Welcome to Week 2, Term 4. So much has already happened this term that it feels like school has been back for weeks! The Higher School Certificate exams commenced last Wednesday and will continue over four weeks. Mrs. Lee Armstrong, our Presiding Officer, has reported that our students have been calm, polite and focused during the exams to date. Speaking to students outside the exam, they appear to be well prepared which is a credit to them and their teachers.

Last Tuesday and Wednesday Mrs Wright, Mrs McInerney and I attended the Leadership retreat at Galong with our new leadership team for 2022/2023. The theme for the retreat was from Luke’s gospel - ‘Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.’  Students were challenged to reflect on their goals, strengths and weaknesses both personally and as a group. They were also challenged to see how Jesus is in their lives as leaders. A big part of the retreat was formulating goals for their time as leaders, after much discussion, they decided on goals concerning mental health, student voice and community and parent connections. 

On Tuesday we then installed the new leadership team at the Leadership Mass. Congratulations to our new College Captains - Sonika Brits and Jack Murphy
Gallagher House Captains; Tayliah Butcher and Elisabeth Hall
McAuley House Captains; Sienna Capra and Emily Pratt
Nagle House Captains; Tayla Collins and Sophie Moloney
Rice House Captains; Hayley Grotegoed and Luke Jewitt

The mass was attended by all students and the leaders’ families and parishioners. It was wonderful to have a college mass that is not affected by Covid rules! A big thank you to Mr Mitchell, Mrs Wright, Mrs McInerney and Mrs Riordan for their contributions to the mass. A vote of thanks must also go to Mr Stratford, Mrs Duff and Mrs Johnson for organising the luncheon afterwards.

Congratulations to Miss Bonnie Chen who has accepted a maths teaching position at St Bede’s Catholic College, Chisholm.  We wish Miss Chen all the best for next year but know she will be sadly missed as an excellent teacher and supportive and friendly colleague. 

This week is also the last week at Hennessy for Mrs Sharon Hibbert as she commences Long Service Leave before taking up her new Assistant Principal position at All Saints College, Maitland. Mrs Hibbert has made significant contributions to the growth of the college during her time here and is widely recognised as an outstanding teacher and leader. Her extensive curriculum knowledge has inspired and reassured the teachers at Hennessy and has helped to ensure that Hennessy students receive a quality education. All Saints College is very fortunate to have her join their leadership team.

Due to Mrs Hibbert’s leave, for the remainder of 2022, Mr Ian Mergard will take on the role of Acting Assistant Principal - Teaching and Learning and Mrs Janice Dunk will take on the role of Acting Director of Studies. Congratulations and thank you to Ian and Janice for stepping into these leadership roles.

I have asked staff to make the Three R’s their mantra for this term to make Term 4 a successful, happy and productive term. The Three R’s are:

Relationships - students respond to strong staff/student relationships with good behaviour and productive learning, 

Routine - students feel safe when there is a consistent routine

Rigour - every student should be challenged to do work that is not too easy and not too hard for them

Please note that we do not have a Covid roadmap to follow anymore but we do encourage anyone who is sick to stay home until they are feeling better. Rapid Antigen Tests are available from the school on request for the remainder of the year.

Years 7, 9 and 10 have excursions coming up this term, please ensure that you complete the appropriate paperwork and payments on time. If payments are an issue please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kathy Holding
Principal 

Teaching and Learning News

Learning Dynamically…Inspiring Futures of Hope

FROM THE ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL

Year 12 HSC examinations

Year 12 have made a great start to their HSC examinations which continue until November 3rd.  Just a reminder that NESA has its own forms and these will be on the Yr 12 Google classroom page and Compass. Each week on their Year 12 page, will be a list of upcoming exams and also the equipment list needed. Please note I will be on leave from Monday 24th October so for any concerns please contact Mr Mergard. 

Year 11 Examination feedback and Transition to Year 12 2023

Year 11 students have been receiving feedback from their exams and it’s very important that they use this to formulate a plan to acknowledge and build on their strengths but also to attack their weaknesses. Identified issues might be lack of sufficient preparation, misreading questions, needing better time management skills or even just studying the wrong content. All of this is fixable with practice and effort. 

Last Friday I met with Year 11 to go over not just skills for looking and using feedback but also the processes for changing subjects. If students are unsure they should stay in their classes for now although a decision regarding Maths and English levels is needed urgently. However if students are unsure it is better to stay in class for now than to make a decision that cannot be reversed. Students are to stay in their classes until Compass changes as well. 

Subject Changes Years 8-10

Just a reminder that students in years 8-10 may still; change elective subjects if they wish too and should see Mr Mergard about this. There will be movement as students depart the College (as happens each year) so those on a waitlist list should continue to be patient as they have already been. Students will be able to change until the end of Week 3 next year as well which may also create vacancies. 

Farewell

I will be on leave from Monday 24th October for the remainder of the year and will not be returning to Hennessy in 2023. Mr Mergard will be Acting Assistant Principal with Mrs Dunk taking up the role of Acting Director of Studies. I wish them both the best in their new roles. I also wish all the students and their families the very best for the remainder of 2022 and beyond. 

Sharon Hibbert
Assistant Principal - Teaching and Learning

FROM THE DIRECTOR OF STUDIES

Students Online is each student’s source for information about their study from Year 10 to the HSC. Here students can download their free eRecord and/or RoSA/HSC/VET credential PDF from the Certificates/eRecord section. The eRecord and RoSA can come in handy when applying for holiday jobs or making the transition from school to TAFE or educational providers. I encourage all senior students and parents to bookmark the Students Online site and familiarise themselves with its contents.

https://studentsonline.nesa.nsw.edu.au/

It has been wonderful to see all our students return for Term 4 and some warmer weather. We are set for an extremely busy term in pastoral care, mission and ministry. In Week 1 I was lucky enough to be a part of the Year 12 Student Leadership Team Retreat. I was so impressed with the spirit and determination of these students who have chosen to take up the challenge of the leading the College and I know that the school is in great hands to move into the next stage of growth.

Next week the Year 10’s are involved with the Rotary Driving Simulator, a very important program that we have been involved in assisting students to develop safe driving practices. That week Year 10 students will also partake in the Love BiTes program hosted by our Youth Liaison Police Officer, Karen Clark.

Upcoming events are:

• Week 4: Melbourne Cup
• Week 5: Year 7 Orientation, Year 12 Graduation
• Week 7: Year 10 and Year 7 Camps
• Week 8: Work Experience
• Week 9: Year 9 Activities Day

Next week the CSYMA students will travel to Canberra to partake in the SHINE conference, joining with other CSYMA students from around the Archdiocese in workshops for a full day. Students will then bring their skills back to the school and host the Year 6 Catholic Primary schools from our region at Hennessy on the 4th of November for the Journey with Jesus Retreat.

Uniform reminder:

Summer is here, and the summer uniform has returned. On cooler days the school jumper is permitted with the academic uniform, however, the hoodie is only permitted with the school sport uniform. 

A reminder that piercings are limited to one per ear and that facial piercings must be covered. 

Acrylic nails are particularly an issue with Workplace Health and Safety around the school and they are not permitted.

Mary Wright 
Assistant Principal - Mission & Ministry 

Welcome to the Leaders Lounge! This year, the 2022/23 Leadership Team will be utilising this space to promote upcoming events, challenges and activities that both students and the community can get involved in. 

We would also like to take the chance to wish the best of luck to the graduating class for their HSC exams and express our gratitude for being great role models for us and younger students in the school community. 

Term 4 kicked off with a variety of activities during SWS with competing house year groups battling it out in skipping competitions, Kahoots, basketball, soccer, Big Ball, UNO games and many more. Beautiful sunshine saw a great start to the final term of Hennessy’s House Cup, with Gallagher and McAuley taking the early lead at the end of Week 1. 

The current standings for the SWS Interhouse competitions are as follows

1st - Gallagher 10 & McAuley 10

2nd  - McAuley 11, Nagle 9, Rice 9, Rice 10 & Rice 11

3rd - Nagle 8, Gallagher 7

With Year 11 exams finishing at the end of Term 3, the incoming leadership team travelled to Galong with Mrs Holding, Mrs Wright and Mrs McInerney for our leadership retreat. There we developed our communication and leadership skills, whilst getting to know each other that bit more. A highlight for the team was a trust building activity where we were split into two teams competing against each other to see who could build a tent first with half of their own team being blindfolded. With a few close calls between tent poles, pegs and people’s heads, both teams managed to both successfully assemble their tents. Amongst delicious birthday cake, building the tallest and strongest tower fit for a marshmallow and mysteriously being led around the gardens blindfolded by teachers, as a team we discussed how and what we would like to contribute to the Hennessy community including strengthening relationships between year groups, focuses on mental health awareness and our annual upcoming events particularly Melbourne Cup. 

We were honoured to receive our leadership badges at our College Mass on Tuesday. Afterwards, the team, our families and staff were served a delicious luncheon put on by the Year 9/10 Food Tech class. A huge thank you to Father Jiss and Mr Mitchell for the work put into the mass and Mrs Duff and Mr Stratford for organising and preparing our scrumptious lunch. 

As briefly mentioned before, the 2022/23 Leadership Team is super passionate and excited about the year ahead. Our first initiative will be held next Wednesday (26th October) where we will be raising awareness for Mission Australia. Students are encouraged to bring in a pair of white socks to decorate during PC and then wear their decorated socks for the day. November 1st will be our annual Melbourne Cup Day featuring PC horse sweeps, obstacle courses and, of course, costumes. This year’s race day also falling on the start date of “Mo-vember,” the theme for this year’s Melbourne Cup Day is “Fashes and Staches,” where we encourage staff and students to come along dressed up in their race day fashions or to come wearing a moustache… or both! Mo-vember is a great initiative to raise awareness for men’s mental health and is an initiative where Year 12 boys and male staff are encouraged to grow their moustaches for the cause. Additionally, Nagle and Gallagher’s Dine and Donate evenings are coming up in weeks 6 & 7, so keep your eyes peeled for that coming soon. We hope to see as many people get involved as possible and support these initiatives. 

Thank you,

Elisabeth Hall

Gallagher House Captain 2022/23

In art year 8 have been making concertina books! They have reseached the artsts and then implements their techniques into their images. 

Here are the results.

On 19th October, a group six students and one teacher attended the Young NAIDOC Day. Fortunately it was a clear morning with no rain in sight. We walked to Alfred Oval and joined in the activities that were running.

The day began with a Smoking ceremony where all in attendance, young and old walked through the cleansing smoke. We were then entertained by a local Wiradjuri Dance Group, who performed dances whilst dressed in ceremonial clothing featuring red, yellow and white ochre paint. They performed an Acknowledgement of Country dance. The dances were led by a person chanting in Wiradjuri and using clap sticks to keep the rhythm. They also performed an emu, goanna and kangaroo as well as other dances. Apart from the wonderful dancing a highlight was people being asked to join the dances. We were thrilled to see Beau Rice step forward and join in.

There were many stalls with sample bags, a canteen with free sausages and kangaroo meat balls- yum.

An elder from Cowra explained artifacts, food and processing of nuts and seeds. He had a grinding stone that has been carbon dated to 4,000 years old. 

We all thanked Norma Freeman from the Young Land Council for inviting us, left the event and walked back for Period 4. Surveying the students attending they all enjoyed the event and got something from it.

Peter Igoe-Taylor
ATSI Contact person Hennessy Catholic College 2022

UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND RESEARCH 

Attention parents of students who receive learning adjustments or have a disability. 

A research team from the University of Queensland is studying the school experience of students who receive learning adjustments or have a diagnosed disability. Students are invited to complete a short online questionnaire, providing them with an opportunity to voice their opinions on a range of factors both inside and outside of school which could influence their experience of education. 

I encourage you to click the link below for more information about the project and access the consent form and online questionnaire. 

https://uqbel.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_41rQAvMoB1EBCWa