It was particularly heart-warming to see so many spectators encouraging our struggling swimmers.
Every child who participates is a winner in my eyes! The ‘have-a-go’ attitude and team spirit was evident from so many students, with every participant earning points for their House.
Veivers had a strong win with 3022.5 points accumulated by the end of the day. This is the first time Veivers has taken out the top accolade for swimming since 2010. What an achievement! Congratulations to Veivers House!
Thank you to the many parents who volunteered in various roles throughout the day and to the P&F for organising the BBQ lunch, where the aromas could be enjoyed across the entire College campus, ensuring mouths were watering with anticipation. Thank you to the Junior School staff who worked tirelessly in the lead up and throughout the day to ensure the day ran smoothly, which it most certainly did. Special thanks goes to Miss Kate Webb for organising the Swimming Carnival. Kate is new to role of Junior School Sports Co-ordinator and is already doing a fantastic job!
I am looking forward to the APS Swimming Carnival event, which takes place at Somerset College next Thursday 21 February.
Congratulations to all students.
The key domains are:
Professor Lea Waters is a Professor in Psychology at the Centre for Positive Psychology, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne. She is the first Australian to be appointed a Professorship in Positive Psychology, the Founding Director of the Centre for Positive Psychology and the Inaugural Gerry Higgin Chair in Positive Psychology. She is a researcher and has held an academic position at the University of Melbourne for more than 20 years. Lea holds affiliate positions at Cambridge University’s Well-being Institute, the University of California, Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, and the University of Michigan’s Center for Positive Organizations. Lea is the 2017-2019 President of the International Positive Psychology Association (IPPA) and serves on the Council of Happiness and Education for the World Happiness Council. She is a registered psychologist (AHPRA) and a full member of the Australian Psychological Society. She is on the Advisory Board for the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, Ambassador for the Positive Education Schools Association and Patron for Flourishing Education Japan.
Year 7 students are focussing on virtues this semester and identifying their strengths. In Year 8, students are examining the concept of how their strengths are linked to their identity. Year 9 students are working through a series of rotations including meditation, digital presence, leadership and the link between health and wellbeing. In Year 11, students are examining how their strengths can help them thrive. The programme includes visits to Mudgeeraba Special School, meditation for insight, nutrition and wellbeing and emotional management, working with our Junior School friends.
Based on 2018 student feedback, we have also taken the opportunity to run Study Without Stress, a programme from Macquarie University that equips students with skills to manage expectations surrounding exams, creating effective study timetables and building good study habits. Mrs Cathy Makin, College Counsellor, operates this programme for our students in Year 11 as they enter their final years at the College.
Please encourage conversation with your children at home about these lessons.
Cue the Somerset 1st XV and their muscle, determination and persistence. For five hours the 23 strong team, along with Craig and Peter from legacy chopped, hacked, raked, wheelbarrowed and lifted five tonne of green waste to transform Yvonne’s property from a virtual rainforest into a much more open and easily maintained yard.
The 32 degree heat and high humidity proved a tough slog but the boys worked themselves to a standstill. Even Mr Walker shed three kilograms in the process, which he himself said, “...was an added bonus”.
Radio host, Flan from Hot Tomato was the neighbour who benefitted most from the clearing out of Yvonne’s backyard as now his property has a clear view to the ranges in the west. A reporter from Channel 9 also visited the property later in the day to film and interview some of the boys hard at work.
At the completion of the day Yvonne spoke to the boys about how appreciative she was and that for 20 plus years the maintenance of the property virtually went untouched. Fighting back tears, she thanked the boys for all their hard work, which was an extremely touching and poignant moment.
The experience was a truly humbling one for all involved and the satisfaction gained through giving something for nothing in return is a feeling I encourage all our students to experience. Congratulations to the 1st XV squad on a job well done!
It is said the Year of Pig will bring good fortune and prosperity which also marks the last zodiac sign of the 12 zodiac cycle.
Bring on the New Year 2019!
The Students discovered that the answer was resilience.
Resilience is a fancy word that means being able to deal or cope with difficult situations in life. A resilient person is able to bounce back and keep going when things get tough and maintain their sense of who they are as a person.
Students learnt that there are many different abilities to being resilient:
The Bouncing Back workshop was a great chance for students to role play and apply these skills in social situations. Here are some of the student’s comments:
“Showing kindness helps someone and makes me feel good too.”
“I can show resilience when I have a problem on the playground.”
“If something goes wrong, I know it will always get better.”
We then matched them with a book that they (hopefully) fall madly in love with.
We think reading a great book is one of the great joys of life and try and foster a love of books and reading in our students at every opportunity. We firmly believe, as J.K Rowling said, “If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book”.
After a busy year of foraging, the bee hives were split this week, allowing the Year 9 Design students the opportunity to have a sneak peek inside the hive of a colony of Tetragonula Carbonaria – also known as stingless bees, sugarbag bees or bush bees.
Dr Toby Smith presented a workshop to the Year 9 Design Students, where they learnt all about native social bees, solitary bees and all the bees in between. After the theory it was time to head out to our hives and split them. We knew both hives were ready to be split thanks to the dedication of a small group of students who took on the role of 'Bee Keeper' in 2018. On a fortnightly basis, they monitored the bee’s activity and hive weight to ensure we were maintaining healthy colonies.
The Design students were fortunate enough to be able to see the internal structure of a native bee hive, see queen cells and also taste the very first drops of ‘Somerset Gold’ - honey made by our very own bees. We hope that in the coming years we will have enough hives to be able to harvest some honey, but our first priority is the environment!
In regards to the current heat wave we are experiencing we would ask the assistance of all families in ensuring that all students attend their PHE lessons with the following:
Regular breaks and drink rests are given in these lessons and lessons will stop should it become too hot or uncomfortable to participate in physical activity.
We thank you for your support in these areas and look forward to some excellent student performances.
These classes have a host of great benefits including:
There is a free introductory week beginning Monday 25 February and we would love to have you come and try our new classes for FREE!
The weekly schedule of classes will be:Monday 25 February 8.30am to 9.15am DWRMonday 25 February - 9.30am to 10.15am Aqua *Active and Healthy ClassMonday 25 February - 6.00pm to 6.45pm AquaWednesday 27 February - 7.00am to 7.45am DWRWednesday 25 February - 8.30am to 9.15am AquaFriday 25 February - 8.30am to 9.15am AquaFriday 25 February - 9.30am to 10.15am DWR *Active and Healthy Class
For more information, please call Michelle on 0410 656 197.
Happy Swimming!
Congratulations to Rylee Burns for her selection in the team again and well done to Kasey who was named training partner.
Rylee will travel with the Queensland team to compete in the Australian Netball Nationals being held at the new State Netball Centre in Brisbane in April.
Well done Girls!
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