Our apologies that we did not get a chance to publish the newsletter for Week 2. We are currently riding the most recent wave of COVID and have been short staffed in the Front Office but hope that we still manage to capture all of the important information from Week 2 and for Week 3.

Last week was typically another big week where our students had many different opportunities and experiences. Our Year 10 students thoroughly enjoyed the Young Careers market and were laden with goodies and freebies on the return journey. Many students made connections with various tertiary institutions and career options. Thank you to Mr Mahon and Ms Withers for organizing. They also managed a stopover at Hennessy Catholic College on the way home to tour the school facilities.

Our second Parent Teacher Student opportunity for our Year 7-10 students was extremely well attended. We appreciated the effort that parents made to meet briefly with classroom teachers and to hear about the progress, habits and direction for their children. As we move deeper into the term the assessment period is ramping up in preparation for the first comprehensive Semester report for all subjects. Most students will have a few different assessments due in the coming weeks and need to be steadily working on these at home.

The Annual Young Soccer Carnival is always a highlight for our primary students. Over 120 students travelled to Young to compete against different schools from across the region. It was a fabulous day where our students demonstrated excellent sportsmanship and had a lot of fun. Thank you to the parents who supported this and to the many teachers who managed and transported students.

Last Thursday was our first Primary disco. It was an absolute delight! Our Junior Leadership team ran the disco and they were outstanding in leading our students on the dance floor and in the different games and activities. The students had a ball. They happily danced for two solid hours and made the most of the opportunity. Thank you to Mr Winsor for organizing.

We rounded out the week with the 2N assembly which was a wonderful display of the students acting, creative and performance skills carefully honed by their teacher Mr Niddrie. The news presentation format was excellent and the students showcased their learning in a clever and innovative way. The assembly has set a very high benchmark and it was a pleasure to watch the students enjoying themselves on stage and celebrating their learning.

The Senior girls also travelled to Wagga for the League Tag carnival. Here they competed against schools from across the region and proved to be competitive throughout the day. Thank you to Mrs Piffero and the parents for taking the girls to Wagga.

This week has also started with a flurry of activity. We are in full swing of production for the 2024 instalment of the Sacred Heart Musical performances. Despite a hiatus of 6 years (thanks to COVID) we are busy rehearsing for the performance of Man of Steel. We last performed this play in 2002 and are excited about reinventing the most performed musical in Australia. The performance dates are set for Week 3 Term 3 and we are building momentum as we bring the script to life. Stay tuned for regular updates.

This week we also have the Mortimer Shield for our Stage 3 students, CECG Cross Country for our avid long-distance runners at Mt Stromlo and Camp Hudson First Nations Cultural Immersion for Year 7 at Lacmalac, Tumut. These opportunities are always made possible by the generous support of our teachers and the enthusiasm of our students and parents. We hope to read reports in next week’s newsletter of all of the details of their adventures. We wish our students all the best and pray they travel safely and enjoy the experiences.

Many of our teachers will be travelling to Canberra this week for the next installment of professional learning on high impact teaching practices. This aims to keep our teachers’ skills current around new best practice and to provide expert teaching in the classrooms. It is exciting to learn about evidence based research that promotes new and improved strategies for improving student learning.

So many activities already this term to enrich the lives of our students. It is always difficult to pack so much into our school weeks without avoiding clashes. We are very grateful for the continued support of our parents who provide transport, finance, encouragement and guidance for all our endeavours. There is still much to come this term.

God bless