A massive congratulations to Veivers who took out Champion House in the Junior School and to Starkey for taking out Champion House in the Senior School.
Congratulations to the following students who came first in their respective races:
Boys: Lucas Deffenti
Girls: Jorja Grocott
Boys: Liam Thornton
Girls: Eliza Davenport
Boys: Michael Rossiter
Girls: Molly Rogers
Boys: Darcy Halloran
Girls: Kate Miller
Boys: Bowen Mansell
Girls: Erin Shepherd
Boys: Jake Giltrap-Good
Girls: Alex Halloran
Boys: Bradley Shepherd
Girls: Kobee Munro
Boys: Timothy Hornsey
Girls: Jemma Clements
Boys: Angus Fitzgerald
Girls: Elizabeth Garratt
Boys: Nicholas Tan
Girls: Jessica Cook
Over the last 12 years of studying the piano, I have developed a strong passion as a pianist. Also, having a natural curiosity regarding how complex systems work, and a deep interest in woodwork and handicraft, it seemed a logical progression that I found myself choosing to learn how to restore and tune a piano for my project.
Finding a piano was an easy task, as my family had purchased an antique Cornish piano, circa. 1895 a couple of years ago as a furniture piece. Although it came already French polished, the piano had not been tuned for decades and therefore was totally unplayable. Originally, I had only planned to learn how to tune the piano, but it turned out the action and strings had aged so significantly, it was impossible for it to hold its tune. Thus, I embarked on the most audacious and exciting task of restoring the action and restringing the piano in addition to learning how to tune it. Restoring the action involves replacing the felts and buckskin on the action frame, pedal system, wippens, hammers and dampers in addition to lubricating the flange-joints and replacing the hammer and damper heads. Currently, I am reinstalling the hammers and wippens so the hammer heads can be replaced to begin the task of regulation in preparation for tuning. After the preliminary tuning, the strings will be replaced, and more tuning will follow.
I experience a sense of satisfaction and fulfillment when working on the piano. The restoration work is therapeutic as it provides an outlet for me to unwind and focus on a task that I completely enjoy. Since beginning this project, I have developed a profound appreciation for the complex mechanics involved in sound production. Now when I play my Mendelssohn, I have a greater love for the piano knowing so much more about its inner workings, and the countless hours all the artisans and tuners spend manufacturing such a noble instrument. This Personal Project has enriched my life and appreciation of music, and I am extremely grateful to Somerset College for the priceless learning experience.
The first film, Inventing Tomorrow (2018), followed the conventions of documentary filmmaking and was directed by Laura Nix, an award winning filmmaker awarded the Sundance Institute/Discovery impact fellowship in 2017. The second film, Tito and the Birds, was an animation directed by Gustavo Steinberg who has produced six feature films, directed two and written the screenplay for four movies since 1995. The film was an engaging experience about the story of four groups of adolescents from four different cultures, all competing in the Intel ISEF (a globally recognised science competition in Los Angeles).
Following the viewing, movie critic and GCFF Programmer Rich Haridy, gave an insightful discussion about movie critiquing. We listened and engaged in discussion about how to successfully critique moving image media.
Tito and the Birds (2018) is an animated Portuguese film about a boy, Tito, living in a dystopian world, overrun with fear. This fear became an epidemic, infecting the population. Tito has to embark on a journey, to find the antidote once his mother and friend become infected. Viewers are taken on an exciting adventure, filled with vibrant colours and artistic textures and is must see for viewers who appreciate the fine art of filmmaking. The excursion concluded with a lecture from Like a Photon, a Brisbane based children’s content creation studio, about the animation film industry and how to develop a pitch that would catch an investor or distributors eye!
It all kicked off on the first day of the year, when keen debaters were given the opportunity to sign up for the new debating season. This was the start of a new era of Somerset Debating, as not only were the Debating Captains for 2019 introduced, but so was Miss Janie-Marie Burgess, our new Co-ordinator. Having Miss Burgess on board has opened up several new prospects for our debating students this year, most of which extend beyond the realms of the Gold Coast Competition. Model United Nations competitions, UN Youth State Conference, Gold Coast Junior Council, Rostrum Voice of Youth, Queensland Youth Parliament, Mooting, Plain English Speaking Award – all just some of the activities that are on offer. It was incredible to see how interested Somerset debaters, both old and new, are in extending their debating and public speaking abilities. All in all, the sign-up session was a resounding success, with many students coming up to chat about what they are wanting to get out of this year.
The first debating training session of the year was conducted by Montana and Ms Burgess, and worked on introducing our new Year 7 debaters to the ins and outs of the Gold Coast Debating Association Competition. After going around the room learning everybody’s name (we finally got it right at the end of the session), the Year 7s were shown a PowerPoint outlining all of the rules of debating. This session opened discussion about everything from how long they have to speak for and where to sit in the debating room, to ‘how can we really argue that ninjas are better than pirates?’ It was a very fun meeting, and the enthusiasm of our Year 7 debaters was unbelievable. We will definitely have some very fierce teams in debating over the coming years.
While the Year 7s were off on their school camp, the first meeting with all of the teams was conducted. Upon entering the room, it was easy to see the camaraderie that comes about when you participate in an activity such as debating. Experienced debaters were chatting with new debaters, the Open A and Senior B teams were talking with some of the Year 8 and 9 teams, and all around everybody was excited and ready to start. After going through a more condensed version of the PowerPoint shown to the Year 7s, sheets of paper were handed out and the students were asked to write down the teams they wanted to be in throughout the year. Chas ensued as everyone began laughing and bickering about who was in what team, but shortly all the teams were sorted and students happy. They were then introduced to the first debating topics of the year:
Outside of Gold Coast Debating, our debaters have taken part in some other exciting activities throughout the term. In Week 3, Miss Burgess decided to double her workload with a crazy debating weekend. The Friday night saw three or four teams travelling up to TSS to compete against some of their boys, to gain experience against debaters from different competitions. TSS is part of the GPS (Great Public Schools) debating competition, made up of nine major boys schools from the Gold Coast and Brisbane. The level of debate was fierce, and our students faced much confusion surrounding the variance in rules held between the two different competitors.
We thank all of the Somerset teams who participated, and congratulate them on their wins in such demanding debates! After finishing their own debates, many of the students then went on to watch the Open A debate that was taking place between TSS and St Joseph’s College. The standard presented by these senior students was phenomenal, and everyone who watched it was blown away at the talents of the six debaters. This experience was very beneficial to not only our individual debaters, but Somerset and Gold Coast Debating as a whole. There were many things – from how the GPS debaters prepared their speeches and how they delivered them to how they were structured – that demonstrates the more sophisticated level of debating that we are hoping to introduce into our competition over the coming years.
Bright and early the next morning, Miss Burgess loaded Year 10-12 students into one of the school vans to ferry us up to St Joseph’s College in Brisbane for the Queensland State Debating Trials. This was an opportunity, not really to get into the State team, but to practice our skills working with and against some of the best debaters in Queensland. It was also an opportunity to practice some of the things we had learnt from the GPS debates the night before. It was a new and exciting experience for all those involved, as instead of working with the same team that some had been with for years, Somerset debaters were placed in teams with students from other schools, and some were pitched against each other – Somerset vs. Somerset. It made for some very interesting debating, and demonstrated to debaters of all year levels the level at which they could reach. Massive thanks to Miss Burgess for transporting us around on this crazy weekend of debating, as well as for the numerous fast food runs we did along the way.
One of our captains, Montana, had the incredible opportunity of attending the UN Youth Queensland State Conference on the weekend of Week 4, another activity made possible by Miss Burgess. This conference was a three-day event for students in Years 9 to 12 to integrate themselves fully into the world of the United Nations and international issues. For the duration of the conference, Montana was the delegate representing the country of Romania, and spent the weekend campaigning her member state’s views on issues such as international cybersecurity, peacekeeping, climate change and the trafficking of illegal blood diamonds during numerous model United Nations debates. This is an incredible event and definitely something to look into if you will be in Years 9 to 12 next year.
The final event that took place this term was the Rotary MUNA (Model United Nations Australia) competition that took place at the end of Week 8. Very tired from a busy week of Storyfest, but eager to participate, three teams of Somerset students (both debaters and non-debaters) travelled down to Tweed Community Centre to represent the countries of China, Japan and New Zealand, costumes and decorations in tow. Debating the international issues of migration, trade, and climate change, the nine students were able to fully immerse themselves in the perspectives of the countries that they were representing, as well as the stance of the other member states participating in the competition. Congratulations to all that participated, and another thanks to Miss Burgess, who not only organised the Somerset teams, but officiated the whole event as our brilliant Secretary-General. See the here for the full article.
Like we said, never a dull moment in the world of debating. Congratulations to all of our debaters for their efforts this term, and good luck for the next coming debates. This is going to be a good year for Somerset debating, and we are so excited to share the experience with you all.
Term 1 Debating Update – From Your Debating Captains
There is never a dull moment in the life of a debater… you only have to look at all of the incredible opportunities that have been undertaken over the past seven weeks! Here’s an update on exactly what has been happening this term. It all kicked off on the first day of the year, when keen debaters were given the opportunity to sign up for the new debating season. This was the start of a new era of Somerset Debating, as not only were the Debating Captains for 2019 introduced, but so was Miss Janie-Marie Burgess, our new coordinator. Having Miss Burgess on board has opened up several new prospects for our debating students this year, most of which extend beyond the realms of the Gold Coast Competition. Model United Nations competitions, UN Youth State Conference, Gold Coast Junior Council, Rostrum Voice of Youth, Queensland Youth Parliament, Mooting, Plain English Speaking Award – all just some of the activities that are on offer. It was incredible to see how interested Somerset debaters, both old and new, are in extending their debating and public speaking abilities. All in all, the sign-up session was a resounding success, with many students coming up to chat about what they are wanting to get out of this year. The first debating training session of the year was conducted by Montana and Ms Burgess, and worked on introducing our new Year 7 debaters to the ins and outs of the Gold Coast Debating Association Competition. After going around the room learning everybody’s name (we finally got it right at the end of the session), the Year 7s were shown a PowerPoint outlining all of the rules of debating. This session opened discussion about everything from how long they have to speak for and where to sit in the debating room, to ‘how can we really argue that ninjas are better than pirates?’ It was a very fun meeting, and the enthusiasm of our Year 7 debaters was unbelievable. We will definitely have some very fierce teams in debating over the coming years. While the Year 7s were off on their school camp, the first meeting with all of the teams was conducted. Upon entering the room, it was easy to see the camaraderie that comes about when you participate in an activity such as debating. Experienced debaters were chatting with new debaters, the Open A and Senior B teams were talking with some of the Year 8 and 9 teams, and all around everybody was excited and ready to start. After going through a more condensed version of the PowerPoint shown to the Year 7s, sheets of paper were handed out and the students were asked to write down the teams they wanted to be in throughout the year. Chas ensued as everyone began laughing and bickering about who was in what team, but shortly all the teams were sorted and students happy. They were then introduced to the first debating topics of the year: Junior B: Pirates are better than ninjas Junior A: Public transport should be free Inter B: Public transport should be free Inter A: Privacy is a privilege, not a right Senior B: Privacy is a privilege, not a right Open A: We should ban the sale of human organs Our debaters meet every Wednesday afternoon for training with their coaches, as they prepare for their first debates at the end of the term (Senior B and Open A debates will take place at the start of Term 2). Good luck to all the teams with their debates and training! Outside of Gold Coast Debating, our debaters have taken part in some other exciting activities throughout the term. In Week 3, Miss Burgess decided to double her workload with a crazy debating weekend. The Friday night saw three or four teams travelling up to TSS to compete against some of their boys, to gain experience against debaters from different competitions. TSS is part of the GPS (Great Public Schools) debating competition, made up of nine major boys schools from the Gold Coast and Brisbane. The level of debate was fierce, and our students faced much confusion surrounding the variance in rules held between the two different competitors. We thank all of the Somerset teams who participated, and congratulate them on their wins in such demanding debates! After finishing their own debates, many of the students then went on to watch the Open A debate that was taking place between TSS and St Joseph’s College. The standard presented by these senior students was phenomenal, and everyone who watched it was blown away at the talents of the six debaters. This experience was very beneficial to not only our individual debaters, but Somerset and Gold Coast Debating as a whole. There were many things – from how the GPS debaters prepared their speeches and how they delivered them to how they were structured – that demonstrates the more sophisticated level of debating that we are hoping to introduce into our competition over the coming years.
Bright and early the next morning, Miss Burgess loaded Year 10-12 students into one of the school vans to ferry us up to St Joseph’s College in Brisbane for the Queensland State Debating Trials. This was an opportunity, not really to get into the State team, but to practice our skills working with and against some of the best debaters in Queensland. It was also an opportunity to practice some of the things we had learnt from the GPS debates the night before. It was a new and exciting experience for all those involved, as instead of working with the same team that some had been with for years, Somerset debaters were placed in teams with students from other schools, and some were pitched against each other – Somerset vs. Somerset. It made for some very interesting debating, and demonstrated to debaters of all year levels the level at which they could reach. Massive thanks to Miss Burgess for transporting us around on this crazy weekend of debating, as well as for the numerous Maccas runs we did along the way. One of our captains, Montana, had the incredible opportunity of attending the UN Youth Queensland State Conference on the weekend of Week 4, another activity made possible by Miss Burgess. This conference was a three-day event for students in Years 9-12 to integrate themselves fully into the world of the United Nations and international issues. For the duration of the conference, Montana was the delegate representing the country of Romania, and spent the weekend campaigning her member state’s views on issues such as international cybersecurity, peacekeeping, climate change and the trafficking of illegal blood diamonds during numerous model United Nations debates. This is an incredible event and definitely something to look into if you will be in Years 9-12 next year. The final event that took place this term was the Rotary MUNA (Model United Nations Australia) competition that took place at the end of Week 8. Very tired from a busy week of Storyfest, but eager to participate, three teams of Somerset students (both debaters and non-debaters) travelled down to Tweed Community Centre to represent the countries of China, Japan and New Zealand, costumes and decorations in tow. Debating the international issues of migration, trade, and climate change, the nine students were able to fully immerse themselves in the perspectives of the countries that they were representing, as well as the stance of the other member states participating in the competition. Congratulations to all that participated, and another thanks to Miss Burgess, who not only organised the Somerset teams, but officiated the whole event as our brilliant Secretary-General. See the link for a full article about the day: https://www.somerset.qld.edu.a... Like we said, never a dull moment in the world of debating. Congratulations to all of our debaters for their efforts this term, and good luck for the next coming debates. This is going to be a good year for Somerset debating, and we are so excited to share the experience with you all.
The legal system as a massive part of everyone’s daily lives and is extremely imperative that we are aware of its impacts. We wished to know how the knowledge we had accumulated in class, actually applied in real life and how it affected us from a day to day basis. The structure, layout and mindset of what occurs in a courtroom cannot be replicated within a classroom.
This visit allowed us to gain an insight into the mentality of the courtroom, an experience, I’m sure not a single one of us will forget. The cases we saw involved criminal matters and dealt with issues such as domestic violence in the District Court and drug and driving related legal cases, in the Arrest Court.
We are all grateful to have had this opportunity provided to us by Somerset College and would also like to thank the Southport Courts for accommodating us during this time.
Bright sun, no wind and a nice cool temperature. Yes! We all had to face the New South Wales time difference for a very early 4.00am start but that was not a problem for our competitors.
The race kicked off for Kobee and Phoebe even before the sun was up, and it was not until most of our Sprint Distance triathletes were in the water that the first sun rays hit the creek to bring the 15 degrees temperature up to a nice 24 degrees soon after. Early starts were wrapped up by the Olympic Distance athletes and our one and only Mr Craig Sayer who had an amazing race coming first in his age category.
Excitement and joy describe the race of our Sprint triathletes with Dr Annette Eastwood our Sports Physiologist leading the way into transition and finishing third in her age category. All other athletes had amazing races being the first triathlon for most of them. A lot was learnt in this first race and they can’t wait to correct the little mistakes and discover new ones.
Around 10.00am the fun started for our age 7 to 12 Spartans. Excellent swimming by all with Erin Shepherd leading the way out of the water in her age category and an exciting sprint finish by Michael Rossiter who was only one second behind the 7 to 9 boys champion.
Independent of race results it was a brilliant start for our Spartans Triathlon Club and next week we expect the Somerset Community to be cheering for an even larger field at the Gold Coast National Championship Triathlon, for our official Club launch.
Go Spartans!
1.5km Swim 40km Bike 10km Run
750m Swim 20km Bike 5km Run
300m Swim 10km Bike 2.5km Run
200m Swim 6km Bike 1km Run
100m Swim 3km Bike 500m Run
The racing was fierce, and the leading house changed several times over the morning with only one point separating the top three houses at times. However, with only two races left, Veivers found another gear and won both quad races convincingly, catapulting them into the top place and bringing home the trophy.
Congratulations Veivers!
But not all the superstars wore the Veivers blue, and the spirit award must surely go to the sole Andrews rower, Anthony McKenna who proudly sported his yellow house shirt and raced as hard as he could whether in a single or composite team.
The committee would like to thank the efforts of all the coaches, parents and Heads of House who came to support our rowers either by officiating, organising boats, volunteering their time or yelling encouragement to everyone regardless of House allegiance.
The next Regatta is to be held at Coomera Lake 27 April, where our rowers will compete against other schools in the Gold Coast Schools Rowing competition.
Eighty-five Somerset students took on a total of 368 students from 11 schools from Gold Coast South.
The story of the tournament was the emergence onto the scene of several new players, who quietly worked hard in the “off-season” during summer and during last year. Going into the last round, Kona Baldock was coming first on 6/6 and Sasha Hanford second on 5.5/6. The two are great friends at school and regularly battle each other during the lunchtime chess club. They played each other in the last round, and after an epic bout, Kona forced a draw by perpetual check. Thus Kona won individual gold with 6.5/7 and Sasha had to settle with individual bronze on 6/7.
Individual silver was won by Melody Yang, also 6/7, and Anson Qu finished fourth on tie-break with 6/7 as well. Our highest-rated player Eason Wang finished on a respectable =7th on 5/7, but he missed out on individual podium due his losses to two other Somerset players: Aadi Rai and Year 2 rising star Calen Tang, both finishing on an excellent 4.5.
In B Division, our top performers included Harrison Sullivan (5.5, =2nd), Caspar Crampton (5/7, =6th) and Oscar Credland-Ballantyne (5, = 6th). In C Division, Somerset won Team Silver: Nate Van Den Brink (=3rd with 5.5), Angus Fraser (=6th on 5), Austin Dover 4, Lachlan Mathieson 3.5. Also winning individual merit ribbons were Joshua Thompson 4.5 and Kush Veeramachaneni 4.5. Other stand-out performances: Harrison Qu (5 points in D Division), Harper Loon (4.5 in D Division) and William Miller (4.5 in E Division).
Several Somerset students took part last weekend at the Term 1 Junior Masters and One Day Challenge. In the Junior Masters, Eason Wang finished in second place with 5.5/7. Kenny Ming was =4th with 5, Jason Li 7th with 4.5, Anson Qu 4 and Sasha Hanford did well in his first Junior Masters with 3.5.
In the One Day Challenge, Bobby Long had an outstanding result, outright second with 7/8 and his only loss being to the tournament winner. Calen Tang won the 3rd place trophy with 6/8. Also well done to Aadi Rai 5.5, Alessandro Martinese 5, Elijah Hadikusumo 4.5 and Harrison Qu 2.
At the Cookies Chess QLD Rapids, Ben Atia finished an impressive 3rd, with Raphael Atia =4th and =1st A Grade. Equal first in C Grade were Lachlan Hartley and Alessandro Martinese. Melody Yang also won an award for the biggest rating improvement of +27.
Upcoming events
We have lots of room left for co-curricular chess next term. Enrol through the My Somerset Community (Electives tab). For Senior School students and intermediate/advanced Junior School students, we are running the Thursday After School Chess Club 3.30 pm to 5.00 pm for Term Two.
With the first home game this season, the teams were feeling confident to play. The Under 6 drew against Tally Valley. Jesse made his debut in the U6 team.
Under 7 Blue won from Tally Valley with help from coach Cooper, the team was good organised.
Under 7 Green played against Burleigh. The team has training on Thursdays by Coach Ryan who also coached them on the weekend.
The Under 9 won their first game vs Kingscliff. It was Daniel Dawson with the winner. 1 nil. Thanks to Coach Fabio for getting the team in the right shape.
Well done everybody, Saturday April 6 all Spartans Football teams play away games. One more game and then we have our Holidays.
Please check the Football Club Schoolbox page for more info.
Britney Ingr had a nervous start on Day 1 but walked away with a silver in the Under 15 Girls 100m finals.
After Day 3, Britney scored five medals, competing Day 3 with the Under 16 Girls 4x200m relay.
Girls smashed the 38 year old QLD record by almost 1.6 seconds and were only .4 seconds off the Australian Record set in 2007.
Prosper Nwoko managed gold in the 100m and Sam Reeve silver for 200m.
Felix Jackson-King will also compete in this Athletics competition.
Jayde McKinnon competed at Waterford ODE.
She placed first out of 44 riders in 60cm Eva which was a combined class of adults and juniors. Jayde also placed High Point Junior for her class and Highest Points Junior for the day, out of all the classes and 170 riders. Both have now qualified for Inter-School State eventing.
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