A massive congratulations to Starkey who took out Champion House in the Junior School and to our following Age Champions.
Year 3 – Paxton Stewart and Kasia Pitura
9 Years – Lucas Deffenti and Ella Carson
10 Years – Jacob Moir and Jorja Grocott
11 Years – Austin Walters and Molly Rogers
12 Years – Jamie Batho and Georgie Zerbst
This year it was Veivers House who were the quickest on their feet to take the win. The blue house walked away with their first victory for 2020, in a spectacular contest of endurance and speed. The 13 Year Old Boys managed to achieve a podium trifecta, while we saw many other Veivers members up on stage to receive medallions.
It wasn’t just the athletes who performed their very best to collect a place in the top eight and put Veivers in first place, but it was truly an effort made by all students who willingly participated in their races. Your perseverance and positive attitude shined throughout Friday’s carnival which we hope to see again at the Inter-House Athletics Carnival in Term Three.
A special mention goes to those who helped organise the event; our Head of Sport, Mrs McKenna, Dean of Activities, Mr Sayer, Bird and Bush staff and all those who helped out at the carnival. Furthermore, Veivers' victory would have never been possible without the support of our tutors and captain’s Sam and Makayla. Of course, a huge thank you goes to our acting Head of House, Mr Attoe, who has made a great impact to the culture within the Veivers community as reflected in the efforts made by those who wore blue on Friday’s carnival.
Finally, congratulations to the students who have made it to APS, we wish you the very best for your upcoming race as you go on to represent Somerset College.
On the weekend of 22 and 23 February, a group of Somerset students took part in the Queensland Reserves Championships for U1750 ACF rated players: Eason Wang, Sophia Ahern, Ken Wu, Calen Tang, Alessandro Martinese, and Harrison Qu. The event was played with long time controls, three rounds on each day and featured some very strong opposition.
Harrison Qu from Year 1 managed to defeat much older players and score 2/6, whilst Sophia Ahern scored 3/6. The standout performance however was Eason Wang, who scored 4.5/6 to claim = first in Rating Group A.
On Wednesday 26 February, Somerset College hosted the Gold Coast Secondary Interschool tournament. Somerset fielded 25 players in the tournament, which comprised three divisions.
In the A division, Somerset 1 (Byron Morris, Kenning Ming, Oliver Yang and Eason Wang) proved too strong for the opposition to win with a score of 22/28. Finishing in second position was Somerset 2 (Jack Luke-Paredi, Charlie Liu, Jason Li, Kona Baldock) who scored 20/28. TSS 1 finished in third. Individually, Kenny Ming and Byron Morris finished = first with 6/7 - Kenny finishing ahead on tie-break, whilst Jack Luke-Paredi finished =3rd with 5.5/7 but missed out on a tie-break.
In the B division, Somerset 6 (Hamish Folliott, Lachlan Hartley, Riley Jennings, and Debby Kuo) finishing first with 18.5/28, ahead of St Andrew’s 2 and Miami SHS. Individually, Hamish Folliott finished 1st with 6/7 and Lachlan Hartley finished 2nd with 5.5/7.
From next week, the Year 3 to 6 lunch club will be held in the Ray Dining Hall on Monday to Wednesday plus Friday.
Event full results.
Interschool Competition full results.
Next, we had a lot of laughs and smiles as we were racing the visitors through an obstacle course that posed a challenge to some of my fellow players. We followed this with a quick game of football tag to see who could get the highest number of tags. We’re not sure how Christian managed to get 200 in a minute!
The afternoon finished with a game of rugby and it was a blast! With plenty of tries to be had, huge cut out passes, big push tags and best of all, loads of enjoyment judging by the smiles and laughter. This was my biggest highlight – simply being in their presence and offering something so simple as our time and skills bringing such enjoyment to their day. Both groups had so much to learn from each other.
Coach Pula, Eddie and 1st XV guru, Mr Spence Attoe shared their passion and knowledge of the game with the boys through various skills, drills and games. My personal highlight was seeing the Junior School students interacting and training with their 1st XV heroes!
The day was capped off with each student receiving a Somerset Spartans Rugby Tee to wear at trainings and games. The Inaugural Spartan Rugby Supporters Club provided morning tea and a BBQ feast at the end of the day for all boys and their families in attendance. My sincere thanks to Lisa Fitzgerald and her crew of helpful parents for making the day a great success.
Throughout the unit, Year 12 Drama students have explored Theatre of Social Comment, and how drama can be used to challenge our understanding of humanity over time. They have investigated the dramatic style of epic theatre and explored how conventions can be manipulated in order to express political and philosophical viewpoints to an audience.
Each of our two groups selected excerpts from Urinetown written by Greg Kotis, a musical play filled with opportunity to work with epic convention in order to inform dramatic meaning. Themes explored throughout their work included hope, fear, corruption and the idea of a Malthusian catastrophe.
Congratulations Year 12 for presenting a powerful evening of dialectical performance.
Be the ‘I’ in Kind
This allowed students to take photographs of themselves in the place of the ‘I’, showing how they could ‘Be the I in Kind’. This activity engaged many students and prompted us to think about ways we could show kindness to others.
The Kindness Kiosk was another a popular activity which gave students the opportunity to write notes of kindness and gratitude to others. This helped to generate positive interactions between students and staff and gave us the opportunity to simply let people know we cared. The kiosk was a huge success, with around 150 students participating.
This week has reminded us all of the significance of small, kind acts and the profound effect they may have on the lives of those who experience kindness. Acts of kindness inspire others to do the same, creating an environment of happiness and appreciation for others. Random Acts of Kindness week is a strong reminder of the importance of kindness and how easily it can be shared in our everyday lives, not solely during this fantastic week.
From my perspective, seeing their eager faces every Wednesday morning is the primary reason I attend. Watching their attitude change over the weeks as they become more confident in themselves is a rewarding experience.
The Clover Hill students who are attending this semester do find reading particularly challenging, and so the relationships formed between the students of both schools increase the level of engagement of these young readers. Many of the Somerset students, after only three weeks, have already formed bonds with these children as you become almost a role model figure to them. I highly recommend coming one week to see for yourself the mutual benefits of Clover Connect.
There are still a few spaces available for Year 10 students, so if you wish to be involved, I encourage you to come and speak with Mrs Leslie; it is a very worthwhile and enjoyable Service Learning activity.
I have always been interested in programming complex problems. During my time in Robocup 2017, I met a post doctoral fellow that works in CSIRO (The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is an Australian government agency responsible for scientific research.)
Dr Nick Hockings, who is currently working on inventing soft matter robots. During 2018 and 2019, I did two work experience at CSIRO's Robotics and Autonomous systems group, where researchers mentored me into working with Computer Vision and then SLAM (Simultaneous Localisation And Mapping is the computational problem of constructing or updating a map of an unknown environment while simultaneously keeping track of an agent's location within it) specifically RGB-D SLAM (which is slam but with a normal camera because it is more complex).
Now I have enough skill, I am inventing Dynamic SLAM (which is a 3D reconstruction of dynamically moving objects using a normal camera). This algorithm will allow scientists and researchers into the development of Artificial General Intelligence and 3D Mapping complex scenes.
I still have a long way to go in terms of solving more mathematical errors I have been hit with, but I am satisfied with my progress so far.
These included House Plays, Debating, Musical, APS Swimming, Cross Country Camp and E-Sports. There was sure to be something for everyone! Next, the 'Camp Commendation' and 'Student of the Week' awards were handed out. Congratulations to all the recipients!
At every Year Level meeting, students are given the opportunity to perform in front of their peers and teachers. As it was our first meeting, we didn’t really know what to expect. It was incredible to see the variety of talent on stage. Anika L, Jasmine S and Jenna L performed an amazing violin version of pop song Senorita. Lachie M and Sasha H entertained us with a spectacular trumpet piece from Jazz band, All My Loving. The room went still with serenity when Nadia played her classical guitar solo. Finally, everyone got to their feet and danced to the tunes composed by Hugh C.
For a bit fun, Benji and I decided to present our Battle of the Dad Jokes - Try not to laugh edition. Naturally, we had to select a dad from the audience to be our volunteer. Mr Grocott was the obvious choice. We each attempted to make him laugh by telling our favourite dad jokes. Whilst the audience erupted in laughter, Mr Grocott held a straight face the entire time until one joke finally cracked him! All in all, it was great fun but I do think we need to prepare some even funnier jokes to get him next time!
So many children came up and got down and they all had a blast! We have a long tradition of being a very untraditional school library here at Somerset and wet weather lunch discos are here to stay.
Tech-free lunchtime games are also still proving more popular than ever and we keep adding more options based on student feedback. UNO is a current favourite although chess still dominates.
It is wonderful to see the children happy, smiling, dancing and playing even on the gloomiest days.
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