The enduring understanding for this year’s exhibition was “Children worldwide encounter a range of challenges and opportunities.” The light bulb moment for many of our students is the realisation that not all children in the world live in the same conditions as they do. The exhibition encourages children to look beyond the conditions in their personal environments and discover what it is like for other children. They do this when they choose an area of interest and pursue the issues around this interest area.
This year, issues included access to clean water, shelter, physical activity and education as well as the plight of refugee children, health issues and child soldiers. The children presented their work in many different formats and spoke intelligently about their issue. Their interactive presentations reflected their understanding of the issue and they loved sharing this with the younger students in the College who tended to walk away in awe of the accomplishments of the “big kids”.
Many of our Year 5’s took their understanding of the issue to a new level when they actively did something to help. Raising money to build wells for clean water has involved one student making connections with a local business while another student, an avid reader, denied herself this luxury for 24 hours and was sponsored to the tune of $390.00. Enough to keep a girl in school for a year!
Showing the video documenting the personal inquiries of the students, is one of the highlights of the evening. It is at this time our students are afforded the chance to actually look back on the journey and really see how much effort they have put into the exhibition and just how far they have come in their learning. As always, in the spirit of true inquiry there are always more questions. Be prepared, and don’t be averse to saying, “I don’t know”, but rather, “How can we find out?”
In order to take advantage of this opportunity, I made the decision to select dessert recipes that stemmed from an initial family favourite, while adding a complex twist to each. This was achieved for each dessert by incorporating either an uncommonly used ingredient, or a dessert making technique, which is only gradually being used in today’s society.
After conducting some background information regarding the fundamentals of dessert making and baking, I was able to get in touch with a professional Australian dessert chef. Her name is Merna Taouk, founder of the company, Dessertmakers.
Commencing the dessert making procedure was a tedious yet rewarding stage of my project. With the primary source of information from Merna, and assistance from my family members, I was able to compile 10 desserts, each varying in difficulty.
Over the course of the Personal Project, I have significantly enhanced my dessert making abilities and sense of design through creating my cookbook. Additionally, I have strengthened my social skills through interacting with my family members, as well as by communicating with my mentor. I am looking forward to exhibiting my project at the Personal Project evenings in the upcoming term.
The six-hour bus ride did not waver the group's anticipation. A halfway stop to stretch our legs and fill up at McDonalds revived us, with a not so healthy dinner and at quarter to midnight we finally stepped foot on our home for the next four days. Everyone was struggling to keep their eyes open, as we were assigned our watch leaders and allocated bunks.
At 6.30am (or 0630 hours) on Saturday 26 August, we awoke to the uplifting sound of a bugle paired with the captain’s orders. Four at a time we entered the galley for our first round of breakfast, cereal and juice. Watch groups red, white and blue met together in our mustering stations to raise and set sail on one of the roughest and most treacherous journeys we would experience the whole trip. After leaving the comfort of the marina berth we entered what we thought was the wide-open ocean, instead being Hervey Bay. At a consistent lean of 30 degrees on the level-o-meter (a sinker attached to a string) everyone was wearing lifejackets and tethering themselves to anything that looked stationary. We ploughed through the waves and into the afternoon of our first day, with only a small number suffering the dreaded sea sickness. We ended our first day of sailing, full of travacalm, which did nothing more than send us to sleep at an early hour of the night. However, for most of us, our beauty sleep was interrupted by overnight anchor watches, which included taking location bearings, learning knots and completing activities with our watch leaders. We were enlightened with a few too many biscuits, warm tea, coffee and hot chocolates to keep us up.
The sun came up on one of our calmest days of the trip, not a cloud or wind gust in sight and anchored along the beautiful Fraser Island's’ west coast we were greeted with inviting and pristine blue water. After our two rounds of breakfast we were treated to an excursion to shore where we played frisbee and trekked along the coastline to find a secret lagoon. Soon after everyone started to get comfortable with the stable life back on land, we were hurried along by the crew and due to a lack of wind, motored south at a bearing of 210o along the coast of Fraser Island. Once again, grouped in two-hour watch rotations, consisting of the trip favourite deck check, starboard/portside lookout and the helm. Three at a time, we grabbed harnesses and lounged on the comfortable netting of the bowsprit and at the end of another beautiful day we enjoyed a once again, unforgettable sunset.
The following morning, we continued to sail south to Inskip point blessed again with little wind and calm conditions. That night, was the most exhilarating of the trip, for the first time, we had to keep sailing to make up the lost time caused by a lack of wind. Suddenly, we were hit with a large change in wind direction and were thrown from one side of our beds to the other. The sounds of sirens entered the cabin from an overflow alarm in one of the water tanks due to the dramatic lean of the ship. After another change in wind direction the crew above had to tack in the opposite direction expectantly throwing the people sleeping below, onto the opposite sides of our beds. Thanks to being effectively tied into our beds most came out uninjured, with the only exception of a bloody nose. Soon the rocking of the ship sent us all to sleep.
The next morning was our last on the ship, and as blue watch woke up for our last shift at 4.00am, we managed to watch the beautiful sunset arise. Then with a lot of pleasure, we awoke the rest of the boat with some attempt of playing the bugle. As the day progressed the entire crew had to complete challenges worth certain amount of points, that we could utilise if we were late into port, which we were… but - after our interpretive dances, one member learning 20 knots and another labelling parts of the ship - we managed to make up for our lost time. After we said our goodbyes at Manly port to the watch leaders, chef, sailing master and skipper, and started to wave as we saw the other sailing group approach, we all became very nostalgic very quickly. After tears, plans to steal the ship and keep sailing, music and ideas for what to do for the rest of the week, we were back at school and excited to see our families.
The group that left on the Friday afternoon, knew each other's names and some were friends, but when we all returned we were a close knit little group, bonded over midnight cups of tea, sea sickness, falling over in the shower and incredible laughter. The trip was truly amazing and we recommend it to all who have the opportunity to do so.
During their outdoor experience, 3M, 3G and 3S followed a rotation of Art, Mathematics, Inquiry and English lessons. These lessons were held at numerous outdoor locations which allowed students to enjoy all that Somerset College’s grounds have to offer.
While 3S began their day with nature writing, 3M inquired into the materials used to build the Koala House as part of our Inquiry central idea: Structures are designed with many factors in mind. 3G then began the long anticipated skateboard art session with a visiting artist, Jimmy Kakanis. All students planned, prepared and created their own artistic masterpiece on a real wooden skateboard deck. Some designs included ice-cream, rainbows, pizza and even pugs. The skateboards will be on display at the Junior School Art Show in Term Four.
The Outdoor Classroom Day was a great chance for the students to experience a different learning environment. Year 3 approached the outdoor learning opportunity with an open-mind and principled attitude which in turn, made the day such a great success. The Year 3 Teachers look forward to the Outdoor Classroom Day in September of 2018.
In the Premier, the clash between the pre-tournament favourites, first teams of Somerset and King’s Christian College came in the third round. Somerset’s star players proved better, winning the match 3 to 1. Our team stumbled in the later rounds, allowing Kings to catch up. Fortunately, Somerset won on countback.
Kings 2 finished third in Premier, with Somerset 2 finishing fourth. All Saints Anglican College was fifth, and TSS sixth. These six teams will play at the State Finals in October.
The stand-out individual performers were: Kenny Ming 7/7 in Premier on Board 4, Oliver Yang 6/7 in Premier on Board 1, Eason Wang 6/7 in Premier on Board 2, Raphael Atia 5/7 in Premier on Board 4, Amon Watanabe 5/7 in A Division, Denver Bannerman 5/7 in B Division and James Hartley 5.5/7 in C Division.
Full results:
Somerset Year 7 student Byron Morris recently returned from Brazil, where he represented Australia at the World Cadet Championship, Under 12 division. He scored a very respectable 4.5/11, placing 61st out of 93 competitors in his division. Byron defeated several players ranked above him, thereby significantly improving his international rating.
Upcoming events:
Lots of chess to look forward to!
The Blue Screen team members - Valerie Fang, Rhiannon Lloyd, Azaria Barr-Hamilton and Cassidy Fifield - one 404 Not Found team member Eliza Folliot, a group of parents and their coach, Mrs Elke Schneider attended the showcase event with much excitement. The audience was inspired by fantastic female presenters including Jenine Beekhuyzen, Tech Girls Movement Founder and CEO of Adroit Research, Leeanne Enoch the State Minister for Innovation, Science and the Digital Economy and Minister for Small Business, Moe Winn an Associate Professor at QUT, Robyn Elliott the CIO of Fairfax Media and Orla Fourie from Innovation Labs at Suncorp Group.
After missing out on a win (see them being announced as finalists here), the Blue Screen team are already thinking about how they can improve in next year's competition.
Somerset Tech Girls are role models for all students, showing young people females can be entrepreneurs, who very capable of creating apps and working with Digital Technologies. You cannot be what you cannot see!
By participating in the Tech Girls are Superheroes competitions we are now ensuring that our young girls see other girls having fun, collaborating within teams, creating with Digital Technologies and enjoying becoming entrepreneurs.
The team C Sharp, with their Go Fish app idea, recently received the Tech Girls are Superheroes 2017 UN Education Award. The Go Fish app is a fun, interactive game-based app idea. Team C Sharp focused their startup app on the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Environment theme. Their app's purpose was to build awareness about the deterioration of the Great Barrier Reef and this was done through an augmented reality game where the player catches fish while also learning about the reef.
This competition is NOT just about creating an app.
All our experiences during our time away meant there was never a dull moment. Many new friendships were formed with both peers and horses. Comforts zones were pushed, memories were made and we all hate the thought of it being our last school camp.
New skills were discovered, as well were some of our limitations. For example, hay is not for human consumption, whip cracking is not as easy as it appears and saddles must be well fastened to maintain an upright position on the horse.
Thank you to Mrs McKenna, Ms Ward, Mr Sayer and all other staff members who made this truly incredible, unforgettable camp possible.
The Exhibition will be held on Friday 20 October 2017 in The Great Hall, commencing at 6.00pm and finishing by 9.00pm. Speeches and other presentations will take place between 7.00pm and 8.00pm, allowing time after this for guests to mingle and appreciate the artwork. (This event is Friday, Week 3 of Term 4).
A feature of the evening will be the announcement of the ‘Somerset Senior Art Prize’, selected from work by Year 12 VA students in their final year of study. There will also be gifts awarded to recognise the talents of students in the other elective classes. In addition, we welcome local talent, Llewellyn Skye, to present awards and give an insight into the life of an artist.
Every student presently taking Visual Art as an elective subject in Years 9 to 12 will have work displayed in the exhibition. There will also be a selection of works displayed by students in Years 7 and 8. This is a great opportunity for members of the Somerset Community to view the work of Visual Art students from all years of the Senior School.
I look forward to seeing you on the night for what is sure to be an entertaining evening.
The Entrepreneurship initiative will provide students with the knowledge, networks and hands-on experience to help them launch their own enterprises both now and in the future. We are very excited about bringing this exciting opportunity to the Somerset College community.
The Festival runs over two days, on 10 and 11 October and will involve many of our Year 10 students operating business stalls to sell their products to the community. It will also involve our Year 6 Kidpreneurs selling their products to the community. Our key note speaker will be Steve Baxter from River City Labs and the television program Shark Tank.
Tickets to the event are free, however bookings are essential. Tickets are now available by clicking here, and entries to the following competitions have opened:
Spaces are limited in each of the above competitions, so please don’t delay your child’s registration.
Please spread the word about the Somerset Celebration of Entrepreneurship. We hope to welcome as many people as possible to the campus to share in the festivities with us.
Starting on the streets of Brisbane, Orange Sky has now grown to 14 services across Australia in Brisbane, Canberra, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Sydney, Sunshine Coast, Perth, Adelaide, Newcastle, SE Melbourne, Wollongong and Hobart. Orange Sky Laundry now does over 5.8 tones of laundry every week. However, most importantly has over 1,100 hours of positive and genuine conversations every week.
On Thursday I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to attend an Early Risers Breakfast at Bond University with Mr. Walker. We were fortunate to meet Nic and Lucas (the creators of Orange Sky), Young Australians of the Year in 2016 and listen to them talk about how they came up with this outstanding idea and what the future looks like for Orange Sky.
This amazing opportunity will most definitely be one that I will never forget. I encourage anyone who is given an opportunity to attend an Early Riser Breakfast to meet inspirational members of our community to do so, as I have done.
Somerset will welcome the boys from Orange Sky during the Celebration of Entrepreneurship in Term Four.
The performers brought weapons, armour, clothing from different historical periods and a variety of reconstructed artefacts when they visited the College.
The Year 7 students experienced Ancient Egypt which tied into their current study and for the Year 8s it was a lesson about Medieval Europe, complimenting the Medieval focus in this year’s history study.
The clothing, the weapons and the armour provided a lot of hands on experience for the students who jumped at the opportunity to hold swords, maces and put on Chain mail. I’m sure that quite a few would have loved the opportunity to apply their medieval jousting and fighting skills, honed during many hours of online contests. It is probably fortunate there was no opportunity provided for those students to inflict damage on each other.
On Saturday 12 August, Year 4 student Varvara Rubis competed at the QLD Rhythmic Gymnastics State Championships on the Gold Coast. Varvara competed in three categories, Rope, Hoop and Clubs and was awarded three gold medals, as well as being placed first overall. An amazing achievement for Varvara.
Camille Neighbour (Year 8) competed at both the QLD and NSW Rhythmic Gymnastics State Championships. At the QLD Championships she won a bronze medal in Clubs and at the NSW State Championships, Camille snatched the gold medal in her Rope routine with an unbeatable score of 9.7, a near perfect routine.
Congratulations to both girls on their outstanding achievements.
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