Welcome back to Term 4, I hope you have had a restful break and had an opportunity to enjoy the many sporting finals that have occurred over the past fortnight. There is so much we can learn from the finals in sport and the skills we teach through social and emotional learning. Our students can learn perseverance, organisation, resilience and calculated risk taking. Players who participated in the finals over the weekend demonstrated that a commitment to our passion and craft leads to improvement, through tenacity and hard work and even grit, we can achieve many goals. But not being the ultimate premiers does not mean failure. Getting to the premiership is success.

In many ways the AFL Grand Final comes at an opportune time for our senior students, it demonstrates that through hard work, commitment and habits so much can be achieved. Creating regular routines and rituals enables one to perform to their optimum. As we enter the final term, l ask that you work with our learners to provide routine, nourishment and a steady study routine to enable all students to achieve their goals. It only takes six weeks to improve performance. If we all start today, we will be ready for our examinations and assessment cycles.

Last night we welcomed our Year 7 families for 2025. In welcoming new families we are reminded of the rich legacy and history we have in the Ballarat community. At Damascus we constantly strive to build open and trusting relationships with one another to ‘live in the light of Christ.’ As people of hope and joy our faith tradition reminds us to be people who are building the Kingdom of God, today and every day. To be people of faith we are constantly seeking ways to be the best version of ourselves and to celebrate the diversity of one another. We are incredibly privileged to be part of a wonderful school that has a rich history formed from our founding schools Sacred Heart College, St Paul’s Technical School and St Martin’s in the Pines. This year we are thrilled to be working on our new initiative an alternate Year 8 Program at St Brendan’s Dunnstown. We as a community are constantly evolving for us to be leaders in contemporary learning.

As families of secondary school students, life is lived at a fast pace and for the parents of our Year 12 students it seems only yesterday they were starting them on their Damascus journey and here they are with only 10 school days of that journey remaining. In schools we are victims of the calendar; 8 weeks to holidays, 6 weeks to holidays... We must always take care to enjoy the moment and the journey and not wish the gift that our adolescent children are away, for they are gone too quickly as it is.

I’d like thank VCE Coordinator Caroline Nolan and Brenda Brady for their facilitation of the VCE trial exam period over the holidays. These trial exams provide a genuine opportunity for senior student to experience the exam conditions while gaining invaluable feedback on their revision and progress to date. I would like to thank the many staff who marked the papers and provided invaluable feedback. I encourage our students to analyse the feedback and seek ways to improve their work in preparation for the final exams. I would like to acknowledge Belinda Dwyer, VM Leader who has worked tirelessly with our VM students to ensure they have completed their six years of education. I am incredibly proud of the multiple learning pathways we provide our students.

I am pleased to announce the Stephanie MacDonald will be Acting Year 10 Co-ordinator for this term, we wish Stephanie well as she leads with her energy and wisdom.

Next week we will begin to formally acknowledge our Year 12 students who conclude their 13 years of education and their six years at Damascus College. We are incredibly proud of our students and their ability to face challenges, work hard and to reflect on their learning. Our final Year 12 assembly will occur on Tuesday 22 October 2024 and an invitation has been sent out to our Year 12 families.

On Tuesday 15 October we look forward to opening our College for Prospective Families. We have planned an exciting evening where our families will be able to hear from members of the College Leadership Team, to view key learning areas of the College through student lead tours, student wellbeing practices and faith experiences. I encourage you invite prospective families to register for the evening by visiting our website.