The 2023 Somerset Celebration of Entrepreneurship, where innovation and inspiration converged to ignite and nurture students' entrepreneurial spirit, has wrapped this week.
Students were immersed in the wisdom of accomplished speakers and globally renowned entrepreneurs who, through firsthand accounts of triumphs and setbacks, gave invaluable insights into the world of business. Our budding Year 9 entrepreneurs took centre stage, showcasing their products and engaging with the wider College community at their business stalls. Meanwhile, Year 6 students unveiled their YearSixpreneur stalls, proving that age is no barrier to creativity and business acumen.
The Celebration of Entrepreneurship is not just an event; it's a gateway to knowledge, networks, and hands-on experiences that will empower students to shape their own futures.
Thanks to all who joined us as guest entrepreneurs and those who helped organise the event. We can't wait to see what's in store for next year!
Our neighbours, Clover Hill State School recently held a STEM educational event, To Infinity, STEM and Beyond, where the Somerset Science Committee presented an impactful visual and auditory science show to young scientists from schools across the Gold Coast.
This gathering of students allowed for exploration of all things Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. A select 12 Year 2 Somerset students attended with their teacher, Mrs Katherine Zernike, and like-minded scientists from six other schools to compete in various activities with a Toy Story theme.
These included:
Congratulations to the Somerset attendees for attaining third place, with the top three places being within 80 points of each other.
If you visit the Year Two classrooms at the moment, you will notice some items that may take you back in time. These objects have inspired our Year 2 friends to ask questions and promote our inquiry, Understanding the Past Connects to the Present.
This inquiry provides several wonderful opportunities for our students to make connections to the history of our college and the local community.
The inquiry began with a 'history walk' around the school grounds, discovering the many legacies of Somerset College. Friends from Year 2 uncovered a wealth of historical facts about the buildings.
The annual highlight continues to be the visit from Mr John Aitkenhead, who kindly shares his photos and stories of the beginnings of Somerset College. This year was his 10th time visiting Year 2… we are ever so grateful to learn from our Founders.
The concept of change is introduced by an exciting excursion to the Gold Coast Hinterland Heritage Museum in Mudgeeraba, where many kind volunteers give up their time to share their knowledge of how times have changed in our local area. It is such a rich experience, learning from our local community whilst helping the students make meaningful connections about significant changes in their daily lives.
Pre-Prep parents Kristee and Ben Staples kindly organised for an emergency services visit to Pre-Prep in Week 9 of this term, linking to our inquiry around community helpers.
After a talk about the important roles of emergency services, Mrs Fuller was dressed up as a fire fighter.
The Pre-Preps walked over to the Koala House to explore a fire truck, ambulance and police car, including activating the siren and using the fire hose across the Sands oval.
One Pre-Prep commented, “This is the best day of my whole life.”
Finally it was time to wave goodbye, such fun morning!
The Australian School Swimming Titles were held in Sydney in August from 22 to 29 with Senior School students competing in the first part of the week while the Junior School students followed.
The Somerset Swim Club had 12 students compete at the Championships with four more Somerset College Students also competing for Queensland. There were some exceptional results from those attending as follows:
Special congratulations go to Leny Grigor who broke the 400m IM National record in winning this event. Also, Somerset Swim Club members Koa Stotz, Cohen Tarrant and Riley Johnston who placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the 50m and 100m Breaststroke!
Well done to all our swimmers, families and coaches on these outstanding results.
Somerset Spartans Rowers are ready to take on the State Championships thanks to the support of our sponsors.
This term ends with the Queensland School State Rowing Championships at Bucca Weir and the Somerset Spartans have a new racing boat to give them the winning edge. The weekend of racing will see over 800 athletes compete over three days and we have 40 Spartans travelling up to compete. The brand new double was purchased by the Rowing Committee with the support of our programme sponsors.
Gorgo – is the name of the new boat after the Spartan Queen. Female leadership is rarely recognised in Spartan history and fails to acknowledge the key part women played in their society. Spartan women were educated and trained mostly as equals which set them apart from other societies in their time. It is wonderful to be able to embrace the Spartan Spirit and also champion female leadership by naming this boat Gorgo.
To our Sponsors, a big thank you for your support. The equipment required to run the programme does not come cheap and our athletes are extremely grateful that they are given all the support to have such fantastic equipment. To our Spartan Athletes travelling up to Bucca and racing in the State Championships, row long and hard and do your best.
Somerset College participated in the Summit Sport Futsal Cup Finals Day and the Queensland School Futsal Cup during Week 10 of Term Three.
The Girls were runners up in the Shield division from the Summit Cup and in the QSF Cup, our Boys and Girls teams both reached the semi finals.
A great start to the week was coming runners up in the U14s Shield Summit Sport Futsal Cup!
Earlier this year, we had won our futsal match verse Hillcrest Christian College. The win put us at the top of the South Coast Region. This meant we were able to attend the finals day this week! A total of 56 schools participated in the Summit Cup and Somerset was one of the final eight schools invited for the Finals Day!
Monday 11 September, the Under 14 Girls Somerset Futsal Team arrived at their first game, nervous but eager to play against one of the better teams in the tournament, Islamic College Brisbane. This game determined whether we would play in the Cup or Shield division of the tournament.
It was 1-all for a majority of the 40-minute game, however, in the last 10 seconds, the opposition received a penalty. The pressure was on- a win, they get to play in the Cup division, or a miss/save, we would play another two 5-minute halves. With an impeccable penalty shot, we had lost 2 to 1.
Fortunately, we did not let that stop us as we won our next match which put us in the grand final of the shield division. We put great pressure onto the opposition in the grand final, but with a few injured players missing, this was not enough to beat Chancellor State College.
Thank you to Coach Nigel and Maarten for their effort and support in leading us through this tournament.
U14s Somerset Futsal Team: Ruby Zerbst, Ruby Mackintosh, Ellie Davies, Ari Thake, Sarah Nickels, Eliza Davenport, Natalia Zotti, Evie-May Coates
- Natalia Zotti, Year 9 Veivers
After starting our week getting runners up in the Under 14s Shield Summit Sport Futsal Cup, we were eager for success in the U14s Queensland School Futsal Cup.
Due to injuries and the Celebration of Entrepreneurship, we were missing key players, however, our first two games on Tuesday (12 September) were great as we scored six in each and in the third game, we won 4-nil.
On Wednesday, we knew we were going to be up against harder teams as we progressed in the top division. In the quarter finals, we won 6 to 1. Our semifinals were up against one of our biggest rivals: King's Christian College. Unfortunately, we lost 5 to 2. This meant our next game was the play off for third place.
With a 5 to 4 score, we took fourth place with Islamic College Brisbane taking third.
Thank you to Coach Nigel and Maarten for their effort and support in leading us through this tournament. Our team really enjoyed representing Somerset College at this state tournament.
U14s Somerset Futsal Team: Ruby Zerbst, Ruby Mackintosh, Ellie Davies, Eliza Davenport, Natalia Zotti, Alex Kilmartin, Miranda Ross
- Natalia Zotti, Year 9 Veivers
The Under 14 Boys set out to compete in the QSF Cup at Coomera Indoor Centre on Tuesday and Wednesday, a big event with lots of quality Futsal teams. Day 1 was tough with only five players available, but the boys battled through winning one of their games, which was enough to progress to the cup knockout round.
Day 2, backed by more reinforcements saw us win our quarter final, we then narrowly lost to a good Kawana Waters College side 4 to 2. Finally, playing for third, we beat Chancellor 6 to 4 to wrap up a great tournament, finishing third overall. A great achievement.
I am proud of all the boys, this being an U14 tournament, with only one U14 player: Nash Kennedy. The rest from Under 13: Eli Dirckze, Zac Marshall, Will Bittar, Jacob Kellij and two courageous u12s in Mila Oldfield and Liam Seymour.
A fantastic two days out, showing the progression of our programme, representing the College!
- Jonathon Pritchard, Coach
Somerset College has been entering football teams into several school football tournaments and our Future XI Girls reached the Semi Finals,
During Term One and Two, the Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 have APS training on Monday morning mornings. The best football players from these year levels are invited to represent Somerset in the Future XI. The Future XI has two extra Football practices per week during Term One. The training sessions are designed to prepare teams for the cup matches during Term Two. With a total of 16 girls and 16 boys, we started our games in Term Two.
The Under 14 Girls went good through their group stage with victories against King's Christian College and All Saints Anglican College. These victories were leading us into the quarter finals. The quarter finals took place in Term Three. In the quarter final we played verse John Paul College, playing at home. We were nervous at the start of the game because of missing our Goalkeeper. The girls stood up and rotated the goalkeeper position during the game. We made sure that the opposition couldn’t come close to our goal. Somerset won the game with 6-nil.
For the semi-final we travelled to Brisbane to play against Grace Lutheran College. Arrived in Brisbane, got warmed up and were ready to play. Unfortunately, Grace Lutheran was the better team this day. Half time score we were 1-nil down. We tried our best in second half. But we were unable to score the equaliser.
Well done to our Spartans to reach the ISSA Cup Semi-Final.
Thank you to Coach Nigel Witton for coaching the Girls.
The Boys were in a group with, King's Christian College, All Saints Anglican College, TSS, and A.B. Paterson College. With one win and three loses, the Spartans ended fourth in the group. Unfortunately, we didn’t qualify for the next rounds, but all students have enjoyed their matches and the time with their mates.
The First XI Football, is our senior football team. The head coaches selected the best players from Years 10, 11 and 12 to represent Somerset in APS Football and Cup Football.
Our boys faced opponents King's Christian College, All Saints Anglican College and TSS in their group. All three opponents defeated us. And this left us with a place on the bottom of the group. The highlight of the competition was the match in Southport verse TSS.
We lost the game with 3 to 2. But it was a game we played very well and showed our qualities to our spectators.
Same as the boys, 2023 was not our best year in the Uhlsport Cup. The Girls ended the comp with one win and three loses. Thank you to Coach Harry McMaster and Miss Oppermann for coaching the First XI Girls.
For any questions about Football and Futsal, please contact our Head of Football and Futsal Maarten De Kruijf.
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