Banyule/Nillumbik Week 6 2017

We started off another hot week doing a skateboarding session with Richard from Ownlife. Richard met us down at Greensborough skate park where we all had the opportunity to gear up and have a go at skateboarding. It's a great activity for everyone to be challenged, depending on skill set, for some that is standing comfortably on a board and for others it's learning now tricks and having a go at steeper ramps. Everyone had a go and it was great to see the confidence and perseverance out on the ramps. Following this session we headed to NMIT in Fairfield for our second tafe taster for the term. We met Ann-Marie from the Floristry department, who helped us make a festive table arrangement. The students worked hard to make their displays and it was clear we have a creative group with great attention to detail.

Thursday was a busy day spent preparing for the upcoming weeks. In the morning, we met up with MC Motley at Yarra Youth Centre. Motley worked with our students to put together a rap that we will be recording during an upcoming session at JETS Studio. Following this we packed all of our equipment for camp next week. Thursday afternoon was spent at Headspace in Greensborough, where Liz took us through a wide range of activities relating to emotions and communication. Headspace is a fantastic resource available to young people and we find it valuable to introduce our students to the space.

Our last day of the week was spent in Eltham on the Yarra River. We met up with Kelto from Rubicon who will be running our final camp for the program for a day of canoeing. Students learned different paddle strokes, as well as how to capsize and move through faster running water. It was great to be out on the water on such a hot day, no one minded practicing capsizing! The day put students in a good position for our camp next week, three days of canoeing on the Goulbourn River.