The best way to do this was to put them in a situation that they were not use to.
The evening began by visiting ‘Walk with Us’, a charitable group who prepare and serve meals out of Fradgley Hall in Burleigh. After serving meals, students engaged in conversation with those experiencing homelessness. Groups of students took turns at visiting the volunteer crew from Orange Sky Laundry thanks to parent volunteer, Joanne Lau. It was then all hands on deck to wash dishes and clean up the Hall. On returning to the College, the nineteen strong group came together to talk about an honest and compassionate exploration of what it is like to be homeless in Australia today. To their credit, they shone a light on a part of society often overlooked and ignored. Students were asked to write a letter to a homeless person with the intention of having these delivered with our Backpack Beds. The extract below is an example of the thoughtful and compassionate account many spoke about.
“I’m not going to say that I understand what you are going through now, but what I am going to say is that life can really beat us down sometimes. Sometimes it can feel as if the whole world is against us. It is in these times that it is most important for us to keep hope. Hope is something that we all have when we have nothing else. I hope this note will help you keep your head up high, put a smile on your face and create warmth in your heart. Please accept this backpack bed from the Somerset community and know that our thoughts are with you at this time."
After a sleepless night in the cold, the group were back in the College bus again, this time to HAVAFEED, another charitable organisation who serves breakfast out of the Mermaid Beach Community Centre. After a quick chat with the folks from Orange Sky Laundry, we moved inside for breakfast. Students were kept very busy and again engaged in conversation which could have continued all morning; however, it was back to school for period 1!
In the lead-up to our sleep out, students were able to raise $8650 to purchase 78 Backpack Beds. Somerset families also had the opportunity to donate toiletries. Backpack Bed for Homeless provides emergency relief to street sleeping homeless people without shelter. They work in partnership with 600+ homeless agencies across Australia to reach homeless people who do not have any other form of accommodation. The Backpack Bed improves health, dignity, sleep, warmth, comfort and safety. The charity was recognised by the Australian Human Rights Commission in 2011.
The attention and respect that our students give to those who are less fortunate in life is commendable. We hope the awareness that the students develop within this programme encourages them to participate in the many other service opportunities that they can get involved in during their time at Somerset or better still, initiate themselves.
The students then got a taste of representing their House with pride by performing their House War Cries which were led by our amazing Year 6 Student Leaders.
It was a great afternoon of Sprint races, Egg n Spoon races and Sack races, with Veivers House taking out the Champions Trophy at the end of the day.
It was fantastic to see all of our students having fun and giving each event their best shot! The concentration on the faces for the Egg n Spoon races were priceless.
Thank you to all the parents and spectators who came out to support the Carnival and our students, the atmosphere was electric.
Lastly, a big Congratulation goes to Veivers House for being our Champion House in the Lower Years Athletics Carnival.
As always, our younger year groups stole the show with the Year 4, 5 and 6 speakers demonstrating a superb ability to speak to such a large crowd with confidence and poise. Our youngest players in Year 4 had a great turn out and they each received a special memento for their excellent victory at the DNK Cup held at All Saints Anglican School.
The Hall twins, Jacob and Harrison, were up to their usual comedic brilliance when ripping into yours truly about my in-depth coaching of running angles. Will Barry and Angus Fitzgerald spoke fondly of their experience on this year’s Under 16 tour of Hong Kong. Captain of Rugby, Sam Dalton emceed the evening and did a superb job keeping the programme running, even if his jokes were average at best. Rest assured he’s a much better rugby player than comedian.
Preston Cup for Outstanding Sportsmanship in Rugby: Darcy Halloran
Best Non 1st XV Back: Fergus McKeon
Best Non 1st XV Forward: Patrick Sowerby
Somerset College Most Promising Player Year 7 to 10: Will Barry
Somerset College 1st XV Best Back: Sam Capel
Somerset College 1st XV Best Forward: Brock Priestley
Somerset College Spirit of Rugby Medal: Lachie Sowerby
Somerset College 1st XV Players Player of the Year: Sam Dalton
Somerset College Captain of Rugby 2019: Sam Dalton
Somerset College Captain of Rugby 2020: Brock Priestley
Well done to all players, coaches and support staff for another great year for Somerset College Rugby.
From the moment that I laid my hands on a rugby ball I was drawn to the sport of rugby union. From eight years of rugby I have gained significant experience as to self-representation in a rugby team. My passion gave me knowledge as to the importance of a jersey and what it can display about a team. I knew a jersey was imperative in portraying team values, culture and beliefs. Over the years of watching rugby I have noticed that jerseys can also promote awareness for a topic which leads into my developed curiosity for Indigenous culture. My family and I have an interest in supporting indigenous pathways but believe there is still room for improvement and that is why we are continuously involved in supporting Indigenous communities, such as Lockhart River. Combining my curiosities in both the culture of our first peoples and rugby, I looked to my experience at Lockhart River and conducted various interviews with indigenous students from Bond University to create my own jersey.
Throughout the design production and through various experiences I have learnt some things that cannot be learnt in a classroom. Most of which relate to the real life issues of Indigenous communities in not only Queensland but rural Australia. The Lockhart River trip raised some large issues for me. When I arrived, the streets were covered in rubbish and surrounded by wild dogs but the issues were worse than they looked. Most kids don’t attend school, domestic violence was apparent and solutions that actually worked such as the Puuya Foundation don’t have enough funding to maintain its program. However, the natural ecosystems surrounding the town were stunning. Dense green rainforests, wide river canals, unusual ant mines and beaches that last a lifetime were all around the town.
When I was in Lockhart, I learnt strategies and techniques used by famous Indigenous artists such as Irene Namok and Elizabeth Queeny. Most techniques taught to me mostly related to telling a story through the painting. They taught me to paint from the heart, using colours to represent the emotions of the story.
Although I have finished the design, the factory had trouble enlarging the document and therefore, it was required of me to redraw the jersey using a higher resolution, width and height. The symbols on the jersey have a significant meaning to me and will forever remind me of the amazing journey I have undertaken to learn about Indigenous art, culture and pathways. I hope to auction one of the three jerseys I will send to be made. The money will be given back to the Lockhart River Art gang who were the reason I am creating the jersey in the first place.
The teams are made up of an amalgam of Year 7 and 8 students and the quiz is organized into 5 rounds, comprising a mixture of both individual and team questions.
Round One was Estimation with questions like; Estimate the time it takes Big Ben in London to chime 12 o’clock (Answer 90 seconds). Of course, in reality, the famous clock has been silenced for renovations and, apart from New Year’s Eve, is not due to chime again until 2021.
Round Two, Speed, followed quickly behind with 12 mental arithmetic problems for the team to complete in two minutes. One such question was; What is the number, if the cube of the square root of the number is eight? (Answer 4).
Round Three was Problem Solving, with five problems for each team member to solve in 15 minutes, for example; A pump can fill a tank of water in five hours. A second pump can fill the same tank in eight hours. How long does it take the two pumps working together to fill the tank? (round your answer to the nearest minute). (Answer three hours and five minutes).
This was a great opportunity for parents and teachers to take some refreshments. Sadly, the supply of cookies soon ran out which reminded me of the result of asking Siri that all-important question “What is zero divided by zero?” She replies "Imagine that you have zero cookies and you split them evenly among zero friends. How many cookies does each person get? See? It doesn't make sense. And Cookie Monster is sad that there are no cookies, and you are sad that you have no friends."
Round Four was split into Individual questions, for example; The internal angle sum of a four-sided polygon (quadrilateral) is 360 degrees and of a five-sided polygon (pentagon) is 540 degrees. What is the internal angle sum of a seven-sided polygon (heptagon)? (Answer; 900 degrees).
The last round was General Knowledge; How many leap years occur between 2019 and 2119? (Answer; 24). Most people in the room, including the audience, thought that the answer was 25 but 2100 will not be a leap year). The rules for assigning leap years are that most years that can be divided evenly by four are leap years with the exception that Century years are not leap years unless they can be evenly divided by 400. For those who like to plan well ahead, this means that 2100, 2200 and 2300 are not leap years but 2400 will be one. This correction occurs in the Gregorian calendar as the length of the solar year is about 11 minutes less than 365¼ days.
When all the scores were tallied, the Somerset #1 team came out on top with 18.5 points, All Saints were second on 15.5, and Somerset #2, third on 14.5. The Somerset #1 team therefore go through to the State finals in Brisbane, where they will proudly represent the southern Gold Coast. The finals take place at UQ on Thursday October 24th and will incorporate a Maths activity event.
Congratulations go to all the squad members; Aditya Naik, Matthew Nickels, Kakeru Adachi, Isabella Ong, Penelope Deacon, Ananya Garg. Reserves; Nitika Bethi, Xavier O’Brien.
Hillcrest College ran the quiz extremely well and must be thanked for the hosting of the event. My thanks also go to all the parents who attended the evening, as well as Mr Brodar for his continued support.
The next event on the Somerset calendar will be Phi night hosted by the Somerset Mathematical Society (SMS), which will be held in the SLC on Phiday 23 August at 4.05pm. This is a public event which includes a free gift and hot Phies.
P.A.R.T.Y stands for Prevention of Alcohol and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth. Their behaviour and attitude was outstanding!
Students wrote the following reflections about their experience:
"The team at GCUH were incredible and their ability to communicate topics that would usually be considered difficult, to the students, was admirable. The activities that we took part in were not only fun, but also educational. I learnt so much from this one day and for that, I am so grateful to everyone who made this possible for me. A truly awesome experience. School Excursions have never been better!" - Eva Wingrove
"The P.A.R.T.Y program or the Prevent Alcohol Risk Trauma Youths program generally seemed like your typical drug talk, that almost every adolescent experiences. However, to my surprise I found that it is much more than that. Initially we were taught the effects drugs and alcohol has on the body, by trying to complete a set of tasks whilst wearing drunk simulation glasses. We were also shown some of the stories of teens who went through traumatic experiences, which left a large impact on us as some of the pictures and stories were horrific. The activities we experienced made us question some of the choices we made and were considering making, as we came to realise even the smallest actions could have the largest consequences." - Nick Tan
"Despite knowing how dangerous drugs and alcohol are in general, seeing and hearing about the devastating consequences of bad decisions has explained the severity of the situations people can get themselves into. This has been a life changing experience, not only for myself, but also for my peers around me. I am glad that we were able to learn about these terrible events through such a fun, interactive and interesting experience. I have learnt that asking for help is always the right option no matter what the situation is." - Nikhil Patel
Who doesn’t love a bake sale? Warm, fragrant deliciousness just waiting to be eaten, all for a good cause.
Together, as a scholarly community, we raised a grand total of... $386! This total will be able to send six kids to the circus!
On the weekend, the group was eagerly at work, baking up a storm! Amongst the flour, sugar and eggs we could hardly catch a break. But it was all worth it when we saw our creations beautifully sitting in front of us, about to be devoured.
The day came and we adorned our most outrageous glasses. Generous souls arrived to feed themselves. Some even bought the equivalent of their lunch for an entire week! All in all, we were extremely grateful for the turnout.
We would like to sincerely thank Mr Walker for an opportunity to support this heartwarming and enjoyable cause. It was an eye-opening experience for all of us, and we hope we will continue this three-year-long tradition for years to come!
Michael Rossiter has had an amazing experience competing in the 55th annual European Junior Cycling Tour in Holland.
After winning all of the junior cycling tours he entered in Australia over the past year he went on to enter the largest and most competitive junior cycling tour in the world, known as the, 'Tour De France for Youth.'
The six-day, six event tour includes hard fast peloton riding on rough narrow twisty roads with cobbles, clinkers and pavers, while competing against the European national champions and other top riders from around the world. Michael spent the first week in Holland training with the local club in Assen, Holland and with local coaches, getting used to the road conditions and aggressive racing style which is completely different and much harder than Australia.
In cycling tours the leader on overall time is the General Classification (GC) leader and wears the yellow jersey as the Tour leader. The rider with the lowest total time (in seconds) at the end will be wearing the yellow jersey and will be the Tour winner. You don't need to win every stage of the Tour to win overall, you just need to be consistently near the front and have no bad results to get the best overall time. Michael was racing in age Category 3, which is 10 year old boys and 11 year old girls. Michael's results over the six days of extremely tough racing that followed were:
Results* Day 1, Prologue - 3rd Place (3 seconds behind on General Classification or GC)* Day 2, Criterium Vredeveld - 1st Place (equal first on GC)* Day 3, “Classic” Road race - 3rd Place (2 seconds behind on GC)* Day 4, Time Trial - cancelled due to heavy rain* Day 5, Omloop Kostvlies - 5th Place (8 seconds leader on GC, yellow jersey)* Day 6, Criterium Asserbos - 3rd Place (15 seconds leader on GC, yellow jersey)—— * General Classification (Category 3) - 1st Place Overall (TOUR WINNER)* Sprint points classification - 3rd overall* Special points classification (hill climbing & time trials) - 3rd overall
Michael is only the second Australian ever to win any category at the European Junior Cycling Tour.
Congratulations to Phoenix Kyaw Year 8 and Ethan Wilkin Year 10 who competed in the Mountain Biking Australia Schools National Championship at Nerang on Friday and Saturday.
They certainly did Somerset proud!
These two teams have almost the same level of skill which was apparent while watching the game bounce from one side to the other. Elliot made a difference with his plays, defending in the first half and as Striker in the second half. Elliot was good for a few goals this weekend. The Spartans won the game with 5 to 3.
Playing away saw a slower start than normal, conceding two quick goals. It was good to see the boys lift their game and score straight after. We had some good passages of play and scored some good goals. One of the goals, Edward made with his left foot from half way. Burleigh came out winners against us Spartans, 4 to 3.
Mudgeeraba were tough opponents, making the game thrilling for players and spectators. Spartans showed good resilience throughout the game to ensure they weren’t going to lose. The game ended with a draw, 3 to 3.
Spartans won their game, 6 to 4. A total of 10 goals made it an entertaining game for parents and players. Our youngest Spartans keep surprising us every week with the skills they have already at this age.
Please check the Football Club Schoolbox Page for more info.
Graeme conducted the study in fulfilment of his Masters degree. In summary, 301 out of 316 school principals, teachers and parents of children who learn chess responded to a voluntary online survey of 34 questions. 301 out of 316 responders strongly agreed or slightly agreed that learning to play chess helps children with a range of thinking skills.
Despite this strong response, the Somerset study found no statistically significant benefits for the chess or music groups in students’ cognitive thinking skills as measured by school tests. For his doctoral study, Graeme’s attention will focus on other types of students’ thinking, such as critical, creative and planning. Why do so many chess players believe that learning to play chess has helped them with a range of thinking skills? The answer could be in plain sight, but not yet identified.
An article on the subject published in the Conversation last week can be found [here].(https://theconversation.com/most-people-think-playing-chess-makes-you-smarter-but-the-evidence-isnt-clear-on-that-119469)
As part of the visit, the team were inspired and motivated from a presentation from Andrew Raines, the Gold Coast Suns AFL Academy Head Coach about Core Team Values/Standards.
The squad would like to especially thank Harley Hollonds, the Gold Coast Suns Community Programs Coordinator, who led us on the tour of both facilities and answered many questions throughout.
This was amazing opportunity for all the boys to experience and hopefully allows us to achieve something special this APS season.
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