarah McDonald, Tom Wark, Jack Apps, Hardy Glover, Stuart McEvoy, Elizabeth Sinclair, Paul Barrett,Tia Collis, Zoe Dreverman, Sophie Grainger, James Payne, Nick Vu, Indyana Bedford, Camden Cummins, Bella Cooper, Cybele Hewitt, Dominic Moran, Jasmine Sullivan and Esnia Brit.

At each of the Masses we will also be distributing house badges to all students. This is a new initiative to instill a sense of belonging and pride for students in their House.

As you would be aware, yesterday was Ash Wednesday which marks the first day of Lent. The ashes were distributed by students in House liturgies yesterday morning.

This year we are once again challenging those students and staff, who are able, to attend the Friday morning Mass in St Mary’s during Lent. Each House will be involved in fundraisers for Caritas over the next few weeks.

David and Katie Kobler, from Choicez, presented to Years 8 and 10, staff and parents this week. The parent session was also attended by parents from other schools. The parent session was titled Brave Parenting and was aimed to assist parents in having conversations about a variety of topics with their children. David used a lovely quote from Pope Francis which is ‘My dear young people, we need the courage to swim against the tide because it is good for the heart.’

Our Community Council met last week. They looked at the 2022 Annual Improvement Plan for the College, their walkathon fundraiser and decided to keep going with the option for girls to wear the navy shorts rather than pursuing another option. The Council is also waiting patiently for samples of long sleeved shirts for girls in winter.

We are very fortunate to have our Catholic Care counsellor hours increased this year. Bek Shealy is now supported by Laura Hazelwood who is available for telehealth sessions. Please contact the House Leaders if you would like your son or daughter to be involved in counselling.

We continue to have small COVID numbers which is very reassuring. Please continue to be vigilant for COVID symptoms. Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries. kathy.holding@cg.catholic.edu.au

Lord, please be with everyone affected by floods and the war in Ukraine. Keep them safe, and bring help to them soon. God, bless each and every person affected by these troubled times and may peace settle once again on our world.

Stay safe

Kathy

FROM THE ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

The last two weeks have been quite busy at Hennessy. Our senior students will start or have started receiving their assessments for this term and will need to ensure they have adequate time to complete these to the best of their ability. What they need most of all is time and must balance commitments outside of school as poor time management is often cited by students as a reason as to why they don’t perform as expected. 

There will be a Year 12 study next Wednesday from 3.30-6.00pm in D block which will provide students with assistance if needed and students should check with their teachers if they will be available. Normal afternoon study will still go ahead in the library. 

Year 10 have commenced the Minimum Standards tests for NESA in Reading, Writing and Numeracy. Students can have up to 6 attempts to meet the standards each year but hopefully will not need that many. They may also do practice tests first so they know what to expect. Students must m,eet these standards to be eligible for the award of the Higher School Certificate. For more information about the Minimum Standards see: https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/11-12/hsc/hsc-minimum-standard

Year 10 (and Year 11 students who missed this last year) are in the process of completing the All My own Work program for NESA. This is required to be able to enter subjects in Year 11 for students and is a vital program focussing on honesty in assessment. The students were fantastic and worked through the program very efficiently. 

Years 7-9 appear to be settling well into the school year. Teachers are working with students developing both:

• Learning Intentions - what am I learning and why am I learning it?
• Success Criteria - how do I know I have learnt it? What can I do to show I have learnt it?

Year 7 have completed their PAT tests which have provided useful information about their strengths and areas for development over a variety of skills. 

Our ongoing assessment program in Years 7-10 is well underway and many students have already received their common task for this term. Remember common tasks are merely a snapshot across multiple classes to look at the student performance of a cohort. However all tasks can be included when assessing student performance. There’s also no such thing as FAIL - because FAIL standards for:

What’s more important is that students listen to and act upon feedback so they can improve their work. Students also have a number of tools at their disposal to assist with skill development and Education Perfect, Mathspace and Stile are all platforms that can intuitively design quizzes to address areas for improvement. 

We are now half way through Term 1 and it's wonderful to be back to normal. Thank you to all staff and students for following the COVID restrictions for the first four weeks which meant we were able to have a solid start to the school year.

FROM THE DIRECTOR OF STUDIES

Thank you to staff and students who participated in the PAT testing, which was very smooth. 

Information regarding the Year 7-12 Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences will be available soon as we will be using Compass to book these. Year 12 students will have normal classes but will be able to book appointments before and after school and when they have study lessons. We will again be using a model of face to face meetings in the morning and online meetings after school. More information will be forthcoming shortly. 

For the diary: Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences Semester 1

Thursday 31 March 2022

Assistant Principal - Teaching and Learning                    Director of Studies

SHARON HIBBERT                                                            IAN MERGARD 

On Wednesday we celebrated Ash Wednesday with a liturgy. Each of the House Leaders, House Captains and Vice Captains lead a liturgy with their houses. Some of our Year 11 and 12 students also joined with the St Mary’s parish to celebrate mass at 8am. Ash Wednesday symbolises the beginning of Lent, a time where Hesus spent 40 days in the desert preparing for his active ministry and his impending Crucifixion and Resurrection. 

This Lent, as is the tradition at Hennessy we are supporting Caritas Australia in Project Compassion. Students are encouraged to donate to this freely as part of our commitment to those less fortunate and the incredible work of Caritas Australia. Each house has been set a challenge to raise as many funds as possible. The House Captains and House Leaders have come together to produce some wonderful ideas to support this initiative. 

We have often thought of Lent as a time to “give something up” to learn to sacrifice or live without. We also encourage people to consider the option of taking on a prayerful experience as part of their Lenten promise. As part of the College’s Lenten promise Staff and students are encouraged to join with the parish for 8am Mass during Lent. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday Year 8 and 10 students were engaged in the Choicez Media presentations. This is always an informative and well received presentation regarding the use of our personal digital devices and the choices that we make while using them. Choicez also presented to the Staff and Parents in separate sessions which was well attended and I thank parents and staff for making the effort to continue learning about the very different world that our students live in.

Next week we will celebrate our Opening Mass in two separate ceremonies. Mass is a very important part of our Catholic identity and life of the College. Students are expected to wear full summer school uniform. Students will be presented with their house badges at the mass and I invite all parents and community members who are able to attend to join with us. I would like to thank in advance Mr Phil Mitchell for organising the masses and Mrs Catherine Riordan who has been organising the musicians.

Premier’s Anzac Memorial Scholarship

Applications are open to Year 10 and Year 11 history students. The scholarship awards offer a place on a unique 2-week study tour accompanied by a military historian in the Term 3 school holidays (23 September 2022 to 7 October 2022). Further details can be found 

@ PAMS Scholarship

If you are interested in entering or want to learn more, please email Megan.Jasprizza@cg.catholic.edu.au

It's been a very busy time in Ag. 

Year 8 tech have been busy learning about agricultural enterprises and how to robotics are a vital part of Ag today. 

9/10 Ag busy recording weather data, and understanding Delta T, to incorporate into intensive farming practices. 

Senior IT Students have been learning about workplace safety and have completed a Virtual Reality induction and a VR experience on electrical safety.

We completed a Winter Olympics tech teamwork challenge using various online collaborative tools and virtual worlds. 

We helped Year 10 Students set up for HSC Minimum Standards testing.

Over the next few weeks we will be helping Year 7 & 9 with the NAPLAN program setup. We will be calling into classes to help with software installation and device checks.

On Tuesday, we had 9 students represent Hennessy at the Canberra Goulburn/Wagga Wagga Archdiocesan Touch Football trials. The students were able to showcase their amazing football skills.  There were 8 different schools represented on the day with some outstanding competition. Unfortunately, our students were unsuccessful in gaining selection for the NSW CCC competition this year.

Congratulations to our students on their outstanding sportsmanship and courtesy. 

Mr Schmidts’ Year 8.4 Technology Mandatory class were all hands on this week, working hard to design a wooden car. Students showed off their woodworking skills using various tools from saws, chisels and even pedestal drills. Watch this space for the finished product.

Our talented students have been busily writing poetry to submit in the Anzac Poetry Competition 2022.

This is the amazing submission from Year 10 student Cybele Hewitt.

Their Sacrifice

Four walls; four more than they had.

Clean clothes; cleaner than they had.

Warm food; warmer than they had.

Safe borders; safer than they had.

Peace; because of their sacrifice.

Education; because of their sacrifice.

Stability, security, shelter; because of their sacrifice.

Our country; because of their sacrifice.

One day, one hour...

For the years spent in the trenches,

For all the men that did not make it,

Just one day; surely you can do that?

There was a flame within-

A flame that sparked a journey,

A journey of their being - soul and heart, 

A journey that has allowed us never to have to cross such a bridge.

We must remember their hearts, their souls, their spirits,

We must remember their mothers, their fathers, their fallen brothers,

We must remember the soil and country in which they still lay,

We must remember their spirits.

They were our soldiers - they were our ANZACS.

They sacrificed their dreams, their lives,

They sacrificed for their family, their mates, their country,

A sacrifice for peace.

So, when you hear the silence

When you experience the peace,

When you laugh and spend time with loved ones,

Remember their sacrifice - remember them.