Help me to be prepared for the challenges I face each day.
Help me to be open to difficult tasks.
Help me to be determined to complete my work.
Help me to be responsible in all I do.
Help me to be accepting of people’s differences.
Help me to be kind in my thoughts and words.
Help me to be aware of my talents.
Help me to be myself – to be the best that I can be.
Amen.
Welcome to our first edition of Damascus News! I hope you have had a restful Christmas, where you have been able to connect with family and friends and were nourished by the Spirit of the Holy Season. Christmas is a time to celebrate our families, friends and loved ones. May you be blessed with a year filled with much joy, growth and sustainable relationships.
This year the College is trialling a new format for Damascus News; it will be published fortnightly and will contain important information from all members of our College Leadership Team, Learning Areas, Faith and Wellbeing. It is each of these spheres that contribute to the growth of our wonderful community. We have been privileged to continue the work of our pioneering schools and the dedication and commitment of the Sisters of Mercy, our Diocesan parishes, and the Greater Ballarat community.
As a leadership team, we continue to honour and respect our founders but challenge ourselves to continue to be leaders in the education of young people. Our Founders and pioneers challenged the status quo and valued the place of learning and working in partnership with families to provide learning that is relevant, enriching and sustaining to one’s mind, body and faith.
The College Leadership Team began this year with a three-day Leadership Retreat with Dr David Paul, a lecturer and consultant in Change Management from New South Wales. David has worked with many state, national and international organisations promoting growth, challenge and innovation. As a Leadership Team, we have a mandate to continue to work at the edges to further promote and develop a faith-learning community that ensures each community member is named, known and respected. David and the Leadership Team have worked tirelessly to ensure that we are able to be our best! Our Leadership Team will continue to model best practices and to grow as leaders in learning, faith and wellbeing.
At the start of the year, the staff were involved in two days of professional learning. I thank our community for working with us and enabling us to have this privileged time. Our staff participated in several workshops that explored our faith, contemporary student wellbeing, using data to inform our classroom practice and how our staff can construct learning experiences that meet the needs of all learners in the classroom. I thank the staff who led the workshops and shared their wisdom and craft with our staff.
Tuesday morning was both exciting and exhilarating for our community, where we welcomed our Year 7 and 12 students. The day enabled our Year 7 students to settle into the College and be inducted into our practices and the demands of secondary school. I am grateful for the work of all staff, but l would like to acknowledge the work of Ms Laura Kimm, who developed a wonderful transition program for our Year 7 students.
Wednesday we welcomed the entire community and began our day with a student-led assembly. Again l was filled with pride to see how our students returned with Damascus energy, humility and joy. At the assembly, l introduced a new ritual – a contemporary song that would stimulate and motivate us to explore our College theme and be inspirational. With our student leaders, we chose Sarah Blasko’s song, “We Won’t Run.” I invited our College Captains – Sophie Busitill and Xavier Byrne, accompanied by Carina Drake, who spoke about how the song resonated with them. I was so impressed by their insights and their willingness to share their thoughts with 1300 people. The song is about challenge, believing in oneself and starting each day anew. The students were able to articulate how one needs to stop doubting themselves to genuinely be their best every day. I have even attached the link for you to view here
At the Assembly, l spoke to our students about being their best, to celebrate their gifts, to remember the basic tenets of respect for self, respect for others and respect for their school. As a community, our focus is to harness student pride, achievement and excellence in ourselves, whatever that may be. Each year presents new beginnings and the chance to start afresh. I encourage you to work with your young person to view life as a challenge, a gift and an opportunity to stand tall.
Last year, I set Maria Russell the challenge of choosing a song to begin our first College Assembly. I only spoke to Maria in the last week of term 4. Yet, the highlight of Wednesdays Assembly was our Music students performing the Coldplay song, Viva La Vida. So capably led by Alex Weston, Carina Drake and Akaisha O’Keefe. The students rehearsed, rose to the occasion were able to get the entire school community to stand and sing the chorus. I encourage you to see the energy, passion and pride of our school community in the below video: -
This we have welcomed a number of new staff to join our dynamic team.
Sharon Lehtonen – Assistant Principal Catholic School Culture
Ligia Lupoiu- Co-Curricular Music program Coordinator & Music Tutor
Hamish McCrum – Mathematics Learning Area Leader
Kahlia McDaid – Learning Support Officer- Extensive Needs
Michelle Jans – First Aid
Bridget Prunty – Learning Support Officer- Extensive Needs
Cindy Reus – Parent Reception
Marcus Ryan – Teacher of Drama & Humanities
Brianah Walsh – Teacher of English
Anton Wilson – Teacher of Systems & Materials
Last week each family received a list of our staff, their emails and respective roles. I encourage you to reach out to our staff if you have concerns about your student. Damascus College prides itself on our relationships; please continue to work in partnership with us. We also supplied another document advising key dates; I encourage you to print the handout and place it on your fridge so you can be reminded of our key events. If you have misplaced it or need a new copy, please click on the links below: -
Next week our Year 12 students head off for the Annual Retreat to Angelsea; l look forward to spending time with our students and developing a deeper awareness of our young people. I wish our rowers well this weekend with the Regatta at Lake Wendouree. I encourage our families to come down to the lake to cheer and support our teams.
2023 has been established to be a year of change and growth; my hope is that we work together to build an even more dynamic faith-learning community.
Steven is an innovative and passionate leader and his leadership style is one that is highly relational and visible. His personal educational vision is to work in relationship and in partnership with all members of the community to create a faith learning dynamic that celebrates, affirms, and challenges people to achieve personal excellence.
Damascus College wishes to thank Mr Christopher Grant, Interim Principal for the leadership he has given to the College, since the departure of Mr Matthew Byrne at the end of Term 1 2022.