Today our school community gathers for the first time for a year as a whole school for the Swimming Carnival. When talking with a TA group yesterday, it only occurred to me how a full twelve months had passed since we were all together at a school event, and while the weather is cool today, it is clear and fine. It is great for us to be able to be together, enjoying physical activity and one another’s company. We have taken community events for granted in the past, but we genuinely appreciate the chance to all be together today. I congratulate Sports Coordinator Nikki Hexter on bringing together a program that provides opportunities for all of our community regardless of their capability as a swimmer.

Next Tuesday, 9^th March, following the Labour Day long weekend, is a student-free day when staff will be working on aspects of professional growth and curriculum development. I don’t need to remind our young people that they have a four-day long weekend, but I thought I had better bring it back to parents’ attention!!

Last Thursday evening, we conducted our Academic Assembly to acknowledge the outstanding achievements of the senior students of 2020 within the VCE and VCAL programs. Students who achieved a study score of 40 or more within VCE studies and those who achieved ATARs of greater than 90 were recognised, alongside VCAL and Vocational Education students’ high achievement. Grace Young-Harvey was celebrated as the College Dux with her ATAR of 99.4. On behalf of the entire Damascus community, we congratulate all students who were recognised last Thursday evening. The abridged version of the evening will be shared with students in TA time in the near future. I thank and acknowledge Sarah Boswell, Korina Hegert, Ashwin Pillai, the Awards Committee and our IT team for the work that went into Thursday evening’s Academic Assembly.

On Friday, the Chief Health Officer removed the requirement for the compulsory wearing of facemasks at school. They are still required on buses and public transport and must be carried by students at all times. Face masks are still encouraged when social distancing cannot be maintained. Damascus College encourages and supports those who feel safer to wear face masks at all times; please reiterate that if your child would like to continue to wear their mask, then they should do so.

Our senior male rowers concluded their season this weekend at the State Championships in Nagambie. It was also the final regatta for our junior and intermediate male rowers on Lake Wendouree. Our two senior girls’ crews also competed in Nagambie at the State Championships, making their finals too! All crews competed strongly with several excellent crew times over the weekend. I thank rowing coaches Paul Blanchfield and Hamish Walsh for their generous support of Damascus boys rowing right across the season. Our senior girls conclude their season at the Head of School Girls (HoSG) regatta, on the Barwon River, in Geelong from 12-14^th of March. I have received communication this week form regatta organisers that there will not be spectators at the HoSG regatta.

Damascus students; Caspian Linayao, William McKechnie and Riley McCarthy teamed with former student James Mavity and St Patrick’s student William Gilbert to be state champions at Nagambie in the Under 21 Coxed Quad Scull and the B Grade Coxed Four. The boys were also second in the A Grade Coxed Quad Scull and 3^rd in the Open Coxless Quad Scull. We congratulate the boys and wish them well for the upcoming rowing nationals. Damascus Rower, Angus Shillito, will represent Damascus and the Wendouree Ballarat Rowing club at the Rowing Nationals, and we wish Angus well too!

Damascus has seen four students, Megan O’Beirne, Jarrod Joyce, Isabella Pearce and Brayden Joyce, progress to their respective semi-finals for the Rob Benoit trophy in BAS tennis, and we look forward to following their progress over the next few weeks.

In our prayers this week, we remember the family of Logan Cooper (Year 8) as they grieve the passing of Logan’s grandfather. May he rest in peace.

And in the circle of life, we wish Tamzin Perkins well as she concludes her teaching at Damascus at the end of this week in preparation for the birth of her first child. God bless, Tamzin!! We keep staff member Kirsten Phyland in our prayers as she recuperates from surgery.

This week, as we move between seasons, Assistant Principal Ashwin Pillai introduced me to this autumn reflection by Michael Leunig. Leunig’s insights into the world are beautiful, and I borrow this one from his website as a beautiful snapshot of this season of change. Autumn Prayer - Leunig

Until next week …

MATT

The Rowing almost end of season review…

The 2021 rowing season started for Damascus College with 2 rowing camps, the Junior and Intermediate Squads were in Ballarat and the Senior Squad was in Nagambie. These camps ran from Monday the 18^th January – 2 weeks before school returned from holidays! We had fantastic attendance from all 3 squads and all camps ran perfectly, primarily due to the support provided by the volunteer coaching staff. Special mention to Hamish Walsh and Nikki Hexter, without them the rowing camps would not have been as successful as they were.

On January 23^rd, the Senior and Intermediate rowing squads travelled to Geelong to compete on the Barwon River in the Barwon RC Regatta… This was the first major hit out of the 2021 competitive rowing season and all crews performed extremely well – especially given they had just completed a week long training camp!

On January 30^th & 31^st, all Damascus crews competed in the Wendouree-Ballarat RC Regatta held on Lake Wendouree. Angus Shillito won the Schoolboy Single Scull event, beating three scullers from Trinity and one sculler from Geelong College. Well done Angus! All other crews had very good rows in challenging conditions.

On February 6^th, the Intermediate and Junior boys raced at the Barwon River and tested their skills against various other school crews. While the Senior crews travelled to Nagambie and competed against other schools and clubs from around the state. Each crew performed well in their respective divisions and we are so proud of how much effort our crews have put in and how well they work together. A big shout out to Angus Shillito who again won the Schoolboy Single Scull event beating the 2^nd placed sculler from Hawthorn Rowing Club by .36 of a second!

The BAS Head of the Lake was held on Sunday 21^st February, after allot of uncertainty surrounding the running of the regatta the Damascus College crews banded together and all performed beyond their coach’s expectations! The coaching squad was extremely impressed with the positivity of all crews as they finished their racing for the day. This was the first time that single sculls and double sculls were featured in the regatta, Angus Shillito rowed his single scull and Cooper Reid and Lachie Jurcan rowed the double scull, each crew had a great row and we are proud of their efforts.

It was very exciting to see Damascus College competing in the Head of the Lake Open Division 1 events again, these events are very competitive and our crews executed their race plans perfectly. Well done to all senior rowers on a fantastic effort!

The Victorian State Championships and the Junior Boys State Championships were held on Saturday 27^th February. At the Junior States in Ballarat, the Year 10 crews both won medals! The Year 10 Division 1 crew won a bronze medal and the Year 10 Division 2 crew won a silver medal. A fantastic turnaround from their previous regatta – well done boys!

At the Victorian State Championships in Nagambie the senior crews all had a fantastic day of racing, the Girls 1^st and the Boys 1^st crews made the A Final in the U19 Coxed Four events and Angus Shillito again made the A Final of the Schoolboys Single Scull – unfortunately having to withdraw from the final due to illness. The Girls 2^nd crew again had a brilliant row against very tough competition.

These were the final regattas for the boys half of the rowing program, what an exciting journey they have all been on these past few months, plenty of personal and physical growth for all rowers, coxes and crews. We are excited to see how next season looks with the success of this season behind us!

We now look forward to the final two regattas of the season, the Head of the Schoolgirls Regatta in Geelong and the Australian Rowing Championships in Tasmania. We wish the best of luck to all girls competing in Geelong from 12^th to 14^th March; it is sure looking to be another fantastic regatta!

At the Australian Rowing Championships, Damascus College have two rowers who were selected to compete for our host club, Wendouree-Ballarat Rowing Club. Angus Shillito is competing in the U19 Coxed Four with two rowers from St. Pats, one from Ballarat High School and a cox from Ballarat Grammar. Alex Western is competing in the U17 Coxed Quad Scull with one rower from Ballarat Grammar, two from Clarendon College and a cox from Clarendon College. The Australian Rowing Championships run from 22^nd to 28^th March at Lake Barrington in Tasmania.

What a fantastic season we have had! Well done and thank you to all involved, Coxes, Rowers, Coaches, Teaches, Leadership and Parents / Guardians. Your contribution to rowing does not go unnoticed.

Regards,

Your rowing leaders.

Olivia Reyntjes Angus Shillito Paul Blanchfield

Damascus College Damascus College Damascus College

Captain of Boats Captain of Boats Rowing Logistics and Technical Direction

Catholic Education is celebrating 200 years in Australia, marking the bicentenary of the first Catholic school established in Parramatta in October 1820.

Celebrating the legacy

Over 200 years, Catholic schools have grown to become the largest provider of schooling in Australia (outside government) with one in five school age students attending a Catholic school.

This represents some 768,000 students in 1,751 schools across the country and employing 98,000 teachers and staff.

Nearly 40 per cent of Catholic schools are located outside of metropolitan cities in regional, rural and remote communities.

National theme

A national theme, “Faith in the future” has been developed for the 200 years celebrations. The theme reflects the core purpose of Catholic education to form students in their faith, and to provide an education that enables our graduates to make a meaningful contribution to the world. The theme reflects our commitment to build on the great work of those who have come before us and to provide a Catholic education for future generations of students in a world that is rapidly changing and poses new challenges for Catholic school communities. Yet, we have faith that we can face these challenges and continue to build on, and our strengthen, our mission of Catholic education.

Australian Launch

The launch of this 200 years celebration premiered on 18th February 2021 in an online format that can be viewed at the following link

Please see the following for information on how you can be involved in the exciting Youth Exchange Australia:-

This week we saw 8 students represent Damascus College in the BAS Singles Tennis Championships. All games were played with great sportsmanship and there were many smiles on their faces at the end of matches. It was also great to witness the sportsmanship between schools, with many of the students playing each other in local competitions. Thursday will see 4 students – Isabella Pearce, Megan O’Beirne, Brayden Joyce and Jarrod Joyce play in the semi-finals. A win there will put them into the final Thursday afternoon. Congratulations to all students involved and good luck on Thursday.

Junior Henderson Shield

Keira O’Beirne

Isabella Pearce

Senior Henderson Shield

Megan O’Beirne

Mia Richardson

Rob Benoit Cup

Brayden Joyce

Jarrod Joyce

McNeil Cup

Cameron Price

Rohan Thiele

Each week of Lent a different story of the work that is conducted because the efforts of us all in Project Compassion.

This week through Project Compassion we learn about 39-year-old Margret, a teacher at a vocational school for deaf students in the Solomon Islands. She was born deaf, so she knows the challenges it poses to education and employment. Apart from the difficulties the students all have, the school also faced water shortages, with not enough to supply staff and students with safe water for drinking, cooking, washing and growing vegetables.

Then Tropical Cyclone Harold damaged the school and its vegetable garden, amidst the threat of COVID-19. Staff and students rely on the vegetable garden to provide food for their meals.

With Caritas Australia’s support, the school installed water tanks, provided cyclone-proof building materials and helped to implement COVID-19 prevention measures. Margret’s school now has enough water for its students and the capacity to cater for more, with plans to boost food security, through increased agricultural production.

• Around 60% of people in rural areas in the Solomon Islands don’t have access to piped water, while about 80% don’t have access to latrines or toilets. (UNICEF, 2019)

Watch a short film about Margret’s story here.

“Aspire not to have more, but to be more.” Please support Project Compassion: lent.caritas.org.au

Please click on the link below to via the latest news, tips and tricks from the College Careers Department.

Careers Newsletter Term 1

On Thursday 25 February 2021 we welcomed back members of the Class of 2020 as we celebrated their academic excellence throughout 2020 at the annual Academic Assembly.

It was a wonderful affirmation of the student’s hard work, dedication and perseverance displayed throughout what was a very challenging year - 2020.

Our 2021 College Captains, Maya Tolliday and Shaun Leonard were the MC’s for the evening, and we were excited to welcome back our College Dux Grace Young-Harvey as she addressed the audience and shared some beautiful memories of her time at Damascus as well as providing an insight as to how she achieves academic excellence.

The Damascus College String Ensemble entertained the audience by performing ‘The Black Swan’ by Trevor J Addison, including William Deans, Thomas Deans, Amber Kennett, Rhyal Williams, Natalie Coad, Henry Sexton, Eloise McGifford and staff members, Kristian Withers and Maria Russell.

Congratulations to all award recipients.

Below are the award recipients recognised and celebrated:

Sustainability Co-ordinator, Nick Yandell, is preparing a conference to investigate the future of sustainability at the College.

The area of sustainability is at once simple and complex. Simple, in that we cannot maintain the existing approach to living if we are to survive as a species on this planet. Complex, in that there are so many elements to the sustainability jigsaw, each with its own levels of denial concerning the reasons for and impact of climate change, deforestation, biodegradation and extinction rates, fresh water scarcity, excessive meat production, over fishing of the oceans and the impact of fossil fuel burning.

What is our responsibility as a College community? Members of the Damascus College community are invited to a conference to consider this question at Damascus College on Friday March 19^th at 1.30 pm – 3:00 pm. Students, staff members and parents are invited. Please indicate your interest in attending by contacting Nick Yandell via email by Tuesday 16^th March. N.Yandell@damascus.vic.edu.au

“Once we start to think about the kind of world we are leaving to future generations, we look at things differently; we realize that the world is a gift which we have freely received and must share with others.” Pope Francis. Laudato Si #159

In these difficult times if you and or your family are struggling to make ends meet we encourage to reach out to the St Vincent de Paul Helpline. They can assist in many areas including food and clothing.

Please see details below:-

SVdP Helpline. Phone 5334 2844

Leave a message as prompted. Callers will be contacted within 36 hours.

Ballarat Assistance Centre

6 Dawson St Sth

Ballarat

HOURS: Monday, Wednesday, Friday

10.00 to 12.00

CURRENTLY CLOSED DUE TO COVID

PROPOSED REOPENING DATE AFTER EASTER

WHEN OPENED WE WILL BE OPERATING UNDER COVID GUIDELINES