Today our Year 12 VCE English students commence the largest exam of the VCE exam schedule. The three-hour exam is a daunting assessment, and our thoughts and prayers go out to all those students sitting exams over the next three weeks of 2021.

We were excited to learn on Monday that our Year 9 camp will be able to proceed during the week of November 8^th- 12^th. Class groups 1-4 will attend camp from Monday to Wednesday, and Class groups 5-8 will attend from Wednesday to Friday. Assistant Principal of Student Wellbeing, Andrew Robertson, conducted an online session for families last Wednesday, and he is repeating it again this week. The session is to ensure families understand the supports in place to enable the maximum participation of students. Damascus is committed to providing this opportunity for peer collaboration and activity to assist the movement back into school. If families of Year 9 students have any concerns, please approach Andrew or your House Leader. We would love to have every Year 9 student attend.

TA interviews take place remotely next Monday, Wednesday and Thursday (November 1^st - All day, 3^rd and 4^th - Afternoons). Bookings will open for families today. This is a really important opportunity for families to touch base with your student/s in the presence of their TA about their experience this year and enables us to make sure we move through these final weeks positively. If you have difficulty making a booking, please contact the College office, and Aleceia Gason will assist you.

Today there is a Seeds of Justice virtual event taking place for some Year 10 and 11 students. This foundation of justice aligns with the casual clothes day this coming Friday for Catholic Missions. The gold coin donations on Friday go towards the genuine support of communities in need around the world. Please encourage your student/s to support the casual clothes day.

One of the challenges we are encountering as students return onsite is some inattentiveness to uniform. We appreciate that adults often leave home before students and that establishing routines again presents its own trials. I do ask that families please make sure students have the correct uniform, particularly socks.

It was a busy night at the Board last Thursday with the motion being adopted to transfer the Governance of the College to the Diocese of Ballarat Catholic Education Limited (DOBCEL) at the start of next year. This decision marks another point of change in the history of the College, which for 140 years has seen the collaboration between the Sisters of Mercy and the Parishes in Governance of this community. This next iteration of governance will continue to build on the rich foundations of the College interpreted to meet contemporary needs and will be facilitated by the diocesan corporate and canonical entity DOBCEL. The signing of the transfer agreement took place on Friday, and we are working through the operational elements in readiness for next year.

The College budget was also adopted at the meeting for 2022, together with the Strategic Plan for 2021 -2025. The budget sees a 3% growth in fees for next year, following zero growth this year. There is significant support built into the budget for families, in line with the policies of the Board. The Strategic plan is already impacting school decision making and will be promulgated for the start of next year.

This week we farewell Beth Carroll from the staff team. Beth has been at the College for nearly three years, and her positive and friendly nature has been a great extension of the support of the IT helpdesk. She and the team have been extraordinary in the support of Damascus as we switched over to MS Teams and remote learning over the past 18 months. Beth has been an enthusiastic supporter of Performing Arts, and I am sure has assisted most members of this community at one time or another. We wish Beth well and thank her for being a caring and generous contributor to Damascus College.

This Friday is World Teachers Day. We are very fortunate at Damascus to have a hard working and committed staff team who approach their work in a professional way every day. This has been very evident in 2021! On Friday, we will celebrate all those involved in the educational endeavour in our school and thank God for their contribution. We missed International Educational Support day during lockdown, so we will celebrate all the educators in our community this Friday. We pray for all those who educate our young people.

Loving and compassionate God, we bring the teachers, administrators, leaders, educational support staff, technical staff, the support staff, development staff, IT staff, wellbeing staff, and the maintenance staff of our school and all those who work at Damascus College before you. In their vocation as educators, may they continue the teaching ministry of Christ. We pray for your blessings over their lives, their work, their livelihood, and their families. Guide them with your wisdom. May they be empowered by your Spirit to see the needs of their students and to inspire those under their care. We make this prayer to you, our loving God, and we ask that you keep our Year 12 students close at this time too. AMEN

We keep Martin (staff) and Maree Ryan and their family in our thoughts and prayers as they grieve the passing of Martin’s Mum and celebrate her life. May she rest in peace.

Until next week…

#DamascusCollege #DamascusPride #BeMyBest

This year as part of their Humanities studies a group of Damascus College Year 8 students participated in the National History Challenge. Today at lunchtime teacher Ms Muirhead and Learning Area Leader Mr Macklin were thrilled to present certificates to those who have been selected by the school to progress to the state level of the competition.

The theme for the 2021 National History Challenge is Significance: History Matters. The Challenge is a research-based competition for students. It gives students a chance to be an historian, researching world history, examining Australia’s past, investigating their community or exploring their own roots. It emphasises and rewards quality research, the use of community resources and effective presentation.

Students taking part in the challenge can work in teams or as individuals and may present their work in a number of formats including an essay, 3D model, multimedia presentation, website or a performance piece.

Congratulations to Year 8 Humanities students Jesse Rallis, Tilly Palmer, Gretta Ashley, Mathilda Jones, Liam O’Beirne, Kara Johnson, Jack Sproull, Alyssa Birkett and Elli Wallace who achieved a “Young Historian Bronze” certificate for their work so far.

We look forward to seeing how you progress through the next levels of this National competition.

#ImSupported

At the Year 12’s final day on Wednesday 20 October, the Year 11 students and staff formed a socially distanced guard of honour to clap the students out one last time, which culminated in the throwing of the graduation caps - a fitting end to their six years at Damascus.

To our Year 12 students - good luck with life after high school and remember - you made it through a pandemic in your final year of school – that’s amazing – it well and truly holds you in good stead for handling all of life’s ups and downs, once you step beyond our Damascus doors. Good luck!

Year 12 Final Day Video

Year 12 Students also worked hard to produce an engaging video to mark the milestone of their end to secondary school. The student and staff cohort today enjoyed the Final Assembly video where students were celebrated for their six-year journey at Damascus, the video also presented awards including the Ron Matthews Shield – congratulations St Martin House!

Please enjoy the Year 12 student celebration video, taken from today’s full final assembly video that was shared with students and their families.

Our VCE Music Performance class of 2021 featured six students who worked with dedication and commitment on their instrument to produce a 25 minute program which they performed as their final exam over the past three weeks. The cross section of instrument studies and repertoire came from more ‘classical’ genres through to the contemporary genres of music. These included clarinet, violin, contemporary piano and contemporary guitar. Our students dedicated part of each day from the very beginning of the year on top of their other study commitments which also included music theory, aural and listening analysis to put together a program they should all be very proud of. Not only were their performances accessed on their technical skill on the instrument but their ability to shape and interpret the music and make it their own. In the case of group performance, the assessment also includes how the performer interacts and performs with the other members of the ensemble.

This talented group of year 12 students amidst a year where they weren’t able to practice their performance skills live, worked in conjunction with each other to perform remotely and onsite when they could and without the normal feedback from an audience were still able to hone their performance skills to a very competent standard. I congratulate and commend each of our VCE Music Performance students: Eliza Karslake, Madeleine Withers, Caspian Linayao, Zac McCarthy, William Deans and Jarrod O’Brien, for their contribution to the music department as both soloists and ensemble players at Damascus over the past six years as well as their achievements at a VCE level. I feel most privileged to have witnessed their growth and passion for music and hope that it continues to flourish as they move beyond the secondary music classroom.

Some great results amongst our young scientists during lockdown and remote learning! Please congratulate them if you see them. Thanks. Ivanka.

2021 Science Competition Results

Science Olympiads

Congratulations to the following students who were nominated by their teachers and enthusiastically completed the Science Olympiads examinations online during lockdown and remote learning. Well done!

Chemistry: Credit: Tristan Clonan Distinction: Xavier Clonan

Physics: Credit: Tristan Clonan and Katelyn Barensten

Biology: Credit: Sinead Sugars, Laura Lee and Brady Lucas

Participation: Chemistry – Lewis Clark, Tiarna Parry, Sinead Sugars, Brayden Welsh, Harrison Welsh

Participation: Biology – Tiarna Parry

Participation : Physics – Xavier Clonan, Fraser Crumpler

2021 International Chemistry Quiz

Congratulations to the following students who obtained certificates in the 2021 International Chemistry Quiz. The quiz was completed online during lockdown and remote learning! Well done!

Year 9: Distinction: Zoe Newman

Year 11: Distinction: Teisha Erdody; Lucas Brady; Will McGifford; Rohan Thiele

Year 12: High Distinction: Mia Lepair

Year 12: Credit: Nicholas Kattula; Maya Tolliday

Sporting Colours Day 2021 - Friday Oct 29

Catholic Mission operates through the international structure of the Catholic Church and is part of the international Catholic network known as the Pontifical Mission Societies. Catholic Mission respects the principle of “local initiative” and “self-determination” as all project funding requests originate from an existing community or work, often from a parish community or a religious congregation.

Pope Francis has highlighted his passion for the Pontifical Mission Societies, known in Australia as Catholic Mission, recognising mission is at the heart and identity of the Church, and the worldwide network reflects the rich variety of “people with a thousand faces”.

‘You are Mission’ is a message for all of us. As Pope Francis writes in his World Mission Day message, ’Every man and woman is a mission; that is the reason for our life on this earth’.

Our Casual Day supports this work all around the globe, including Australia. The Damascus College Justice Action Group has been working hard to promote this day.

Bringing a significant donation shows your support of those most in need. Wearing sporting colours shows that you are aware of the many privileges that we enjoy, even in a pandemic.

Congratulations to Year 10 students Breanna Gale, Sophie Busuttil and Jake Sbardella for recently featuring in the ‘Compassion Heroes Ballarat’ book, which is a series of stories from local students who have initiated projects of extraordinary kindness and compassion.

Breanna was celebrated for her volunteering to coach junior Basketball during COVID, Jake was celebrated for raising funds to support homelessness and those in need within the community, and Sophie was celebrated for designing and creating clay pines to raise funds to donate to Headspace Ballarat, in support of mental health and awareness.

These stories are being distributed across Ballarat, Australia and globally though Compassionate Ballarat, which is part of the global Charter for Compassion, comprising over 430 cities around the world, working to make the world a more compassionate place.

Well done Breanna, Sophie and Jake – your selfless approach and passion has made a positive difference to others within our community.

Please see following the end of year hours for Dobson's on site:-