Today our Year 9 students switch over for their camp experience at Anglesea. It has been great to hear reports of students working together on physical activities and undertaking new challenges. Today's weather has been damp, but the forecast for tomorrow is fair, and I am sure students will be pleased just to be out and about. I am very grateful for the efforts that everyone has made to bring this to reality, particularly Assistant Principal of Student Wellbeing, Andrew Robertson and Xavier House Leader, Hannah Keating.

Thank you to all those families who have had to juggle isolation over the past fortnight. We are almost all back onsite from tomorrow, and I am very grateful for the response of all within our community.

Our Year 12 students' final exams are progressing, with many students undertaking their final exam each day this week. Indonesian is the very last exam, and it will take place next Wednesday, before the Year 12 Graduation on Thursday afternoon. Year 12 students have been remarkable in all they have achieved over the last 18 months, and we are very proud of them as individuals and as a cohort, and we look forward to celebrating this next week.

Year 11 exams are currently underway, and Year 10 students will undertake Mathematics and English exams over the coming days. Next Tuesday is our final day of classes for the 2021 academic year. Next Wednesday, 17th November, we have a student-free day before we commence our Early Start program with students moving up from one year level to the next from Thursday 18^th November.

Students progress to the next year level within the Early Start Program for the final two weeks of the College year. Students will commence their new pathways subjects and will be in their new core groups. I remind families that there have been booklist requirements for this period notified, predominately stationary and English texts. The purpose of the program is to ensure that learning opportunities are optimised to the very last day of the year for all students and that they are getting the best learning experience possible at Damascus.

Student timetables will be available through SIMON and PAM throughout the day on Wednesday. It will be important to note the days students have PE to ensure they are appropriately equipped for their classes.

Within the Early Start Program, where we have new staff starting at the College, we have tried to engage them for this period. Where that has not been possible, we have drawn on existing staff, particularly Year 7 teachers, to ensure that students begin their program with consistent and quality teaching, ready for the next staff member to pick up the learning program. These next two weeks are assessable learning and will contribute to semester one grades for 2022.

Damascus students will proudly represent the College at three different wreath-laying ceremonies tomorrow as we commemorate Remembrance Day. Students will also take part in a reflection here at school in the lead up to the 11.00am commemoration. I thank Humanities Leader, Gerard Macklin for his facilitation of this opportunity, with the support of Tony Haintz.

In a time when we see the growing secularisation of society, opportunities seem ever more evident to link the traditions of the College's foundational faith beliefs with the non-religious dimensions of society. This week as we approach Remembrance Day on 11^th November, we are also in the month of remembrance within our Church tradition. A third element of this alignment is that it is the anniversary of the death of Catherine McAuley (11th November), the founder of the Sisters of Mercy. As people of hope, and regardless of our place on a journey of faith, both Remembrance Day and our Church's Holy Souls tradition focus on the hope and joy of everlasting peace in unison with our loving God. The College hosted a liturgy of remembrance yesterday in our TA pastoral lesson to remember all those we have loved and lost.

We keep in our prayers this week, Zac McCarthy (Year 12) and his family on the loss of his maternal grandmother. May she rest in eternal peace.

Until next week ….

CASUAL DAY FOR CATHOLIC MISSION – NOW Friday 19^th November

After the shock lockdown the closed the college for the previous rescheduled date, the importance of Catholic Mission, has led to another day.

As Pope Francis has said

“With great humility, we should confess that we are often incompetent when it comes to the poor.

We talk about them in the abstract; we stop at statistics and we think we can move people's hearts by filming a documentary. Poverty, on the contrary, should motivate us to creative planning, aimed at increasing the freedom needed to live a life of fulfilment according to the abilities of each person."

Pope Francis, Message for the World Day of the Poor 2021, n 7.

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.

In the Roman Catholic tradition, the month of November is a time for recalling those we love who are no longer with us.

Each year in November the College recalls those who have passed and are associated with members of the College community.

Our prayer in 2021 was prepared with the Senior SRC for 2022 taking a leading role.

Leader: We remember the past staff, past students, friends, and family members who have died.

As we remember them, we give thanks to God for sharing in their passions and their joys

We light this candle in their name.

Leader: We pray for all who mourn the loss of someone they love.

As we bring them to mind, we seek God’s comfort and strength in our prayer of support.

We light this candle in their name.

As our College has responded to the challenges of delivering practical classes online over the past two years, our resilient students have continued to rise to the occasion. The Year 9 Horticulture class are one of the many groups who have responded well to the change, with their recent home-based practical assessment on the propagation of cuttings producing some outstanding work.

Featured in this article is Year 9 student Madison Rosenhart’s experiment, where she investigated the effect of placing a plastic bag over propagated Rosemary and observed its growth in comparison to a non-covered set of Rosemary. Madison was commended on her excellent results throughout the experiment, with the covered plant growing larger with thicker roots.

Despite the absence of Damascus’ gardening facilities and bush-setting for a majority of their study, Madison and the Year 9 Horticulture class continue to achieve.

Good news – the Bright Futures Breakfast community event will be taking place on Tuesday 233^rd November and we have some tickets available.

Tickets are $30pp which includes a sumptuous sit down breakfast, with all proceeds going towards the Bright Futures Scholarship. This breakfast event runs from 7am to 8.45am, with doors opening at 6.15am for registration.

If you wish to attend, there are tickets still available at: https://www.trybooking.com/BQGKK

All proceeds raised from the breakfast go towards the Bright Futures Scholarship, to be able to offer another scholarship to a Year 7 student in the future, which gives 50% tuition relief for the duration of their schooling at the College. This scholarship is for the purpose of supporting students and families who are experiencing financial or personal disadvantage and demonstrate a strong commitment to social justice and leadership. For further information on this worthy scholarship, please go to https://www.damascus.vic.edu.au/enrolment/scholarships

This event can proceed as it is a smaller community event, but it will be following the required COVID safe guidelines:

• All attendees must be double vaccinated and your vaccination certificate must be shown upon arrival
• Density limits apply; 1 per four square metres
• Face masks are required, unless eating and drinking
• QR code check-ins
• Practice good hand hygiene, hand sanitizer will be provided

We hope you can join us for this annual Damascus College community event.

#DamascusCollege #DamascusPride #BeMyBest

Congratulations to Damascus College Year 12 student Esther Dunlop who has completed a Deakin University Accelerate Program in Psychology this year.

The Deakin Accelerate program provides the same benefits as studying a fifth or sixth VCE subject while gaining university credit and reducing the cost of your future degree at Deakin. It is a pathway that lets you gain credit on successful competition of your units towards a related course without tuition fees.

Esther is a Damascus Shining Light leading the way for other students as she is the first Damascus student to pursue an Accelerated Program at Deakin.

Kudo's to you Esther, we wish you every success as your journey continues. We can't wait to see what you do next.

#ImReadyToTakeOnAnything