Despite the ongoing academic responsibilities and pressures associated with the QCE and IB programmes, I have witnessed the Senior Class of 2021 embrace every moment of their final year with a positive attitude, tenacity, and care for all those around them. Throughout this year, they took every opportunity to include and recognise their teachers, families, and peers in their journey, by writing letters of gratitude and developing various initiatives to foster unity, comradery, and friendship within their cohort and beyond.
Led confidently by the College Captains Nicholas Tan and Hannah Kennedy, and Vice Captains Patrick Sowerby and Leigh Amores, Year 12 students consistently embodied servant leadership in Semester Two by continuing their ‘12 Time’ programme for Senior School students. They also worked with the ELP to raise funds for Room to Read at Book Character Day and came together as a cohort at their very own wellbeing initiative, ‘Year 12 Night’, where they enjoyed ‘throw-back’ activities and an old movie. As a cohort, they have created a warm environment of inclusivity, mutual respect, and care for all.
To recognise the Class of 2021’s efforts and wish them well for their final examinations, Senior School staff and students created a ‘good luck’ display wall in the BLC common room, filled with handwritten messages of support. Thank you to staff and students for their kind words and thoughts.
I wish all Year 12 students the best of luck for their final examinations and every success in their future endeavours. To the Year 12 parents, thank you for your support, patience, and incredible efforts in facilitating your children’s education. It is clear, that completing the final year of school at Somerset College is a team effort between students, staff, parents, and the College community. Good luck, Class of 2021!
Students in the Junior School went radical, sporting colourful, weird and wonderful hairstyles for Crazy Hair Day in Term Three. The initiative helped raise more than $1000 for the Lukemia Foundation.
The idea to hold a Crazy Hair Day for the Junior School on the last day of the term, came about from our chosen topics of childhood illness and genetic diseases. We had been researching these topics as part of our PYP Exhibition.
We have chosen that all the funds would to the Leukemia Foundation because it is a form of cancer that can be very hard to cure, and it is very painful. Also, it can be a form of a genetic disease and Leukemia can be in children.
We successfully raised $1106 throughout the whole Junior School!
The Queensland Interschool State Finals were held across 8 to 10 October with a group of Somerset students taking part.
On the Friday the Girls State Finals were held. As defending champions in the Secondary Girls, Somerset was expected to do well although with such a disjointed year, it was always going to be anything but straightforward. After dominating the early rounds, Somerset 1 (Lyanna Chan, Jennifer Yeung, Melody Yang, Debby Kuo) gave back some ground in the middle of the event and had to work really hard to come from behind. With the final round completed, it was only by the narrowest of margins (count-back) that Somerset prevailed! This means the team will now go forwards to represent Queensland at the Australian Schools Teams Championship in December.
In the primary section, our #1 team (Tamar Chester-Haviv, Annika Lim, Paris Liu, Angela Yuan) battled hard in the Premier division against more experienced opposition, and produced a solid result finishing in =sixth position. In the Primary Open division, the #2 team (Kitty Pallister, Alvina Shen, Evie Wilson and Chloe Li) finished in third position, whilst Emma Cordner of Tteam 3 also performed very well on the day!
The weekend saw the Open Interschool State Finals with Somerset sending a primary and two secondary teams. The Primary team of Calen Tang, Alessandro Martinese, Oscar Credland-Ballantyne and Harrison Qu all performed very well to finish = fifth, above their seeding. Oscar was our star performer with 5/6 which nearly claimed the board prize for Board 3.
The Secondary division was one of the closest competitions we’ve seen in a long time, as aside from Churchie who won with clear air, the next five teams were only separated by one point! Our Somerset #1 team of Byron Morris, Kenny Ming, Eason Wang and Oliver Yang held Churchie to a 2-all result and held on to claim second position on count-back from Toowoomba Grammar School. Eason Wang won the Board 3 prize with 4.5/6. The Somerset #2 team of Jason Li, Charlie Liu, Jared Consiglio-Cockle and Lyanna Chan were only a point behind finishing in sixth position, performing well above their starting seeding.
There have also been a large number of recent events where Somerset students have taken place. The Nell Van de Graaff Classic was held at the start of the holidays, with Byron Morris coming = third with 5/6 and performing well above his rating. Calen Tang, Jared Consiglio-Cockle, and Aarav Rawlley all played in this tournament with all performing above their rating. In the under 1200 section, Oscar Credland-Ballantyne scored 5/6 to finish = first! Youngsters Harrison Qu and Angela Yuan both took part and scored some good results.
The Leo Wilkinson Memorial event was held in the middle of the holidays at Redcliffe, and again Byron Morris performed superbly to score 5/6 to grab a share of third position. Kenny Ming, Jared Consiglio-Cockle, Alessandro Martinese, Harrison Qu also all took part.
On the final weekend, Byron Morris took part in the Queensland Championships, and finished = sixth to cap off a fantastic run of results across the holidays. Jared Consiglio-Cockle took part in the Under 1600 division and finished = 13th.
In the one day Spring Cup during the holidays, a number of Somerset students took part. Jared Consiglio-Cockle finished 3rd on count-back with 6/8, whilst Lyanna Chan and Jennifer Yeung scored 5.5/8 for = seventh. Melody Yang, Alessandro Martinese, Harrison Qu and Angela Yuan all scored 5/8 for = 10th. Debby Kuo, Kitty Pallister, Paul Sang Yum, Marcus Wong, and William Zhao also all took part and gained valuable match practice.
Don’t forget on Friday afternoons from 3.30pm to 5.30pm, the Somerset Chess Club meets in the Chess Room above the library. This is a great opportunity for all students in Years 1 to 12 to gain extra experience and practise, whilst working to improve, or get, their rating. Students undertaking regular match practice will improve the most and also gain the most benefit from the benefits of chess.
Registrations for the Somerset Chess Club can be done via The Hub for students in Years 1 to 3 and directly with me for Years 4 to 12.
Nearly 700 athletes took part in the 2021 Queensland Schools’ State Championships at Rockhampton on the Fitzroy River. The Rowing Team started the exciting trip away with a bus trip up on Friday 17 September. There were several key events over the three-day Championship for the Somerset Spartans.
Callum McClure, Thomas Gray and Luke Oishi were selected to represent the South Coast in the Open Boys Inter-Regional Quad race on the Saturday afternoon. Callum and Thomas again featured on Sunday making the Final of the Boys Year 11 Pair. However, the true Golden moment was Jack Hodge winning Gold in the LTA Single event. Monday was the last day of the Championships and the Girls Quad of Lillian Tan, Eliza Strong, Georgia Daly and Emelia Fink only just missed out on making the A-Final by 0.7 of a second. The Boys Year 9 Quad and Boys Year 8 Quad found their way to the A-Final, so too did Thomas Gray in the Boys Year 11 Single Scull. After three days of tough racing many other crews were hungry to return and try again at next year’s Schools’ State Championships.
Crews had been training throughout Term Three in preparation of putting on their best performance. With weekly monitoring for the Senior Rowers run by Annette Eastwood to give athletes feedback on their progress. Junior crews practiced race starts and enjoyed challenging themselves on the Olympic training venue for Paddling Australia next to Bond University. With the standard of rowing in Queensland only getting stronger and faster it was great to see Somerset Spartans support each other on and off the water in doing their best.
For many the challenge of moving a boat as quickly as possible over 2000 metres is one of the hardest things they will ever do. For some athletes the challenge of being able to just compete is even harder. The lesson taught by Jack Hodge in making the most of that opportunity is something the Somerset Spartan Rowing team will take away with them with great pride. The team spirit in supporting Jack was amazing to see. In a sport that often focuses too greatly who the fastest boat will be, it was a great reminder that the sport also finds huge value in participation and relies heavily on getting as many people involved as possible, no matter their size or experience. The strength and courage to compete is the greatest asset in a boat and for three days on the Fitzroy River it was fantastic to see 36 Somerset Spartans put in their best performance and work together as a team.
Please read below the Football and Futsal News. This week we share news about Term Three's lunchtime activities, our Football Club presentation day, and the start of our Futsal season.
Inter House Futsal League
At the start of Term Three, all interested students had the opportunity to register and to practice for the Futsal League. The League exists of five rounds, when each House plays each other once. In the Junior School we had students from Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 participating. After all rounds had been played, it was Franklin that ended first followed by Starkey, Veivers in third, Laver fourth and in fifth Andrews.
In the Final we saw Franklin take an early lead and Starkey did not have the power or strength for a second half comeback. Congratulations to Franklin to win the Junior competitions for the second time in a row!
The Golden Boot (Top Scorer) went to Nash Kennedy (Year 6) from Franklin. Nash scored six goals. In second place with five goals was Alex Pourre from Year 3.
In the Senior School, students from Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 had the opporutnity to represent their House in the Futsal League. It was great to see so many students coming down during lunchtime to participate. Veivers ended first, ahead of Franklin in second, Andrews in third, followed by Laver in fourth and Starkey in fifth place.
The first half of the Senior School final was equal with a half-time score of 2-all. But in the second half Franklin was too strong and won 4 to 3 against Veivers. Congratulationss to Franklin!
The Golden Boot went to Franklin student Phoenix Crampton with 15 Goals! Well done Phoenix!
Street Football
A total of 20 Senior and 30 Junior students participated in the lunchtime Street Football League. This was the third edition of the Street Football League. In the Senior School we had one League with students playing each week for their league table ranking. The ranking was decided on finals day with who they were to verse. Matt Nickels and James Gell took the lead in the League but they were knocked out in the Semi Final. In the final, Joe Boone and Will Burns versed Rishi Veeramachaneni and Tristan Song. Congratulations to Joe and Will on their win.
In the Junior School we had two league tables. It was the top six teams from each group who qualified for the finals. In Group A the winners were was Izaak Barclay and Alex Pourre. In Group B the League winners from 2020, Harper Loon and Danny Wang. Both teams won their quarter and semi-finals and were facing each other in the Grand Final. Under supervision from Coach Maarten and Coach Nigel it was Alex and Izaak who took this win.
Football Club End of the Season
The Football Gold Coast Aldi Miniroos competition has come to an end. The last matches were played on Saturday 18 September. After the last match students had their presentation and received their medals, a team photo and enjoyed a sausage sizzle. Students also played in the inflatable field and in the Spartan Football Challenges.
We want to thank our students, coaches, parents, volunteers, and supporters for the great season.
Our Football Club entered one team in the Junior Competition with the Under 14/15 Girls participating in the Under 15 Girls Div 2 competition. With an excellent second place, they qualified for the finals! In the Semi Final the girls played Robina Soccer Club. Unfortunately the Girls lost, 1-nil.
Somerset Spartans Futsal Club 2021
Once Football ends, Futsal starts. For our 2021 season we have 100 students divided into 16 Futsal teams. Teams play in the Futsal Gold Coast competitions in Robina and Carrara.
We are excited for this season and hope to see you all to support our Spartans!
During the school holidays, Spartan Football participated in the Premier Invitational. Please read about the performances from our students below.
The Under 8s played on day one against JGFA, Runaway Bay and Caloundra. The performances from our team were excellent and this gave them a place in the Premier Group for Day 2 and Day 3. This Premier Group is for all the elite teams. Our boys showed class by challenging each opponent. Congratulations to all the boys who also featured in the Gold Coast Bulletin, Monday 27 September.
The Under 9 team had a very though draw on Day 1 and were headed to fourth place in the group. The highlight from Day 1 was playing against the GC Knights. Our boys had the chance to verse the top team from the Gold Coast.
On Day 2 and 3 our Spartans were placed in Group Europe, the perfect group for our team to show our skills to all spectators. The side's teamwork led to great results and into the finals when they played 2-all versus JGFA. Penalties decided the winner. Great goalkeeping from Benedict Thompson, and two penalties scored by Harper Loon and Paxton Stewart made us champions of the Europe Group.
Seeing other Somerset Students playing for their own Football Clubs was great to see. Zhander Griffiths at Gold Coast United, Evie-May Coates at Gold Coast Knights and Alex Pourre at Robina City.
Somerset's Head of Football is proud of the students who participated in the local Football tournaments. The tournaments are great for development and experience. At these tournaments we play against Football Clubs and Football Academies, a higher level than school football competitions.
We hope to participate in more football tournaments in the coming years.
For any questions about Football, please contact Head of Football Maarten de Kruijf: mdekruijf@somerset.qld.edu.au
Congratulations to this month's Fitness Member of the Month, Tony Dear! Tony always has a smile on his face.
This month's member gives 100% every session and not only that, he is always motivating others in the class with positive words.
Tony is a true asset to the Somerset gym community.
The City of Gold Coast wants to ensure motorists are complying with school zone road rules at and around schools, creating a safer environment for children and the broader school community. These rules also help to optimise traffic movement and safety.
Please take extra care and obey the signed parking rules when parking on the roads and streets around the school.
Park Safe Vehicles - Licence Plate Recognition (LPR)
As part of the City Parking Plan 2015 to improve parking behaviour on the Gold Coast, City Parking Officers will soon patrol the city (including key school zones) using vehicles, clearly badged as “Park Safe” vehicles. These vehicles use Licence Plate Recognition (LPR) which is camera technology fitted to Park Safe vehicles to ensure motorists are parking safely.
Park Safe will operate on school days at student drop-off and pick-up times focusing on pedestrian areas around schools. If a vehicle is found to be parked illegally the City will issue an infringement notice to the registered vehicle owner by post.
Offences to be aware of:
Park safely and legally to avoid a fine.
For more information visit www.cityofgoldcoast.com.au/parksafeType on the line above then press the Enter/Return key to submit a new search query