Learning & Teaching
03 August
Religious Education at Damascus is a compulsory part of our education program across all year levels, allowing students to explore their own spirituality and faith within the rich context of the Catholic faith tradition.
Religious Education at Damascus College is a vehicle by which all students are welcomed into an experience where they may come to understand who and what the God of the Catholic Tradition may be for them in the context of this time. Students participate in an array of experiences where they may come to know God’s presence in their life; through the relationships they make with others, in the beautiful environment in which the College is situated, and in the more explicit religious experiences of prayer, liturgy and Religious Education classes.
At Damascus College the Religious Education teaching team collaborate and work together to develop rich learning experiences which draw on all that is good within the tradition of the Catholic Church, then make these experiences contextually appropriate for this point in time. Religious education experiences integrate the life of the students with the teachings of the Gospel and challenge the students to respond accordingly in their own lives today.
Learning experiences are developed from the mandated Diocesan Curriculum, “Awakenings.” The content of the Awakenings curriculum is framed within 5 Content strands which reflect the major topics of the Catechism of the Catholic Church and Religious Education Frameworks from across Australia.
These 5 strands are Christian Ethics Personal and Social, Church and Tradition, God, Religion and Society, Prayer-Liturgy and Sacraments, Scripture, Israel and Jesus.
Damascus College, through the fostering of positive relationships, the provision of broad, rich, engaging, challenging and developmentally appropriate religious education curriculum, in an atmosphere that is respectful and inclusive, is a remarkable example of how a Catholic school can bring their Catholic identity to the forefront of a contemporary educational setting.
Return to that simplicity which allows us to stop and appreciate the small things, to be grateful for the opportunities which life affords us, to be spiritually detached from what we possess, and not to succumb to sadness for what we lack.
Pope Francis in his Encyclical “Laudato Si.”