Adjudicators on the panel for the Festival were Hayden Jones from Shock Therapy Productions (for the Junior and Intermediate sections) and Tricia Clark-Fookes from QUT (for the Senior Section).
Our actors were given the opportunity to showcase their work to an audience of their families, peers and staff from the Somerset College community.
The 2020 Senior Play – Excerpts from Letters to Lindy written by Alana Valentine and directed by Mrs Anna D’Arcy received:
Highly Commended Acting Award - Ella Hammond
Highly Commended Acting Award - Emma Lekich
Highly Commended Acting Award - Lilly McCoomb
Excerpts from Letters to Lindy was awarded the Senior Division Runner Up Shield.
Congratulations to the Senior cast on this outstanding achievement.
The 2020 Intermediate Play – The Final Bell was directed by Yeva Brereton and Ella Kirk under the staff mentorship of Mr Tom Betts. Their expert guidance allowed their intermediate cast to thrive.
Congratulations to the Intermediate directors and cast on the following results:
Outstanding Actor in a Supporting Role – Louis Ladbrook
Best Dramatic Performance – Heidi Hoffman
Best Comedic Performance – Ava McCarthy
Highly Commended Acting Award – Niamh Rogers
Highly Commended Acting Award – Thomas Kilmartin
Highly Commended for Student Direction – Ella Kirk and Yeva Brereton
Finally, the 2020 Junior Play No Horse Town, written by Lindsay Price, was directed by Noah Jay working alongside Somerset Class of 2019 mentor, Ruby Sherrington. A hugely successful production that celebrated the rising acting talent existing at Somerset. The Junior Play received the following awards:
Outstanding Actor Award – River Teixiera
Outstanding Actor Award – Tarang Kondamudi
The Junior Division Medal of Creativity - Noah Jay, for outstanding student direction
No Horse Town received the Junior Division Winners Trophy. Congratulations to all members of the Junior Play on this impressive result.
Many thanks must go to the GCSSDF staff committee for working tirelessly to continue the festival in a year filled with many challenges. The Festival is an event that our student actors aspire towards, and I know how much it meant to all involved to have the opportunity to participate in 2020. The GCSSDF will continue in 2021, with performances scheduled to occur in Term Two. Expressions of interest for student directors will be advertised at the beginning of Term One, 2021, with auditions commencing in Week 5 of Term One.
The extra-curriculars I enjoy, include House Plays, debating, dance, and I am involved in various committees.
I look forward to fully embodying my leadership role and hope that I can give support to anyone who needs it.
My name is Patrick Sowerby and I am the Somerset Vice Captain alongside Leigh for 2021. Looking back to when I first came to the College in Year 2, I would never have thought that I would become the person I am today. Somerset is a home away from home and I am honoured to be appointed to this position.
I was born in Adelaide which gave me the right to choose whichever State of Origin team I wanted. My Dad wasn’t happy with my choice to support Queensland, especially given the next 10 years of NSW disappointment. Growing up I was surrounded by extremely dedicated athletes including my Dad who swam the English Channel, my brother who’s found talent in almost every sport and my Mum who is an ironwoman. If you don’t know what an Ironman is its basically hell; a 3.8km swim, 180km bike ride and then a 42km marathon. To this day it astounds me how she can actually find joy in something that mentally and physically draining.
For me, I found my passion in the game of rugby. Having a family of athletes was part of the reason I played the sport, and also because I was almost 6ft at the age of 7. I have so many Somerset Rugby memories - from doing the Year 4 Rugby speech (and not being able to see over the lectern), to winning the Year 8 premiership and now to be part of the First XV side. Somerset Rugby has taught me about teamwork, toughness, respect and commitment. It has been a privilege to work alongside my coaches Mr Attoe and Mr Walsh, who have given me so much support through the years.
During my time at Somerset I have developed so many relationships with my fellow students and College staff. Seeing photos of our grade in the early days reminds me not only of our terrible haircuts, but of how far as a cohort we have come and the memories we have made along the way. I truly believe that this grade is special and will serve as very successful leaders of the school in 2021.
Somerset has provided all of us with the opportunity to be the best person we can be in all facets of life. Whether students are academic, sport, musical or community service orientated, Somerset has opportunities and supportive teachers that can help you along the way. Somerset gives you the opportunity to challenge yourself, whether that is going on a gruelling hiking camp or grinding your way through a ‘special’ Pula fitness session, there’s always somewhere students can strive to be better. Somerset has made me who I am today, and it will be an honour to serve the College in 2021. Next year I will aim to create opportunities for my younger peers to be challenged and will encourage a positive mindset in all facets of school life.
During lunchtime, the busy stall began. For the first round, many Senior School students bought some of the delicious ice cream but as soon as it was the Junior School’s lunch time we had kids running from all angles to line up for ice cream (after they had eaten their proper lunch first of course). It had been a long time since we had been able to host an ice cream fundraiser stall due to COVID-19 so everyone was keen to buy one. The line was around 50 people long during the Junior School lunch, so Starkey 2 and 10 were very busy making sure everyone got served. The ice cream stall raised over $300 for the project and we sold over 100 ice creams.
The Australian Rhino Project is a conservation organisation which is committed to working as part of the collective international fight to protect African rhinoceros from extinction.
The Australian Rhino Project, together with Royal Zoological Society of South Australia, Orana Wildlife Park and Taronga Conservation Society Australia, are currently working to expand the population of white rhinos in Australia and New Zealand to maintain a genetically diverse breeding crash that can act as an insurance population should the rhino become extinct in its African homeland.
Why move rhinos to Australia? * A rhino population already exists in Australia and we need to maintain the genetic biodiversity of the existing population* Australia has the landscape, climate and proven expertise to manage these species effectively and successfully* The rhinos that are brought to Australia will be cared for under guardianship with a conservation focus* The ultimate goal is the repatriation of rhinoceros back into Africa when it is safe to do so in the future
If you would like to donate to this worthy cause, please click HERE.
A big thanks to everyone who participated in working the stall for Semester Two Service but at the end of the day we all did it because we love the rhinos.
Lastly, a big thanks to Mrs Hossy and Mrs Wheeler for organizing it all. Good luck to the Australian Rhino Project in securing those animals in Australia to preserve them for the future.
We were permitted this year, to host a smaller function for our most senior representatives.
The awards evening took place at the Pool Function Room and was well-attended. Captain of Rugby, Alex Miles spoke exceptionally well about the challenges thrown at the 1st XV and Club team this year and how both teams responded to produce a very respectable season.
U17 Club Best Forward: Jack Hellier
U17 Best Back: Joshua Radcliffe
U17 Team and Commitment: Samuel Liu
U17 MVP: Alex Miles
Preston Cup for Outstanding Sportsmanship in Rugby: Harry Allen
Best Non 1st XV Back: Benjamin Gallagher
Best Non 1st XV Forward: Joe Wright Smith
Somerset College Most Promising Player Year 7 to 10: Charlie Liu
Somerset College 1st XV Best Back: Sam Capel
Somerset College 1st XV Best Forward: Patrick Sowerby
Somerset College 1st XV Most Improved Player: Ashton Govenlock
Somerset College Spirit of Rugby Medal: Jack Hellier
Somerset College 1st XV Players Player of the Year: Alex Miles
Somerset College Captain of Rugby 2020 Alex Miles
Thanks to all the players, parents and supporters for the season. Also a huge thank you to Mr Craig Bassingthwaighte for his support to allow us to hold an end of season Rugby celebration.
They all proved themselves on some hard and technical problems. Both Climbing Crews should be proud of their efforts, proving themselves away from our own College climbing wall.
Seniors headed out on Tuesday, they finished stronger than they started. Their technique has improved measurably, which compliments their strength, which can be a fine line for climbers to balance. They were crushing all problems with style and were fearless to tackle some of the mighty hard competition level ones too. There is definitely a lot of determination and style in the Senior Crew. I look forward to seeing all their continued progress.
Juniors went out on Wednesday. For some, this was their first time ever climbing away from the College wall and they had an absolute blast. After demonstrating that they could fall correctly and safety, it was all on! Small groups divided across the walls. It was awesome to see them pass the beta on to help their peers crush. For them to see the difference between what is easy for some but may be harder for others, was much more evident here than on our own College wall as there was such a large variety of problems to try. And I was so impressed to see how much encouragement and support they offered each other throughout the whole afternoon. Their energy and stoke levels remained high and it was nearly impossible to make them have a snack break halfway through!
Well done to all climbers, both afternoons were fantastic, and I look forward to offering this opportunity again.
The Under 8 Blue existing of Boys from Year 2, while the girls are a combined team from Year 1, 2 and 3 students. The Blue side all played in the Futsal League in 2019 and because they have more experience were given a few playing restrictions. This made the game interesting to watch and all players could develop independently. The Blues won against the Pinks.
Thank you to Mr Scott that came down today to support all Spartans that were playing this morning.
A very nice bounce back from the White team after last week’s tough loss. This game was the closest we have had so far, coming up against a fellow Somerset Orange team.
It took a few minutes to get into the game but once the side gained momentum the played well. There were some great goals from individual moments like a great pass-in to setup a tap in from Franklin as well as a full court run from Oliver.
The goalkeeping and defensive efforts improve week after week and we were unlucky to lose in the last kick of the game. Another great performance from every one of the boys … on to the next game!
Due absence from Coach Kydra, the team was coached today by Coach Maarten.
The Spartans started well and with a solid defence. They made it difficult for the Sharks to score. The Sharks had the best of the game with and got in the end their deserved win.
Congrats to the Sharks. Great effort by all Spartans that did not gave up until the last minute. We see big improvements from Round 1 to now.
Somerset Under 8 Black played the Dolphins. All the boys tried very hard. Somerset scored two goals with Lachlan Talbot scoring the first, followed by Joshua Thompson with another goal.
Goalkeeper William did an excellent job as usual and saved quite a couple of balls. Although it was a loss (7 to 2) it was a well-played game.
Somerset vs Tallebudgera Tigers Somerset 3 Tallebudgera 5 In stark contrast to last week's 'training run', Tally were a far stronger team and certainly tested our boys. The match was a lot closer than the score suggested. An early strike by Tally was negated by a great goal from Zhander. A close shave and foul by the Tally defender led to an indirect free kick to Somerset. The subsequent shot by Zhander was enough to breach the Tully wall finding the net to much celebration. The Tally boys equalised just before half time levelling the the scores 2-all. This was a fair reflection of the first half.
Soon after the break, Somerset surged ahead with a signature strike from the lethal left boot of Connor. This was certainly the goal of the match. Unfortunately, the Tally boys responded with three unanswered goals, making the final score 5 to 3. The score could have been a lot closer with Oliver hitting the post and other near misses by Harper and Liam.
Despite the loss Somerset gave a good account of themselves well against opponents that were physically larger with a similar skill set. The old saying that "Success is a poor teacher" certainly rings true and our boys will certainly learn more from this encounter. They learnt to play against more physical opponents who hustled and bustled our players giving them much less time with the ball than previous opponents. Somerset can certainly turn this around in our next two encounters with this team in the. competition particularly with the return of Paxton in the coming weeks.
The Somerset U10 had an amazing second game back this Saturday, after a bye last week the team came out well rested to beat the Strikers 12 to 1. A great change from our first game defeat and gives the team lots of confidence for the games ahead.
We are committed to working with Community Elders and all First Nations People, to be led by them and to play our important role in closing the gap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People.
Somerset is well placed to learn from First Nations’ People, as we continue to listen and build cultural intelligence together. Action always speaks louder than words and the points below might support this from the past 10 years:
There is still plenty we can do. Our RAP has now been developed and endorsed which will assist the College to work towards achieving our vision for reconciliation.
It’s an exciting time as we continue the journey asking how we can walk alongside our First Nations’ People. It is our intention to make the document accessible on the forthcoming revised website.
Here are two of our Prep students Gigi and Sean showcasing their wonderful illustrations.
Wanting to make the presentation a more inclusive affair, Somerset College students were invited to lend their voice by journalist, Mr. Simon Reeve.
CEO of Children’s Book Council of Australia, Kate Flamsteed was appreciative of their generous participation in the filming, saying, “The Somerset students are just wonderful…they are an inspiration to us all”.
The awards presentation can be found on the CBCA’s homepage HERE.
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