Welcome to Week 7. It is very pleasing to see how settled students are as they return to a near normal pre-COVID routine. We have students involved in many sporting events such as the Jordan McLean Cup, Archdiocesan Swimming and the Girls’ Open League Tag Competition and we are beginning to plan for excursions and visitors to the school once again. 

If you are following Compass notifications, you will see various fundraising activities to raise funds for Caritas during Lent are occurring. Each House is taking on a different activity each week. We are also considering support for schools affected by the recent floods in northern NSW. Plans are also well underway for Harmony Week next week. Students are very engaged in these activities and it is a great way for them to live out their faith through their actions; to be ‘Living Spiritually’ in 2022.

You may have heard in the media of the release of the MySchools website data for 2021. We were particularly proud of our growth in Reading, Writing and Numeracy from Years 7 - 9. This growth compares us with similar schools across Australia and we were above the average growth in each of these domains. We were advised by ACARA that Hennessy had achieved ‘High Progress’ in our growth in Reading from Year 7 - Year 9 (our current Year 10 cohort).  We are working hard to provide consistent quality teaching across all years and these results, along with our recent HSC results, are evidence that students are making excellent progress.

Yesterday I met with principals from our surrounding Catholic schools as we continue to strengthen a K - 12 pathway of Catholic education for our region. Next Tuesday we will be visiting Sacred Heart Central School in Cootamundra for an evening barbeque to meet current Year 10 students and their parents.

COVID infection numbers remain small 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

All the best

Kathy

Last week we celebrated Opening Masses with Year 7,11 and 12 on Tuesday and Year 8, 9, 10 on Wednesday. It was wonderful to see the amount of students engaged with the mass and volunteering in opportunities to serve our parish and greater school community.

At the ceremonies after the mass, students received House Badges. Each student received these badges to wear with pride throughout their years at Hennessy and they are a starting point for their many achievements to be displayed in our community. As students progress through the years and are recognised for their achievements, further badges will be added to these. Students who have lost their badge will need to purchase a replacement.

On Tuesday the whole school staff attended the RE Formation meeting where we explored our theme this year “Live Spiritually”. We began to look at the Spiritual Works of mercy and will work through a series of staff formation days to enrich our knowledge and understanding of our theme.

There has been an excellent response from the students in adhering to the school uniform policy. A reminder that it is an expectation that black polishable leather shoes are to be worn with the academic uniform.

St Mary’s Parish are looking for volunteers to assist with their music ministry (playing instruments, singing and operating the computer/ screens). If you are interested in volunteering please come along to a meeting at 5.30pm on the 23rd of March at the Parish Centre.

FROM THE ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

The term is ploughing ahead full steam now and we are getting into the ‘business end’ where many tasks will be due. For Stage 6 students we have processes around illness, misadventure and extension. These, as well as appropriate forms,  can be found in the Student handbooks on the College website, their year group Google classroom pages and the Student Drive. 

Some important points:

• If a student is absent for a task, they make contact with the College and myself - sharon.hibbert@cg.catholic.edu.au on the morning of the task. 
• If students are isolating for COVID, then they can apply for Illness/Misadventure and have the task rescheduled for when they get back. If it’s a hand in and they can still submit this from home on time, no paperwork is required.
• If the task is an in class task, students must be present all day; otherwise they must apply for Illness/Misadventure to cover their absence. 
• All paperwork is required within 3 days of their return to school.

Extensions are only granted under exceptional circumstances; these need to be discussed with the class teacher first but then the students need to contact me directly to confirm if they have sufficient grounds. 

The biggest issue I often find at this time…is time. Students must learn to manage their time efficiently and effectively and those in the senior years must use their study lessons profitably. It was great to see quite a number of students at the extended study last week for Year 12 and another will be held in Term 2 and available for Year11. Wednesday afternoon study continues for all students each week. 

The image below clearly shows many of the issues I find common to those with problems managing their time - often either procrastination or just having too much on is common. I am always happy to meet with students to assist them with how to organise their time better; however they do need to compromise on activities that may be eating into their study schedule. Year 11, especially, is a learning curve and often this first set of formal tasks, is the most challenging for them. 

Remember, we are here to help but students must also help themselves and look after their wellbeing. 

Our senior students recently attended a study evening held in the College library. It was wonderful to see so many take advantage of this opportunity.  

FROM THE DIRECTOR OF STUDIES

Bookings for Parent Student Teacher Interviews will be available from Monday 21 March using Compass as the booking system. Parents and carers will be notified via Compass and instructions will be provided.

Thursday 31 March 2022

• 8:00-1:00 Face to Face Conferences on site at Hennessy Catholic College
• 2:00-6:00 Online Conferences via Microsoft Teams

DURATION: 5 minute interviews

WHO: Interviews can be made for all students in Years 7-12.

* Years 7-11 classes will be cancelled for the day but attendance at conferences is expected.

Students must wear their uniform to attend conferences.

Those students who require supervision during the day may study in the library during school hours. 

** Year 12 classes will run as per the usual Day 4 timetable and school attendance is mandatory. Year 12 conferences can be booked outside of class time (i.e. breaks, study lessons or before/after school). NB: A standalone Year 12 Conference session will be conducted in Term 2 (Thursday 9 June) ahead of HSC Trial exams.

Assistant Principal - Teaching and Learning                                                                        Director of Studies

SHARON HIBBERT                                                                                                                 IAN MERGARD 

CARITAS FUNDRAISING  

At present we are fundraising for Caritas – each House group is taking an area of action to support their fundraising means. Below is a summary of activities happening each week at Hennesy. Caritas is an ‘international aid and development agency of the Australian Catholic Church, we are driven by social justice and the dignity of every person. We work with local communities in Australia and overseas, listening to concerns, assessing needs and working with partners on locally-led development programs’. 

Nagle on a wonderful start to the year. You are living our motto  'not words but deeds'.

Participation in the College Opening Masses, academic achievements, swimming carnival, trialling for sporting teams, assisting primary schools with sporting events, just to name a few.  We are currently leading the Hennessy Cup with 260 points!  I encourage you to keep seeing out opportunities both within the College and outside.  Special mention to Keira Bell in year 12, the first student in the College to be awarded a House Award.

Nagle Success outside of Hennessy

Thomas Grainger Year 7

Thomas travelled to Darwin to swim in the NT Open and Age Championshipships on the 3^rd to 6^th March. Thomas competed in the 50m and 100m in backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle and butterfly.  As you can see from the pictures, Thomas had a very successful carnival.  

Sara & Emma Collins Yr's 9 & 12

Sara and Emma have been participating in regional country shows, showing cattle. Sara won her age group with Emma the overall winner at the Boorowa.  Emma now progresses through to the Royal Easter Show.  Emma has also won the Canberra Royal Show.

David Harrison Year 11

David is flying planes in his spare time.  In his recent speech to the Nagle House David let us into his experiences. He has completed over 60 hours of solo flying.  A highlight of David's flying in 2021 was being the youngest pilot to fly into Sydney international airport during covid. In his words "There is nothing like flying into Sydney international airport in a little warrior plane followed by a 747 on your tail both an exhilarating and phenomenal experience."

Congratulation to our swimmers who traveled to Queanbeyan last Friday 11th March 2022.  It was a great day with our swimmers achieving some fantastic results.

New records 

Hennessy 12-14yrs Girls relay team 4 x 50m freestyle record 2:14.20

Mia Davidson 14yrs Girls 50m freestyle 30.02

Thomas Grainger 13yrs Boys 50m backstroke 35.00

Age Champions

Hugo Davidson 13yrs Boys

Mia Davidson 14yrs Girls

Runners Up age Champions

Ruby Norrie 12yrs Girls

Thomas Grainger 13yrs Boys 

Eliza Taylor 15yrs Girls

My best day - poem

White waves crash onto the sandy coloured shore,

Brightly coloured swimmers float out further into the clear ocean.

A dark sheet of clouds take over the once sunny, blue sky. 

Warm coastal air suddenly turns cold.

Brain freezing shivers and goosebumps descend down spines.

The wild wind flipping my now messy hair in every direction.

My mum laughs.

Her teeth shine white against the darkening sky.

The creamy coloured lighthouse stood tall in the background, 

Highlighted with thousands of blue-like colours. 

Starting from the bottom, painted with the deepest of blue imaginable, darker than the bottom of the ocean.

To the palest shade which could almost be mistaken for white,

If it wasn’t for the one sliver of sun peeking from the grey clouds above.

Loud chatter flowed throughout the air, 

The calming ocean splatter drowned out.

Heavy, water-stained concrete stairs lead our feet up,

Around the soaking wet grass taken over by a recent sheet of rain. 

My dark shoes were stained even darker,

blaming the sinking ground.

The painted lighthouse became bigger with every step, 

So did the raging, rain-filled clouds above. 

I slowly turn around, 

Taking in the darkened view from the screen placed before me. 

Capturing the essence of the words painted onto the house,

Through the glassy camera on my phone.

Figuring out what outlined the stunning highlights seen from the bottom.

My movie moment had been distracted,

The stormy clouds spat with anger over us. 

Soaking tourists with maroon suitcases,

And the thundering rain clouds weren’t a good mix.

HARMONY DAY – Monday 21^st March  

 At Hennessy we will be celebrating National Harmony Day on Monday 21^st March.   

What is Harmony Day? It is about celebrating different diverse national, ethnic and religious backgrounds to help build an inclusive society and recognise the importance of fairness, harmony and respect for all.   

There will be a range of activities in place this week to help promote our diversity, including;   

• Students can add orange to their uniforms on Monday 21^st March  
• There will be a canteen special each day this week – inspired by different cultures, these must be ordered in advance  
• Daily information shared about different countries  
• Daily trivia question and prizes on offer for the winner of that trivia session  
• National competitions – students can choose to participate in the poster competition or song writing competition, last year you will recall Lily Boda was recognised at Canberra for her poster.
  If you would like more information;
  *Poster competition - https://movingforwardtogether.org.au/poster-competition/
  *Song writing competition - https://movingforwardtogether.org.au/songwriting-competition/   

Today, the Open’s Girls participated in a regional qualifier for the South West Slopes championships, the girls won all three games. They will now progress through to the finals in Wagga on 5^th April.  

Game 1 – Won against Cootamundra High School 8 – 0 (try-scorers Ella Milne & Eliza Butt)  

Game 2 – Won against Murrumburrah High School 8 – 4 (try-scorers Ella Milne & Matilda Wark)  

Game 3 – Won against Temora High School 12 – 0 (try-scorers Keely Prest, Ella Milne & Anna Harden)  

Player’s player of the day: Eliza Butt  

A big congratulations to all the girls, they certainly demonstrated pride and spirit in their participation.  

Miss Woods & Mrs McInerney 

Our Food Technology and Hospitality department had the privilege of catering at TAFE for an early Harmony Day celebration yesterday. The brief was multiculturalism and with the students preparing Chocolate Crossiants, Middle Eastern Rosewater Cupcakes, Mini Pavs and much more, I think they did an excellent job.

Miss Worner

Our Year 9 Science classes have been exploring the world of Chemistry as part of their studies this term.

The students have been testing the pH values of common household substances as part of their chemistry unit.