News from Clunes
We currently have 93 Year 9 Group 62 students in residence at Clunes and are expecting to have our 5,000th student attend Clunes as part of Group 64 in Term 4 this year. The Wesley at Clunes program has continued to grow and develop and is firmly embedded as part of the rite of passage through Middle School at Wesley College. Students who attended in Clunes Group 1 in 2000 are now 29-30 years of age and we regularly get requests from past students to come and stay during holiday periods or who call in when visiting the town. It is always lovely to hear of their positive Clunes experience and to hear how that experience continues to have an impact on their adult lives.
During 2014-15 we have reviewed and enhanced the Clunes curriculum and program to sit within the Middle Years Programme (MYP) framework, consistent with the Year 9 curriculum across the College.
Every student at Clunes is involved in two projects during their stay - an Individual Project and a Community Project. Both projects are MYP units and are assessed accordingly and form part of the learning sequence to prepare students for the Personal Project at Year 10.
The Individual Project at Clunes is a self-directed project where students research an event or aspect of life in Clunes or rural Australia and create an artwork. Students choose their own topics and the art form they wish to explore based on their own passions and interests. The art form could be from any of the visual or performing arts.
In the Community Project, students work in groups of two or three to research, plan and carry out a service action to address a need within the community.
Both projects engage students in a process of self-directed independent inquiry, action and reflection. This challenges students to develop organisational and self-management skills that will be essential for their future studies.
These two projects encourage students to practise and strengthen their approaches to learning skills, to consolidate prior and subject-specific learning, and to develop an area of personal interest.
Term 1 Community Projects at Clunes included organising an Easter Fun Day for local children, Sporting Workshops with both Clunes and Mt Blowhard Primary School, a Clothes Drive for the Salvation Army, Making Joey Pouches for Tinakori Animal Farm, Skate Park Clean Up and Shopping with the Elderly. Term 2 projects have included a Footy Tipping Ladder for the Clunes aged care centre and working with local land care groups.
Individual Project Topics have included Research into the Victorian Goldfields presented through charcoal drawings and a model of a mine, Jobs on the Goldfields presented through a board game, Architecture on the Goldfields presented through a model of a miners cottage and Change Over Timein the Clunes district, with knowledge demonstrated through the creation of a dress from the goldfields.
Group 62 is coming to the end of their 8-week Clunes experience with Presentation Day held last Sunday. Presentation Day is an opportunity for students to present to and share with their families their journey and learning whilst in residence at Clunes. This day was hugely successful with both Individual and Community Project Presentations, Circus Performance and Music Concert.
