From the Principal
16 September By Mr. Matthew Byrne, Principal
As we move into the final days of Term 3 and celebrate Damascus Day remotely today, it is important to acknowledge the achievements of this community through one of the most extraordinary periods of recent social history.
Today through a short address, I took the opportunity to remind students and staff all that they have achieved over the last six months. So often the focus of 2020 has been what we haven’t done or what we are missing out on, but I took the opportunity to celebrate today what our community has achieved. I admire that students and staff have grown as learners – demonstrating a profound ability to adapt and change and develop skills that will equip our young people extraordinarily for life beyond school. Our young people have all grown in their knowledge and skills with technology. Each member of this community has had to accept far great responsibility for their learning, ultimately moving towards independent enquiring minds and creative hearts. These are wonderful achievements and should not go unacknowledged.
Our staff team have been committed and hardworking to scaffold this different learning platform for our students, and I thank them for their continued work and reassurance. Families have played a special part right throughout the history of Damascus College, working with the school in the early days to establish facilities and grounds, to today partnering with us in progressing learning in ways no-one anticipated. I extend the deepest gratitude from the staff team to Damascus families for your support. Our student population are to be commended most strongly, and I congratulate them on their achievements and the learning and skills being acquired. As a family, in the spirit of Damascus Day, make sure you acknowledge and celebrate all that has been achieved this year as Term 3 comes to a close. Our theme this year has been “Live Justice, Love Kindness and Walk Humbly with God”, and this Damascus day we acknowledge our human frailty humbly in light of a global pandemic, but we justly celebrate our response and the spirit of kindness that reaches across our community in achieving that.
One of the great traditions of our Damascus Day is the announcement of our College Captains for the next school year. Our 2020 School Captains, Hannah Mroczkowski and William Smith, have been wonderful role models and ambassadors for the College. Again this year there was an extraordinarily talented group of young leaders who expressed interest in this role. I thank all candidates for having the courage to put their hand up to lead – each of their contributions will be invaluable to the future growth of our school community. Today, I congratulate our 2021 Captains elect; Maya Tolliday and Shaun Leonard.
We look forward to Hannah and Will handing over to Shaun and Maya throughout Term 4. House Captain selection processes continue this week, and we look forward to celebrating all those who seek that role over the coming weeks.
Below is a short video shown during TA this morning for Damascus Day:-
In the spirit of our theme; Live Justice, Love Kindness and Walk Humbly with God, our Year 12 VCAL students conducted a COVID safe Ice Bucket Challenge here at school on Monday. The students carefully designed this event in conjunction with their teachers as a means of safely demonstrating their outcomes for their VCAL certificate. I affirm the work of the VCAL team in creatively developing a school-based means of competency recognition. Students set out to raise $500 for Motor Neurone Disease research, and they will have raised over $2,500 by the completion of this project. What a lovely expression of our theme. Neale Daniher has been a wonderful supporter of our project, and I think he will be pleased with the students’ recognition of his school mate, Mr Martin Ryan!! Thank you to everyone within the community who supported this project and thank you to Applied Learning Leader, Belinda Dwyer for all the lead-up work.
The State Government have indicated that all schools in regional Victoria will return to onsite learning by the 16th October. We have considered our approach, and we will bring Year 7 students and Year 11 and 12 students and those Yr 10 students scheduled for a VCE class on that day - back to school on Monday 12thOctober. All students will be onsite on Tuesday 13th. Remote learning will continue for Year 8 to 10 students on Monday 12th. All of society have had an incredibly disjointed year, but we are concerned about our Year 7 students who have had a very difficult transition to secondary school. The two-day staggered return allows them to bring equipment back to their lockers and has only half the student population on site for the day to re-familiarise them with school routines. We will work with staff to provide avenues of support to students if they are feeling anxious as they return onsite.
Our Year 12 students are working through a heavy assessment period currently, exacerbated by the remote nature of their learning. The holiday period provides an opportunity for them to catch their breath and consolidate their learning and continue revision. The College has made available to students a range of resources to support revision, and there is a practice English/ Language/Literature exam to be conducted on Friday 25th September remotely.
As the term draws to a close, I want to thank and acknowledge Sports Coordinator, Nicole Hexter, who facilitated the Great Aussie Adventure. The 11-day activity engaged 538 members of this community to walk, run or ride just over 15,000 kms. Students and staff recognised the importance of putting aside their devices over this period and getting active. I congratulate Xavier House on their achievement with the greatest number of participants and the largest distance travelled. A summary of the event by TA and House can be found below:-
In our Teacher Advisor lesson yesterday, we surveyed students again about their experience of remote learning this term and possible support they may need as they return onsite. We hope to be able to provide some of the insights gleaned from this feedback early next term.
We are still awaiting government advice on activities that we have planned for Term 4, but there are a number of calendar changes that I have flagged within recent newsletters.
The College Administration Office will be closed from Wednesday September 23rd through to Friday September 25th. If you need to contact the office, please call and leave a message and this will be followed up. During the 2nd week of the holidays, payments can be made over the phone and questions answered as per usual by calling 5337 2222. The office will remain running remotely for Week 1 of Term 4 however will be back on campus from 8am Monday October 12.
As we return for Term 4, students will transition to the summer uniform. We typically have a two week period where students can wear summer or winter uniform to accommodate the variability of spring weather in Ballarat. Traditionally, Year 12’s have been able to wear winter uniform until they finish and while they will be at school until later this year, we will allow some flexibility in wearing either the summer or winter uniform until 30th October. Year 12 students can wear their Hoodie in Term 4, except when representing the College.
Thank you, everyone, for your continued efforts, keep up the awesome work. The easing of restrictions are joyfully received by regional Victorians, and we keep metropolitan Victorians in our thoughts and prayers. Enjoy your holidays, everyone. God bless!
Until next term …
MATT