This Friday marks the final day of classes for the graduating class of 2020. It has been a remarkable year for this student cohort, and we commend their resilience in a year that has seen them experience education in their final year in a unique and unusual way. They will undoubtedly have a story to tell their grand-children over the decades to come. Our assembly will be available to Year 12 families via web-link shared by email from 2:20 pm this Friday afternoon and can be watched later in the day if parents or families cannot log in at that time. We pray for our Year 12 VCAL and VCE students as they transition to this next stage of life’s journey!

We are excited this week that the Government has announced that we can gather students together for a graduation ceremony and we are planning for this to take place on 3rd December. More details will be provided to families shortly.

We have been releasing Year 7-9 students early this term to enable reduced congestion at lockers. On Friday, Year 11 and 12 students will be out of classrooms in lesson 6 as part of the final Year 12 assembly. Year 7-9 students will not be released until 3:17pm, so if you would typically collect your junior student at the end of the day, they may be slightly delayed on Friday.

TA interview bookings are now open. I cannot stress highly enough that families take this opportunity to engage with your TA about your young person’s return to onsite schooling. The educational partnership between the College and home is critical, so please book a time on Monday, Wednesday or Thursday of next week to discuss your young person/people’s progress. If you have any concerns with booking, please contact Aleciea Gason through the College office.

Next Monday, 2^nd November is a non-teaching day for TA interviews, so there is no onsite attendance for students. TA interviews will be conducted remotely via Microsoft Teams. Information regarding the interviews has been sent to families.

Tuesday 3^rd November is the Melbourne Cup public holiday, replacing the former Ballarat Show Day holiday. The College will be closed on Tuesday.

I remind families with a student in Year 9 that device handovers commenced this week, so please remind your student to have all the items required for the device handover to take place.

Can I please ask families support with uniform. Black socks are not part of the PE uniform. Please support the school by asking your student to change their socks if they come out in black socks in the morning.

This Friday is World Teachers Day. We are very fortunate at Damascus to have a hard-working and committed staff team who professionally approach their work each and every day. This has been very evident in 2020! On Friday we will celebrate all those involved in the educational endeavour in our school and thank God for their contribution. We pray for all those who educate our young people.

Giver of all wisdom and greatest of all educators,

Look upon our teachers and educators with love

Grant them the resolve to nurture our students’ eager minds and to never give up on those who fall behind.

Bless their hearts for they rejoice when young people succeed and encourage them when they fail.

Kindle a spirit and passion in them that ignites the love of learning

Help them see the potential in each student

Instil in our educators a commitment to keep on learning so as to model not to fear new knowledge and experiences

Inspire them to touch the future

Let the light of your loving example shine upon all who work with young people at Damascus

To build up with their words

To love with their mind

To share with their heart.

It is to the first and greatest educator that we make this prayer

Amen

If families are taking time away together this weekend, enjoy and travel safely.

We pray for Jett (Year 10) and Abby (Year 9) Thomas and their family as they grieve the loss of a loved parent and grandparent. May the peace of God’s love be with them at this time.

Until next week …

MATT

In the Catholic Tradition, the month of November is a special time to remember those who have died. This year we may not have the option to gather to remember those we have lost, but we still want to take the time to think of them. You are invited to offer the names of people you would like remembered during November. These names will be added to our College Remembrance Book. If you would like to offer someone's name, please complete the form below. Please submit a form for each person you would like remembered.

Please click here to make a submission.

On Monday 26 October the ‘Café DMAC’ Coffee Van was officially launched with a small event organised by VCAL students and staff, to showcase the new-look van. Staff and students in attendance enjoyed slices and cakes to celebrate the occasion.

Several years ago, Damascus students and staff discussed the idea of a school coffee van, where the group visited a large coffee roasting business in Melbourne to gain insights into the world of coffee – from growing to selecting to importing to roasting.

It certainly opened their minds to this multi-billion dollar industry, and answered the questions that when we buy a coffee there is so much that goes into producing that cup.

Students researched various styles of coffee vans – those that were already set up, right through to the idea of buying an old caravan and fitting it out themselves. All the while the students were gearing themselves with the knowledge to take their ideas to the next level.

Around two years ago, Damascus College purchased a van which had the essentials provided which began the College’s venture into providing coffee to the students and staff. Staff member, Tom Inverarity took up the role of skilling up a core of students to make and serve coffee and for the later part of last year staff member, Shaun O’Loughlin took the reins and established a regular operation providing coffee and slices.

It is the hope that the next phase will see us operating the van at off site school events such as the swimming sports and athletic sports, thus giving greater exposure and providing the students with the opportunity with a skill set that is highly transferable.

Staff would like to express thanks to the leadership of Damascus College for supporting these endeavours, former VCAL Applied Learning Coordinator, Tom Inverarity for giving the venture a solid start, the on-going leadership of our present Applied Learning Coordinator, Belinda Dwyer, Shaun O’Loughlin, Neale Thompson and Matthew Hallowell for continuing the work, and, of course, our students for rolling up their sleeves and getting stuck in to the job at hand.

Well done to all involved.

Damascus College has once again risen to the challenge.

$1456.10 was raised through the Socktober efforts including the online donations and the Sporting Colours Casual Day held last Thursday 22nd October.

This effort supports people around the globe the opportunity for a full, enriched life - physically and spiritually - regardless of race, stigma, religion or gender.

Locally and globally, Catholic Mission answers the call to love God and love our neighbour, and work to establish the Reign of God through building communities of missionary disciples of Jesus who share their faith by proclaiming the Word, serving people in need, acting for justice and creation, and adopting child-focused development programs.

Last term, Damascus successfully applied for a Landcare grant supported by Bushmans Water Tanks. The funds from this grant will be put towards the purchase and installation of a greenhouse for the propagation of murnong and other indigenous plants on the Damascus site.

On Wednesday 21^st, students and staff joined in to prepare the site for Damascus College’s new greenhouse. Many hands made light work and the site was tidied up in no time. Students from the Hands On Learning Program also assisted with measuring and mapping the area to work out the placement of the greenhouse and an accompanying cold frame.

It was great to see so many students and staff give up their lunchtime to help out. There will be further works on the site as the greenhouse is installed, so stay tuned.

During our period of Remote Learning, we sent out a call to students, staff and families to share with us what they have been doing at home on the sustainability front. The response was very strong, and we’ve put together a video with some of the shots you shared with us. To finish up our Enviroweek activities for 2020, please enjoy the video.

Thanks to all and keep up the great work!

Congratulations to Damascus students Caspian Linayao, Will McKechnie, Riley McCarthy, Julian Hockey and past student James Mavity, as they were recently awarded the Champion Club Premiership by Rowing Victoria for 2019/2020 season.

Caspian was also awarded the Male Coxswain of the Year, by Rowing Victoria for the 2019-2020 season.

Great effort boys, well done.

Friday October 23rd was Thank You Day, a day of recognition of the sacrifices made by health care workers, businesses and the community in general. Damascus College would like to join in saying a very big 'Thank You' to our school community for your resilience and positivity throughout the pandemic. On Thursday students donned their sporting colours in anticipation of the grand final and were snapped out and about at lunch time enjoying the beautiful weather.

In VCAL RE class students participated in a task called Solar Buddies, which finalised their Term 1 program of small vocations.

Students assembled small solar lights and wrote a small message to go with each solar light. These lights (will then be sterilised) and sent onto energy poor countries/communities so that kids are able to further their education and have access to healthy sustainable light energy.

You may like to view this website for more info : https://solarbuddy.org/about

Please see the downloads below for the October and September Carer News:-

Careers News October 2020

Career Tools News Sep 2020

If you have any questions please contact the Careers Team at the College via careers@damascus.vic.edu.au or 5337 2222.

#DamascusCollege #DamascusPride

In 2021 Damascus College is proudly celebrating 140 years of Catholic Education. Together, we celebrate our proud history and recognise and celebrate our foundation schools; Sacred Heart College, St Paul’s Technical College, and St Martin’s in the Pines.

In 1960 Miss Alice Fanning, who was looked after by the Sisters of Mercy for several years, bequeathed her property in Mt Clear to the Sisters of Mercy on her death in February 1960. The land was used by the Sisters to grow vegetables and raise cattle, and following the decision in 1964 to develop the site for the senior school of Sacred Heart College, the foundation stone was laid in 1966. In 1967, a separate campus for Years 11 and 12 girls was developed at Mt Clear to form Sacred Heart Senior College, St Martin's in the Pines. In 1988, this campus became co-educational, with boys mainly from St Paul's College.

Community events planned for next year include a Gala Event as well as a Community Day. Please visit https://www.damascus.vic.edu.au/news-events/140-year-anniversaryto see more details.

#TogetherWeAreDamascus

The Dobsons Buy Early & Save Sale has been EXTENDED! Continue to save on selected uniform items until the 21st of November 2020 when you shop with Dobsons.

Shop in-store or online with $10 flat rate delivery or click and collect. To shop the sale online go to dobsons.com.au

*Terms & Conditions apply. Sale available online and in stores. COVID-safe policies are in place for all in store transactions including click and collect.