Term 1 2012

25

Mar

A Star Filled Expedition Print E-mail

Last Monday our expo group set out on our second expo.

We left the campus at 9:00am walking along the whale watching trail until we arrived at the beach. We were all feeling very excited for our 3 day adventure. We had walked about 3.5 kilometres along the beach when we walked up a path leading to the main road. From there we walked through paddocks and bushland and finally arrived at a half flooded paddock which was our campsite for two nights. That night we played some games and had a lot of fun.

On Tuesday we set out for a 3km canoe trip. We were all fairly tired from the day before so we got onto the water at around ten o’clock. We paddled upstream for a few hours until we stopped for lunch then returned to camp. That night we went star gazing again at the top of the hill. We saw lots of shooting stars, and even a meteor!

A star filled expedition

Wednesday was our last day. We set a goal to be at the top of mount Raymond for lunch, so we all woke up at 4 o’clock for a 6 o’clock departure. We canoed in the dark for about 50 minutes; it was very peaceful and fun. We then had a 7km walk to the top of the mountain. We worked well as a team and arrived at the top at 11:45am.

We were all very proud of how we went and had the best expo ever!

Nick and Jess from Wangaratta

 

25

Mar

A Day at the Snowy Estuary Print E-mail

The day before yesterday was a "Rest Day", so we could choose whatever we wanted to do, but I think because of upcoming deadlines for our POLs and Passports, most of us spent it at home studying. Appalled by our un-teenager-ish behaviour, Mrs Francis thought it necessary that we all go for a swim at the Marlo Estuary. We all agreed as it was a very hot day, (in the thirties) so we borrowed the Marlo school bus and all headed out to where the Snowy River meets the ocean.

The funny thing is, we got on the buses sweating, and got off them shivering, because the cool-change came on so quickly. The sky lost its blue-ness and became overcast and the wind made a dramatic appearance. It didn’t seem like a very good day for swimming, but we had made it as far as the beach, and didn’t want to go back home.

The tide was so low that we were able to walk across the Snowy and only get our ankles wet. We walked closer to the ocean, sprinted across another sand bar and then jumped into some deeper water. We weren’t quite in the ocean, but we weren’t exactly in the Snowy either. There were small waves, but at most it was only chest deep.

The water was still warm from the sun, surprisingly, so it wasn’t that bad. As soon as we came up for air, however, we got a pounding from the wind. Once we became wet, the wind was ten-times as painful, and ten times as cold. I’m glad it didn’t start raining as we were getting changed into our dry clothes. We shivered back to the buses, and were glad to be out of the wind.

There was a pleasant surprise when we got back to the campus; raisin toast for afternoon tea. “Comfort food”, as Mr Reeves called it. We were all grateful for the warm toast, and afterwards had hot showers to wash off all the sand. All in all, a good day.

By Flora - Princess Hill SC

 

25

Mar

Another great day for everyone... Print E-mail

It is unbelievable that we are already into week 6!

I’m Alex and I was student leader today with Holly. It has been a fantastic 6 weeks here at Snowy and everyone is enjoying it. A few of us are sick though this isn’t stopping everyone from their classes and activities.

One of our groups is currently on expo (Wang and Bundoora) while Mansfield and Fitzroy are leaving tomorrow. I had POL this morning and Yoga in the afternoon. Yoga was actually really good and relaxing. Some of us thought it was funny at the start but once we got into it, it was really good and a great new experience.

Tonight we have a few year 9 kids from Orbost Secondary coming over for tea who are going to Gnurad next term. This should show them what it will be like and how they will be spending their term there. Overall it has been another great day for everyone.

Alex, Bright P-12

Alex - Bright P-12

 

10

Mar

A Quiet Day at Snowy Print E-mail

We got off to good start at the morning head count then we both had First Aid. From start to finish we were learning about all sorts of things like how to treat someone with severe bleeding and how to manage someone with a spinal injury. Our community goal was to get everyone to participate and concentrate well in head counts. We came up with the idea of instead of saying numbers, saying an interesting fact. This worked really well!

Riley and I then had Peer Skills, we did many trust exercises like having someone lead you around an obstacle course when you were blind folded, it was really fun and we think it brought the whole group closer. After the trust exercises were finished we came inside for a relaxing game of dead fish! Miss Moore organised for our group 2A to call the Kids Help Line to ask some questions. Four people asked a question decided on earlier in the lesson by the whole group. They were questions such as: "How many calls do you get a day?" We were astounded that they receive around 400 calls a day!

Riley and I think that the community did a good job at trying to achieve the goal although we think they could improve on not talking during head counts and being more alert. It was a quiet but productive day at Snowy and we think we did a fantastic job at being student leaders.

Ebony - Wangaratta and Riley - Bundoora

 

02

Mar

Chloe reports on class room lessons Print E-mail

Hi my name is Chloe and yesterday I became a student leader for the day.

During the day there were two groups that did thinking and learning 3. It was a good lesson (Thinking and Learning) as we had to test our memory skills. We had to try remembering 20 words off by heart and write them down. I was so proud of myself, because I’d remembered all 20 words!

After our lesson was done, 1B had organised an evening class. The evening class was called “Game Show”. It was really funny because you had to watch the students eat a banana without hands and it was just hilarious.

I hope everyone keeps up the good work and just have fun, while you can.

By Chloe - Gladstone Park SC

 

02

Mar

Beattie's rest day Print E-mail

Beattie - Students swimming in the estuary Yesterday when I was student leader it was a rest day … and was so much fun! It was really good to have a break from all the activities we’ve been doing and I was so tired!

In the morning I stayed on campus and watched a movie with a few others, while another group went for a bike ride to Marlo and back. Then in the afternoon we all went to the estuary for a swim… which was sooo nice, because it had been a really hot day!

Beattie - Mansfield SC

 

01

Mar

Tolga and Hannah report on being Student Leaders Print E-mail

A couple of days ago we both had CPR and Thinking and Learning. It was funny to see how much a group of people learn together and needed each other to get anywhere for the ‘Zooley’ challenge, and how diverse thinking styles work far more effectively than if it was a group of students who all thought the in the same way.

Hannah - My goal for the day was to sort out my room, unfortunately I didn’t achieve this goal because it was a busy day being student leader, so I could have managed my time better.

Tolga - My goal was to be more organised and get to headcount 5 minutes earlier. I did very well with my goal and I got to all my headcounts 5 mins earlier.

Our community goal was to get all the sporting equipment packed up after people used them. It did not go very well because we didn’t follow through with it at the end of the day.

Being student leader showed us that we had to be responsible and we had to use our time wisely. It also meant that we couldn’t rely on others to do our jobs for us.  

Tolga - Gladstone Park  and Hannah - Princes Hill

 

29

Feb

So far SSL has been absolutely fantastic. Print E-mail

TobiasHello! My name is Tobias. We just started week four, nearly half way through our experience. As for me, I can’t believe how fast these weeks have flown by. I’ve learnt so much and have gained a huge amount of experience from everything we’ve done. So many activities like hiking, surfing, canoeing, first-aid and even bridge building. During my time here I’ve gained important life skills already which have given me more confidence and maturity. Today we did a class all about presentations and public speaking, yesterday we did a class about how we think and how learn best and before that, a session about beliefs and values.

Personal development and teamwork skills have been a big focus, but classes aren’t like normal classes at all. We have engaging guest speakers, games, group activities and dynamic class discussions instead of work sheets and essays. So far SSL has been absolutely fantastic. For all those who are scared of camp food, the food here is really good and the cooks are very friendly! In fact, all the staff are great people.

Tobias - Princes Hill SC

 

29

Feb

A well deserved swim at Dock Inlet Print E-mail

We have been at the snowy river campus for 3 and a half weeks. In this short amount of time we have done so much already. We have been bike riding, canoeing, hiking, swimming, surfing and much more.

2A has a eell deserved swim at Dock Inlet

A few days ago our group 2A got back from Expo 1 it was an awesome experience which I’m sure everyone enjoyed. The first day was quite challenging walking along the beach in the soft sand and with the sun beating down on us without a cloud in sight. Once we reached Dock Inlet we went for a well-deserved swim in the lake. After dinner we went back down to the lake and lay down on the sand for a while and looked at the stars. On the second day we packed up camp early and headed off down the power line track - everyone was in good spirits and looking forward to getting home and having a shower.

Only 3 more days till parent visiting weekend and I’m sure everyone is looking forward to seeing their family. A big thanks to Mr Adams and Miss Moore!

Rowan K. - Wangaratta SC

 

24

Feb

Max and Danae's Blog Print E-mail

Did you know that 55 million children in India work as child slaves?

We learnt this yesterday when we saw a short film about a Canadian boy who at the age of 12 founded the Free the Children charity that worked to free slave children in India and other countries. It was a real eye opener to how lucky we are here in Australia.

We also had Thinking and Learning. It is much more interesting than it sounds. We talked about the different parts of the brain and how they worked. We also had to try memorize 20 random words, then count backwards from 50 in threes and then write all the words we remembered. Some people made up a story to remember the words, others made up a song and some people just said the words over and over in their heads. Everyone has different learning style.

Two nights ago 2B hosted an evening class of ‘Thank God You’re Here’, if you can remember the TV show. We were separated into teams and each team elected the actor who did not know what the scenario was. The team would then act out a random scenario and the elected actor would come out and improvise, trying to guess what scenario he/she was in. It was very entertaining and everyone enjoyed it.

Max and Danae

 

22

Feb

Highlights so far Print E-mail

We had a really fun time building the bridge: ‘first half was really good because everyone was cooperating, but the second half was chaotic’. Alisa

Yesterday I was student leader with Alex S. After a breakfast of toast and juice, Alex and I went into the meeting room to talk to the Gnurad Gundidj campus and the Alpine school campus student leaders for that day.

I was nervous getting up in front of everybody, even though I was only reading out the programs for that day, some ‘students of success’ and my goal, which was ‘to be more confident when speaking in front of others’ but I think in the end I faced my fear and succeeded in my goal.

Billie - Princes Hill SC

Highlights so far...
 


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School For Student Leadership

School for Student Leadership is a Victorian Department of Education and Training (DET) initiative offering a unique residential education experience for year nine students. The curriculum focuses on personal development and team learning projects sourced from students' home regions. There are four campuses in iconic locations across Victoria. The Alpine School Campus is located at Dinner Plain in the Victorian Alps. Snowy River Campus is near the mouth of the Snowy River at Marlo in east Gippsland. The third site is adjacent to Mount Noorat near Camperdown in Victoria’s Western District, and is called Gnurad-Gundidj. After consultation with the local aboriginal community, this name represents both the indigenous name of the local area and an interpretation of the statement "belonging to this place". Our fourth and newest campus, currently known as the Don Valley Campus is located at Don Valley, Yarra Ranges.
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Our school community acknowledges the Gunaikurnai and Monero-Ngarigo people as the traditional custodians of the land upon which our school campus is built. We pay our respects to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, their Elders past and present, and especially whose children attend our school.