Spring is springing all over the place here,with wattle, daffodils, jonquils doing their yellow thing. So much is happening at the school that it seems like a good time to do another blog. The Grade 5/6 students are about to go to Melbourne for a three-day camp, during which they will navigate around the city in search of various targets, experience a variety of eating-situations (from a Hare Krishna restaurant to a Vietnamese cafe), and go to the Human Body exhibition at Docklands.

But we’ve all been out and about a lot, with a trip to the Science and Technology Centre at Bendigo, as part of National Science Week; lots of visits to the Melbourne Writers’ Festival, where our students saw everyone from Dave Eggers to Clive James, from Geraldine McCaughrean (author of the Peter Pan sequel) to Louis Sachar (‘Holes’), from Leigh Hobbs to Barry Jones; and to Bendigo again for the Tournament of Minds,where one of our teams walked away with the big award for displaying outstanding values and attitude. Only seven of these awards are given in the whole of Victoria.

On Friday we sent two teams to an inter-school chess tournament. They both did really well. As we — at the moment — only go as far as Year 8, our secondary team had to compete against much older kids, but they won their division. The primary team, in a larger field, came third; a great result.

Also last week was our annual fete. Of course nothing around here is really annual, given that we’ve only been open for 18 months. But my guess would be that as long as Candlebark keeps going, the fete will continue, basically because everyone has such a great time. The only rule is that the kids have to do everything: there is no adult help A few of the parents are so enthusiastic that there’s no stopping them, but basically the rule holds good. Last year one of our Preps organised a stick sharpening competition. If you entered, you spent as long as you liked sharpening a stick with a knife, and at the end of the day the sharpener of the best stick got the prize. This year the highlights included a slow race, several bow and arrow competitions with home-made bows and arrows, a fortune teller, a house of horror, and lots of great food and drink stalls.

The fortune teller was Oliver, a Year eight boy. He had me select a number of cards, several of which had swords in them. He then searched through his pack and found a picture of someone lying on the ground dead, with many swords sticking out of his body. My fate, he informed me, was to be killed by four swords. I asked him if he was speaking literally or metaphorically, but he assured me that four actual swords, resembling the ones in the picture, would be the agents of my death. However, just as I was feeling a little faint, and coming over all dizzy, he whipped out a card from the Teachers’ Credit Union, and told me that if I invested my funds with them I would live a long and happy life.

I have to say I left the tent with the gravest suspicions as to the incorruptibility of fortune tellers; well, of Oliver anyway.

Of course when you write or talk about the school publicly, you only mention the good stuff. But I feel there’s a great vibe here. I love what I see happening around me all day, every day. Last week a parent sent me an e-mail describing her son’s response when asked by some friends of the family whether he was enjoying his school. He said it was the “best, best, best school in the whole world, milky way, on the other side of the milky way and all the universe, and in other worlds; but then I don’t really know what an alien school would be like!”

So on that happy note I’ll sign off!

Our second blog instalment is from a prospective parent, who sent me this, by email, after visiting the school.

With just a mouthful of muesli and a swig of juice our family hit the road excitedly at 7.30am. The sun was slowly making its rise over Melbourne town, on a crisp winter morn, way more crisp and rainy than expected seeing Aus has been in a draught for the past 10 plus years. I love these unexpected adventures, you get word there’s gonna be a school open day you’re dying to see, so we hire a car and off we go.

We eye spy lots of open green pasture and sheep, a few cows and some horses. Once we hit Romsey we all start to feel the buzz that will persist throughout the day. We round Kerrie Rd and find a nice, bumpy, corrugated, red earth track and then the enchanted, green and ancient land of Tye estate aka Candlebark school finally appears.

The first thing to impress my three year old son Kai is the statue of the dancing girl, his reaction being, “Hey mummy, look at the dancing fairy.” We contemplate telling him that fairies don’t exist but I let it slip today. I notice beautiful old ferns and bubbling streams and great rolly-polly hills, hoping that one day Kai, or my nine month old son Jett, will one day be able to tell me fantastic stories of how they wore the bum off their pants whilst skidding down those slopes. After a few looks of concern as to where to go, and a nice long ride up a winding, gravel path we finally make it to the school. My husband Levin and I were immediately reminded of a camp we went to in San Diego, it was like a commune where a group of 10-15 people lived in hand built log cabins, grew their own organic food, and ran an adventure/challenge camp for children from disadvantaged homes in need of some guidance and growth.

That place we visited was really warm and so is Candlebark.

A really spunky boy showed us the way to the “main area,” as he put it, and as we entered the open plan eating/kitchen area we were blown away. It was abuzz with excited chatter, games, kids making food, eating food, reading everything! All of a sudden we were meeting teacher upon teacher and kids were just so easy to talk to. It was just such a very welcoming experience. How many schools feel like this when you walk into them? Mine certainly never did!

We were all banished from being inside even on freezing cold days; like dogs sent to the dog house we felt small, unwanted and totally controlled and it shows because most of us had a complete disrespect for the system and our school. But these kids were totally different, they all looked happy, some were being hugged by their teachers, (I’d actually rather call the teachers of Candlebark mentors,) and there seemed to be so much love and respect flowing through the place. This was the perfect time for us to see the school, as John had come to us and casually told us he wanted. We sat down on communal benches with fresh apples, carrots and other fruit on the tables which was so cool to see. The fact that kids could just take food when they needed to nourish themselves proved to me and Levin that the school really cares about the wellbeing of its students. John sat us down with some of the students from the school and we all just chatted about what the school was about, what it’s not about, and what it could be about.

Everyone has a say in their school so it feels like a close community with great communication between students, teachers, and even the principal! I didn’t even get to meet the principal of my school, ever.

The coolest part of the day was meeting Rosie, Matty and last but certainly not least, Hannah. Those three girls proved to me just how exciting, important and interesting it was to be a part of Candlebark. They showed us every room with tonnes of explanations as to what went on, they loved their art room (and teacher!), there was a potting wheel and punching bag in the art room- how cool. We saw science at work, they told us about the rolling hills that make great tobogganing- on cardboard boxes no less, we saw an organic garden with jars full of beer to keep pests away (we particularly liked that it was beer being used,)and Kai was in love when we saw the two donkeys, horses, geese, goats and chickens. Animals are integral to life, and they teach kids about the cycle of life so it’s awesome to see them there. Kai then died and came back from heaven when we saw the train model set that the kids had been working on. The girls told of us of waterfalls and creeks that were of great refuge in summer. On the way back I asked them if they had seen all of the 1100 acres of land and they looked at me like I was crazy! Might be an interesting day trip sometime, *wink, wink, nudge, nudge*. The girls just blew me away with their knowledge and passion of the school. They were so mature and responsible for their age group, which shows how the school is working well. On the way back to lunch a little girl of the age of 6 or 7 showed us her tooth! Just another example of how the bigger kids look after the younger ones. What an enlightening day! Kai even managed to find a friend! We got to see how the teachers teach, how recess and lunch work, we felt the environment which was alive like the kids, we managed to meet John and most of the exciting, wise faculty, we met the coolest kids and even got to read books from the library. As far as most school open days go, this was the coolest, most insightful day ever!

We left that day feeling exhilarated and exhausted. Isn’t that the way you should always leave school.

- Della

This is very random, starting a blog just a couple of weeks before the end of second term in our second year. But at 11 o’clock on a Friday night, it feels like a good idea. It may never feel like a good idea again.

Anyway, here are a few moments in the recent life of Candlebark. We’re getting ready for a soiree at the end of term, so that means a lot of activity. The hills are alive, with the… I think you know how that line goes. All the students will be soireeing, both singing and dancing, and for many, playing musical instruments.

The latest sporting craze is a game the students invented last year. It’s a form of hockey, played with tennis racquets and a tennis ball on the basketball court. It’s only recently made a comeback, but I’m glad it has (I’m John by the way, the Principal) because I love it. The game is superfast, and the players range in age from 7 to 56 (I raise the average age somewhat when I join in).

Most of the games played here are pretty much the students’ own invention, but they have a few things in common. There are no boundary lines, so the ball never goes out, which means that the game never stops. Also, there are no penalties for stoppages or infringements, because no one really cheats much, so when, for example, someone treads on the ball in hockey, it’s just accepted as an accident, and play continues — no one says anything. If someone treads on the ball deliberately, then everyone just laughs, although if a person did it too often, they’d soon get told.

A totally new development is the creation of a skipping team. Nick, a Year seven student, is a state champion skipper, and after giving a demonstration of his skills the other day to an amazed and enraptured audience he now has 23 kids who want to be in a team. He’s training them at lunchtimes.

Meanwhile, back in the classroom, I’ve been trying a new approach to reading with my Grade 4 English class. The results have astonished me. On Wednesday I got them to demonstrate their prowess to the other teachers, at lunchtime. They each read aloud, from a passage they had been working on, although they didn’t know in advance which part they’d be reading. The material was about Year 10 standard, and to hear these guys, who represent a wide range of abilities, reading so fluently and confidently was very exciting.

Finally, a quick synopsis of other events: we’ve just taken delivery of a Yamaha P70 keyboard, which is a great bonus for our piano students. It’s been purchased as a result of a generous donation from the parents of a student. Kate Stewart, a grade 6 student who came from Wales to spend a term with us, has only two weeks left here, and that’s making everyone sad. Art teacher Basil Eliades and a group of wildly enthusiastic students have been making great progress on our model train layout — the trains are now whizzing through some wonderful scenery. Older students have been creating dance videos: I’ve had a few previews, and have been blown away by the sophistication and skill of their work. We’re looking at hosting a group of Japanese exchange students here next term, to further extend our students’ understanding of the wider world.

And I hope you’ve enjoyed this first instalment of Candlebark’s blog!