Grade 3/4 - Humanities - How did we get here?

How did we get here?

After exploring the amazing history of the First Nations people, and more specifically the Kulin Nation, last term, 3/4y have hit the time of European settlement in our part of Victoria.

We have been saddened by the devastation that this brought on the Kulin Nation people and hope to continue to learn more about their culture as we go. But we also know that a major city and many towns were founded, so to them we look now.

Let’s get this town started!

Upon landing on the shores of Nerm (Port Phillip Bay) I employed my team of young town planners to select a suitable location for a town and start drawing up some plans. Here’s what some of them came up with.

In Come the Squatters

Once the town plans for Melbourne were drawn and businesses set up, we then came to the time of European squatters in the fertile land surrounding the new city. With this in mind, the 3/4y students set forth to try their hands at this squatting business and claim their own lands from the current owners. I fear that many of our squatters have struggled to maintain their land claims due to fierce household resistance. Our young Jimmy Moffat almost immediately lost his claim on the family couch and had to downsize his dreams to the guitar in his room.

Towns of the Macedon Ranges

After trying our hand at town planning, squatting and searching for gold, 3/4y have now been doing some research on the history of the towns that they live in.

Here’s some interesting facts they found.

Woodend is near a meeting place of the three Kulin Nation groups of the Macedon Ranges - Wurundjeri, Taungurung and Dja Dja Wurrung. - Otto

Lancefield is near an important Wurundjeri stone axe quarry called Wilimee Mooring. Axes made there were traded all across south-east Australia. Lots of megafauna fossils have been found there too! - Mia

The Wurundjeri were the first people to live in the Woodend area. It was opened up for European settlement in 1836 by an English surveyor. It was a main stop on the way to the Bendigo, Castlemaine and Daylesford goldfields. - Daisy

Kyneton was an important gateway to the Castlemaine goldfields in the 1850s and 1860s. - Seba

Mt Macedon was named by an English surveyor after Philip of Macedonia (Alexander the Great’s dad) because he could see Port Phillip Bay from the top. After the gold rush, rich people built houses on Mt Macedon for use in summer when it was too hot in Melbourne so they could get out of the heat. - Remy

Woodend was named as it was at the end of the Black Forest for gold seekers travelling to Bendigo. The Black Forest was a hiding place for bushrangers and robbers, it was a dangerous place. - Gage

The Adventures of Flash

- By Daisy Ford

2z Special Places of Candlebark

Since breaking out of isolation 2z have been reconnecting with our beloved Candlebark and visiting all our favourite places. Each of us chose a place to visit. Lucky for us Ben chose Wignall's (the abandoned house up the hill) which gave us the opportunity to go on a big walk and visit a few other places on the way. It was a delightful morning and we feel so lucky to learn and grow in this amazing natural landscape.

- Peta

Walk to Wignalls

Down the Hill Artwork

On Thursday afternoons the Down the hill kids have combined the study of art and the study of ecology. A myriad of fungi species have been collectively spotted throughout the Macedon Ranges as have a myriad of birds. Here are the results!

These 9 ecologists have become masterful and patient observers of the natural world. They have documented their observations by drawing, painting, photographing, making collages and making fungi spore prints.

Sci-fi Stories

Unit P - By Henry

Fading - By Ebony

Preps getting work done & having some fun

In my opinion …. Year 7

Persuasive writing about the positive and negative impacts of the Lockdown on learning.

Negatives of lockdown - By Olivia

Picture this, it's your favorite day of the week, it's a fun day, you have your favourite after school activity that night. The next day you wake up and boom you are trapped at home, with nothing to do nowhere to go. No need to worry if you are having trouble imagining it because it's actually happening! There are so many negatives about being in lockdown, here are a few major negatives.

Firstly, you can’t see your friends in person! This argument in particular takes a huge toll in my life. Friends are important in so many ways. Not seeing friends and having conversations may affect your mental health and socialisation skills, by the time everything does go back to normal we won’t know how to talk to people. You may be thinking well you can still see them at online learning, but it's not the same at all because you don’t spend recess time with them and if you were in class and started talking to your friend group then other people would try and talk to their friends.In the end it would all be a disaster because you can’t understand anyone.

Secondly, we are not allowed to do after school activities. This could potentially affect your physical health and well being side of life. Not being able to go to, footy let's say for example, would affect your fitness because you're not running around the field chasing after the ball. Also it would affect your skills because you can’t go train, and like I said in my first argument you can’t have conversations with your teammates and you can’t build up trust, this can do alot of damage because when you go back to teamsports you may forget how to work in a team. Football was just one of the many examples I could have used but this can happen with many other after school activities.

Learning an instrument is another prime example because some families may not be able to afford the instrument that you learn, then you won’t be able to practise and if you have a bad memory you might forget everything you learned.

Finally, a major negative about being imprisoned at home is not being able to go to school! I know I know you're probably thinking, wow a child wanting to go school, well that's right a child and many other children actually want to go to school. I’m sure i’m not the only one that realised that I kind of took school for granted and I won’t ever do it again. I don’t know about you but imagine learning one way for eight years and then out of nowhere changing to a completely different style of learning, to me that sounds pretty harsh and it is. Having to change the way you learn is not only hard on your brain but it puts you under a lot of stress. Sometimes if you're learning and you don’t understand a question then you ask your mate to give you a hand but for this instance you can’t. The children that go to school at Candlebark are very lucky to have so much space to run around in, and there are so many things you can do with your friends. But at home it is very different, yeah you can run around in your backyard, but some people don’t have a backyard and if they do they might not have anything to do in their backyard.

In conclusion, life now as we know it is very different than what we knew before lockdown. I know I’m one of many people that won’t take school, after/before school activities, friends and many other things for granted again. Although there may be very few upsides about being in lockdown I know there are more negatives. Now you know some of the major negative impacts on the lockdown in my opinion.

The Benefits of Lockdown - By Mia

Don’t you just hate getting up at 6:00 EVERY MORNING? It sucks! Why can’t we all just stay in bed until the sun is ACTUALLY IN THE SKY? It’s terrible hearing the cry of pets when we leave. Why can’t weekends be EVERY DAY? Well, if that’s you, your wish is my command. We’re in lockdown now. Surprise! We get to stay in bed until we want to get up! Our pet’s happy joyful glee as we take the leash out of the cupboard and dust it off! Now it is weekends EVERY DAY!! And now you WANT to go back to school and work??

The current lockdown has increased the time that families and pets are spending together. When your mum or dad asks “Hey (insert name(s) here)! Want to play a family game of Uno?!” you can say yes! Whenever your dog Fluffy starts scratching at the door, you can take him/her on a walk! It’s pretty much Sunday every day! For once, you can have family movie nights, family meals, family matches of board games or video games and because you can work or school from home! This is a great opportunity for families that are unable to spend time with each other because of work and education and the rush of life. This is really great for families that can’t normally do that. More and more people want to see friends now, which is really good; the world will have more friendships, and that is what we need. The lockdown will bring us closer together as a community.

Because of the decrease in human activity, the environment is starting to recover. Animals are returning to places that they haven’t been in a long while. There is the possibility of less pollution in the oceans and in the air, which will benefit all wildlife and humans. Carbon emissions have already shown to have decreased significantly since COVID-19 and lockdown. This has been because there is less traffic, less pollution generated by factories, and less planes in the air. Scientists warned that carbon emissions needed to reduce in 2020, and this has been a good start.

Without the regular distractions of school, work, friends, people, outings, and extra-curricular activities, people are finding the time to be creative in their own way. To stop being bored, people are finding things to do and that often is a creative expression. Whether it is painting, drawing, writing or crafting, people can and will have the time to do these things. Maybe this will encourage people to be creative instead of being so attached to Fortnight or Minecraft, and not be completely disconnected to the world as it changes around us. Find a way to be creative in 2020 lockdown!!

2020 lockdown will last for all of term 2 most likely, so it’s best to be creative, enjoy time at home and be with family. See friends on facetime and get to know more about yourself and family! When the world has been released from this lockdown, there will hopefully be a wave of more creative people that want to help the environment. Won’t this lockdown be interesting…?

The Earth's Big Rest- by Wyni

Across the world the earth is getting a big rest because of COVID-19.

While in many countries quarantine is causing a lot of problems, there are some positive impacts like: less pollution, people reconnecting with nature and more awareness of health and fitness.

Because we are not able to fly overseas and drive to as many places there is a lot less pollution. Animals are reclaiming their land. There are many more animals because people aren't polluting the air, and littering has been reduced by a lot because not many people are out.

There are much clearer waters for example, Venice, the canal has cleared up and the waters much clearer. Fish, birds and plants have returned and no boats have been on the water making it pollution free.

With less focus on cars to go places, people are using their bodies more to get around. Everyday there are more and more people riding, running and walking. Much less cars come through and less traffic also means less car crashes. People are more aware of their bodies and exercising.

Lastly, people are reconnecting with nature. We are hearing more birds and nature, we are not affecting the land as much and there is less tree cutting. In some countries mountain goats have come down and are ok with people being around them. While we are at home all the time our pets are probably having the time of their life getting walked lots and being around us all day long. Many pet adoption centres are empty because everybody is getting new pets and rehoming dogs. While at home, many people are growing their own food and cooking with fresh produce.

Although many people are looking forward to the end of the lockdown, there are many positives that we should keep with us in our future for the benefit of our earth.

Social isolation is benefiting us - By Lily

Social isolation has been a tough time with many ups and downs. People have been separated for long periods of time and our life has been put on hold. But people haven't stopped smiling, laughing or having fun, in fact everyone has been so supportive and caring to one another.This is why I believe that social isolation IS benefiting us.

We have LEARNT to appreciate each other more and support others through miserable times.

We have thanked the amazing doctors and nurses who have worked day and night to save many lives. Putting their life on the line for someone else is an amazing act of kindness and we’ve come to realize this.

We have PLAYED together whether it's through music, sports or video games helping each other win their own battles and rise above all odds.

We have developed new ways to play games across the street or across the world.

We have TALKED through our issues as others listened and supported us through tough times.

We have opened up to each other and as life gets harder coming out stronger.

And most importantly we have LOVED and appreciated the world and the amazing bright minds out there who are working to find a resolution to our problem. It may just be small but in the world of today every little thing counts.

We are coming together and forming something special between us never thought possible.We have developed new ways to learn, to play, to talk and to love We have shown that through connection we can get through anything even if it’s 1.5 meters away!

In Conclusion I really strongly believe social isolation is benefiting us because

We are learning. We are playing. We are Talking. And we are loving.

Together we can move mountains.

Benefit of Lockdown - By Cosi

On December 31st (new years eve) a new coronavirus was reported to the WHO (World Health Organisation) office in China. As time passed the virus has spread around the globe. With no cure visible, countries imposed restrictions on social contact and movement; Lockdown. It has been a controversial decision with some welcoming the restrictions and others against them. Now let’s examine the difference between countries that shutdown earlier vs later.

The United States of America was slow to react. The states did nothing as the death toll rose. It wasn’t until 185,000 cases of the virus had been confirmed that they started putting restrictions in place. By then the disease had already infected hundreds of thousands of people. Even now as the pandemic is tearing through the country they’re actually easing the lockdown! Although, part of the reason that this is happening is due to the population claiming that they are being deprived of their freedom.

This may be true but the consequences are likely to be considerable. The economy has taken a massive hit from the virus and people not being able to work. But if we open up now the chance of a second even bigger wave of covid-19 is incredibly high. If that happened lockdown would last even longer and the economy would be even worse off.

Now Let’s have a look at Australia and New Zealand. Australia reacted more slowly than we should have. Although we have still shut down a lot more quickly than other countries, preventing thousands of potential cases and deaths. New Zealand did the same thing but went into a stricter lockdown faster. Because the lockdown has been so effective AUS and NZ are discussing possible travel between our two countries alone. Although we can’t get ahead of ourselves here in Australia because the government has eased restrictions slightly and suddenly the cases per day have gone up significantly. So stay at home and save lives whether your own or other people’s .

Without a doubt having a lockdown has saved many people from death and many more from illness and sorrow. So stay at home and save lives whether your own or other people’s.

The negative aspects of the lockdown - By Ned

The lockdown is where everyone stays at home for a period of time because of the Covid-19 infection. We stay in lockdown so we don't spread the virus. I think this has a negative impact on people's lives. My reasons are that it is bad for mental health, you can’t see your friends or family, and online learning is not a great way to learn. I will be talking about all these reasons and why these have a negative impact on our lives.

The lockdown is bad for people's mental health. I think this is because when you are at home all day you are on a screen to do your school work and it's also the only way to see your friends. Being on a screen all day is really bad for your mental health because it is tiring. I also think that the lockdown is bad for your mental health because you don't get outside enough and you cannot get enough regular fresh air.

Another negative aspect of the lockdown is that you can't see any of your family and friends. You can't see any of your family or friends because it's against the rules and it could spread the coronavirus. This means you can't physically see them. The only way to see your friends or family is on the computer. This is no good because you can't get clear conversations with them and so the communication is poor.

The other negative aspect of the lockdown is how we learn. When we are in lockdown we have to do our learning online. This means you can't have a clear conversation with your teacher alone like you can at school, and so your learning can go down. Learning online also stops you from seeing everyone at school, and the environment that helps you learn.

So as you can see the lock down really isn't good for us in lots of ways, and I really hope the lockdown will finish soon.

Thanks for reading

Benefits of Lockdown - By Bryn Sawyer

I myself believe that the lockdown is benefiting us rather than handicapping us. I could go on, but I will just explain.

What are some of the big things you want to get done? For me it is learning how to ride a unicycle, but if I was at school I wouldn't have nearly as much time to ride it.

Now I know you might not want to learn to ride a unicycle, but what about that fence you’ve always needed to get up, working at home means in your spare time you can do a little bit at a time and, or you can just get up, if you're a fast worker.

I know us kids can make you tear your hair out, but I also know we are some of your favourite things on earth, so can you imagine if your kids were kidnapped, and to rub salt into the wound you were on your way home from work. If you’re at home you can take care of them and get work done.

Fitness is a big thing I’m trying to tick off my list of things to do. Now you could just run to the train station or to work if you live close, but if you’re at home you can run, lift, squat, and crunch all in your free time or if you’re waiting for inspiration to hit, then get to work. Plus, there is the bonus of no scary boss coming around and checking in on everyone.

I’m not very good at sleeping, but I know lots of people love it, and can you imagine, you might only have one call and then, sleepy night-night. But even if you have a loaded day, the traffic can’t let you road rage anymore.

I hope that I have managed to convince you that lockdown could be a very nice thing and might even help out with a couple of things. And if you haven’t been convinced I’m sure one of my classmates has done a first class piece of writing on “the negative impacts of lockdown.”

Benefits of Lockdown - By Alex

Lockdown has a negative impact on my life for a variety of reasons. Isolating during lockdown has meant school feels like time is going a lot slower, I don’t get to see my friends which is miserable and my family has been less involved in activity.

Firstly, I find remote education a lot different to going to school. I can't see my friends which makes a big impact on my enjoyment of school. For example, I can't whisper to my friends if I don't understand a question or need to know how to spell something. At school, they are right there and they can help me and I can help them. Remote education is isolating. Also, the workload has increased. Everybody thinks that we are getting too much homework, as the teacher talks about the homework and how to do the task in class time and then we are left to do it in our free time.

Secondly, being separated from my friends is lonely. At lunch and morning tea I get bored just doing nothing. Sometimes I do homework like Education Perfect, Jacaranda Plus and practising piano for music. Sometimes I call my friends to help cure my boredom. For example, I might call Dylan or Rook because we work well together on math homework or we just hang out together.

Finally, my homelife has changed since lockdown. Everyone seems to be lazier, spending more time watching television, and not being very active. For example, on Wednesdays I have so much free time which I usually enjoy at school, playing with my friends. It’s quite different having to stay at home filling in the time with playing xbox or doing homework alone. Sometimes the days seem long and there is a lack of routine. Lockdown is limiting the way I enjoy school.

Lockdown is something that I hope will end soon.

Is online learning more beneficial or less beneficial than offline learning? - By Tristan

Well that is the question I'm going to answer today. When going to school there is more chance that you could be bullied. Yes, Cyberbullying is a factor in this argument but if the child’s’ parents monitor and tell their child what to do and what not to do, the child should have a lower chance of getting bullied than at school.

Also, doing school at home means that the student doesn’t need to take a long, usually fatigue inducing bus ride to and from school. For example, Rook rides the bus for a total of just under an hour every single day and has stated that she feels extremely tired at the end of the bus ride home. Not only does online school save time for students, it also saves time for teachers as some, if not a lot of the work, is marked automatically saving lots of time for teachers. Sometimes at school the teacher can explain something but the student will not fully understand it, but at online learning students can find countless amounts of explanations so they can understand something much better.

Studies show that only 89.2% of students attend school every day, but with online learning you can obviously do school even when you are sick. That is just some of the many reasons I believe school at home is more beneficial for students and teachers. But there are some reasons why it could not be. First of all students’ time on their screen; obviously students are on their screen so much more during online learning than normal school which we cannot deny, but we can work around it. A good way to reduce screen time is to set a student task which they can complete without having to be on a screen - for example building something, reading a book, real life experiments and lots more. You could also say that kids will get less exercise which would be a decent point. But lots of kids at school don't even exercise during recess or lunch anyway. And if we’re dedicated to our fitness we can do that in our own time.

To sum everything up, I know that for me staying at home is more beneficial because it's safer, no long fatigue inducing bus rides, saves teachers time, and you can still do work if you're feeling sick, plus much more.

The benefits of lockdown - By Ava McMillan

While some say that lockdown is tougher, outrageous or even plain old overreacting at least we don't have it as bad as other countries, we can still go on long walks, bike rides and even to the garden shop. So this persuasive writing is about the benefits of lockdown.

1. Stop the virus from spreading

Although the social distancing rules may have been a bit over the top, it has helped us so much in not getting sick, some countries have millions of cases and that's because they have not been taking proper precautions.

2. It has a positive effect on climate change

Since we have been inside so many great things are happening to environment, like for decades the Venice canals have been polluted but now you can actually see the depths of the canals, also dolphins and jellyfish have returned to the canals, or like how a 30 year old hole in the ozone layer, (just above antarctica) caused by chlorofluorocarbons or known as CFCs (a chemical found in hair spray) has been re-closed.

3. People have more time to pursue things that they love to do

Although this fact is not scientifically proven I will still count it in because in time of need humans are pretty resourceful, they have been going on bike rides, cooking together and even making forts together. You might write a book or even just finish one that you have been reading. People have been really getting to know their family.

Now in conclusion, if I have learnt anything about this experience it is that we (as a world) are stronger than a virus and times like these will really help us prepare for what's coming next in our future, So in the end all that matters is to stay home and to keep dreaming.

The Benefits of Covid 19 Lockdown. - Charlize

As you know, our society has been going through a pandemic, and although there are lots of negatives I believe that the positives outweigh them - such as an increase in learning, spending more time connecting with family - and I’ve become a more independent person.

One of the key benefits of the covid19 lockdown is the ability to focus more heavily on the study. Due to little distraction, students have been able to complete work quicker than if they were in a classroom. There is no time for traveling to and from school or to classes and back meaning more school time. Students will probably see their marks go up because they have spent more time working than commuting. Independence has also been affected by the covid19 crisis.

My second reason is that students have probably found that they have become more independent. That’s because students have have been doing online schooling for a while now, and it’s all done by you and your self-motivation.

As a high school student, I have not gotten the help I would have if I was at school therefore I have had to teach myself most things. That brings me to my last point.

The third and final reason is you have probably found that you’re spending a lot of time with your family. This is so good for everyone to have bonding time with siblings and parents because it teaches you relationships and to talk to others. It's good to reflect on yourself and what’s happening around, instead of worrying about every little thing that is going on.

In conclusion, better use of time, a higher degree of independence, and deeper family connections have made it clear that society has more positives to gain from the COVID-19 pandemic than negatives.

The positives about online learning - By Clementine

Online learning is helping us and the earth in many ways, for example it helps the earth, encourages us to go outside more and get more exercise, and expands our vision with learning

Online learning is expanding our mind on different techniques of learning. This will help us when it's a new year and we are going to have different teachers, which means different ways of teaching. And some people have a hard time adjusting to new things so this may not seem like it now but this will benefit those people.

Online learning may be hard at times but it is helping the earth more than we think, like normally we would be driving to school and back, but now people are being forced to stay at home meaning there is less pollution going into the air.

Even though it may not seem fun or exciting the earth is getting a well overdue break. Being at home may not seem like the thing we want to be doing, but we just need to remind ourselves how important the earth is to us and this may just be a wake up call.

People are also realising that they don’t go outside much so now they are walking around and just realising how beautiful the earth is again. Exercise is a big thing that this pandemic has helped people do. I can’t say what's going on in those peoples minds that are starting to go outside more, but I can definitely say that it is helping those people a lot.

These are all reasons that online learning or self isolation is helping us with, getting outside more and getting more exercise, expanding our vision with learning, and helping the earth. I hope that people realise the good things this is doing and stop rushing it, because it will fix itself, and it will all be ok.

The lockdown has negative effects on people - By Jackie

I am personally a very social person and I don’t mind being alone to an extent. However when it comes to being forced to stay isolated and not talk to anyone but your family, yes of course I love them but I can’t be only with them for 24 hours. I can’t be the only one because all my friends miss the social contact, as humans we are naturally social creatures.

Schooling has become so much harder now we are in a lockdown and doing all the work seems to be a bit of a hassle. When people are in class they are interacting and debating and laughing and making mistakes and fixing mistakes. Just the people near you can brighten your day. When you're alone on a computer your day is easily dulled. I do not believe we should lift the lockdown at all because it has saved so many lives but what I do believe is that we need to stay connected. In school the teacher actually has time to talk to you one on one and maybe explain a few things whereas online one on one becomes a lot harder. It is easier to become distracted at home, maybe your favourite YouTuber just uploaded, maybe someone knocked on the door or maybe you have just had a fight with your sibling. It is so easy to become distracted at home and it’s not anyone’s fault but it’s still a fact.

Exercise is really good for the brain and it helps you relax and release some stress, when you work out or simply go for a walk chemicals are released into your brain and it makes you feel happy. So now if we want to go on a bike ride with a friend or maybe go for a stroll with besties, we can’t. When I walk I like to have someone with me to keep me going and interested but by myself it tends to be boring and walking feels like a task and not a pleasure. Walking or jogging or running or doing whatever should be fun and not feel like a task.

Now that we live with a lockdown food has begun to be harder and needs to be disinfected, this puts more stress on everyone. Just going down to the supermarket is stressful, you can’t touch anything, you can’t touch your face and you have to stay 1.5 metres away from everyone in the supermarket. Food used to be a pleasure now it’s become one of the chores, the chores are beginning to stack and the pleasures are plummeting.

In conclusion the lockdown is having so many negative effects on people such as anxiety, loneliness, stress, fear the list goes on. I do not believe we should lift the lockdown. We just need to see the effects it has on people and how we can stay connected.

Benefits of Lockdown - By Alice

I think most people can agree that lockdown is isolating and restrictive. The only people I've seen are my family and I am missing my friends. But lockdown is having a big impact on the whole world; many things have changed and no one knows what the future holds. I can't wait for the lockdown to be over so I can go back to my weekly routine.

Point 1- The importance of after school sports for the benefits of mental health.

After school sports and activities play a big role in most kids’ weekly routine and is a distraction from home and school worries. More importantly they have benefits on kids’ mental and physical health; without it kids could get depressed and stop socializing.

Point 2- Lost jobs can lead to depression

Due to the corona pandemic many people have lost their jobs, particularly those who work in the travel and hospitality industries. In the lock down they are stuck at home with no work to go to and no money intake and their future is not looking good.

Point 3- Crushed dreams

My family was in tokyo in January, and while we were there the whole city was preparing for the summer olympics that was to commence at the end of July. The train station and airports were getting renovated and massive stadiums were being built. Now that the games have been postponed (at this stage) to 2021 most competitors' dreams have been crushed- those who qualified may not be able to keep training or there may be new competitors wanting to become the next champion.

In conclusion lockdown has put everyone down and stopped many things from happening and is showing many consequences and is making a bad influence on families. Most after school sports have stopped, many jobs have been lost and the Olympics has been canceled. Nothing worse could happen. This year was planned to be a great one and I am very upset that the corona had to come in and wreck it, but let's keep our fingers crossed that 2021 will be a better year.

The positive things about lockdown - By Eliza

Most people I know are going to think what could possibly be good about lock down, but here today I hope to convince them that there are many things to look forward to during lockdown. My three main points today will be pollution,family time and health side to it.

The first thing I’m going to talk about is pollution. Around the world right now there are barely any planes flying or cars driving around. Also as we know, yes, they are forms of transport that are quite important to our society, but now in many places around the world the before and after are amazing! The impact has made a huge difference, on nature, and maybe this could be a wake up call to cut down on the amount of planes and cars we have operating. Yes we may need them but there are many ways you could have less planes up in the air all going to one place.

Another thing that is positive about lockdown is quality time with your family. While some families are experiencing stress and conflict being sequestered in a small place, many of us are finding staying at home an opportunity to strengthen family relationships through cooperative activities and shared entertainment. “The family that reads/streams together, stays together.” Yes, we miss going to the movies, concerts, and theatres, but there’s lots of good books, movies, and shows available in the home.

And the last thing is the health side to it, you are stuck at home with heavy restrictions, why not do some exercise? There is time for meditation, reflection, and quality communications via phone and Facetime with loved ones.Go running, walking and biking or do a sport you enjoy and are energised by. Getting into the kitchen and cooking some healthy and delicious food for your family. Learning to do new things so when you get back to work,school or even just seeing your friends again you have stories to tell, so now after you finish reading this go and do something in lockdown.

To conclude, think positive, spend time with your family and get out there.

We will get there ( and hey we are there because I turned this in so late,sorry Wendy)

The negative effects of online schooling - By Om

Online schooling is having a negative effect on students. Through this international pandemic most countries have been forced into some sort of lockdown, to varying degrees of severity. Because of this most people are stuck at home and students must resort to online schooling. Online schooling is having many negative effects on children because of loss of motivation, lack of support, and an overabundance of homework. What’s more, everyone is in different situations, and we feel like we are losing many experiences.

Throughout my online learning experience I feel like I have lost my motivation for school, this is due to a multitude of reasons. As a result of lockdown, most of the work we are currently doing is computer marked. When writing or answering questions for a computer, it doesn’t matter if it is skillfully written, as long as you have ticked off all the criteria the computer wants you to follow you’re done.

This in my opinion is lazy teaching. By doing this students lose their creativity, instead of being forced to come up with something new and exciting, they are told that it doesn’t matter what you come up with, and as long as it is what the computerized website wants to hear you are done.

I have written pieces of writing I am proud of and things I hope will never be read again. Normally I would strive to complete something I like, but now it is all different, teachers will say things like this is going towards your grades, but in my opinion school is becoming more about passing than learning.

I also feel like the teachers aren’t able to give the support they would normally be able to give to each student in a regular class at school. Some assignments I have written I have spent hours on, thinking and thinking until I am happy with them. Other times I have spent only minutes. You might think that those I have spent less time on receive worse feedback than the ones I have spent lots of time on. But the reality of it is, I don’t get any reply and if I do it is all the same. If I get the same response on something I have spent hours on, pouring my heart into, as the one I have whipped up in my free ten minutes before class, what is the point in trying?

I understand that teachers have many students’ tests to mark, but by compromising the time taken to mark the test/homework piece, by using computers, or not giving any feedback comes across as having disinterest in a student's work. Most of these issues wouldn’t come up in normal schooling, because at school we are given more opportunities for one on one work.

We aren’t learning any way near as much as we would in normal school since if we need help we are mostly told, ‘look on the app/program it will tell you all you need to know’. (That part was inspired by the infamous Jacaranda math’s app that I despise with a passion.)

Well not to surprise you but it doesn’t always work. And we are left seeking answers for ourselves, at this time I usually watch a YouTube video or something that can explain what we need to get a good score. At times like these I wonder why my parents pay $3250 for me to go to school when I can learn everything from the same apps they use and more for much cheaper. Well the answer to that rhetorical question is that if all I cared about was mainstream education I would teach myself or go to a more conservative school that specializes in such things. I go to school because of the wonderful people of Candlebark and the amazing extracurricular opportunities it brings.

Unfortunately online schooling is like school, but without any of the things you like about school. Like a dehydrated fruit, same in theory but divorced of the juice that makes it such a delight.

Teachers are expecting us to write something at least mediocre, and are giving unrealistic due dates and estimations of time it will take to complete a task. This causes a lot of stress, because we have to choose between writing something we like and spending hours after school writing it. (This Wendy is in no way your fault, I am simply expressing my views on this matter.)

It is also unfair for us that our entire day is having to squeeze into a timetable-that is made by people who have no idea what our situation is like right now. Everyone's situation is so different, e.g. some people don’t have good internet, they don’t have enough electronics etc.

Also because of this I and many other students feel as if so many opportunities have been stolen from us, camps we were going to go on, school sleepovers and time with our friends.

In conclusion online schooling is having a negative effect on students due to a loss of motivation, lack of support, an overabundance of homework and the loss of all the extra-curricular school activities I so love.

PS All my opinions are completely my own (and not my parents).PPS In truth this is the greatly summarised version of all my issues regarding online schooling.

First Week back at Candlebark

We love being back and going on long walks in the bush, finding Cubbies and bases, visiting the bush classroom and the horses and running down hills - Leeanne

Alpine National Park: Razorback Ridge to Federation hut

March 11 -12 2020

Eleven, mostly 11 year olds, went bushwalking and walked 11kms one day and 11kms the next at a starting altitude of more than 1100 metres. The highest point we walked to was 1801 meters. That’s nearly 2kms above sea level. That’s a maths lesson as well as a memorable adventure

The Razorback to Federation Hut and back in 22kms!

Ava, Caj, Eva, Amelie, Sasha, Oscar, Bailey, Tabby, Darcy, Sevryn, Red, Ian and I were packed and ready to drive from Bright to Diamatina Hut right near Mt Hotham to begin our walk along the truly spectacular and aptly named Razorback ridge.

‘Places where spirits dance’ reads the first peoples sign as you begin the walk. Our spirits were dancing by the time we saw that sign again. Friendship, good food, a sense of adventure, everything we needed on our backs, a map, the sun, clear skies as far as we could see…We were finally ready and set off after lunch.

We saw three snakes, two eagles, lots of robins, and the most remarkable blue spotted insect that I’m still trying to identify. When we go back to school I’m going to ask Jess our new teacher who has a very big interest in entomology if she knows what it is.

We woke up at dawn, drank hot chocolate and devoured muesli in the crisp alpine air, marvelled at nearby Mount Feathertop and set off again.

If we were there again today the Razorback would be dusted with snow.

It was a terrific trip. Ian and I were very admiring of the kids’ fitness, the way they loved the challenge of walking that far, the way they looked after each other by sharing packs around, and the way they really noticed how majestic the mountains are.

Congratulations you fine and intrepid bunch of 11.

Darwin's Journey

The 3/4 Down the Hill group found some really interesting and different ways to show how the Falkland Island Wolf got to the island from the South American mainland during the last ice age. Ziggy Hurst built a model of the islands and filmed his explanation of how they were shaped and how the Wolf made his way across.