Saint Patrick’s Day

Monday this week, was St Patrick’s Day; a day within the Catholic tradition full of fun, friendship and lots of Irish music, dance, literature, drama, food and more.

The following little Irish blessing marks the day and celebrates the humble gratitude of the Irish this St. Patrick’s Day.

May there always be work for your hands to do, May your purse always hold a coin or two. May the sun always shine warm on your windowpane, May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain. May the hand of a friend always be near you, And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

Year 7 Immunisations

The City of Ballarat Immunisation Nurses will visit Damascus on Thursday 27 March to immunise Year 7 students for the HPV and Boostrix vaccine.

Thank you to those who have already completed the immunisation consent via the link. If you have not completed the immunisation consent can you please do as soon as possible, so planning can be done around the staffing required for the day.

To have your student participate in the immunisation program you will need to provide consent by following the online link. You will need to have your mobile phone with you to proceed. The link will also provide you with more information about the program and the vaccines.

https://portal.cirv.vic.gov.au//PrivacyCollection/?id=de1b98a2-dae4-ef11-9342-6045bd3e9252&Year7

The link will expire at 3pm on Wed 26th March 2025.

All immunisations provided will be uploaded to Medicare within 48 hours and you will be able to access the updated record on MYGOV.

If you have any questions please call City of Ballarat Immunisation on 5320 5720 or email: immunisation@ballarat.vic.gov.au

Athletics Carnival

On Tuesday 1^st April, we will move to the Llanberis Reserve for our annual House Athletics Carnival. The athletics carnival is a great opportunity for our young people to team together in their Houses to compete. As with any school day, this is a compulsory school day for all students. There are a broad range of events to engage students of different abilities. We look forward to welcoming our families to the carnival as spectators, and please ask that you sign in and out at the entrance gate. Similar to the Swimming Carnival, students will not be permitted to arrive at the athletics track or depart from there at the end of the day – all students will be bussed from and to school, and the track.

It is not uncommon for students to pressure parents and guardians not to attend school on sports days, but it is imperative that parents stand firm and point out that community events are an important opportunity to learn and build both team and school spirit. Our focus throughout our sports program across the College is on participation. The team with the greatest level of participation has invariably been recognised as the overall winner at the carnival. Students who do not attend school on Tuesday without a legitimate reason may not be eligible to attend college formals or extracurricular activities.

Age group champions and winning house will be announced at school following the conclusion of the school carnival.

We remind families that the College encourages students to be SunSmart for this event, in that they wear a hat and use and reapply sunscreen throughout the day. We would encourage families to reiterate the message with their students on the day.

New Building

We are watching in anticipation of the completion of the new building – the new Senior Learning Centre; 23 classrooms over 3 levels. The project is nearing completion and we expect to be occupying the new building and running classes in it, from the beginning of Term 2.

We pray for all those who need our prayer at this time.

Chris