Wesley @ Clunes
Group 9: Issue Number 7; 27 Mar, 2002
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Wesley @ Clunes |
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Group 9: Issue Number 7; 27 Mar, 2002 |
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From the Director What a day Presentation Day was on Sunday. Perfect weather helped ensure a great day. As each term draws to a close, I am always surprised by the way the students rise to the challenges of this day. It is no easy thing to stand up in front of a large group of adults and talk about what you have been doing over the last month or so. The range and diversity of projects presented was quite amazing. All of the students are to be congratulated On Sunday night I received the following email from one set of parents with a brief comment on how they thought the day went.
I couldn't help but think about the last sentence, "who's cooking dinner tonight?" It is very clear to me that Clunes is much more than just a school in a different setting. The line between School and home is blurred here. Even in the midst of reviewing a busy day at "work", the students have to consider the domestic requirements of a busy household. It is this total immersion in the program here, which compels students to engage in life here. The students cannot opt out. If they do, something will be left undone such as the evening meal. The consequences for such neglect would be significant. Food in particular is rather important in Clunes! As I write, Group 9 has just departed on buses for Melbourne. It is always a strange experience. Saying goodbye to a group of students after eight weeks of working closely is difficult. It seems, that just as we are getting to know each other the time to go home arrives. On the other hand, the staff here really look forward to the end of the term and a chance to catch up some well deserved sleep. I wonder what the students were thinking as they travelled home on the buses. The sign out board back in Clunes gives us a clue. The sign out board is a whiteboard which students have to sign every time they wish to leave the village. As part of the ritual of finishing up at Clunes, we ask all the students to sign out one last time. It was interesting to see what destination they wrote down. Some of them wrote, "Home", "My other home", "Bhutan", "Home to sleep", "Hong Kong", "Chapel Street!" and "My bed!" Obviously, some students will leave with mixed feelings of being sad to leave Clunes and yet glad to go home all at the same time. Each one of them takes away a unique experience, which they can learn from. The staff certainly learn from the experiences and the interactions with the
kids every term. And yes, it is often exhausting, certainly rewarding and always,
always as the parent above wrote, unpredictable. I wouldn't want Clunes to be
any other way. Have a safe and Happy Easter.
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| The Clunes Project - Mentor Meetings | ||
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The Role of the Mentor The mentor's role is to facilitate and encourage each student with their Clunes project. Students meet regularly with their mentor to discuss the progress of their project. As well, the mentor offers suggestions and advice on students' learning. Each mentor introduced their mentor group on Presentation Day and was responsible for writing their Mentor Report. Robyn Marshall - Leader/Mentor |
| At Home in Clunes | ||||||
Isn't it always the way? Everyone is just getting settled
and at ease with Clunes, some are even calling it home and yet next week
they all have to leave. Beyond the work there is always time to relax,
these photos would be a good indication of that!
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| Last Week Jitters! | |
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right now if you're walking around campus and move from house to house you
can see that most people here are pretty stressed at the moment. Everyone
is doing their last minute work on projects and preparing speeches. I've
noticed that our pantry is much emptier than it has been since we started
here at Clunes, 8 weeks ago, I know that I tend to eat a lot when I have
work to do. I think we're all coming to terms with the fact that we have
so little time left here at Clunes. I know that when I go home I will find
it difficult and I will miss Clunes and all the new people I've met. I
just want to say that everyone has come a long way to make it here for one
term at Clunes.
Sahar. |
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| People, Places and Soulful Spaces | |
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From this course I gained a huge amount, through journal writing in open spaces in forests, and by creeks, to writing stories as if we were gold miners in a goldfield, and relaxing in the spas at Hepburn, we have not only gained writing skills and good grammar usage but learnt a lot about our styles of writing and ourselves. A lot of time was spent by ourselves which was really good reflective time. The elements of nature of which we experienced throughout the course that appealed to me were of course the Hepburn Spa. Other than the spas, the “La Gerche” track had some really appealing spots, especially our third or fourth stop in which the track opened up to a flat-ish sort of forest floor. It was covered with leaves and pine needles, the forest roof was made up of tree branches and was quite cool. It was a really relaxing and good environment to work in – it was a place you could sit in for hours at a time and not get sick of it. Student comment |
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| YMCA - Maryborough | |
 Twice
weekly, students clamber onto buses and head for the YMCA in
Maryborough. During their time in Maryborough, they have the opportunity
to either swim, use the basketball court or do a body combat class. For
many, participating in body combat was a new adventure, while others
stuck to what they know best - the pool or court. Looked forward
to by all, this fun way to exercise was a nice break from campus life. |
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| Taking a Risk | ||
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In
"Taking a Risk" we learnt about
different risks people take in their lives and why they take
risks. We also watched two videos, one about an expedition up
Mount Everest and another about two friends teaching each other
their different talents of BASE jumping and rock climbing, and
then they went rock climbing up a cliff face and then free falling
off the top. As well as learning about why people take risks and
the different risks they take, we went on a camp out to the
Grampians and hiked up Mount Stapleton to cave where we stayed
over night. Everyone had lots of fun that day exploring and
playing on the rocks and climbing in, on and around them. The next
day we hiked back down and met a professional rock climber whose
name was Chris. He helped us set up some rock climbs and also set
up an abseil, which was thirty metres above the ground. Everyone
had heaps of fun on the camp out and also rock climbing. Some
people who had never tried things like these or were afraid of
heights overcame their fears on this camp out which was a big
accomplishment for them. Lisa |
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| What's in a Town? | ||
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“What’s in a town?” was so much fun! I really
enjoyed the course. It let the group get in touch with the Clunes
community and to see sights in I didn’t even know existed. I
liked the course because we got to go out and get involve in the
community. By far my favourite lesson was on Thursday when we had
the kinder kids for the morning. I didn’t expect it to be such a
challenge to occupy them for a few hours but I now realise that I
was mistaken. We did five activities with them, ranging from
musical chairs to finger-painting; decorating biscuits with
lollies and icing was by far one of the most popular stations. The
session finished by us handing out Easter eggs to eagerly awaiting
little hands. The morning was certainly tiring and it took a lot
out of me, but not nearly as much as I received in return. I mean,
who doesn’t like making pasta jewellery? Olivia
During
this course we had to look
at Clunes from all different perspectives. In our class we had about 10 students who all wanted to learn
more about the Clunes community. In the first lesson we got introduced
into the topic and started to plan our main assignment. Our main
assignment was to research a particular aspect of the Clunes community.
All the students got into groups of about 2 or 3 and found out whether
Clunes is a close knit community or fragmented into little groups. I went
into a group of 2 with Alice Jörgensen we looked at the kindergarten
community. To do our research in the next lesson we went to the
kindergarten for an hour and a half. This was a really good experience for
me in my interviewing skills. We interviewed the teachers, parents and
students. What we found out was that most parents only knew each other
through the kinder. The teachers were a little harder to interview because
they both had different pasts. One of the teachers has lived in Clunes all
her life and has taught in the kinder for 14 months. The other teacher
lives in Creswick and has only taught in this kinder for a year, but she
has taught in another other kinder for 20 years. This made it very hard to
compare. We came to the conclusion that Clunes in a fragment community
into age groups. On
Thursday we had the kinder come over to Wesley College for some
activities that we thought up for them to do. All the kids were separated
into groups of a bout 4 or 5. All the kids got to make Mari cookies,
finger painting, pasta jewellery and fun and games out side. I think all
the kids really enjoyed the morning and wanted to stay longer. |
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| Presentation Day | ||
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Group 9. |
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