The first weeks of Term 4 have come and gone in a blur and this is very typical for Term 4. The run to the end of the year always seems to pass far too quickly as we complete all of the teaching and learning for the year, all the assessments to showcase the learning and all of the preparation for 2023. Attendance is vital at this time of the year as we build the skills necessary to transition into the next year. Obviously if a student is unwell we encourage them to stay at home to recover quickly but at all other times students need to be in the classroom learning and interacting. Please contact the PCA or classroom teacher if there are issues getting students to school. We will be following up on students’ significant absences to work to reduce the number of days that a student does not attend school. School attendance is a legal responsibility of all parents and guardians.

It is very important at this stage to inform the school if the enrolment of your child could possibly change in the new school year. Planning for classes and allocation of staffing and resources is well underway. Please contact me asap if you have issues to discuss around your child’s enrolment.

This term we have welcomed Mr Steve Barnard to our school as the Assistant Principal for Term 4. We are excited to have Steve with us and look forward to sharing this term with him and all the amazing skills he brings to this position.

The final week of Term 4 was filled memories of the Year 9 and 10 excursions to major cities. Hopefully we will have some detailed reports in the coming week to showcase their wonderful trips. Thank you to the teachers who accompanied them.

At this point in time we are planning to hold TWO Annual Awards ceremonies for the end of the year. In keeping with COVID safe practices and to streamline the process for parents and students we will be conducting an INFANTS/PRIMARY PRESENTATION and a SECONDARY PRESENTATION. Times will be confirmed asap so that you can put these important dates in your calendar. We will also be holding the END-OF-YEAR/ADVENT liturgy on Thursday the 15^th December for Kinder to Year 9 including all new students for 2023.

Congratulations to ex-students Jack Murphy and Tayla Collins (Year 10 2021) who are part of the Hennessy Catholic College Leadership team for 2023. Jack will be the College Captain and Tayla a House Captain. We are very proud of them and this affirms the strong leadership skills we strive to build in all our students. We are confident they will do an amazing job at leading the student body at Hennessy. We also wish all our past students the very best as they continue with their Year 12 exams. We pray that they will be able to perform at their best and demonstrate all that they know and understand.

Our own students are busy in the assessment phase of the semester. There are lots of different ways that teachers gather information about the students in their care. Assignments, examinations, topic tests are only some of the ways that teachers can determine how each student has progressed over the semester. Please encourage our secondary students to act on feedback in their preparation for tasks/exams and to seek assistance if there are areas that they don’t understand in the led up to the assessment period. Year 10 will have their final examinations in Week 5 and Years 7-9 will have assessments in Week 6. Primary are working their way through their assessments over the coming weeks.

We wish Gillian Hunt in year 6 all the best as she proudly represents our school in the Archdiocesan Public Speaking finals in Week 3. This is an outstanding effort.

This is a very busy term and our stage 3 students and Year 8s will have the wonderful opportunity to take their learning outside of Cootamundra when they go on their annual excursions. Stage 3 will travel to Ballarat in week 8 and Year 8 will visit Canberra in Week 10. These are designed to build new skills in our students. More details and reminders about costs and payments will be sent out in the coming weeks. If there are issues with payment please make contact with me to have a confidential discussion.

This coming week we will hold another Kinder 2023 Transition morning and a day for Year 7 2023. Both will be held this Thursday 27 October. We are excited about all the new enrolments and are very confident that 2023 will be a fabulous year for our new Kinder and Year 7 cohorts. If you are aware of any other possible enrolments please encourage them to make an appointment or contact the school so that we can send them information about our wonderful school.

Have a wonderful weekend and please keep those impacted by floods or illness in your prayers.

Remember, if you have to choose between being extraordinary or kind, be extraordinarily kind!

God Bless,

Ms Nicky Trinder

Principal