We have had a few cold days this week and it really feels that winter is on its way. Mornings have been particularly chilly and scarves and beanies have begun to make an appearance.

Students have started to settle into the routines and rhythms of the Clunes Program and are really appreciating the value of sleep! They are well on their way with the 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.

Thank you to all parents that attended the Group 42 Film Night, Steve reported that it was fantastic to have the opportunity to speak with so many of you. If you were unable to attend last night then a copy of the DVD will be available to borrow from each campus reception over the coming days.

Over the eight week program students will spend Tuesdays and Thursdays participating in sessions on one of the following three themes: Environmental Sustainability, Place and Time and Self.

The first of our 'focus' days started on Tuesday with the first of the Self Classes. In this class students were asked to explore the 'Dimensions of Self' and to explore further 'what makes us who we are?'. On Thursday, students spent the day focusing on 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 Schools, the Music Program, feeding animals at Tinakoori Animal Farm and helping with the set up of the Clunes Booktown event to be held this weekend. It's great to see the students embracing this important part of our program.

Tonight students have the choice of being at 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.

This Saturday and Sunday (1st and 2nd May), Clunes will host the Clunes Back to Booktown event. Families of Group 42 students are welcome to attend. Your child will be involved as a volunteer for much of the weekend but will have some time to spend with you. Your child has been given the times they are required and you are welcome to spend time with them, provided it is within the event area and does not take them away from their official duties. Students are also expected to return to campus after the event as they will be involved in the event clean up.

A reminder that if you anticipate any changes to your chosen Parent Visiting Weekend, please contact the Clunes Office at clunes@clunes.wesleycollege.net to ensure we have correct records

On Thursday all of group 42 went to Birchess Creek. It was cold and wet in the morning, so we were lucky enough that the weather held up and allowed us to spend the afternoon at the creek. Although the creek itself wasn’t that big, its surrounding area was a nice place to be in, with plenty of surrounding shrubbery. While we were there, we discussed the four units for the course ‘Time and Place’. ‘Pre-History’, ‘The Indigenous Era’, ‘The Gold Era’ and ‘The Modern Era’. They were all interesting to hear about, and regardless of which units people get into, they will still be really interesting to research. Overall it was a good afternoon, and it would be great to visit Birches Creek again some time.

On Thursday evening ten students from the Clunes campus made their way down to the town hall to volunteer with the Book Town Sponsors Function. Spending most of their time in and out of the kitchen they were able to help the local caterer, Andrew, serve nearly fifty people. They did this by offering the guests many different entrees and appetisers. The students also got to sample many of the different foods and by the end of the evening were asking for the recipes. They were also able to meet many of the local Clunes adults and children. After the guests had left the dishes were taken care of and the left over food was packed away. Many students were congratulated on their efforts and once again Wesley had lived up to its fantastic reputation of lending a helping hand when it was needed most.

Cluster Sports is a uniting experience. Many people from a multitude of houses coming together to achieve a common goal. This week we engaged in some physical activities, in order to bring people together as a community and to improve fitness and motor skills. Red and Blue cluster went head to head on Monday, with Red coming out on top with over 400 points. Blue cluster reached around 300 points, but both houses worked tirelessly until the end. Among the activities available was Pair Soccer, which was like normal soccer, except you could only move around in pairs. You must hold hands with your partner, and breaking from each other results in a penalty. Another activity was feet to feet relay, where a ball must be passed via feet from person to person so that the ball travelled across the room, around a cone and back again.

The running program this week consisted of three runs of 3km; on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The first run seemed the hardest for most of us, with the holidays taking its toll on our bodies. The next two runs were slightly easier as we became used to running, and is now really enjoy by all. By choosing the running program over fitness as the aim is to improve my stamina and athletic ability, and I know that the 5km runs in two weeks will prove to be challenging for me. The hardest part about the running program is keeping a consistent and steady pace and the goal is to not stop for the entire run. There are many things to be gained from the running program, one of these being a greater sense of physical and mental fitness. Another is working as a team, as we are only as fast as the slowest runner (we had to finish as a group.) The final and most important aspect is the sense of achievement and pride that will hopefully be found when we all finish the run up Mt Beckworth!

On Saturday the 24th of April, Group 42 took their first trip to Mount Beckworth. The first half of the hill was quite flat, and it wasn’t until we got closer to the top that it began to get steep. By the time we got about three quarters of the way my legs were killing me and we were begging for a rest, but we had to keep walking. As I struggled up the hill I thought to myself if I can’t walk up the hill how can I run up Mount Beckworth? Finally we got close enough to the summit that we could see the famous Lollipop Tree. We all ran up to the tree feeling like we’d accomplished something. The view at the top of the mountain was amazing, it was well worth the hike. I was surprised to see so much green in the middle of a drought. As we got ready to walk back down the mountain it began to rain, luckily we had all packed our rain jackets. Although it was a lot quicker to walk down the mountain than to walk up, I found it a big challenge to stay upright. The rocky paths were slippery enough without the rain. Thankfully we all got to the base safely, having only slipped a few minor times. Overall I enjoyed the hike, but let’s just say that I’m not too exited about the Beckworth run.

On Wednesday the 28th of April, the Clunes local primary school had their Aths carnival. Nine Wesley College students volunteered to help run the different field events. I helped out with the vortex throw, while the other students helped with other events like long jump, high jump, shot put and discus. The students were very excited to compete, as the student go around to vortex, I could see all the ribbons that they had collected at other events. All the students try real hard in vortex but the strong athletes won in the end. The results were not tallied up when the Wesley College students left, so we don’t know who won but best of luck to all the houses. All of the houses played with fantastic sportsmanship, and in the end it was a great day for Clunes Primary School.

It started with a presentation about some of the staff talking about thier past and where they are at now. Then we got divided into two girls groups and two boys groups, it was all about having time to share some things and talk about your life for a bit. It was the first time we have had self class, we didn’t really know what it was all about. We started by introducing ourselves, so we can all know each others names. We talked about trust and how we can begin to trust other. Then we played some games, and we had a ten minute break. During the break with the other girls, we couldn’t talk about what happened in our self class. After the break it was time to talk deep about ourselves from the day we were born till today, some of the stories were sad and some of them had some happy endings. At the end of the session, we found the self class helped us to know each other better, and after all the crying and laughing we loved our class and wanted more.

On the 23rd of April Group 42 had to choose between the fitness or running program. Choosing the fitness program you realise how unfit you really are. I for one had pain in my stomach muscles less than half way through. The instructor was quite precise on how you did the routine. He guaranteed that you would have some sort of an improvement from your first time doing the test. Only one person was actually able to finish the Clunes One Hundred. During the two trial sessions, you could choose your course the course seemed like a mediocre challenge. When the people who eventually chose fitness as their program for the rest of the term, they soon had a slight shock when they tried to complete the entire test. At this stage only time and effort can tell whether we achieve a Clunes One Hundred.

On Thursday everyone went to Mt Hollowback for our first place and time session. We left at 10 and arrived at 10:30am, at a mountain, there was an amazing view, apart from the tall Telstra poles on the top of it. The teachers spoke to us about what the view looks like at different times of the year, I think we went when it wasn’t the best, in September the view is yellow because of all the Canola flowers growing around it. The weather was wet and cold which meant we had to leave early. It was nice to have a good view of the country side.