It has been a busy second week with the first of our “focus” days starting and students busy researching their Clunes Project Essay. Thank you to all parents that attended the Group 38 Film Night, it was fantastic to have the opportunity to speak with so many of you. Students have started to settle into the routines and rhythms of the Clunes Program and are starting to really appreciate the value of sleep! The students are busy researching for their Clunes Projects. It's great to see such a diverse range of topics. Over the next eight weeks students will spend Tuesdays and Thursdays participating in sessions on one of the following themes: ‘Environmental Sustainability’, ‘Place and Time’ and ‘Self’. On Tuesday students participated in the first focus day on Environmental Sustainability. The day involved some class work and discussion topics and each student was given a native tree to re-plant and look after. On Thursday students spent the day looking at ‘Place and Time’ and spent the day out and about in the Clunes District. Students participated in Community Service again this morning, which included walking with the Senior Citizens, helping out at the local Primary School, the Music Program, feeding animals at Tinakoori Animal Farm and doing a craft activity at the local Health Centre. It's great to see the students embracing this important part of our program. As I look out my window I can see students walking back from their cooking class laden with food and students who are part of the running program preparing for this afternoons run. Tonight students have the choice of Community Basketball with Clunes locals or quiet time in the Jubilee Hall. I suspect we may have a few who choose quiet time and will enjoy sitting playing a game of cards, board games, reading a book or just having a chat. We have seen a few students getting tired this week but overall the students are doing well. We are encouraging early nights, lots of fruit and vegetables and lots of fluids. If you were unable to attend the Film Night last night, a copy of the DVD is available for you to borrow at each campus reception. A reminder that if you anticipate any changes to your chosen Parent Visiting Weekend please remember to contact the Clunes Office to ensure we have correct records.

Morning Meetings commenced at either 7:30 or 7:45 this week. Very early start but we all got used to it. In morning meetings we talked about what was going to go on during the day, what the weather was going to be like and the ‘odd spot of the day’.
Then the teachers usually dismiss us and we have the chance to retrieve The Age or The Herald Sun from the paper box outside. We then go and have breakfast and get ready for morning inspections.

During sign out time we can either go down to Fraser Street or the Top Shop. Fraser Street is the main street where everything is. There is Widow Twankeys which is the candy shop/Café. There is a chemist which has the post office in it so if you need to pick up a package you go there. Further down the road you will find the bakery which has lots of delicious treats and drinks. The Top Shop is where you can get fish and chips but you are only allowed to buy them during the weekend. They are really tasty and cheap for the amount they give you. When it is not the weekend we sometimes go to the skate park which is really close to the Top Shop. It has a quarter pipe, stairs and a couple of ramps. It is really good for beginners.

On Monday night we had Cluster Sports, however there were only 2 clusters competing on the night. Red started well walking down to the community center silently. Red then continued with their greatness and won the partner soccer 7-1. After partner soccer we played a variation of tunnel ball using our feet and the ball was not allowed to touch the ground, Red also won this game. Our final game was dodgeball and Red also won both of those games but we elected out of the double or nothing because we thought we had the night down pat.
In the end it was a fun night and I'm sure everyone had fun. Go Red!

Booktown is an event that Clunes holds once a year and basically it's just a huge weekend of selling books. Many people come from other places to shop at Booktown and have fun. While I was down there, there were more people then I'd ever seen in Clunes, let alone in one street so it was pretty cool. I didn't buy any books however i did have a look at some of the places. I hope everyone had fun at booktown.

On Saturday the whole of group 38 walked up Mount Beckworth. As we were driving, we could see the mountain in the distance. Everyone thought it was only a hill until we arrived. As we arrived the first bit of the track went straight up. We started the trek up all smiling and laughing. We stopped about halfway up and from there the track was very narrow and very slippery with loose gravel. At halfway almost everyone was puffing and everyone’s calves hurt. As we continued up the laughter and talking stopped and all we could hear was heavy breathing and footsteps. A few people fell over but there were no injuries. After forty-five minutes we saw the big lollipop tree; everyone was happy they had made it. When we were at the top Tim told us a few stories about Mount Beckworth and that it was the only mountain around that was made by granite. We started the steep decent of Beckworth being very cautious of loose gravel. A couple people fell over and slid down on their bottoms. When we got back to the houses everyone was exhausted.

On Thursday the 7th of May we hopped on a bus and drove up to the misty mountain of Mount Hollowback. Up there it was freezing cold and we couldn’t see anything. We were split up into our cluster colours and went to four different people for talks. Our first talk was by Nin. She talked about the mega fauna, dinosaurs and the geological make up of the area. Atrel was our second speaker; he talked about the history of Fraser Street from the 1900’s to now. After Atrel we were able to get out of the freezing cold and drive back to Clunes. We had one-hour break and then went to a place about 15 minutes out of Clunes where the River Rescue people will camp. Our third speaker was an indigenous man from Healesville that talked about the people that lived here before white settlement and how they gathered food. Our last speaker was Dan. Dan talked about Gold. What gold is, why its valuable and some stories of it.

If you get five strikes then you immediately get a village payback. That means that on Sunday morning when everyone gets to sleep in the troublemakers have to get up early and walk to the staff house. We then found out that we were going to shovel compost for about an hour. At first we thought that it would be easy just shoveling some food scraps into a compost heap but then we had to shovel horse poo which is really bad. A good word of advice to all the students at Clunes is to just behave unless you want to shovel up poo for the entire morning.

This is the first week that the Clunes students have had to cook their own recipes. For some it would have been easy because they either like cooking or practiced cooking before coming to Clunes. For others it would have been a nightmare. Some people had plenty of time to eat their dinner while others had about ten minutes to eat because they had left it to the last minute. We also had community cooking which was good because we could cook the meal in the afternoon and then it would be ready on time and still be a satisfying meal. So parents, don’t worry that your kids aren’t having enough food because there are many people here helping to make sure that everyone is eating well.

The Green and Yellow cluster sport night turned out to be fun, enthusiastic and competitive with everyone getting involved and enjoying the great games we played. The round started off with the judgment (by the teachers) of how colourful each team has made themselves, then the first game was dodge ball. Green cluster won two games out of three and were victorious but lost all of the points due to one team mate kicking the ball and getting it stuck in the ceiling. The second game I found the most challenging with the aim of the game being having to lie down on the floor and pass a ball down the line that each cluster made with their feet. Yellow cluster proved a worthy opponent to Green once they had completed the game in the quickest time. The final match was a great game called partner soccer. This was basically indoor soccer only we had to hold hands with a partner. Green cluster won by the golden goal at the end when the scores two all. Green came out on top and all in all it was a great night!

Tuesday was a whole day of learning about the environment and what effects we have on the planet. This was a great time to reflect on what I could do to help the environment. The day started off with a few talks about what effects we as a human race have on our planet and things to do with global warming. We learnt many different interesting facts. We then went to the skate park and down near the creek to see and explore what things made up an environment. Once we got back and had lunch it was time to plant some trees and vegetables such as lettuce, beans and spring onions. The day was great as many people enjoyed planting trees, learning about the environment and exploring the environment.

Circus Skills is an elective offered to all students but only taken by some in Clunes. It is run by Dan and Elissa and as the name says we practice circus skills and can learn many different types of acts. On the first day of circus skills we were given the option to try many different skills such as poi, staff, spinning plates, juggling, contact juggling and cigar boxes. We would have a go at all of them and choose our favorite to become a master at. I chose the spinning plates and cigar boxes. Circus Skills is really enjoyable because we have non-stop fun throughout it.

Saturday morning inspections are a very stressful part of the day. We have to make sure that everything is up to the meticulous standard of our house leader. Although your inspection is at 12:45 laziness tends to impend on our ability to actually do the work we’re supposed to. Dishes have to be done, benches cleaned and the pit must be looking its best in order to pass inspection. But the consequences of failure are great. If we fail to do our jobs then a strike will be stricken upon us by the almighty powers AKA the leaders. Although Saturday morning inspection may seem hard, it’s pretty easy to not get ourselves a strike.

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday the students of Clunes embark on community cooking with Ivana. We cook a vast array of food such as souvlakis and zucchini cake. One person from every house is involved in community cooking and that one person puts together a feast for their house. In these cooking classes I have learned to make new desserts and new amazing dinners. The cooking classes are good because we learn new things and new skills. It is a great chance to get involved with Clunes.

This year everybody in the state in grades 3, 5, 7 and 9 will be involved in the NAPLAN testing, but up here at Clunes it will be different. We have already done 3 of our practice tests and want the real ones to already be over with. I’m not a fan of these tests and I don’t think I will do so well. These practice tests were held in the Town Hall and the Jube. Glen Waverley were in the Jube and Elsternwick and St Kilda Road were in the Town Hall. Good luck to everybody and I hope you pass.

Friday night basketball this week was lots of fun. We played six games between four teams. On each team there was about thirteen Wesley College kids and one local..

All the locals were very good but they were good sports even if they scored the majority of the goals. It was great fun. Everyone got involved and had a great time even if they couldn’t play basketball. All in all it was a good night that was enjoyed by everyone and it will probably be just as fun next week.

On Friday afternoon the Stories Explored group went to Talbot but because of bad weather the walk up one of the hills was only half completed. But the group was lucky enough to get to see a dead rabbit, which provided abut an hour of endless entertainment. We also got to see the wind turbines and some potato farming. The wind turbines when in motion can provide enough energy to power ten thousand homes. A lot of farming happens in and around Clunes because of the fertile volcanic soil. All in all it was a cold, wet but eventful afternoon.