It has been a beautiful week in Clunes and the sun is shining. The first of our “focus” days started on Tuesday and students are busy researching their Clunes Project essay. Thank you to all parents that attended the Group 40 Film Night, it was fantastic to have the opportunity to speak with so many of you. I look forward to receiving the video of parents to share with the students; it will be a lovely surprise for them and thank you to all involved.

Students have started to settle into the routines and rhythms of the Clunes Program and are starting to really appreciate the value of sleep! As I shared with you last night, students are well on the way with their Clunes Project and I encourage parents to speak with their child about their topic and their plans for their practical piece. It is great to see such a diverse range of topics.

Over the next eight weeks students will spend Tuesdays and Thursdays participating in sessions on 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 care for. On Thursday, students spent the day looking at Place and Time, out and about in the Clunes District. Students took part in Community Service activities again this morning, which included: walking with the Senior Citizens; helping out at the local Primary School; participating in the Music Program; feeding animals at Tinakori Animal Farm and doing a craft activity for Halloween at the local Health Centre. It's great to see the students embracing this important part of our program. 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. There is a bit of a virus going around so we are encouraging early nights, lots of fruit and vegetables and 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 Visiting Weekend please contact the Clunes Office at clunes@clunes.wesleycollege.net.

On Monday night this week Red cluster and Blue cluster met at the Clunes Community Center for the opening night of cluster sports. They competed in three different events, king dodgeball, a team relay and partner soccer. The first event was tied one a piece after two rounds but in the final round the Red team was slowly whittled down and eliminated. In the team relay Blue cluster was outclassed and Red cluster won, the score was now tied one all. The last event, partner soccer, was intense. Blue team scored first but Red team retaliated with a goal of their own and this score was held until overtime. The play during overtime was frantic. Both teams were eager to score but in the end Blue cluster could not be denied and finished the game victorious. The scores at the end of the night was Red cluster: 315 points Blue cluster: 345 points.

On Thursday morning the whole campus set off in buses for Mt. Hollowback for our first lesson of Place and Time. The sky was clear and blue when we arrived giving us a magnificent view of the surrounding countryside. We were split into our four clusters and the four Place and Time leaders introduced us to their topics, Gold, Modern Clunes, Prehistory, and Aboriginal History respectively. After two of these presentations we returned to the Clunes Campus for lunch. After lunch we set out for Birch’s Creek. As soon as we had arrived a snake was spotted and we were sent back on to the buses. We were relocated to Queens Park in Clunes for our last two sessions An hour later we returned to our Campus to enroll in our favorite of the four offered place and time classes.

Every Monday everyone participates in the mentor program, which gives us time to work on our Clunes projects. There are four different mentor classes that all the students on campus are split up into, which is also a great way to get to know some new people. The mentor classes go for the whole day, with two sessions in the morning and one after lunch. It is a great time to get help with and get on top of our projects.

Green Fingers is an activity, which is done on Sunday afternoons after our sleep in or village payback. Last Sunday we weeded around the vegetable garden and then weeded in the garden beds. Other people in the class also planted tomato seedlings and collected herbs and vegetables that were ready to be picked and used. Green Fingers is a very fun activity and a great way to get to know different types and areas of gardening.

The activity for last Saturday night was a house dance-off. Each house had to make up a dance and present it to everyone with four judges giving their scores. The house with the highest score won some chocolate goodies. Everyone had very entertaining dances and there were certainly some laughs. House 13 had great performance with an interesting Michael Jackson piece but in the end it was House 1 taking home the chocolate and the title of winner.

The running program has been great. So far we have done three official 3km runs and it seems as though everyone is enjoying it. It has been a great way to get fit and have fun with heaps of people. The two things that we aim for each run is to encourage everyone and to try not to stop at all. The faster runners can run ahead and the people at the back run at their own pace. But in the end everyone joins together to finish the final stretch as a team. In our last run about 90% of the people didn’t stop but we are hoping to have no one stop on our next run.

Signing out is a privilege many of us take for granted. Everyday we are allowed to sign out of the Wesley campus and walk down to the main road. This road is full of life! Lollie Shops, Ice-Cream shops and fish and chip shops! All of which serve quality food and snacks. To sign out, we must be healthy, have someone with us, not be in any form of trouble (which is much easier said than done!), have a hat on and have our key cards. Not everyone elects to sign out, it all depends on the weather and who’s going. I tend to stay on campus during lunch and free time as I enjoy relaxing in others company. For some kids it may be the first time they have been trusted to go out by themselves without a parent watching over them and for others it may seem very strict that we have to be back 45 minutes after we leave. People tend to sign out in large groups rather than going in packs of 3 and 4. The advantage of ensuring that people who sign out have someone else with them is that if one of them gets hurt or is in peril the other can run back to campus or get some help from the public.

Most nights two of the housemates get together and cook a meal that is elected by the house to make. This involves everyone in their house coming together to work as a team. While the two people cook the other members of the house (team) are able to go and socialise but are required back to the house at 6:00. This is so everyone can have dinner together and help set the table. After dinner the cooks are free to do whatever they want inside the house as they have done their job. The others all follow a roster to ensure all of the jobs are completed. It’s very challenging as well, but in the end we always overcome the challenge. I, personally, find cooking a lot of fun because it is a set of instructions and if we follow them carefully we can’t go wrong. It’s a very rewarding experience; sometimes the food isn’t the best but that’s the joy of cooking. We keep working at it and it gets better. All in all cooking is a very rewarding experience that allows people to express themselves in the form of food.