Parent Letters & Bulletins

Second Letter Home - Friday 23 February 2018

Hello again from the community of the Snowy River Campus! We are still flat out here and going strong. By the time you read this, the first expedition groups have headed-out and returned. They have bushwalked along the nearby coastal bluffs of Cape Conran camping out at the beautiful Dock Inlet, putting into practice all the skills learned in their expedition preparation sessions. The students were well prepared and so full of excitement, apprehension, “coolness” and worry, all mixed into one! I know, however, that what they will learn through their undertaking will put them in great stead. One of the concepts we use in designing our type of education experience is to move from the known to the unknown. In moving to, and living at, the Snowy River Campus, students initially are in a much unknown environment (socially, physically, emotionally, geographically and so on), which they soon become comfortable and familiar with. I am sure this is conveyed in correspondence, and will be obvious at the visiting weekend. The expeditions are another move from known to unknown, from the known existence of the Snowy River Campus into the wild coastal environment and with lightweight tents. The next expedition will be largely canoe-based on the wonderful estuarine environment. The challenges are new and different to the first expedition. It is a very deliberate part of the process of learning both leadership skills and to be enterprising.

Continued...

Settled in and travelling well - Second Letter Home - Friday 16 February 2018

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 eighteen years at the Alpine School at Dinner Plain and our 11 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 ‘Terang College’ or ‘Tarneit P-9 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...

Arrival Day at the Snowy River Campus!

Sunday February 4 2018
A Snapshot of Letter 1 ...

Welcome to the community of the Snowy River Campus for our Term 1 7.3 week program. SSL program.

During the course of the next 7 weeks (and 3 days) we shall be emailing you a number of times. These emails will also be posted on our website and a student blog will be enabled for you to see and read about current and daily events. The content of the communications is to assist you with your side of the Snowy River Campus Experience. The emails will not necessarily deal with individuals and their achievements, but more about the living and learning process all students will be undertaking. We want to provide you with some early reminders and information for your arrival day and to perhaps help you on your return and continued journey. We hope to post images on the website from time-to-time as well.

Students are involved in a number of important processes this term; discovering their learning preferences, expeditions, working with a local primary school, hosting a range of guests, developing an Individual Learning Plan, developing a personal passport of their learning, presentation of their learning (POL) and ultimately a Community Learning Project presentation afternoon for important school and community leaders.