It seems like only yesterday that we were welcoming Group 35 to Clunes. They are an amazing group of young people who can be proud of their achievements this term. Thank you for your support in attending the Group 35 Presentation Day yesterday. I am sure you will all agree that it was a wonderful day. I spoke with the students last night and congratulated them on their performances; they were very tired and enjoyed settling in and watching a movie. Last week the students finished the last day of their courses and we celebrated this by taking the campus on a “Big Day Out”. The day started with a sleep in (announced the night before) and then a trip out to Mount Beckworth. It was a beautiful sunny day, which was enjoyed by all. Over the next week students will be working on their Self Assessments, working with Wesley Melbourne staff on Transition, competing in the Cluster Sports Final and starting the big clean up. All students will participate in the Mount Beckworth Day on Wednesday. Students who have been committed to the Beckworth Running Program will undertake one of their biggest challenges and aim to up Mount Beckworth. They have been training hard and are working together to meet this goal. All other students will walk from the campus up to the top of Mount Beckworth where they will be waiting to support the runners. It is a great day and a feeling of achievement as we sit together and look over the township of Clunes for the last time. After the All Night Movie Night on Friday night we have an official closing ceremony and final House Meeting on Saturday morning. Students will be available for pick up at 10am. Please try and be on time as it is difficult for students who are waiting around. If you are running more than 20 minutes late please call us. Thank you all for your support over the term and I look forward to seeing you on Saturday.

Most of the kids on the Wesley at Clunes campus are stressing out because there are only 8 days to go. The music program are working hard and rehearsing their huge performances and getting prepared for their practise performance today to the local member of the Clunes community. Most of the girls are saying they don’t want to leave Clunes and they want to stay forever because they’re going to miss their friends that they made from different campus. A lot of kids a panicking on preparing their speeches for Presentation Day, but I am sure that everyone will be brave on the night. All night movie night is going to be a good day because James Karantonis and Callum Mitchell will be premiering their movies. I am very excited about watching the ‘Night of the Dancing Doonas’ as I am an extra and a doona in the film.

Throughout this course some of the things I learnt have been about human psychology and behaviour, hierarchy. I also learnt about changing the world with many small things. The aspect of the course I enjoyed learning about most was Prisoner’s Dilemma and Native American Tony Ghosthawk talking about his culture. I have learnt that failure is something in the mind and, with preparation, I can achieve many things. I have learnt not to judge other people because of what they do. Because of what I have learnt I can now do more activities with preparation before the activity. With this knowledge I want to prepare for numerous more things that I wouldn’t prepare for before I learnt about this.

The running has been going great for everyone participating. Lately we have been doing 5km runs with four large hills involved. Everyone has been going well, with a lot of encouragement and fun involved. Last Saturday everyone who wanted to participate in the Mt Beckworth 12km run had to pass a 7km run without stopping. It was a qualifying run and anyone who didn’t complete it wouldn’t be able to run the final run. Luckily no one dropped out. Then tomorrow the runners have an even bigger run of 9km; another qualifying run. This one is not expected to be hard even though it sounds it. Everyone must run as fast as the slowest person so its generally a light jog for the whole run. The 7km proved to be very easy for most people and many weren’t even puffed by the end of it. It was also a lot of fun with Tim, the leader, jumping in puddles and splashing us all. Monday next week is a cool down 3km run before the final 12km Beckworth run on Wednesday. The night before this, all the houses are supposed to be cooking a carbo-loaded dinner so that they have plenty of energy to spare for the run the next day.

In the circus there is a big section of acrobatics in which many people are performing. There are different sections to the acrobatics act, which include things like balances, flips and boys and girls sections. The performers have been training very, very hard to put on two shows this weekend, one to the students on Saturday and one on presentation day. There has been training during circus time on Sunday, and also on Tuesday this week. The rest of the circus is also training really hard to put on a great show for everyone this weekend. EJ and Dan have been working really hard this term to put on a fabulous show and they have both been encouraging everyone and putting in the extra work to make this an excellent performance. Also, everyone who is part of the circus is putting is their best effort to make sure the circus is clean and so nothing will go wrong. So this weekend support the circus and cheer everyone on and give the circus and the acrobatics a really good vibe.

This Thursday, Wesley College had a very exciting afternoon at Mount Beckworth, a welcomed break from a very busy schedule. It was a beautiful warm day when we headed out. When we arrived, we spread out the tarps and started doing activities. Some went off to play footy, some just laid on the tarps and soaked up some sun, which has been a rare sight recently. We got a barbeque going shortly after and everyone had a sausage and some desserts. The teachers worked very hard to get everyone something to eat, and everyone was very appreciative. Marshmallows were roasting and everyone was having a great time. We then headed out to a performance area, where some people involved in the Music Program put on a performance. We had everything from guitarists to a harmonica player. Matt and Wilde put on a beautiful duet to ‘Anyone Else But You’ from the Juno soundtrack. Everyone was very supportive and had a go at singing along, which added to the blissful atmosphere. We ended with a performance to ‘Tribute’, which composed of pretty much everyone that put on a performance that day; it was a great end to a great day.

For the Clunes Project all students have to make a practical piece. On Sunday the 31st of August it was time for me to do my practical piece; it was cooking fried rice and selling it to the campus. My essay was about the Chinese community during the gold rush and I had to find something to relate to my practical, the first thing that came in to my head was “FRIED RICE”. There was a lot of planning that I had to go through to get this event running smoothly. Something that I had to plan was, to buy all ingredients, negotiate with the staff to use the kitchen and create flyers to tell students when it is happening. Here is the recipe for my fried rice.
1. Cook the rice
2. Heat up the wok
3. Add chopped up garlic , cook until brown
4. Add rice into the wok, cook until all the rice are separated
5. Add in the egg and then stir it until it is dry
6. Season with Soya sauce and pepper
7. Serve with spring onion on top
The fried rice day went really well , I manage to sell more that fifty plates of fried rice, and I raised $161 to give to a worthy local charity. In conclusion I had a lot of fun making the fried rice and I feel proud that I have raised that amount of money.

On the first Sunday of the Clunes program, almost seven weeks ago, a humble little program called Circus Skills began. We all tried out various pieces of equipment, and tried to get our head (and hands) around the mind-boggling array of skills and co-ordination required to use these apparatus. But the days of practice are over. Every student found their niche within the group some time ago, and the circus is rearing to go for Sunday’s performance. On the first rehearsal we had last Sunday, it was a process of trial and error. Everyone was working out where they had to go, and the harsh realisation some faced as to wether they were ready or not struck most performers. The group tried as hard as they could, and, despite being the first rehearsal, it turned out well. The performers learned a lot from the rehearsal, and this important step helped everyone get on track for the main performance.

Our own “Park Ranger” for Wesley at Clunes is Barry Ashton, who works with a group of about eight Wesley students on a Friday morning on campus. He usually gets the students to help with any tasks outdoors such as, stacking wood, tidying up the garden or planting plants. Today’s activity was to plant a range of flowers in two different garden beds. Students can participate in this community service if they like gardening or doing garden maintenance around the Wesley at Clunes campus.