We started the year with an enrolment of 1,513 from Pre-Prep to Year 12. On behalf of the College Board, I thank you for your continuing support of Somerset as we enter our 36th year.
Orientation Day 2018
New students at Orientation Day, before the first day of the 2018 school year.
New students enjoying morning tea on Orientation Day
We welcomed the following new staff:
There have been a number of changes to responsibilities this year:
A complete summary of their outstanding results are available at www.somerset.qld.edu.au but the highlights are as follows:
An average of OP7 equivalent
As part of the changes we made four years ago to find alternative pathways, we had 24 students complete an external Business Diploma. This enabled them to be given a rank score equivalent to an OP 9 for tertiary entrance purposes.
I look forward to meeting all parents at the Parents' and Friends' Celebration of the New School Year - Welcome to 2018 on Friday 2 February 2018 from 6.30pm to 9.00pm in Towers’ Quad. This function is a wonderful opportunity for parents new to the College and those returning to meet each other and the staff.
Please make this highlight function a priority on your calendar!
The classroom presentation was followed by a session outside explaining the new hives, the bees inside and their management. The bees are very low maintenance and after their installation there is very little ongoing management. There are, however, numerous teaching opportunities that can be structured around resident stingless bee hives. One such opportunity is through the hive monitoring plan that Dr Smith provides to schools with a stingless bee hive. This includes information about what hive data to record and when, with explanations as to why the data is important to beekeeping. This data has the potential to be used for data-based assignments, particularly if the schools possess more than one hive and can make comparisons of hive performance among different positions (e.g. hives in warm winter positions vs hives in cold winter positions).
Around 10 to 12 months after delivery, we hope that Dr Smith will return to demonstrate how the hive/s can be split to produce more colonies or to extract honey.
Over the school holidays many of our students competed in the Brisbane International Schools’ Challenge. This is the culmination of over 400 schools attempting to qualify from across the state, with the best schools from each region in each division. The three divisions qualifying included a red team (up to Year 4), an Orange team (up to Year 5) and a Green team (Up to Year 6).
On Thursday 4 January our Orange team took the court on what was one of the hottest days of the week. We had a team of four students in this event. They were:
The boys played some outstanding Tennis in the pool round, and went through undefeated. After winning the pool we went into another pool with the other two winners of the other pools. The Schools we had to play were Brookfield State School and St Andrew’s Anglican College. The Boys showed a lot of fight and great team work but ended up going down to both the schools.
After a long and hot day, the boys ended in third position for the Tournament which is a massive achievement. All the boys represented the school with great pride and it showed on the day.
Somerset’s Red Ball team, competed over two days Friday 5 and Saturday 6 January.
The Red team was made up of eight Somerset Students:
Each round goes for 20 minutes with two minute rotations on each match playing both singles and doubles. The team started really well and won comfortably against this school.
Onto the next round, Somerset came up against St Thomas Moore SS. After four rotations we were dead even on points. We knew we were in a battle this time. Coming up to the final rotations Fynn Busuttin had the rally of the tournament which ended up giving the team to win. Somerset ended up Defeating St Thomas Moore by one point.
Our next opponent was McDowall SS. After a slow start we started to play to our potential but the hole was too much as Somerset went down to McDowall SS by 7 points.
Our final game of Day 1 was against St Joseph’s, Childers. This round our team came out flying with a big lead. In the end Somerset ended up big winners.
Somerset came second in the pool, with the top two of all the four pools going into a knock out round.
First up was Brookfield SS. During the first few rotations the nerves got the better of the team as we were down early. Towards the last few rotations the team pulled off some great points to close the gap. In the end the gap was too big and we went down by 15.
Up next was TAS. After a tough loss the team picked themselves up and delivered a great win. With that win, Somerset was in a play-off for 5 to 6.
With our final matchup of the day Somerset had to play Gladstone West SS. After a long day the team played some of the best tennis of the day. They ended up big winners and taking home fifth play in the State Finals. The whole team played outstanding over the two days and the whole Somerset Community should be really proud of what the team has accomplished.
Our Green representatives were no strangers to the competition having competed before, taking second place the previous year in the Orange division.
The team remained unchanged from last year with:
Their first match in the playoff series and third match of the day was against Brisbane Boys College. The students ran out comfortable winners over the Current GPS champions. For their fourth match of the day, the boys came up against an in form St. Peters Lutheran College. This came down to the wire and after a long day, only two points was the difference between the two teams and Somerset experiencing their first loss of the Tournament.
The final day completed the top six playoffs against Peace Lutheran College, Sunshine Beach State School and finally Marymount who had soundly beaten the team at the qualifying event. Making it through this far was already a magnificent achievement, as the competition and scores grew ever closer. A loss to eventual winners Sunshine Beach State School and a win over Peace Lutheran had a number of schools in contention for second spot with all riding on the last matchup with our local competitors, to whom we lost in the qualifying event, Marymount.
Scores coming in from other courts gave us some perspective of how close the final result would be but no one could have envisaged just how close. With the final doubles matches on the court it came down to a doubles between Luke Buker and Oliver Yang who needed to win without dropping a game. In a tight tussle with the result in the balance, the boys prevailed to win over Marymount 4-nil and take second place.
To compete in this event is an experience in itself. To be competing alongside, literally some of the world’s top professional Tennis players and being successful is an extraordinary achievement. With over 400 schools competing from across the state and our three teams finishing fifth, third and second, Somerset College was named the school with the best overall performance in Queensland.
Congratulations to all who participated and I hope the experience will last a lifetime.
After trialling in three camps throughout the state over the past five months, Rylee was last week named in the Queensland Under 17 Netball Squad to compete in Nationals in April this year in Adelaide.
Netball Queensland General Manager – High Performance Richard McInnes said, “We’re excited at the talent coming through the state pathway and the future looks promising with the number of potential Firebirds in these Squads.”
Serenity is a member of the Brisbane Roar Junior Squad and this week she plays against the Solomon Islands. She just returned from national finals and the Queensland Girls Under 15 team was the only team to make it from the state to the finals, placing second.
All students nominate for all events they would like to swim at the South Coast Trials, to be held Monday, 26 March, 2018 at Miami Pool (one day only in 2018 due to Commonwealth Games)
50m Free, Back, Fly, Breast and 100m Free
All policies and procedures are outlined in the Senior School Sport page of Schoolbox, under Sport Policy and Dates. All students and parents are encouraged to familiarise themselves with these. Please note, practices are compulsory for both Winter and Summer Seasons.
Swim Team Training: Every Tuesday and Thursday at 7.30am to 8.15am. Meet Mr Butcher on the pool deck. All welcome. This begins tomorrow. The House Swimming Carnival is in Week 4.
Cross Country Team Training: Every day at 7.00am to 8.15am. Meet Ms McKenna and Ms Oppermann at the Track. All welcome. This begins next Monday.
Student Injuries: If a student is injured at a school Sport, it must be recorded at the time by the College Nurse/medical person present if parents wish to apply through the school insurance policy. If delayed signs or symptoms arise over the weekend, students must notify the College Nurse on Monday morning.
Sport next week:
Friday 2 February: 12.50 - Sports Assembly (Great Hall) 1.15 - House Swimming 100m Races
Saturday 3 February: All Day: Basketball Trials
Swimming Season Dates:
As always, Term One is chock-a-block full of exciting events. Swimming trials commenced in Week 1 in preparation for the annual Inter-House Swimming Carnival. We are sure rivalry between houses will be fierce. Will Laver House defend their title to make it two in a row, or will we see Veivers make a valiant comeback following a disappointing result last year?
We also have some wonderful cultural events that will take place in the upcoming weeks. Firstly, there is the House Play Festival, an amazing night of student directed plays showcasing the acting and creative talent of each house. Also, no time is wasted as production of the Senior Musical begins with auditions starting this week. Make sure to pay attention to Schoolbox notices so that you don’t miss out on getting involved in some of these incredible events.
Term One is also a busy one for Outdoor Education. In Week 3, our Year 7s will depart for Mount Tamborine where they will enjoy their first camp as part of the Senior School. We are sure this will be a wonderful experience with plenty of new friendships to be made. Year 8 and 9 get their turn in Week 9, where they will find themselves snorkelling the waters of Moreton Island and orienteering through the native bushland, all with the comfort of a trusty tent and signature Somerset trangia.
To round out this busy term, we have the Celebration of Literature. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet some of the best authors in the country and hear about some of their incredible stories. As always, there will also be live music and delicious food throughout the festival, making it one of the best events of the year.
Finally, we would like to say how incredibly grateful and excited we are to be the College Captains for 2018 and we can’t wait to get to know you all better. We hope you all have a fabulous year and best of luck for Term One.
Our emphasis in the Basketball Club is always on effort, learning, and personal improvement, consistently aiming and striving to be our best.
Without doubt, winning is highly valued, but our well-informed basketball coaches at Somerset College realise that winning finds its rightful place when athletes are participating, having fun, improving their skills, and giving maximum effort. We focus on the development of fundamentals, improving the understanding of the game and providing opportunities.
The club will aim to enter teams in the following age groups. I have included a Players Born column to assist with calculations:
Age Group Players Born
Trials
In 2018 players will get the opportunity to trial in their age groups to work out teams and divisions. The trials will take place on Saturday 3 February and Sunday 11 February 2018. Each trial will be one hour.
Trials Format
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