Over the past few months, Somerset College students have undertaken quite the journey. Although naturally excited, they began the year with the traditional apprehensions and nerves surrounding the commencement of a new academic year and their ‘graduation’ to a new year level and the expectations that come with it. After taking the time to become familiar with new classes and teachers, our students integrated themselves into the routine of academic life admirably.
Then, without warning, COVID-19 reared its head at the end of the term in Queensland once again and fears, anxieties and apprehensions could have taken hold. I am proud of the College’s response during this time. However, it was a close that we did not predict nor seek.
Now… in the blink of an eye… we are back at school following the academic break and preparations are well underway for the upcoming examination period for our Middle and Senior students.
Students' academic transitions are carefully monitored but it is also vital to check on their mental health and wellbeing. During my brief tenure thus far at Somerset, I am proud of the College’s awareness of our students’ mental state and the capacity that we have to support them in a myriad of ways. However, throughout my career, I acknowledge that I have been asked by numerous parents what they can do to help their own children. I therefore offer Michael Grose’s 2016 article, How to Move Your Child from Worrier to Warrior.
Although some of Grose’s suggestions may sound too juvenile for adolescents, I would suggest that variations of his ideas can be applied to all children… and adults for that matter.
As a parent of a worrier, and also a natural born worrier myself, I’m a collector of ideas and strategies to better manage anxieties and worries. Fortunately, as a child my young worrier didn’t allow her anxieties to prevent her from participating in sporting, learning, social or leisure activities inside or outside school.
She did, however, spend a lot of time worrying about how little everyday things would pan out, almost to the point of being sick at times. She was a micro-manager who always made sure she had every angle covered in an unfamiliar or new situation. For instance, if she was to be picked up from a friend’s birthday party she’d always have a back up plan in case a parent wouldn’t arrive in time to take her home! ‘Being prepared for every contingency’ was one of her main strategies to help alleviate her worries.
Many children worry about seemingly little things that they have no control over. Whether it’s worrying about the house catching on fire; monsters or spiders lurking under their beds; or even worrying that their parents will go work in the morning and won’t return home can seem irrational to all-knowing adults but make perfect sense to them.
If you are a Type A worrier yourself then you probably fully comprehend your child’s anxieties and worries. You know that being told not to overthink things or to stop worrying just won’t cut it. If you are the ‘It’ll be right. Don’t overthink it’ type then you may be scratching your head wondering what all the fuss is about. There’s no doubt that worriers need careful, sensitive handling by families and teachers alike. Your concern and understanding is one thing but they also need some practical tools and ideas to help them cope now and build strength so they can minimise the impact of worries in the future.
Here’s a collection of great ideas that may help you transition a young worrier to being a social and learning warrior, or at least get the worry bug under control.
From writers such as Jeanene Ecob author of Everday Jitters, Mary Sheedy Kurcinka author of Raising Your Spirited Child, and Tamar Chanksy author of Freeing Your Child from Anxiety, and Washington Post columnist Suzanne Nelson I learned these ideas:
It’s not that worriers can’t function well. They generally over-function as they come to grips with their anxieties. Not only can worrywart children be hard for parents to live with, but also they can become difficult partners and friends as adults. This makes childhood the perfect time for parents, not so much to nip worries in the bud but to give natural born worriers some tools and strategies to make life more tolerable now and, importantly, in the future.
Part of what makes these productions unique and so relevant is the vast range of issues that they cover and explore in a dynamic, innovative and thoughtful performance. Technology is weaved through the issues that the characters faced, just as in real life. This year’s performance, The Hurting Game explored notions of insults, Queen Bees, mean girl comments, excluding others, editing photos and posting fake information, friendship issues, gaming, body image, finding your group and how to be me.
The performance explored the side of social media that presents a perfect world to others and how even when we know it is not real, it can still have an impact on how we feel. It explored parties and underage drinking, spending too much time on your phone, assault, viral videos, burnouts and being in a car when someone has been drinking, image based abuse, inappropriate images and sexting - all such relevant topics and issues that we all need to be having conversations about.
Throughout, the performance showed the value of constant friendships, the support they give us and what it is to be a true friend. The Hurting Game ended with the powerful words, “You are great", “You are amazing.”
The performance, as always, included a valuable debrief at the end including what to do in different situations. “We all need good friends to keep the thoughts and self-talk positive.” We all need to be able to recognise relationships that might be toxic and remove these from our lives.
In the last two weeks of school year for 2020, the Year 7 cohort came together in small groups to plan, design, construct then race Billy Carts. This was to connect with our Sciences unit based on physics and forces.
At the beginning of this year, the Year 8s were given the opportunity to be part of a service initiative known as the Somerset Shed. Each Tuesday lunchtime a small group of students are undertaking building projects.
The current project is to make the lending libraries for Storyfest. Once constructed, they will be placed in various location across the Gold Coast. This allows us to work together with our peers and contribute to our community.
We are grateful for the assistance from Year 9 mentors, Amy and Xavier who assist us along with Mrs Walker.
If any Year 8 students are interested in being part of the Somerset Shed group please contact Mrs Walker.
After our first term challenge, we have a winner! Well done to Malcolm who participated in the small group training and won a $500 gift voucher for his efforts.
Mal, the quiet achiever regularly attended the gym and continued pushing his limits and investing maximum effort. This dedication really has paid off for him.
In 2019 I visited New York City with my family, residing in a lively hotel in the heart of Times Square. If only I knew that I would be building this hotel two years in the future! Only this time, 804 times smaller, and in my own garage.
Beginning my project was a strenuous and unmotivating experience. Taking weeks on end to collect e-waste, as well as research and experiment in search for the most efficient and effective cutting and gluing methods, the complexity of my project daunted upon me. Beginning the construction was also a discouraging process, taking up to six hours to perfect a singular building. Regardless, I persevered with my project. Building after building, block after block, I could begin to see my project coming to life. A singular building taking six hours turned into five and then into four, tackling each problem head on throughout the journey. To date, I have completed 85 per cent of my project and I have learnt a plethora of new skills. For example, I have learnt how to use various softwares such as Google Earth, Open Data and Blueprint to collect the dimensions of all the buildings. I have also learnt how to use many power tools to construct the base, frame and cut the e-waste buildings for my model. Furthermore, I learnt many self-management skills such as time management, persistence, perseverance and staying positive after setbacks.
Although my Personal Project journey has not been the easiest, I could not be happier with the outcome thus far. The process has been very rewarding, enabling me to explore and express my personal ideas and feelings. As well, my project has challenged me to think in an open-minded manner to deliver my personal belief that in a perfect world, e-waste would not exist!
Throughout this journey, I aim to understand the message and purpose behind my depiction through research on the Kerala Mural artform and Hindu mythology. To reach my goal, I must include a use of various skills, neatness, and technical accuracies in relation to the reference image. These skills and accuracies must be effective in both the fields of sketching and painting. Through this creation, history of Indian culture and Krishna can be studied while also studying the Kerala mural artform.
Since Week 2 of the 2020 December school holidays, I have been taking art classes to learn the Kerala mural painting artform. After the completion of learning the fundamental skills required to create this artwork, I began to create my first practice piece. This piece was just a sketch to ensure that my skills in the field of sketching were being polished in preparation for the final piece. After sketching the first practice piece, I began to create the second practice piece. This piece has been sketched and painted with acrylic paints and has proved the development of my sketching skills from the start of the unit to the end. Currently, I am in the process of sketching my final piece on an A1 size scale.
Learning various new skills about Kerala Mural art and concepts in Hindu culture has so far been a memorable experience for me and I am able to see my work leading towards my final goal.
Jayde placed third in the 110cm A2 and second in the 110cm AM5 to give her second place overall for her group.
It was an awesome effort from both the girls.
Coming up the competitors will feature at the Interschool SEQ regional championships in Caboolture over four days with show jumping at the QSEC grounds.
This is the most elite level of competition held in Australia and very strict qualifying times are required to compete. For the Open level swimmers, this was the lead up event to the 2021 Olympic Games Trials to be held in Adelaide in June.
Swimmers from both the Somerset Swim Club and Somerset College attended these events and there were some outstanding results.
Jaxon Brimble, Bessie Dear, Ciara Fay, Gisele Howard, Ethan McCullough, Isabelle Sly, Aveline Rounsley and Sasha Henrison.
Somerset swimmers who also competed, some at their first Open Championships also included Ky Codd, Cameron Donovan, Tomas Elliot, Matthew Flaherty, Andrew Newling, Ellena Perry, Leon Shirayama, and Charlie Stelle.
Well done to all of these athletes and the coaches who supported them at these meets.
Our new National Medallists produced their best with Kassia Brown winning Gold in the Pole Vault after an horrific run with injuries and nearly missing the event completely. Kassia persevered and with the help of our school Pole Vault coach Howard Arbuthnot, not only competed but secured the Gold.
Felix Jackson-King claimed Bronze in both the Long Jump and Triple Jump. While also studying hard in the middle of Year 12, he has displayed a new level of maturity and confidence to perform at his best when it mattered most.
Aspen Anderson took out Bronze in the 3km showing us her talent and commitment to hard work. With her main sport being Triathlon, Aspen showed great courage and will power to produce a fantastic race.
Lucy Twigg won Silver as part of the Queensland Team in the 4x100m Relay. This comes after a very busy schedule competing in her first ever National Championships in the 100m and 200m, where she placed fourth in both events.
Overall, we had five medals and ten finals. At this high level of competition these are outstanding results for our Spartans.
Congratulations to everyone who competed and gained invaluable experience for the future. Several of these athletes are genuine contenders for future Australian Teams to World Juniors and even higher in future years.
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