In 2013 Pope Francis reminded each of us that education is evolving and changing and for learning communities to grow we must take risks. “...in educating a balance must be maintained, your steps must be well balanced, one step on the cornice of safety but the other into the zone of risk. And when the risk becomes safe, the next step must venture into another area of risk. Education cannot be confined to the safety zone.” This year our community will be working with the Diocese of Ballarat and our School Advisory Council in the School Improvement Framework. As a community we are tasked to establish school improvement priorities for the next five years, for us to embed our growth, but to take new risks – to think outside the ordinary to become extraordinary.

The staff have already begun to reflect on our success, accept our challenges and to learn from our last school review. Since the last review our College has certainly grown and matured. Our success has been supported and spearheaded by our Strategic Plan we are now ready to review, question and set new goals to become even better. At Damascus we live by our mantra, ‘be my best, be your best, be our best,’ and this year we are excited to be working in this space with the Diocese of Ballarat, to challenge ourselves.

Last we had our first School Improvement Framework (SIF) meeting in preparation of our review. The SIF is made up of five wedges: Catholic School Culture, Community Engagement, Leadership and Stewardship, Learning and Teaching and Wellbeing all viewed through our Catholic School Vision. Staff had the opportunity to complete the Characteristics of Highly Effective Catholic Schools Survey (CHECS) we are now moving into the process of writing our self-reflection report and all staff will have the opportunity to participate in a key aspect of the SIF – Later this term, parents will be invited to provide feedback, too.

Last week we gathered as a College community for our Opening School Eucharist – it was a wonderful celebration for each of us to enriched by our faith tradition. Thanks to Father Justin Driscoll who led our celebration.

This weekend Damascus hosted the Annual Head of Lake at Lake Wendouree. I am grateful for the leadership of Paul Blanchfield and Linda Skidmore, supported by Gavin Webb as Sports Co-ordinator. This year our teams performed wonderfully and displayed a new level of tenacity and enthusiasm. Congratulations to all our crews for their impressive performances with a big shout out to Will Busuttil who took home the School Boys Single Skull, open division 1 race. I was particularly proud of our Year 12 Students who have built on the tradition of our past years and have created even stronger spit crews. The sense of school pride was infectious and palpable well done to our Year 12 student leaders. Thanks to the many staff and parents who came along and supported our young people, in particular to our rowing parent volunteers.

Thursday we have our scheduled Swimming Carnival at the Eureka aquatic centre. As per the newsletter a fortnight ago, students are to arrive at school as normal in the morning and will be transported to the pool from Damascus. The swimming sports, as with every weekday, is a compulsory school day for all students. The sports are an excellent opportunity for students to live life to the full. Not everyone enjoys participating in the swimming events so we have a diverse range of activities to encourage student participation. It is not uncommon for students to put pressure on parents and carers not to attend school on these days but it is imperative that parents stand firm and point out that community events are an important opportunity to learn and to build both team and school spirit.

I wish to flag for Year 7 families the “Meet the Teachers” evening that will take place Wednesday March 13th. Could you please put this in your diary as it is a key element of the Year 7 student induction for 2024.

As we navigate through the challenging forth week in the quest to find Samantha Murphy, I ask you to embrace the Murphy family with the strength of your prayers for a positive resolution.

We understand that this is a distressing time for many in our school community and I encourage any family who feels they or their children would benefit from our College support services to contact their student’s Teacher Advisor, House Leader or Counselling Team on 5337 2222.

I would like to acknowledge the staff and community support through ongoing search parties as we hope and pray for a positive outcome.