Tomorrow, 13th May is the feast of the Ascension of Jesus into the full presence of God, 40 days after his resurrection on Easter Sunday. I have been grappling this week with the scripture of Ascension Sunday (Mk 16:15-20) and have found it challenging. It has been the last two verses that I have found most accessible;

¹⁹ So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. ²⁰ And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.

The place of Catholic Education “to proclaim the Good News everywhere” is our mission. The evidence, the signs that accompany this proclamation, have been all around me this week. If we project back 12 months, our school activity was curtailed to only that which we could achieve remotely. This week we have Year 7 and 9 students undertaking NAPLAN, Year 9 students working with community members on career opportunities in Science, Mathematics and Technology; Year 10 students engaged in Work Experience or their retreat and CPDA learning opportunities, Year 11 and 12 VCAL students have been receiving micro-credentials as baristas and working on problem-solving skills, Year 8 students have been camping at Anglesea and building their friendships, knowledge and skills, Year 12 VCE English students have been building and refining their creative piece for their second SAC. The diversity of learning and the strength of engagement has been a wonderful testament to the presence of God in our lives. A presence more fully appreciated when you consider none of these things proceeded this time last year.

So, as I grapple with the mystery of Jesus coming into the fullness of God’s presence, I am again grateful for the gifts of so many within this community in creating enormously diverse learning opportunities. I am also mindful of the challenge and uncertainty that students and families may struggle with as we enter unfamiliar learning practices and acknowledge the courage required by students and families to undertake new experiences.

Thank you to those families who were able to take part in the Mother’s Day Mass and Breakfast last week. I thank Sarah Boswell and Cathy Prunty and all those who supported them in bringing the morning together.

I congratulate Luke Gallagher, Charles Snare, Monique Vereker, Gemma Daly, Olivia Daly, and Ethan Rae, who represented Damascus College at the 2021 Victorian School Associations Swimming Competition on Monday, and I thank Health and PE Learning Area Leader, Brett Stone for his support of these students.

Next week we have TA interviews. The Damascus College Teacher Advisor program is one of the key mechanisms that we use to partner with families in the educating of young people. The College, the student and the family need to work together to maximise the learning opportunity for each young person in this community.

These interviews are at the forefront of our spiritual, pastoral and academic communication with families. It is expected that students and parents engage with this opportunity. The interview next week will include a review of movement towards achieving goals set in the first term and acknowledging any concerns to this point, and navigating the educational experience over the next few months.

We believe the best engagement is face to face. Being onsite allows the ability to support families to check lockers or gain IT assistance if devices need updating. We are also refining our learnings from 2020 to best support maximum family engagement and connection. Therefore, the MS Teams software will continue to be an option for this interview cycle. Provision has been made for the option of online interviews through the MS Teams software on the student devices as per remote learning in first term.

Tuesday and Thursday afternoons will be remote appointments. On Wednesday, families are encouraged to meet onsite. If this is not possible, families can engage via MS Teams if needed, as we want to maximise family engagement. Information has been sent to families regarding booking through the Parent Access Module (PAM). I remind families that next Wednesday, 19^th May, is a non-teaching day and students are only required at school with their family for their interview.

We pray for all those who are grieving at this moment.

Until next week…

MATT

Our community is invited to the Bright Futures Breakfast, where you will hear from our special guest speaker Jocelyn Bignold (OAM), CEO of McAuley Community Services for Women. Guests will also be treated to a sit down breakfast, similar to the recent Mother's Day breakfast.

Jocelyn will share with guests, her wisdom and experience so far, whilst also speaking of some of the wonderful services available to help women and children experiencing hardship in our community.

Jocelyn took some time out of her busy schedule to record a short message inviting community members to come along to this upcoming event at the Damascus Events Centre.

Please register for the event at https://www.trybooking.com/BQGKK

Watch Jocelyn’s video below

Congratulations to Year 11 student Adut Manyiel, for her selection with the u/17 Victoria State netball team for the upcoming National Championships, to be played in Hobart during July.

Well done Adut.

Last Thursday 6 May we held our annual Mother's Day Liturgy & Breakfast which was a wonderful celebration of the significant women in our lives.

Guests were treated to a liturgy in the JSC led by Fr Kevin Maloney before sitting down to a sumptuous breakfast in the Damascus Events Centre.

It was heart-warming to welcome so many mothers, grandmothers and the significant women in our lives, to our beautiful campus to share breakfast whilst networking with other Damascus families.

We thank all guests for their generous contribution to our Bright Futures Scholarship raffle, as we raised $865 for this worthy cause.

We wish everyone a peaceful and happy Mother's Day on Sunday, and we thank God for the females in our lives and all that they do to support the young people of Damascus College.

The annual STEM expo yesterday was successful in giving our Year 9 students the opportunity to explore careers in STEM. This annual expo promotes careers in Science, Technology, Allied Health, Medicine, Engineering and Maths (STEM) amongst the student body.

Members of the Ballarat community, past students and parents of Damascus College who work in the STEM area are invited back to speak and inspire students about their occupation.

Each Year 9 student will spend time with six to eight scientists for 10 to 15 minutes each. Students will rotate amongst speakers, where they will listen, talk, ask questions and complete a worksheet on their experience.

This event exposes students to careers in Biology, Engineering, Chemistry, Maths, Environmental Science, Technology, Physics and Psychology.

This year we welcome speakers who are Physiotherapists, Research Technicians, Geologists, Midwives, Nurses, Environmental Scientists, Chiropractors, Cancer Researchers, Occupational Therapists and students studying Nursing, Paramedicine, Biomedical and Mechanical engineering, Forensic Scientists, Sports Science.

We wish to sincerely thank the past students, parents and members of the community that attended the expo, to speak to our students so passionately about their occupation.

Students left with a sense of inspiration for what could be possible into the future.

Our senior drama students will present three original performance pieces as a showcase of their talents, skills and abilities, on 26 - 28 May, 7.30pm.

This year’s 2021 Drama ensemble is an original play based loosely on Shaun Tans picture book 'The Lost Thing'.

There are three things in life: things that are lost, things that are found, and all the stuff in between.

Please come and support our senior students as audience feed-back is vital to this task. No booking is necessary and entry cost is a gold coin donation. Venue is the Valda Ward Auditorium.

Year 10 students Alex Western and Imogen Kors performed in the recent production of King Midas, as part of the Western Ballet Project at Her Majesty’s Theatre.

Alex was the lead character of King Midas and Imogen was the Lead Rose.

Alex said that it was a wonderful experience and a real privilege.

“The part required constant focus and rehearsing to understand the choreography, as I was on stage for the duration of the show,” he said.

Alex first got involved in ballet starting with a small acrobatics class, he then moved on to another dance school at age 10.

Imogen said they had to travel to Melton for rehearsals and the training was intense, with so much choreography to learn in a short amount of time.

“It was a really enjoyable to be dancing with so many talented dancers and to be a part of bringing this production to life. It was an amazing experience,” said Imogen.

Imogen has been involved in ballet since the age 3, and then went on to calisthenics at 7 years old.

In July, Imogen will perform as part of the Brisbane City Youth Ballet production Snow Queen

Every year as a teacher of senior drama I must select from a given number of prescribed plays that students will need to view and analyse. Attending and analysing a performance by professional drama performers provides opportunities for students to build upon their experience of how the many elements and aspects of theatre can be used to create performance. It also is a valuable way of making connections to their own work.

New Zealand production company A Slightly Isolated Dog came to the Geelong Performing Arts centre at the end of last month to perform Jekyll and Hyde from Robert Louis Stevenson’ classic novel using this as a vehicle for their madcap comic fun. Damascus drama students from year 11 & 12 were bused to the venue with more than a strong inkling that they were in for an experience out of the ordinary

As we entered the five-piece group welcome us, mingling with the audience and asking polite questions. Speaking in extravagant French accents and covering all areas of the theatre. In these opening moments we further got a taste of the immersive, highly-charged fun that awaited us. The first ten minutes of the production was something of a sharing session with the performers discussing what they have learned about the audience – with impressive recollection of our names and details. This indicated that the audience was to be a big part of the show – whether we liked it or not.

The core of the is a satirical take on a piece of classical literature – in this case Jekyll and Hyde – but a very loose adaptation at best. That doesn’t really describe it though. Because the majority of the show is a semi-improvised take on tales told about Mr Hyde, with a healthy amount of audience interaction mixed in with them. There’re stories about Mr. Hyde killing every member of the English Cricket team, tales of him breaking every plate in the Debenham’s crockery department, and tales of him committing petty crimes, like kicking people in the shin.

Every member of the cast was able to spellbind us with their humour and were able to come up with brilliant stingers and stories on the spot. They worked hard to make us feel comfortable which was so extraordinarily important for a show with quite so much audience interaction. They also weaved in musical interludes, which were excellent for setting the tone- their use of Nicki Minaj and Billie Eilish was especially great.

After the loss of theatre that were so much a part of 2020 this was such a wonderfully immersive, creative and entertaining experience for the students and great fodder for them to develop their analytical and practical skills.

Please see below a list of valuable Parent Webinars:-

• May 5^th - Time Management techniques to align the family expectations on homework and achieve school-life balance.
• May 19^th - Memory and effective revision. Why rote learning is ineffective and our top strategies for effective revision.
• June 2^nd - Exam Preparation to ensure students are prepared and confident going into the exam room.
• June 16^th - Stress and Wellbeing. How parents can support their child in tougher periods and manage school-related stress.

Please click here to registrar for any of the above events.

Do you want to take part in the Push-Up Challenge across June 1st - 25th? Do you want to challenge yourself to do 3,318 push-ups over 25 days? If you have answered YES to both these questions, click here to join up and register to be a part of the Damascus College team. Collectively we can do our bit to raise awareness and funds for mental health in Australia - in particular for Headspace Ballarat.

Push for better mental health - get your parents, siblings, cousins, family and friends involved by asking them to also join the Damascus College team. Get fit, have fun, learn about mental health. If you have any questions, please email Mrs Hexter at n.hexter@damascus.vic.edu.au

Click here for more information.

Over the past two days, our amazing VCAL students have undertaken their Barista Accreditations and participated in a series of Employability Skills workshops.

The VCAL staff have been able to assess transferable employability skills to promote awareness and encourage future development in our Students.

Well done to all involved.