We started the year with a record enrolment of 1,522 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 38th year. It was quickly apparent that the students settled very well to their classes.
After 25 years of outstanding leadership and service, including 11 years as Deputy Head, six years as Deputy – Academic and eight years as Dean of Studies, Dr Michael Brohier will retire at the end of Semester One.
Dr Brohier has served the College wonderfully well in so many ways, establishing programmes that enhance the student experience. Dr Brohier was Chair of the Somerset Celebration of Literature, building that signature Somerset event into the city-wide festival we call Storyfest. He was integral in the establishment of the IBDP here at Somerset, a first for Queensland and one of the leaders in Australia. The introduction of the Diploma further solidified Somerset’s reputation as an academic leader and innovator.
In recognition of his service, I am delighted that the Board has agreed to my suggestion that the Senior Learning Centre be renamed The Dr Michael Brohier Learning Centre.
On a personal note, I want to thank Dr Brohier for his loyalty, support and friendship over the past 12 years. His passion for Somerset has benefitted our students, our parents and ourselves. He is much loved because of his holistic approach to life and I have learnt much from him.
I am sure that you will join with me in wishing Dr Brohier and Mrs Brohier all the best as Dr Brohier transitions to a well-deserved retirement. I have been able to twist his arm and he will continue his work with Wordsmiths and Storyfest. We will ensure that there are appropriate times for members of the College community to come together to celebrate Dr Brohier’s wonderful contribution.
It was Dr Brohier’s desire that I communicate this decision in this manner. We will advertise tomorrow to begin the difficult process of replacing one of the Somerset pillars.
We welcomed the following new staff:
Welcome back to Mr Greg Juniper and Mrs Sarah White after some periods of leave.
There have been a number of changes to responsibilities for 2020:
We were very pleasantly surprised with the Class of 2019 OP results, receiving very good press especially around the OP 1 statistic below.
Some other press ranking highlighted the demise of the system with schools and their handful of kids recording ridiculous stats. For example, one school with an OP1-5 of 50% had 30 students eligible from a cohort of over 200.
As noted before, this means that we finish the OP system from 1992 to 2019 with the single most common OP score for Somerset students being an OP 1.... 264 students have achieved this in that time.
International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme scores were also very good, the best in some years. The growth in numbers for the programme for 2020 with cohorts of 15 in Year 12 and 20 in Year 11 are a far cry from the single digits of a few years ago and bodes well for the future. The work we have done in bringing rigour to this programme is bearing fruit. There was high correlation between predicted and final grades.
I look forward to meeting all parents at the Parents' and Friends' Social Function on Friday 7 February 2020 from 6.30pm to 9.00pm on the Sports Facility Concourse to celebrate the New School Year 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 greatest privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.’ – Joseph Campbell
Concentrate only on yourself, how you feel and behave, what your values are, what your strengths and weaknesses are, what makes you angry, happy or sad. Having an awareness of how your values, thoughts and emotions influence behaviour is a powerful tool. The greater the level of self-awareness, the easier it is to adapt to change, set realistic goals and act in ways that support positive wellbeing.
‘Self-awareness (sometimes also referred to as self-knowledge or introspection) is about understanding your own needs, desires, failings, habits, and everything else that makes you the unique individual that you are. The more you know about yourself, the better you are at adapting to life's changes. When we have a better understanding of ourselves, we are able to experience ourselves as unique and separate individuals. This empowers us to make changes and build on our areas of strength, as well as identify areas where we would like to make improvements. Self-awareness is often the first step to setting goals. (Dr Garima Srivastava, The Black Swan Institute)
Throughout Term One, our wellbeing focus will be an exploration of the concept of Self. Wellbeing lessons and Pastoral Care Group activities will focus on encouraging our students to become more consciously aware of their individual values, emotions and behaviour, and explore how self-awareness provides us with tools to support our wellbeing.
As the term progresses, students, staff and the wider Somerset community will be provided with opportunities to engage with a variety of wellbeing initiatives and activities connected to the concept of Self. One of the forums we intend to use to promote awareness of these initiatives to our community is a new fortnightly page in the Somerset Times. The Wellbeing Corner will provide valuable links between all the wonderful things happening on campus involving our students and staff, and opportunities available to our wider Somerset Community.
Our focus for week one was About Me. During Pastoral Care, students and PC Tutors worked together to create birthday posters and engage in a variety of getting to know you activities to welcome our new students and Year 7s to their Pastoral Care Groups.
If you would like to contribute any ideas or be involved in Wellbeing in the Senior School this term, please email seniorwellbeing@somerset.qld.edu.au
At Somerset, we offer three of their programmes (the PYP, the MYP, and the Diploma Programme). In order to maintain those standards, schools delivering these programmes are evaluated on a five-yearly cycle.
Our Diploma Programme underwent one of these evaluations at the end of last year. The IB report on the three overall Standards (Philosophy, Organisation and Curriculum). Each standard has a number of Practices and each of these is reported upon.
What the IB say about Somerset is that we are living up to our College Mission Statement, confirming that we are indeed, "developing engaged global citizens, aspiring to excellence, demonstrating integrity and valuing difference".
Our College IB Diploma curriculum was particularly praised, and I think that this serves as a fitting testimony to the dedication and skill of our IB Diploma teachers, in particular.
This very positive feedback is also a reflection of the College’s commitment to maintaining the Diploma as a feature of our academic landscape – and thanks must go to Mr Craig Bassingthwaighte and the College Board for their continued support of the Diploma.
This comes on the back of the very good results that the IBDP cohort received last year which, in effect, serve as the main confirmation to me that we deliver a great Diploma here at Somerset. If you would like to know more about the IB Diploma, please feel free to contact me: swalther@somerset.qld.edu.au
Or check out the “Somerset Guide to the Diploma” on Schoolbox.
The title of my book, A Little Bird Told Me follows the line of a girl who pushes past the stereotypes because she knows that sometimes things just aren’t just her. She knows that she is brave, bold, independent and strong and sometimes she just doesn’t want to be like the others. With a deep philosophical meaning, fun illustrations and meaningful words, my book aims to educate and influence the development of a strong female identity in the 21st century.
As I came to the end of my MYP journey, the writing and development of my picture book was extremely worthwhile as I reflected on how much I had changed since the beginning of my MYP journey five years ago. My Project allowed me to connect with such amazing and dedicated people and to work alongside charities such as Room to Read Australia who are already doing such amazing work in regards to gender equality. All profits from my books have been donated to Room to Read Australia in the hope of sending a girl to school for a year who would have otherwise not have been given the chance.
Since publishing A Little Bird Told Me in August last year, I have also published a French version (Un petit oiseau m’a dit) and I am in the process of developing an Italian and Japanese versions. I also have plans with the Yugambeh Museum to create an Australian Indigenous copy since returning from visiting Barambah last year during the college’s third Barambah trip (B3 Trip). This memorable trip in which we continued the work of previous B Trips before us, positively strengthened the bonds with the Barambah and Cherbourg communities. By being immersed in their culture and history, I came to have a better understanding of the struggles faced by the First Nations people and of those continually faced by Indigenous people today in Australia. By publishing an Indigenous translation of my book, I hope to engage the Indigenous community with the concept of gender equality to further empower future generations.
After publication, my MYP action launched. I visited Somerset students in Pre-Prep, Prep and Year 4 to discuss my project and the importance of gender equality in our world. I was invited to share my book with Clover Hill State School students in Years 2, 3, 5 and 6. I also shared my book with Murgon State School, whom I had worked with on the B3 Trip. I was also fortunate to be able to connect with the Australian International School in Singapore, another International Baccalaureate (IB) school in December last year. I presented my book to 200 of their Year 5 PYP students. This was such an incredible experience.
My journey has encouraged me to look outside of our school community as I have become more of a globally-minded person. In particular, Personal Project has given me such great opportunities to challenge myself whilst working on something that I truly feel passionate about. Looking forward, I will continue to develop my position on gender equality as I take my journey further.
Some of these challenges and sacrifices included learning mental skills, rugby IQ, technical ‘position specific’ tuition, nutrition and injury prevention.
As the week progressed, the team developed from the ‘stranger’ stage to becoming ‘best mates’ with one another. This was very important to the team and coaches because on the second to last day of the Academy we opposed Palmerston North Boys High School’s First XV. The game was very intense with some huge boys on the opposing team. The game fluctuated to and fro with both teams fighting it out for the win. The game finished on the final hooter with Palmerston North Boys High School edging us by a converted try.
One of my biggest highlights was the position specific coaching where I was coached by former New Zealand All Blacks, Peri Weepu and Eroni Clarke, alongside former French and New Zealand coach, David Ellis. Through these amazing people, I gained confidence in decision making and learnt new skills to improve my overall game.
I look forward to implementing and embracing the new skills gained into my last two years of rugby in the Somerset First XV. To any players who are presented with this opportunity, I strongly recommend you embrace it with enthusiasm.
Year 7 student Ethan Grocott’s team from Gold Coast Little Athletics won the medley relay at the state championships. They also broke the state record. Ethan ran the first (100m) leg.
For five days Britney Ingr (Year 9) was in preparation and competing on the Sunshine Coast in the Australian Interstate Cup Challenge
Ultimately the Queensland team went down to New South Wales in a nail biting finish to end in second place, followed by South Australia in a distant third place.
Individually Brit picked up four first places and one third and one fourth in the girls beach relay.
We will be entering Under 6 through to Under 11 teams in the Football Gold Coast Miniroos Competition.
The Football Gold Coast Miniroos Competition uses small sided games teams playing 4v4, 7v7 and 9v9 sides rather than the traditional 11v11 format to cater to four to 11 year olds. The smaller fields, modified rules and fewer players leads to a more enjoyable game with more opportunities to be involved in the action.
Games are played on Saturday mornings on a home and away basis.
If you would like to join the Football Club, please contact our coordinator Maarten de Kruijf. mdekruijf@somerset.qld.edu.au
It’s the teams from around the world who make the tournament unique! With representative teams from Australia, New Zealand, Solomon Islands and Asia, the Gold Coast International Futsal Cup is the marquee event in the Australian Futsal calendar.
Congratulations to the following Spartans who were selected for the Gold Coast Rep Team:
The Club had some fantastic results on the first day with relay gold going to the girls 12 and under 4 x 50m ‘A’ Freestyle relay consisting of Bessie Dear, Ava Usher, Milly Derbyshire and Gisele Howard. Moreover, the girls 12 and under ‘A’ relay team won silver in the medley relay while the girls 10 and under medley relay team were third in their event.
Following a very successful day of Relays on the Saturday, Somerset finished the week with more than half of the swimmers finishing in the top 10 for their age in at least one event.
A special congratulations to our medal winners in their individual events:
Somerset student Jorja Otto won gold in the girls 14 years 100m Backstroke.
Well done to swimmers, families and coaches on a great week of swimming and their results.
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