Principal's Report
HSC
The HSC Examinations have begun and we wish all of our 2020 Year 12 students the best as they attempt to apply the ‘polish’ to their dedicated academic endeavours over the past 6 years. Please keep them in your prayers. In a year that has required enormous flexibility and extraordinary patience, I must highly commend the personal dedication and commitment to excellence of the McCarthy teaching staff. If there has ever been any year whereby their pedagogical expertise and hard work over the past 12 months will leverage great results for hard working Year 12s, this is the year! We have a collective belief in these resilient young women and men to achieve their best.
Year 12 Graduation Dinner
To celebrate the effort and gather together as a faith community one last time, the Graduation Dinner will be held at the TRECC on Thursday 12 November. I offer extra special thanks to Mrs Jane Burt and her hard working team of staff who have been preparing busily behind the scenes for what promises to be a special night of comradery, dancing and appreciation to parents and teachers for their support of the Year 12 students over the past 6 years. Please keep Year 12 in your prayers.
School Advisory Council AGM
Please note that the Annual General Meeting for the School Advisory Council (SAC) will be held on Tuesday 17 November at 5.30pm. There are currently no vacancies on the SAC. In the event that vacancies become available in 2021-22 an Information Evening will be convened for interested parents to consider joining the SAC in the future. I will communicate the full membership of the 2020-21 SAC in the next newsletter.
Mother Theresa Award
In recent times the Year 12 group have elected to award the Mother Theresa Award to a McCarthy staff member who they collectively considered to be a person who has made an exceptional positive contribution to their schooling over 6 years. This year they have chosen Mrs Pat MacPherson. While Pat currently works and volunteers in the College Canteen, along with Ken, she is also a parent who has seen seven sons be educated in Catholic education in Manilla and Tamworth. Pat’s quiet selfless contribution and dedicated work ethic is highly valued in our community and while her last son, Thomas, graduates this year, we trust that her commitment to us is continued. Certainly a worthy and humble recipient.
Timetable - the reforming of Year 11 lines for Year 12
Each year the patterns of study for many Year 11 students change as they progress through from Preliminary Year to the HSC year. Consequently, as numbers diminish in some subjects and increase in others, current class allocations of teachers can change quite radically. The main message is always one of consistency of focus on the course work. While students can sometimes find a stronger learning relationship with one teacher over another, the teachers themselves know the course work and have experience to teach that course work to every and any student. Long story short, Year 11s can expect some teacher changes as we move from Year 11 work into Year 12 work in Term 4. Please don’t allow that change to deter or distract from the simple focus of academic engagement in the learning partnership with teachers.
Staffing
As I communicated at the end of last term, Ms Julie Hodges has chosen to resign from her teaching position at McCarthy Catholic College at the end of Term 3. Her departure has precipitated some changes to teacher allocations for some TAS classes. All newly allocated staff are experienced TAS staff and are ready, willing and able to support the students in these classes. I thank the staff for their flexibility in supporting a positive transition for these students.
Welcome
We welcome the following students to the McCarthy community: Lily Heap and Chelsea Parry (Year 7) and Jessica Borchard and Alahnee Smith (Year 8). As a community, we hope that their transition has been a smooth one and that they are enjoying the McCarthy community.
Mr Geoff McManus - Principal