Hume Program Week Five

This week had a few changes from our expected program but the students were all very adaptable and participated well. We had to postpone our caving activity due to the weather but the forecast is looking good to get out to the Labertouche cave next week.

We started off the week with Nell and Eoin from Good Cycles who spent some time with us going over bike maintenance and safety, as well as the skills needed to teach a younger child how to ride a bike. The students practiced with each other how to safely do this. In a few weeks we will be donating bikes to primary school aged children in the community, and our students will get to put these skills to practice. After doing this, we headed out to the Main Yarra Trail where we rode our bikes from Richmond into Federation Square. This ride is a very different challenge to being out on the You Yangs mountain bike tracks, as there is a lot of other bike and foot traffic that the students learnt to safely manage. While at Fed Square we took the time to visit the Ian Potter Art Gallery and some popular graffiti spots before riding back.

We were unable to go caving on Thursday so instead the students spent the morning catching up on their journals. We ask each student to keep a record of their time on the program and to answer reflective questions throughout the term. We feel this is a really valuable aspect of the program as it gives a great insight into how each student is feeling and provides them with detailed accounts of their experiences to look back over in the future. After a calm morning, we went out to Hardrock Climbing in Nunawading to have a go on the rock climbing walls. Despite some fears of going too high, everyone challenged themselves and attempted at least a few different climbs throughout the fun session.

Friday we headed out to Good Cycles at the Docklands. While here Nell and Donovan worked with us on the bikes to be donated. The students were able to continue reinforcing the bike skills they've gained and did tasks such as pumping the tyres, realigning the brakes and checking the gears, as well as ensuring all aspects of the bike were secure and safe to give to a young person in a few weeks. In the afternoon we took the opportunity to visit The Library at the Dock, which has some really awesome facilities and staff. We were shown around by Carly before having free reign on the video games and the Google cardboard virtual reality lenses. This library not only has a wide range of books, cds and dvds; they also have some great recording studios, a 3D printer and other great technologies. We're keen to get back and use this space soon. Our group even got featured on the Melbourne Library Services Instagram page!