Welcome to Week 6. What an absolute privilege we had yesterday afternoon to host potential new students and their families for Open Day 2022. We had families from a wide range of schools across the region. They met Dolly, or wellbeing dog, at the gate and then began their tour with a student tour guide. Some of the displays were: science experiments, robotics, virtual reality, music performances, art, iHi, geography, animals from agriculture, religious education, timber, metalwork, pastoral care, Library, chess competitions, scavenger hunt,  PE and of course afternoon tea in the hospitality restaurant. We were very proud of our students and staff for providing such a welcoming and engaging environment for our visitors.

Year 12 returned from their Sydney excursion this week. Students really enjoyed the variety of activities, presentations and experiences of the city. Excursions like this take a lot of planning and Mrs McInerney deserves a huge thank you for her work in organising such a successful event. Thanks must also go to the staff who gave up their time to attend this excursion. Experiences like this are very important for our students; they gain a stronger understanding of the ‘bigger’ world and benefit from being exposed to so many new challenges and opportunities.

The media is reporting the continuing teacher shortage across the nation. Hennessy is blessed to have a full contingent of qualified teachers, however, we do not have adequate casual teachers and continue to advertise in this area. We will be welcoming Miss Emily Rogers to our staff next week and she will be teaching junior geography and RE. The staff met this week and we plan to begin joining more classes with one teacher supervising. Our ideal would be that students were not in joined classes more than once a day and that no more than two classes were joined. This would not apply to practical classes or classes that need a practical room.  We are aiming to cause minimum disruption to student learning and encourage families to contact us if they have concerns. Thank you in advance for your patience and support in these circumstances.

Winter is definitely upon us, please ensure all your children's clothing items are clearly labeled.  We have an abundance of unlabelled lost property at the office. 

Have a lovely weekend.

Kathy Holding.

FROM THE ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Year 12

The Trial HSC Timetable will be available soon - these will be in Weeks 4 and 5 of Term 3. Students will only be required to be at school for their examinations but may access the library at other times. 

Subject Selections Year 8 and 9

It’s that time again where we are coming up to subject selections for 2023. The first stage of this will be Year 8 and 9 choosing their electives. The following dates are for your information:

• Friday 3rd June - meeting with Yr 8 in PC to go over what will be happening
• 3rd-8th June - KLA Leaders will meet with students in Year 8 to go over elective choices; Year 9 students are encouraged to seek our teachers and KLA leaders if they have any questions
• Tuesday 7th June - Parent Information Evening at 6pm in E10.
• Wednesday 8th June - selections open for Years 8 and 9; students will be selecting during the day - they can reselect if they change their minds twice more until selections close.
• Wednesday 15th June - selections close at 3.10pm
• Friday 24th June - selection receipts due to the Front Office. 

The subject selection booklet is available on EACH House Google classroom page, the College website and the Student Team Drive from Wednesday 1st June. 

If your child has any questions the following leaders are responsible for the subjects listed. Not every subject will run, but we do offer them all each year.

Subject Selections for Year 11 2023 will take place in week 2 of Term 3. 

FROM THE DIRECTOR OF STUDIES

Year 12 Parent-Student-Teacher Conferences are next week

When: Thursday June 9

Time: 4-7pm via Microsoft Teams

Bookings can currently be made via Compass.

Year 12 Parent-Teacher-Student interviews provide you with an opportunity to help your child prioritise their focus in the lead up to the HSC Trial exams, which start in August. The recently published Year 12 Mid Course reports can be used to direct your discussion with each teacher. Meetings will be 10 minutes in duration to allow for in-depth discussion.

Year 12 Mid Course reports have been published and are available for download from your child’s compass profile.

SHARON HIBBERT                                                                      IAN MERGARD 

Assistant Principal - Teaching and Learning                              Director of Studies

It was amazing to be able to get back to Sydney for the annual Year 12 excursion which has had to be cancelled due to the pandemic over the last two years. This year 48 intrepid travellers and 5 teachers (later 6) made the early morning start to board the bus on the long awaited adventure. 

First stop was the University of Wollongong where students had a tour of the various facilities on campus before lunch and then departed for YHA Central. That evening some students attended an Academic Dinner at St Paul’s College (boys) and the Women’s College (girls) where students were warmly welcomed and introduced to life in a College by university undergraduates. The three course meal and the concept of a High Table was eye opening but overall it was wonderful and thanks goes to Mrs Parkman and the University of Sydney for organising this. Other students attended Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral before heading back for a yummy dinner and then some rest. 

Day 2 was a big day with all students visiting the mosque at Lakemba to enhance their learning in Studies of Religion. Then it was back for a quick lunch and the Urban Challenge commenced. Teams were split across a rainy Sydney looking for clues, dancing their hearts out before ending up many hours later at Spice Alley for dinner. Two teams were able to then get to the Harbour for a ferry ride and were able to see the beautiful lights of the VIVID festival on the Harbour Bridge, Opera House and various buildings - it didn’t start until the day we left but it was great to see the warm up show. Day 3 was Urban Challenge all the way and the Teams alternated between the Eastern Challenge at Bondi Beach where various challenges and a scavenger hunt took place (including some beautiful accessories for teachers purchased at Vinnies) and then all groups also participated in the Kids Giving Back initiative which cooks for the homeless. Students were also lucky enough to be able to hear from Jasmine, a woman who had faced considerable hardship but she was very open about her experiences and how the charity had helped her. The day ended with a 10 Pin Bowling Challenge at Darling Harbour. The Urban Challenge is a great opportunity to build skills while exploring the city and the story, while tired, thoroughly enjoyed it. 

Our last 2 days involved student lectures and experiences that catered for different subjects so these included student lectures, visits to universities, hands-on workshops, walking tours and even a bit of Luna Park fun. We even ran into a few familiar faces along the way. Many thanks goes to the KLA leaders and teachers who have helped to organise venues and presenters for this part of the excursion. It takes a lot of hard work and preparation but it all ran smoothly. There was also some more fun with an Escape room challenge on the last evening - a great way to end our final night.

The Year 12 students were incredible - they were a pleasure to take away and the positive feedback they provided gave us all many things to consider for next year. A huge thank you to Mrs McInerney who has probably spent 1000+ hours preparing this venture and her skills in organising such a complex excursion were certainly appreciated by not only the students, but also the accompanying teachers who also deserve thanks for being willing to be pretty much on duty 18 hours a day. Thank you Mr S Quinn, Mr Kershaw, Mrs McCann, Mr Mergard (for making a quick dash up for the last 2 days) and Mrs Hibbert. 

Bravo Year 12!

Congratulations to the following students who have been selected in the Brumbies Country squad for the 2022 Representative Season: 

They will be competing in the Southern States Junior Championships in the July school holidays. They will be against teams from Tasmania, South Australia, Central West NSW, ACT. 

Awesome achievement ladies.. well done!

Congratulations to R2 - who were our PC House Cup winners on Open Day.  Well done!