From the Principal
27 October
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 8th- 12th. 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 1st - All day, 3rd and 4th - 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…