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- Principals Report
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- Student Leadership Article - The Leaders Lounge
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- Year 7 Camp
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- Cootamundra Beach Volleyball
- Year 7 Technology - Ag
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Welcome to Week 4. Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent. The whole College attended a beautiful liturgy in the church lead by the Year 12 Student Leadership Team. Students received the ashes, prayed together and were reminded that Lent is not just a time for ‘giving up’ things but it can be a time to ‘take up’ things, especially positive actions and communications with others. Mr Mitchelll and Mrs Wright are to be congratulated for their organisation in making this such a solemn and meaningful event.
Tomorrow we will be having a mufti day to raise much needed funds for the earthquake appeal in Türkey and Syria. This is a wonderful example of how Lent challenges us to consider others above ourselves - to truly live out the gospel values. Students are encouraged to go beyond a gold coin to assist in this devastating disaster.
Next Tuesday is our Opening College Mass. The mass will commence at 9:00 am and all parents and carers (and grandparents) are very welcome to attend.
Our annual swimming carnival was a huge success. The weather was glorious and the participation level was very high. Students enjoyed both the competitive and the social aspects of the day. Thank you to Mr Brendan Croese and his enthusiastic band of helpers who put so much work into making this day run so smoothly.
You may have already read on Compass that Mr Martin Sullivan and Mrs Kerrie Murphy will join the Community Council as Parent Representatives this year. Thank you to Mr Sullivan and Mrs Murphy for stepping up to these significant roles. Please do not hesitate to contact any members of the Community Council if you have any issues you would like raised, The first meeting will be on Wednesday, March 29.
On Tuesday evening a small group of staff and students cooked a barbeque for Year 10 Sacred Heart students and their families and I also spoke to them about Hennessy as an educational option for Stage 6. We always value our enrolments from Sacred Heart for Year 11 and this year have 23 Sacred Heart students joining our Year 11 cohort to make a total of 83 students.
Like other archdiocesan schools, we are partaking in what is called the Catalyst project. Hennessy is focusing on High Impact Teaching Strategies. This means that how we teach is based on the science of learning rather than fads or simply keeping students happy. The big challenge for teachers is teaching to ‘make things stick’ and this professional learning is addressing this by providing teachers with evidence based strategies so learning moves from short-term to long-term memory. To find out more about Catalyst you can go to:
https://catalyst.cg.catholic.edu.au/
Thank you for supporting the College in making such a positive start to the year.
Kathy Holding
Kathy Holding
Principal
Lent also signifies our Caritas fundraising. Fundraising for Catholic organisations is one of our commitments as a Catholic school. In particular, Caritas has been providing aid to those devastated by the earthquake in Syria. Each week during Lent, each of the Houses will be fundraising for Caritas in a House Competition. Students will focus on a video story from Caritas to see the wonderful work that is happening around the world. On Friday we will kick off the fundraising with specifically donating to the Syrian earthquake cause.
Next week we will celebrate the College Opening Mass on Tuesday. Parents and community members are invited to attend and be part of this great event highlighting our theme Walking Together. We will also welcome our new staff and induct our College Vice Captains and Year Level Captains.
It was great to see so much school spirit at our College Swimming Carnival, a mighty victory for Nagle again and the fantastic support shown from the students, led by their House Captains.
The Year 7 students and teachers returned from camp after a stunning three days in Collaroy building friendships and memories together. A huge thankyou to the teachers who facilitated this, without their generosity these opportunities would not exist for our students.
College photos are completed for the year, if you would still like to order your College photos, you are able to do so through Compass.
In the next fortnight we look forward to hosting Troubie for the McAuley House who will explore their House Charism of Catherine McAuley’s life story.
As new sporting, academic and spiritual opportunities present themselves through the year, it is a timely reminder that a students experience at school are enhanced by moving yourself out of your comfort zone and trying new and interesting things!
The start to the school year has not slowed with many academic events happening. We have had the Year 11 Information talk with students and parents. Students who missed the night will go through the compulsory presentation next week so that everyone receives vital information re NESA requirements for stage 6.
To be eligible for the HSC, students must complete HSC: All My Own Work.
This is a program designed to help HSC students follow the principles and practices of good scholarship. This includes understanding, valuing and using ethical practices when locating and using information as part of their HSC studies. Students who have completed the program will also know about penalties for cheating and how to avoid malpractice when preparing their work for assessment. The program was completed by year 10 this week in preparation for 2024 studies.
Staff electing to do The High Impact Teaching Practices (HITP) Professional Development for 2023 have commenced this week. The aim of the program is to have Excellent teaching in every class, every year, for every student. This is our third wave of staff completing the program.
Reminder that Subject Elective changes have finalised for 2023.
NAPLAN 2023
Across Australia, NAPLAN will occur in Term 1 this year. The tests, which are all online, will commence on Wednesday 15 March. Over the next fortnight, we will be working with Year 7 and 9 students and their parents to install the 2023 NAPLAN LockDown Browser on their BYO device. Information, download links and support will be posted to the Compass Newsfeed.
Welcome back to the Leaders Lounge - what a heat wave of a week it has been! Speaking of heat, Hennessy students have been on fire recently with major participation and positive engagement across the board both inside and out of the College environment.
Only good times for Year 7 students over the past fortnight. It was exciting to hear the students' camp stories this week when they returned to school. Year 7 got to escape the heat and cool off with surfing lessons during their time on camp at Collaroy. Abseiling, Drop Pole, Lazer tag and of course surfing at Manly were few of many amazing activities the students got to partake in throughout the excursion.
The Hennessy Community partners with Caritas, an international organisation that works to fight poverty and inequality both on a national and international scale. We kick off our Caritas fundraising with a Mufti Day this Friday. Keep an eye out for House Fundraising over the next few weeks and be sure to donate to this incredible cause.
OPENING MASS IS ON TUESDAY 28TH! We are looking forward to formally welcoming new students and teachers into the College community and coming together to celebrate the commencement of the HCC 2023 school year.
With year level captain interviews well underway this week, the leadership team and executive staff have some tough decisions to make. All students display extensive leadership qualities, confidence and fresh ideas ready to implement into enhancing the college community. No matter the result, all students should know how important they are within the college community - we, as a leadership team, are always grateful for feedback, ideas and insight into the other year groups.
Massive congratulations to our House Vice captain nominations - each nominee expressed enthusiasm, initiative and leadership spirit and we are excited to announce our 2023 Vice Captains
Mcauley - Esnia Britts
Gallagher - James Payne
Rice - Lily Boda
Nagle - Jasmine Sullivan
It is with much sadness that I share that Mcauley did not win the Swimming carnival, however with a track record of wins we were humble on our step down to third place. I am extremely proud of each and every Mcauley student who truly got into the house spirit and participated in many of the events. Particular applause to the relay teams who walked away with 2 out of 3 wins.
Congratulations to Nagle who were the overall winners of the day, coming in second was Rice and in fourth Gallagher. Such a fun day, always a highlight of the school year!
Thank you for taking the time to engage in another Leaders Lounge article.
Stay slaying,
Sienna Capra
Mcauley House Captain
The annual Hennessy Swimming Carnival was held on Friday 10 February with everyone having a great day!
The Nagle house were overall winners on the day with the points as follows;
Nagle 802
Rice 742
McAuley 520
Gallagher 508
Records
There was one record broken at the College Swimming Carnival.
Chloe Laybutt - 15 Years Girls 50 m Butterfly 35.31 (old record was held by Emma Hill 35.44 in 2009)
Age Champions
12 years boy Michael Oakley Runner up: Ryan Sumich
12 years girl Marnie Smith Runner up: Youmna Mahfoud
13 years boy Zaviar Pritchard Runner up: George Presser
13 years girl Mataya Burgess Runner up: Sybella Murphy
14 years boy Hugo Davidson Runner up: Huntah Robinson
14 years girl Emily Buck Runner up: Alice Dymock
15 years boy John Bromham Runner up: Jack Woods
15 years girl Sasha Waugh Runner up: Chloe Laybutt
16 years boy Joshua Cameron Runner up: Mark Grotegoed
16 yeas girl Eliza Taylor Runner up: Izabelle Cartwright
Open boy Stuart McEvoy Runner up: Harrison Waugh
Open girl Isabella Turner Runner up: Elisabeth Hall
Peer Support has been in full swing this term with Year 7 students havin sessions with their Year 10 Leaders. Students have participated in get-to-know-you games and activities that support our current theme of 'relationships'. Students have shown great enthusiasm to the program and have enjoyed the group sporting activities at the end of the sessions as well. Over the coming weeks, students will be continuing to focus on their theme of relationships.
The House Cup has really kicked into gear over the past three weeks. Points have been awarded in a variety of areas such as participating in the inaugrual School Beach volleyball carnival, nominating for leadership, helping with the Young North Breakfast Service, excellence in the classroom and a range of other achievements. Nagle have continued where they left off at the end of 2022, asserting their top position on the Term 1 House Leaderboard. Congratulations to Emily Pratt who is our first student to receive a House Award in 2023. For students to achive a House Award they need to accumulate three points altogether, with a minimum of one Live Spiritually, one Learn Dynamically and one Act Justly point.
Year 7 started the 2023 off with their annual Camp to the Collaroy Centre in Sydney. The camp was an opportunity for our students to come together in a safe environment to build relationships, connection and community. The Collaroy Centre provided the perfect backdrop for these goals to be achieved by offering a range of activities that encourage team spirit, cooperation and confidence. Some of the activities included abseiling, high ropes, challenges and Laser Tag. The students had an absolute ball on Day 2 learning to surf at Dee Why followed by Kayaking on the lake at Narrabeen. Our Year 7 students impressed both Hennessy and Collaroy staff with their willingness to have a go and support each other as well as their exceptional behaviour. My thanks to the teachers who attended camp ensuring that our Year 7 students had a wonderful time away.
Year 9 science have been learning about atoms in their chemistry unit. This week they have completed a modelling activity to represent the subatomic features of an element.
On Friday 17th February, 66 Hennessy Students attended the inaugural Cootamundra Beach Volleyball gala day.
All had a fantastic day, despite the heat, and can't wait to go again next year!
7.4 have been busy in their technology clas getting out in the gardens incorporating organic matter and planting seedlings. Students are loving the new foot paths and improvements to the Ag plot.
