Yesterday (8/03/2022) was International Women's Day; it's a global day celebrating women's social, economic, cultural, and political achievements. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women's equality. We acknowledge that there is still work to be done in achieving equality and safety for women in our global community. We have been fortunate to have so many women work to progress our community and society, and we acknowledge those who came before us, those amongst us and those in the future.

Next Tuesday, 15th 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!!

We had a fantastic day at the Swimming carnival last Thursday, and next Wednesday, we send off those students who experienced success in their races to the Ballarat Associated Schools Swimming Carnival at the Eureka Pool (16/03/2022). I thank Sports Coordinator Nikki Hexter and the staff who support her in preparing for these carnivals in such quick succession.

There are a diverse range of excursions to support classroom learning taking place over the next week, and I encourage families to check PAM permissions and take a look at your student's progress while there.

I remind families that the Enhancing Catholic School Identity (ECSI) survey is open and ready to accept your responses. Families have received an email from the College with information on how to access the survey, including login details and an information sheet. The College is very appreciative of the time that you are committing to complete the survey. Your responses, along with the responses of students and staff, play a vital role in our self-understanding as a Catholic Education provider. For more information, please click here.

Today is the final day for families to provide feedback on the Principal appointment process. Students, staff and school community members are invited to contribute to this process by responding to the following questions:

1. What are the strengths of Damascus College that you believe need to be maintained?
2. What challenges do you believe need to be addressed in the next 5 years?
3. What specific qualities/characteristics do you see as vital for the position of Principal of Damascus College?
4. What other comments would you like to contribute?

Families are invited to contribute to this process by responding to the above questions in this form. The survey will remain open until the end of today, Wednesday 9th March. An invitation to participate can be found below

Community Consultation Letter

We extend a prayer of gratitude for all the women in our lives, for their strength, courage and inspiration, and we pray that we can continue to develop as a society with just and safe equality for all.

Until next week…Chris

What a glorious day today for the Damascus College Swimming Carnival held at the Eureka Pool. House spirit was in abundance as evidenced by some very close final scores.

Congratulations to St Martin House for taking out the honours of the day, and to all students for giving their best. Our age group champions are as follows:-

U13 Ruby Lethlean and Thomas Hodge

U14 Macey McQuie and Luke Gallagher

U15 Charley Ward and Charlie Snare

U16 Gemma Daly and Jonah Skewes-Clinton

U17 Alice Lepair and Jai Erwin

Open Olivia Daly and Jayden Bickley

Final scores:

1st Place – St Martin 1122 points

2nd Place – McAuley 1111 points

3rd Place – Rice 1043 points

4th Place – Xavier 1034 points

Records broken on the day:

U/20 Backstroke – Olivia Daly

U/15 Backstroke, Butterfly and Freestyle – Charlie Snare

U/20 Backstroke, Butterfly and Freestyle – Jayden Bickley

U/15 Breastroke – Charley Ward

U/14 Breastroke, Butterfly and Freestyle – Luke Gallagher

U/17 Breastroke and Freestyle – Jai Erwin

U/16 Butterfly – Jonah Skewes-Clinton

Please see following information on a free Webinar from Headspace:-

Please click here to register for this event.

After playing the preliminary rounds on Monday of the BAS Singles Tennis Competition, Keira, Megan, Brayden and Jarrod competed in the semi finals on Thursday, March 3. All four students should be congratulated on their efforts in making the semi finals. Megan won through to the grandfinal by defeating the Loreto College opponent, howver fell just short in aa hard fought match against BHS. Megan has been a tremendous representative of Damascus College in the BAS Tennis Singles competitions since year 7. Both Brayden and Jarrod made it through their semi final matches which meant they played each other in the grandfinal for the second year in a row. Results are as follows:

Junior Henderson Shield - Keira O'Beirne

Semi Final - BCC def DC 8-3

Senior Henderson Shield - Megan O'Beirne

Semi Final - DC def LC 8-4

Grand Final - BHS def DC 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

McNeil Cup - Brayden Joyce

Semi Final - DC def BG 8-6

McNeil Cup - Jarrod Joyce

Semi Final - DC def SPC 8-1

McNeil Cup - Grand Final

Jarrod Joyce (DC) def Brayden Joyce (DC) 6-0, 6-0

The tool is ready for your response. We need 75 families for a full sample. We still have over 30 to go!

The Enhancing Catholic School Identity Project (ESCIP) is with us. ESCIP offers a tool to help us understand the Catholic culture of our college. But how is Catholic identity described in the tool? In recent weeks we have introduced the scales that are used in the tool. Two weeks ago, an email link with details about access to the survey and instructions for its completion were made available.

Thanks to the forty families that have already begun completing the survey. Those who have started the survey but still need to complete it are asked to do so soon. If you have not yet begun, this is a good time. Please make time as soon as possible to complete the survey and contribute to our understanding of Catholic identity.

If you no longer have the email from Wednesday 23^rd February please contact Assistant Principal for Catholic Culture, Tony Haintz t.haintz@damascus.vic.edu.au, who can provide the details.

Last weekend was the final regatta of the 2022 rowing season for the Senior, Intermediate and Junior Boys rowing crews at Damascus College.

The boys competed in the Victorian State Championships, and all crews have had a wonderful season capped off by a wonderful final regatta.

Well done!

Below are the criteria used to determine a stud ent’s eligibility for the Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF).

Criteria 1 – General eligibility

To be eligible for the fund, a parent or carer of a student attending a registered Government or non-government Victorian primary or secondary school must:

• on the first day of Term one
• on the first day of Term two

For the list of eligible financially-means tested cards refer to the CSEF Policy:

https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/camps-sports-and-excursions-fund/policy

Parents who receive a Carer Allowance on behalf of a child, or any other benefit or allowance not income tested by Centrelink, are not eligible for the CSEF unless they also comply with the above.

Criteria 2 - Be of school age and attend school in Victoria

For the purposes of CSEF, students may be eligible for assistance if they attend a Victorian registered primary or secondary school. CSEF is not payable to students attending pre-scho ol, kindergarten, home schooled, or TAFE.

Special Consideration

A special consideration category exists for

• Families on a bridging visa, temporary protection visa, in community detention or are asylum seeker families
• Student’s in temporary out of home care arrangements, including statutory kinship care

For more information, see https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/camps-sports-and-excursions-fund/guidance/eligibility

Eligibility Date

For concession card holders CSEF eligibility will be subject to the parent/carer concession card being validated successfully with Centrelink on the first day of either term one (31 January 2022) or term two (26 April 2022).

PAYMENT AMOUNTS

CSEF payment amount

The CSEF is an annual payment to the school to be used towards camps, sports and/or excursion expenses for the ben efit of the eligible stud ent.

• Primary school student rate: $125 per year.
• Secondary school student rate: $225 per year.

The CSEF is paid directly to your child’s school and will be allocated by the school towards camps, sports and/or excursion costs for your child.

For ungraded students, the rate payable is determined by the student’s date of birth. For more information, see: www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/Pages/csef.aspx

HOW TO COMPLETE THE APPLICATION FORM

NOTE: ALL SECTIONS MUST BE COMPLETED BY PARENT/LEGAL GUARDIAN

1. Complete the PARENT/CARER DETAILS section.

Make sure that the Surname, First Name, and Customer Reference Number (CRN) details match those on your concession card. You will also need to provide your concession card to the school.

If you are claiming as a temporary Foster Parent or a Veteran Affairs Pensioner, you will need to provide a copy of documentation confirming your status as a temporary Foster Parent or provide your Veterans Affairs Pensioner Gold card to the school.

If you are seeking special consideration, mark this in the form and provide a copy of the relevant documentation.

2. Complete the STUDENT/S DETAILS section for students at this school.

3. Sign and date the form and return it to the school office as soon as possible. The CSEF program for 2022 closes on the 24 June 2022.

Forms are available through the front office or online Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) application form (education.vic.gov.au)

Conveyance Allowance

To be eligible for a conveyance allowance, individual students will be assessed under the following criteria:

1. Attend a school/campus located outside the metropolitan conveyance allowance boundary
2. Attend the closest appropriate school/campus at which admission is permissible
3. For students attending specialist schools, this will be determined by the specialist school’s Designated Transport Area (DTA) in which the student resides
4. For students attending government schools, this will be the closest school/campus appropriate to the age and gender of the student (e.g. primary, secondary, single sex)
5. For students attending non-government schools, this will be the closest school/campus of the recognised denomination for conveyance allowance purposes.
6. Reside 4.8km or more from the school/campus (shortest practicable route calculated by the school attended at the time of application from the student’s home to the school/campus)
7. Be of school age (between five and 18-years-old at the time of application), and a resident of Victoria
8. Be enrolled and travelling to school three or more days per week.

Students’ circumstances can change during their school years (e.g. moving residence or changing schools/campuses). Change of circumstances affects eligibility and a new application must be submitted with each change of circumstance.

Private car
A private car conveyance allowance is not available if the journey could have been made using a public transport service or free school bus.

• Where there is more than one student in the vehicle, there are two rates claimable: ‘furthermost’ and ‘additional.’
• Where there is more than one student in a vehicle, and they attend different schools, the amount claimable is based on the distance travelled to school by each student. That is each student must be the subject of a separate application and the student attending the furthermost school is identified as the ‘furthermost’ student; each of the other students must be claimed as ‘additional’.
• Rates are calculated according to the distance (measured in kilometres) from home to the campus attended using the Department’s standard measurement method; for details of the rates claimable, refer to Appendix 1 Conveyance Allowance Rates
• It is assumed that all students from the same family will travel in one car therefore only one family member may claim furthermost student allowance.

Pro-rata adjustment of reimbursement (time fraction)

Where students change school, transport mode and/or address that affect the payment of conveyance allowance, pro-rata payments are made, having regard to the number of days of actual attendance. It is the responsibility of each school to report any mid-semester student changes and the required pro-rata adjustments that are required.

Late payments
Late (past year) applications cannot be accepted or paid.

Any inquiries relating to this allowance or to any bus travel matter may be directed to Tracey Williams at the College office Phone: 5337 2222.

** FAMILIES ARE REQUIRED TO SUBMIT A NEW CLAIM FORM EACH YEAR** FORMS ARE AVAILABLE FROM THE FRONT OFFICE