The Junior School is a hive of activity – every single week, of every term. This year I have enjoyed spectating and handing out places and medals at swimming carnivals, athletics carnivals and Cross-Country events with our students. Students have excelled in APS Sport Rounds each week in Term Two and Term Four. We have performed many concerts for Dance, Music and Drama, for events such as Grandparents' Day, Easter Hat Parade, Book Week celebrations, Global Awareness Day and Day of Dance. The musical, The Lion King, in Term One was certainly a highlight. Musical Showcase each semester has been impressive. The Year 5 Evening of Eminence and Exhibition, were two massively successful events on the College calendar.
Our students have demonstrated their skills, learning and knowledge through events at school, such as Year 5 Shop, Kidpreneur initiative and Taste of Asia Day in Year 6, Public Speaking Competitions and the Junior School Art Show. It has been exciting to be part of many excursions across various year levels and to have participated in the Year 2 Sleepover, Year 3 Camp at Tyalgum, Year 4 Camp at Midginbil Hill, Year 5 Camp at Mapleton and the Year 6 trip to Tasmania. I love being able to get to know staff and students in these different environments and activities, as each individual takes on challenges they may never have had to face before, demonstrating resilience and strength as well as hope and humour.
The students impress me endlessly with their talents and commitment to learning and the evident pride they have in being a student at Somerset College. We have an extremely high calibre of teachers who are professional and dedicated to encouraging excellence in academics, co-curricular activities and personal development, with the aim of developing a love for lifelong learning in your child.
Thank you so much to the parents of the Junior School. I believe it is crucial to build strong relationships with parents, enabling us to work closely together. I have appreciated the many conversations, debates, interviews, feedback, comradery and celebrations we have had together this year. Community is important to me, and through developing an effective partnership between the home and school, we will provide the very best education for your child.
I am looking forward to the final two weeks of term and I look forward to seeing you all at the Christmas concerts and celebrations as well as Scholars' Day.
What can I say when reflecting upon the Junior School year in review? It was absolutely fantastic! I cannot wait to do it all again next year.
Leanne Hinds-Smith (Ignition Athletics Club President and Queensland Athletics Board Member) as well as super coach Alison Fairweather (former Stawell Women’s Gift Winner) joined Alex Beck (sprinter, Australian representative and Somerset alumni) and super athlete Michelle Jenneke (hurdler, Australian Olympian and Commonwealth Games representative) to coach student athletes through circuits.
The aim of the clinic was to give our student athletes technical instruction and further knowledge of running mechanics.
We are so fortunate to have such great facilities at Somerset and are equally fortunate for the tremendous support that Ignition Athletics Club has for our athletes.
Kind regards and thank you to everyone involved.
We would like to thank all of the families who have very kindly donated such beautiful books for this cause.
Students from the Junior School were very excited to bring in their books that they no longer read to give them to other students. Many bright faces showed up and swapped a book for a new book to read and love. It is clear that our students love reading and books as much as we do in the KIP.
The aim of the Bond Demo Day is to foster the entrepreneurial spirit on the Gold Coast, as our city has the highest per capita rate of business ownership in Australia.
The first team to pitch on the night were our Somerset Alumni Middle Years Pitch Competition winners, including Cawin Ashok Kumar, Jaime Dwyer, and Marcus Nguyen. These four students pitched their newly developed and fully operational citation software called Minima. The crowd was amazed by the sophisticated algorithms that run this software, particularly given that all members of the team are less than 14 years of age.
The second group to pitch on the night won our Bond University Senior Years Pitch Competition at the Celebration of Entrepreneurship. This team included Anna Harris, Sarah McTaggart, Ashleigh Shannon and Eva Wallace. Like Team Tangram before them, they too received high praise and are close to securing mentoring support from several high profile Gold Coast entrepreneurs who see huge potential in their idea to use recycled plastic bags to produce active wear.
At the networking event after the pitch competition, students were introduced by Dr Baden U’Ren from Bond University to four Gold Coast entrepreneurs including Eden Shirley from Autoguru, Michael Metcalfe from Kynd, Josh Murchie from Little Phil and Diana Scott from Frontier Pets. As a result of introductions to these local entrepreneurs, our students have been able to take the first steps to acquire Angel Investor funding for their new businesses.
These students have done both their families and the College proud!
It is wonderful to see the entrepreneurial mindset is alive and well in the Somerset College community!
Can you label the mathematical clock by placing the values in the correct places?
If you are able to answer this question correctly, then you would be able to sit the MYP eAssessment for 2018.
The eAssessment helps achieve greater student outcomes and provides greater quality assurance and recognition for International Baccalaureate. The on-screen examination is both rich and authentic, uses video and animations as well as interactive functions, such as the ability to plot graphs and draw lines and pictures to engage students.
Congratulations to the following students who have completed the MYP eAssesment for Mathematics Extended in 2018.
Mohnish Chand, Joanne Ryu, Jacinta Mai, Sige Xu, Desmond Chuah and Clare Hong.
I would like to recognise the participation of these students, who completed the assessment in addition to their regular examinations, and congratulate them on their efforts and achievements.
This trophy recognises a student who has achieved an elite level of performance in a sporting discipline, their participation and ability being nurtured and encouraged at Somerset College. This student also exemplifies modesty, sporting courage and sportsmanship.Harrison Smith
The Karlsson Trophy is given annually to the student who has contributed most to the development of sport within the College during the year. It is given for commitment, spirit, dedication and Somerset citizenship.Michael Guy
For contributions to Somerset sport. Jeff Grocott
Congratulations to Rylee Burns for receiving the 2018 Griffith University School Sport Award. Rylee was nominated for this award for her exceptional athletic performance, positive attitude and outstanding leadership. As part of this award Rylee will receive a payment of $200.
Somerset College and Griffith University congratulate Rylee on her award and wish her all the very best in her future sporting endeavours.
For more outstanding achievements from students, click here.
This week we present Summer Season sports awards at the Sports Assembly and recognize our APS Premiership Teams. This will be followed by our annual staff versus students sporting fixture.
12.50pm - Sports Assembly: Summer Season Awards – Part 1 (Gym)
1.30pm - Staff versus Students Sport (Cricket, Basketball, Netball, Futsal, Volleyball, Tennis)
12.50pm - Sports Assembly: Summer Season Awards – Part 2
1.30pm - House Swimming Trials 1/2
1.00pm - House Swimming Trials 2/2
Click here to access photos of your sport or your team.
All Season details on Schoolbox Senior School Sports page. (“Winter Sports” tile for all season dates, and training schedules of the APS Season).
Student Injuries: If your son or daughter is injured at school sport, it must be recorded at the time by the school nurse/medical person present if parents wish to apply through the school insurance policy. If delayed signs or symptoms arise over the weekend, students must notify the school nurse on Monday morning.
All sporting details are posted on Schoolbox on the Sports page.
This event will take place on Monday 26 November from 1.20pm to 3.00pm in the Great Hall. We will come together as a Junior School to celebrated and recognise all the Award winners from Semester Two of Junior APS Summer Sport, as well as announcing the Class Swimming awards, Merit and Striving Awards for Chess and this year’s Music awards. All parents are most welcome to attend.
To all Netballers in the Junior School, if you are interested in playing Club Netball for Somerset in 2019 in the Hinterland District Netball Association competition on a Saturday please register here
The Year 3 to 6 Inter-House Tabloids will be held on Friday 23 November on the middle part of the Athletics Track from 9.00am to 10.40am. Students will be allowed to come to school dressed in Inter-House Sports Uniform and must go to class to mark the roll before this event begins.
Thursday 20 November - No Junior APS Summer Sports Training (ELP Christmas Concert)
Tuesday 20 November - No Junior APS Summer Sports Training (ELP Christmas Concert)
Thursday 22 November - Round Seven – Junior APS Summer Sports v CAC
Friday 23 November - Year 3 to 6 Inter-House Tabloids
Monday 26 November - Semester Two Sports and Cultural Assembly – Great Hall
All information about Junior School Sport can be located on Schoolbox by clicking on the Junior School Sports page.
Our team was expecting the Alumni team to be good, however I don't think we realised how competitive the game was going to become. The crowd of parents, students and staff surrounding Koala House watched on as both teams endured some big hits, fantastic marks and close goals. We were feeling confident after the first two quarters and managing to get a lead, however this wasn't for long. The Alumni team only needed the first half to get back into the AFL mindset after not playing for multiple years. The score became extremely close towards the end of the third quarter and we listened intently to Matt Smith's final quarter time pep-talk before taking the field for the final 10 minutes.
The last quarter was the toughest yet and with a minute and a half to go, we were up by two points. Unfortunately for the senior girls, an exceptional mark in front of goal in the final minute saw the Alumni team score a sneaky goal by Tuna (Christina Vinaccia, Class of 2016), leaving our team with a task of catching up in this short amount of time. In the end, the Alumni team proved that they were all definitely still extremely skilled at the sport, winning by four points.
This new tradition was enjoyed thoroughly by all players and having our parents, friends and teachers there to support us was amazing. Hopefully this continues next year - although the Year 11s are a bit nervous to take on many of the year 12s in our team when they move on to the Alumni team. Let's just hope Alice can maybe take it easy on us?
Thank you to Mr Lunniss, Miss Oppermann and Molly Ritson for all of their work organising the match, to Matt Smith (Class of 2017) and Mrs McQueen for coaching the teams on the day, and to all of the staff, parents and students who came along to support us!
In the Junior Masters, Kenny Ming finished in second place with 5.5/7, and Eason Wang was third with 5/7. Jennifer Yeung also performed well, scoring 4/7 and winning the best girl prize. Eason also won the prize for the overall Junior Masters Champion for 2018, having the highest combined score across the four terms.
Kona Baldock had an outstanding result, winning the One Day Challenge with 7.5/8. That’s seven wins and only one draw, no losses. An outstanding result that rewards all the hard work that he’s been putting into his chess this year. As part of winning the One Day Challenge, Kona has earned an automatic spot and free entry into the Junior Masters Term One next year.
Year 1 student Calen Tang had an excellent 5.5/8, 9th place and winning the trophy for first Rating Group A. When Calen and Kona played each other in round 7, they were leading the whole field of 75 with 5.5/6. Sasha Hanford scored 5/8 and earned 3rd Rating Group A.
Type on the line above then press the Enter/Return key to submit a new search query