Yarra Term 2 Week 1 2025

Welcome to the Operation Newstart blog for week 1!

On Wednesday we started off the term at Collingwood alternative school for an introduction session to give everyone a chance to get to know each other through various ice breaker games. These gave everyone a chance to work, and problem solve together to get the fastest time! We then went through and established some group values to be followed throughout the rest of the term, they all chose Loyalty, Team work, Honesty, Respect and Trust.

We then went to Maribyrnong to meet Sal who is a boxing instructor and firefighter! We went through various drills with the boxing bags and learnt some basics skills, everyone put in their best effort. Sal then gave the students a chance to safely spar with him in the ring, allowing them to practice what they had learned and gain a better understanding of movement and proper positioning. We finished off the day with Sal teaching everyone about home fire safety!

On Thursday morning we headed to Sherbrooke Forrest for a nature walk. We split the students into teams and gave them coloured cards and asked them to find the best match with natural objects they found on their walk. They all found such great matches we had to call it a tie! We then drove to Belgrave trees adventure to do the high ropes course. We all had an introduction on how to work all the gear to safely explore the courses. There were zip lines, tough upper body exercises and a 15 meter free fall that they could choose from. Everyone showed bravery, perseverance, encouragement and teamwork throughout the courses.

To finish off the week on Friday we headed to the Yarra youth centre and introduced the students to the space and showed them the facilities available for them. We played some pickleball, table tennis and pool. They all then worked on character strengths and undertook the VIA questionnaire to find out what their top character strengths were. We then drove to Melbourne Polytechnic in Fairfield to undergo a landscaping workshop with Ash, he taught them to lay a pavement with bricks and sand! He then gave the students the opportunity to ask any questions they had about Melbourne polytechnic and different Tafe pathways.

At the end of each week, we are conducting little interviews with a different student to discuss their experiences over the week. This week we chatted to Leo from Fitzroy High School

Leo’s overall highlight of the week was doing the landscaping workshop. This week Leo found the Sherbrooke Walk the most challenging. And he is most looking forward to the street art workshop at Yarra Youth centre.

Overall we have had a great first week and all looking forward to a great week next week with our hike camp!