I want to commend the Year 12 group to you as they have begun navigating their Trial HSC this week and will continue sitting for next week. As I speak with many of them making their way into or out of their examination, I hear about all of the preparation that they have been undertaking to make them a valuable experience. This preparation is always a team effort from the families supporting them by keeping expectations high around the time commitment needed for their study. In this final term of schooling, preparation needs to be well over 10 hours per week and helping to achieve this is always a significant burden to families. Thanks for all you are doing to help them!

There continues to be lots of wonderful experiences for students happening all around the College. Year 11 recently visited the BStreetSmart Road Safety event in Homebush as a cohort. It is a confronting experience as the first hand accounts from the presenters explaining the outcomes of poor decision making on the roads is often quite tragic. No doubt many of the parents in our community are teaching their kids to drive at the moment and having very important conversations of this nature also.

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Some of our debating teams are going out to represent our College this week and it was wonderful to attend the Ensembles evening recently, to experience the wonderful talents of our College musicians. Special mention to our Year 12s who absolutely stole the show with their incredible improvisation on their chosen instruments throughout the group performances. Our wonderful Creative and Performing Arts staff continue to be able to inspire and work with the students under their care to bring about sensational outcomes. It was lovely to introduce our new Director of Ensembles to the wider community, Mr Lachlan Johnson, and see the impact that he is having on the musicianship of the students.

I big thank you to all of the families that hosted our visiting Japanese students this last week. Despite Sydney putting on perhaps the worst week of weather for the year, the students still had a wonderful time experiencing life with an Australian family, getting a taste of Thomas Hassall schooling and seeing some of the sights of the region such as the Sydney Zoo. The staff of Takayamamura High School were deeply appreciative of all the support and hospitality they got to experience.