Yesterday, we were student leaders, which meant that we were to run headcounts, help everyone feel organised with their classes and do a video conference with the Gnurad Gundidj Campus. This gave us the opportunity to put our leadership skills into practise, develop our confidence in public speaking and was also a great chance to get to do something different, instead of our normal daily routine.

We were also very privileged as we were asked to attend a video conference with the students that will be attending Snowy River Campus next term. Not only did this also help with our confidence when talking in front of groups of people we don’t know, but it was also a great chance to speak about everything we’ve done here and reflect on our own experiences by sharing with others.

As the day went on, the whole community was contributing to achieving our leadership alliance goals by being on time at the start of classes, before meals and headcounts.

We did overcome a few challenges ourselves by having to be more organised with our time management as we organised to run a community game but it ended up clashing with our video conference. We will both definitely learn from that lesson and won’t make the same mistake in the future.

Overall it was a great day, we both thoroughly enjoyed being able to lead such a great community of friends!

Michael - Colac SC & Holly - Kew HS

Yesterday was Local Learning Project (LLP) day. We had 17 year 6 students come from Hazelwood North Primary School so we could teach them a twenty minute class.

We were split into 12 different groups to make classes. Most groups had between three and four people in them and they all had to think of something that had to do with the area around Snowy to teach about. Some people talked about camping and some people talked about the beach. All the year 6 students were put into 3 different groups. Two groups of 6 and one group of 5. They all went to four different classes each. The LLP Committee had everything set up and organised. They did a great job at that.

The day started off with everyone setting up their classes. There were streamers and Blu Tack everywhere. At 10:30, the children arrived. We went out, greeted them and showed them the way inside. We started off with chocolate cake as morning tea. We think they loved that. The first set of classes took place at 11:35 and ran until 11:55. Our groups talked about Beware Reef and native mammals. The Beware Reef group covered the topics of sea creatures and shipwrecks. The native mammals group talked about mammals in the area and also had a good game to entertain the primary school students. For lunch, we had tacos and we had tours of the wings along with a game of chicken run. After lunch there were two more classes. When those were over, we had a name game. That was really fun. Then was time to say goodbye to the kids at about 3:30. We cleaned up at the end of a great day with primary school kids.

Nick - Colac SC and Kiana- Bellarine

Yesterday Alan and I were student leaders. We only had our thirty-four people here for the first headcount and we only had one group of students here for lunch, which was our group 1B.

We had passport five and CPR exam. We’re pretty sure that the entire group passed CPR exam which was great. Most people have finished or almost finished all criteria’s for their passport. For night class everyone worked on their POLs and passports. It was good because it gave everyone a chance to catch up with their work.

My goal was to be a confident and enthusiastic student leader and one of my actions was to do something different each headcount. I brought out my narwhals, gave everyone high fives, got everyone to say their numbers backwards and other things like that. Lastly I wore my gorilla mask for evening class headcount. I completed that action and I think that I was confident and enthusiastic so I think that I completed my goals as a student leader.

Alan’s goal was to work on 5 of his ILP goals which are get fit for footy he ran laps in the morning and another won is to gain more public speaking I sort of done that the others are confidence finish my passport which I didn’t do because I got stuck on another one be more confidents in what I was doing I did that really well.

Our community goal was to walk to the dunes and do DEARR there but the people who went on expo and enviro bikes were too tired.

Bonnie and Alan - Colac SC

Today we all headed down to East Cape Conran beach for our Indigenous Walk. We met up with Buzzy, Jade and Kylie to speak to them about their Aboriginal Culture. With Buzzy and Jade we spoke about how they lived when they were kids and how it has changed so much now with the racism and restrictions on what they can and can’t do now. It was really interesting to see their point of view on things. They also showed us some of the weapons they use and what they use them for.

When we spoke to Kylie she showed us some of the baskets her family had made. It was really interesting to see the detail in them and how much time and hard work had gone in to them. Kylie showed us an eel trap her mother had made, as well as some fish traps and baskets that her mother and other relatives had made. . It was really interesting to see the detail in them and how much time and hard work had gone in to them.

Mu Thein Chri - North Geelong and Sara- Kew HS

Yesterday Jamaine and I were student leaders. Our group did Peer Skills 3 and Passport 4. In Peer Skills 3 we learnt about conflict; what it is, why it happens, how it happens and how to deal with it. I helped run the class so I could complete my ILP Leadership Goal.

In the afternoon we had passport 4. We discussed the criteria (leadership) and went on to work on it on our own.

For evening class we did Intro to POL (Presentation Of Learning). We were told about how we were going to present our learning to our groups at the end of term and we made a start on it.

Jamaine and I feel that we completed our personal goals for the day successfully. Mine was to not get distracted during passport and have a productive lesson and Jamaine’s was to make sure everyone was on time to class. Our community goal was to get everyone calmed down before bed by reading aloud and then for everyone to settle in to bed quietly and on time. Yesterday was the only day that everyone was on time to class and went to bed quietly and on time.

Overall, we both had a successful day, learnt lots and did a good job as student leaders.

Rebecca - Mallauna

Hi this is Jaimee from Bellarine. On Wednesday 1A and I went on our second and last expo. On the first day we walked from campus to Marlo which is about 8km then canoed over to Corringle Slips campground. That night we walked to the beach did a revision of the day, then walked over the massive dunes and did some star gazing, I learnt how to find south using the stars.

The next day we got back on the canoes and it was a really good day we canoed over 8km and on the way we had Holly falling out of the canoe, we lost sunscreen, Sara had a bit of trouble getting back in the canoe, Holly lost her watch and found out that the river was really deep.

We had lunch at a place where the Curlip steamer starts. As the day wore on we all got a bit overtired and a bit crazy, so when we got to our second campground it was in a paddock that had cows in it. We had to set up a fence around where we were sleeping, eating and our toilet. At dinner Ben spilt pasta in cow poo, he then started picking it out, haha, best moment.

On our third day we canoed 4km to Lake Curlip, we got out of the canoes, ate our morning tea then started walking through paddocks, around a corner to see a road that was the start of a neighbouring mountain, we climbed that and then we turned around the corner thinking we had got there, no we hadn’t still had to go down then back up again. It was about 8km up Mount Raymond, at the end we were able to take our packs off and we felt 872342304kg lighter so we walked up the hill to the satellite tower. It was amazing to look out and see Marlo and the river and places we had canoed and slept. We then walked 1km down the hill to the bus, screamed when we saw the bus. It was such a good feeling to sit down, we sung at the top of our lungs to the CD in the bus.

Jaimee - Bellarine SC

2A for the past two days have been getting out and about and doing some great outdoorsy activities. Yesterday we got to go surfing. Wooooh! It was such a good day for it, the sun was shining, the weather was warming up and there was hardly any wind. Everyone was pumped and ready to go. We were so enthusiastic that we decided it would be a good idea to leave early. So before lunch we got all our gear ready and as soon as we had eaten we got into the bus and drove down to East Cape.

We had the windows down and the music pumping as we came into the car park at East Cape. Everyone got out as soon as the vehicle stopped and ran over to the edge to check out what was happening in the water. As soon as we saw it our mouths dropped… The waves were TINY, there was barely anything to surf. We were so hyped for something really gnarly, but all we got were these piddly little waves.
Everyone slowly walked back to the van to get out all our gear. We all got our stuff out and walked down to where the boards were on the beach. We practiced our technique on the beach for five minutes in the sweltering heat. After we finally could not stand the heat anymore everyone grabbed their boards and ran for the water. The water looked so inviting until we touched it. The water was absolutely freezing! As soon as we put our toes in you couldn’t feel them. Everyone jumped on their boards so that their toes wouldn’t freeze anymore and paddled out.

Although it was small we all got some sweet rides and as the afternoon went on the waves got bigger. Everyone caught lots more waves as it got bigger and we all cracked up laughing with everyone’s stacks too. There was about half an hour to go when the water started to get way too cold for my liking. I and pretty much the rest of the Timboon crew couldn’t stand the cold anymore so we wimped out and left the rest of the crew to have another half an hour in the waves. It was such a good day, to be out in the water with everyone and having some awesome wipe outs.

Ahliya - Timboon SC

On Wednesday March 6th I had my second surfing lesson and our class on CPR.

Surfing was okay; the first half of the lesson I was struggling to stand up on a surfboard, which was just like every other lesson I’ve taken before, including Surfing here. But, on the advice of one of my instructors, I upsized my surfboard and it worked! Not only was it much easier to ride the waves as control my board, but I was able to stand up for the first three times! I was so happy to be able to finally do this after every other attempt to be taught ending in a sad failure. Now that I know that it was the size of the surfboard that was important, it will be a reminder to me that I need to have the right equipment along with the right attitude before I can go surfing. And that rule can be applied to almost anything I will do.

CPR was more a lesson on DRSABCDD (Danger, Response, Send for help, Airways, Breathing, CPR, Defibrillation & Deadly bleeds) and also what to do in situations of vomiting, mild and severe choking and drowning.

The day was also difficult in that along with being student leader, my expo team was on duty. So after breakfast, I was expected to be in the kitchen washing dishes then get a wetsuit for surfing and clean the boys’ bathroom while I created the morning meeting minutes. Crazy! But, not much you could do about it. I can’t be in three places at once…

-Daniel, Mullauna College

Hello there Harry here! I was the student leader for PVW (parent visiting weekend), because of this I was student leader for 2 half days since everyone here at SRC was away with their families enjoying some time with them.

For parent visiting the students here got to spend the night with their family at motels, hotels or caravan parks. For me I had Jamaine come and stay with my mother and father, this was extremely enjoyable. We stayed at a small motel in Lakes Entrance where, sadly, a lot of the other guys and girls stayed so we didn’t get to get away from everyone. There was this pool at the motel that was freezing cold but it was so much fun messing about in it. Anyway my dad, Jamaine and I went fishing near a pier, we didn’t catch any fish but Jamaine somehow managed to catch a crab that was pretty big. We then went more into the town where we played some pirate mini golf. I, being as amazing at everything as I am, won by a single point because you know I’m awesome.

I loved having the weekend away from the campus because I had a meat pie, a proper parmigiana and indulged in clinkers and homemade cookies my sister made. The next day we went fishing again but my mummy came along and we caught only two fish this time one spiky looking fish and a smaller fish ( I have no idea what either one was). We then had to drive off towards the SRC again but we stopped off at an old bridge that we looked at for a while, sadly we arrived back at campus but I am glad to say I really enjoyed the weekend, partly because I spent some quality time with my family and partly since I got some presents for my birthday.

Everyone here really enjoyed the weekend away with their families and being able to chill out. Well I’m off to enjoy the next three weeks left and to hang out with my mates.

Harry - Oberon

Hi my name is Kai Mayer I am blogging about the photography class we had with David Tatnall.

After head count for morning class we were told to go into the meeting room for class which was at 9:00am. We got in there and this guy introduced himself as David Tatnall and he said he was really good at photography. He showed us this good camera, it was a mechanical SLR. He showed us all of the features of the camera like how to zoom, how to focus and how to change the aperture on it. After that he got the tripods out, showed us how to use them and he told us that we were not to lose the square thing that connects the camera to the tripod. Also he said you will look professional if you actually use the camera. After that we packed up the bus and the car and left for Cowrie Bay. We got out of the car and we walked down to the beach ad started taking photos the two above I took but I took lots more. I recommend you to come and enjoy the experience. Blog Out

Kai- North Geelong