2nd Letter Home from the Snowy River Campus, 28 July 2022

Letter Snapshot: Settled in and travelling well.

Welcome again to the Snowy River Campus.

Here we are after more than a week already. Time has flown by and I am really pleased with how things are progressing at our school.

Homesickness is a normal emotion at this time in the program, although it does tend to diminish. If you think that your son or daughter is still unreasonably homesick, do call us and we can compare notes, so to speak. None of us can really predict how this anxiety may manifest itself. Our staff members really do make a priority of ensuring students’ wellbeing during these first, more unsettled weeks; they will give you a normal call in the next week. How are you coping with being “son or daughter sick”?

We have lots of experience from 22 years at the Alpine School at Dinner Plain and our 16 years’ experience here. This helps us understand about students in schools like this one. We normally see in our students in their first week of living here being very concerned with self. They often ask, “When is dinner? Or “Where do I wash my clothes?” On the inside, we feel students are asking, “Who are my friends and how do I fit? Does she like me or what does he think about me?” They are concerned about “me”. This is a very egocentric period. After this normal and possibly “selfish” time, students find themselves comfortable with this day-to-day concern, and tend to identify with their team very strongly: “I belong to ‘Irymple College’ or ‘Reservoir College’, or “I am a country/city person”. Students tend to be placing themselves in a category so they can find their position in a “new social/school order”. They tend to cluster with familiar friends.

Continued... Read the Full Letter 2

• SECOND LETTER - View Letter 2: 28/07/2022