The 130-member Somerset Athletics Team took out the coveted APS Athletics Championship for the third consecutive year on Wednesday.
Many thanks to our talented coaches led by Chris Lewis, Stephanie Oppermann, Candice McKenna (Track), Phil Newton (Jumps), Kirsty Williams, Jenny Wood (Throws) and our support coaches.
In what was always going to be a difficult task in retaining the title, our athletes competed superbly all day, concluding with team captains Alice Neale and Ethan Hill lifting the trophy.
We now prepare for the South Coast Trials on 5 and 6 September and State Teams Knock-out on 9 September as practices continue every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7.00am.
Athletics practices will now be every Monday, Wednesday and Friday before school for South Coast and Knock-out competitors.
Athletics practices will now be every Monday, Wednesday and Friday before school for South Coast and Knock-out competitors. South Coast qualifiers will be notified shortly, as will members of our State Knock-out teams.
All sporting details are posted on Schoolbox on the Sports page.
The diverse range of topics captured the wide variety of areas within the sciences our students have developed an interest in. Science exhibits consisted of student made models representing the effects of human activities on the long term health and well-being of humans, as well as posters detailing scientific investigations students had planned and carried out addressing real life applications or an importance to local, national or global issue or problem.
Students investigated topics ranging from ‘How Does the Addition of Sodium Citrate Impact the Rate of Coagulation’ to ‘The effect of acid rain on agriculture’ and ‘Exploring the Relationship between the Concentration of the Element Nitrogen and Algal Growth and Photosynthesis’.
The evening was also an opportunity to recognise the achievements of our Year 12 students and the completion of their last Scientific Investigation within Biology, Physics or Chemistry.
The following students achieved First Place:
A special congratulations to Jensen Just who was awarded the Bridges Shield for his investigation ‘Structural Applications for Paper Tubes’. This award represents Clinton and Darren Bridges who were students at Somerset College; with Darren winning the most prestigious BHP Billiton Award. This award is for an outstanding investigation in either Years 9 or 10. An investigation that is unusual, something a bit different.
On behalf of the Science Department we would like to thank parents and students that supported the evening and the many other activities that were offered throughout Science Week.
Jason Adams was first up with a mathematical trick that even confounded the present Maths teachers. Those that stayed with the 24 steps needed in the trick were amazed to see the number phi (1.6180339887….) appear on their calculator screens. There was a visible sigh of relief from the audience when Jason’s next Maths trick only required three steps.
Matthew White (or is it Phite?) and James Guy (Phy?) guided the audience through Phi swatting and celebrity Phi-ces, with Signor Ham emerging as the teacher possessing features closest to the Golden ratio. George Clooney, Amber Heard and even Donald Trump’s hair also featured in this segment, although it has to be stated that beauty is dephinitely in the phi of the beholder.
Tanishq Khurana had the audience on its feet with the ever popular Graph dancing (also known as Philates). This involved a human demonstration of the Cartesian plane illustrating an assortment of functions, described with arms in a variety of angles and shapes.
Michael Phy, I mean Guy, then delivered an interesting biography on Swiss mathematician Johann Bernoulli (not to be confused with Bertolli margarine) who was a member of the extensive Bernoulli family of mathematicians. Johann celebrated his 350th birthday on Sunday 6 August. Michael and Jason Adams continued with a demonstration of mathematical ‘High Phives’ and the audience was back on its feet greeting their neighbours in the same way. These salutations ranged from tangential to asymptotic and from sinusoidal to Roman.
Mr Wrigley then reflected on the ‘Life of Phi’, tracing its roots from Euclid’s Elements up to a recent discovery on Golden Triangles. Some of the facts on phi, also known as the Golden Ratio, were separated from the fiction and even Sponge Bob Square pants got a mention (his pants are cuboid and certainly not square). Calculators were needed to evaluate phi in a variety of different ways but no one managed to complete that task. Phi, like its cousin Pi, is irrational and its decimal expansion goes on forever, without repeating.
Zara and Maya led the audience through the Phi quiz which still left some questions unanswered. Did the Egyptians use Phi to build the pyramids? Why did the Roman Colosseum never make any money? – was it because the lions ate all the prophits?
Phi reciting was next on the agenda and organised by Tanishq, Michael and Jason with 25 digits reached by Isaac Rogers, 35 by Momoe Gondo and 70 by Yuvi Chauhan who was awarded the SMS cup for 2017.
The school record set last year by Callum Moffat was 220.
August 4th 1834 is John Venn’s birthday so a special Venn diagram was constructed to celebrate this anniversary. Refreshments were served in the aftermath including phies, phizzy drinks and phibonachos. In the words of one SMS member “It was a phine, phun - philled night for phree”.
Mathonyms were ordered (and still can be) from Mitchell Hamilton with the proceeds going to ‘Jeans for Genes’. Mathonyms come in a range of electromagnetic waves (colours), are laminated and immortalise your name in Maths.
The next SMS experience on the event horizon and will be the ‘Mathstroll’ in Surfers Paradise in November. Everyone is welcome to participate in the stroll which will take you from infinity to beyond (and back again).
Gardening is part of our current inquiry related to “Sharing the Planet”. The children have been exploring plants and their different needs, a variety of ways we use plants and plants from around the world.
This inquiry has helped initiate learning engagements that promote scientific learning and has provided students with the opportunity to use an assortment of skills. Some of these skills include; recording data and comparison and analysis of data.
We have also learnt from our very own College community when the College’s gardeners came to talk with us and share their knowledge. It has been inspiring to see Prep friends displaying such responsibility towards caring for their plants. Here’s to happy planting and many green thumbs in the future.
Our Year 8 students spent last week on the beaches studying how the physical geography of beaches at Currumbin and Burleigh influence the waves hitting our coastline. They were trying to measure how natural forces affect the nature of our beaches. They were also asked to look at the impact of Gold Coasts’ desire to build bigger and wider beaches. The closure of the lower trail at Burleigh made the walk even more scenic and invigorating.
The students all seemed to enjoy some time out in pleasant surrounds and, hopefully, they also had a very worthwhile learning experience.
L’8 luglio, 36 studenti italiani (con età tra i 16 ed i 18 anni) ed i loro accompagnatori (Isabella Traverso e Carlo Ghio) sono arrivati per passare tre settimane con famiglie del Collegio Somerset. Tutti gli studenti sono di Genova, e frequentano la scuola “il Liceo Scientifico Statale Luigi Lanfranconi”. Hanno dato ospitalità per tre settimane ad un gruppo di studenti del Collegio Somerset in dicembre, ed i ragazzi italiani sono stati qui per completare lo scambio. Mentre sono stati qui, i ragazzi italiani sono stati in famiglie di studenti dell’undicesima e della dodicesima. Hanno seguito un corso di lingua inglese e di cultura australiana e hanno passato qualche ora in classe con i loro compagni. Hanno fatto anche parecchie gite – a Sea World, Brisbane, Byron Bay, Jellurgal Aboriginal Cultural Centre, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary e Springbrook, ed hanno fatto anche una lezione di surf. Siamo stati lieti di ricevere il gruppo qui e speriamo che tutti abbiano passato un periodo bellissimo da noi. Questa è l’ottava volta che abbiamo organizzato uno scambio con “Lanfranconi”, e speriamo di organizzare oltre scambi nel futuro. Arrivederci, amici italiani!
On 8 July, 36 Italian students (between 16 and 18 years of age) and their accompanying teachers (Isabella Traverso and Carlo Ghio) arrived to spend three weeks with Somerset College families. All of the students are from Genoa, and attend the school “Scientific Liceo Luigi Lanfranconi”. They hosted a group of Somerset College students in December for three weeks, and the Italian students were here to complete the exchange.
While they were here, the Italian students stayed with the families of our Year 11 and 12 students. During their stay, they completed a course in English language and Australian culture and spent some time in class with their hosts. They participated in several day trips – to Sea World, Brisbane, Byron Bay, Jellurgal Aboriginal Cultural Centre, Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and Springbrook, and they also had surfing lessons. We were delighted to welcome the group here and we hope that everyone had a wonderful time with us.
This is the eighth time that we have organised an exchange with “Lanfranconi” and we hope to organise further exchanges in the future. Farewell, Italian friends!
About 90 young writers from the Wordsmiths' Club in Years 7 to 12 took part in the Write a Book in a Day. This challenge is part of a National Writing Project, which combines storytelling magic and fundraising for research into Kid’s Cancer.
Each Somerset Team (four Senior teams years 11 to 12 and five Middle Years teams years 7 to 10), wrote, illustrated, bound their books and contributed $310 towards the National Kids Cancer Project.
The books in PDF form and hard copy will be distributed across Australia and will be read to children who are diagnosed with cancer. The initiative, along with the funds, is a hugely compassionate gesture by our young writers.
Michael's hilarious stories and quirky illustrations have since captured the imagination of Australia’s youngest readers.
Students were encouraged to ‘never give up’ when writing stories or creating art as very rarely do you create a masterpiece the first time. Many stories were shared and students were delighted to hear about Michael’s unbelievable adventures with his dog Bobo and how he gets ideas for his stories.
The most embarrassing morning of four students’ lives will not quickly be forgotten. One at a time, Michael pulled up each student and drew them as a caricature. Students were clearly enjoying the experience, with laughter bursting out of the Great Hall.
Michael’s visit was timed in a lead up to Book Week and Book Fair, both happening in Week 7. Book Character Day is also coming up for our Pre-Prep to Year 2 students. I wonder how many Bobo’s and Bunyips there will be this year?
Many of Michael’s books are available for borrowing from the KIP should you wish to read some of his humorous stories with your children.
Now the fun really beings! We have been using our research skills to find reliable websites and secondary and primary resources. To help us get the best information we can, the librarians in the KIP have offered to help us by hosting research appointments. We are super grateful for this. The most challenging part so far has been collecting primary sources as these need to be a direct source. We are fortunate to have our mentor teachers now, who will be helping us collect more information.
The PYP Exhibition is a display of our learning all the way through school so far. Therefore, our mentor teachers are from all parts of the junior school and they give up their time to help us do our very best. We are in interest groups of three to six people who are doing a similar topic. On the day, the interest groups will put their work together to create a huge display, thus creating the final product – The PYP Exhibition.
In addition to this, we have now selected the T-shirt design. Many students entered drawings of their interpretation of the central idea and we were all blown away by the talent. It was a very hard job for the teachers to decide. We are looking forward to wearing these amazing, personalised T-shirts and hope you like them too!
Well done to those swimmers that competed and the support of the coaches that attended the meet.
Happy Swimming!
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