However, as I reflect on Somerset College and the response to COVID 19, I can only feel proud and full of admiration for the way our wonderful College and the people of our wonderful College have responded to enormous challenges. Great challenges provide great people with the opportunity to show how great they are.
The great people of Somerset College have responded as one, to not just survive, but to thrive!
Our Headmaster Craig Bassingthwaighte has led brilliantly from the front showing calm, patience, determination and at all times compassion and care for the people of Somerset College.
Craig has inspired his leadership team and the whole staff at Somerset College, all teachers, all care givers, administrative and support staff to respond magnificently. The response has been carefully managed and executed by good people patiently and caringly.
Our goal as always has been to deliver to our wonderful students from the young in pre prep through to our graduating Year 12 the opportunity to find their own Personal Success.
Somerset College has fashioned a way to show that the very best standards of Somerset College could be maintained under times of extraordinary stress and change and always in a positive, constructive and compassionate manner.
I can only express, on behalf of the Board of Directors of Somerset College, my sincerest thanks and admiration to Craig, David Thornton and the College Leadership Team for providing the platform to make 2020 an exceptional year at Somerset College, not because of what we have not been able to do, but because of what we in fact have done.
I want to especially congratulate the graduating Year 12 students. You have really stood up and shown enormous strength and character under adversity and I am sure this year the way you have responded will, far from diminish your educational achievements, but rather enhance and increase it, particularly for your whole life experience. Students go forward knowing that you can handle any obstacles that may come your way.
I want to thank the Board of Directors for their determination and commitment to working with Craig and his team to find the best ways to manage the business of Somerset College and also to respond to the needs and concerns of our parents, students, teachers and all staff.
In April 2020 I was able to announce the decision of the Board, upon the recommendation of our Headmaster, to discount tuition fees by 40 per cent for Term Two and to suspend the service fee for Term Two for all parents and caregivers.
I am also pleased to announce that the Board has now resolved unanimously to apply a fee increase for 2021 of 0 per cent, that is, there will be no increase in tuition fees for the year 2021.
The concern of the Board of Somerset College is always the health and wellbeing of our students, parents and all of our staff.
I am very proud of our careful financial management year after year which allows us to support our parents in these most extraordinary times, but also to maintain the financial health of Somerset College so that we can continue, as we are at the moment, to plan and build the continued investment in educational facilities to which our students and their families are fully entitled.
Please allow me to thank in particular Louise Davidson who after nine years of faithful service on the Board of Somerset College is retiring. Louise is a former Somerset parent who has taken her passion and love for Somerset College to the boardroom table and served your college exceptionally. I was only prepared to accept Louise’s resignation on the basis of her continued commitment to remain as Chair of Storyfest. Louise of course has been one of the key driving forces behind the growth of Storyfest from the Celebration of Literature.
I don’t know what 2021 will bring, but can confidently say whatever it brings we at Somerset College will not just manage but continue to grow and provide for our students a whole of life education to achieve their own Personal Success.
To everyone at Somerset College I wish you a very happy and peaceful holiday period. I hope all families are able to be united at Christmas and that we all have our opportunity to share the joy of the holiday season in our community.
The collection has now grown to a flood that threatens to overtake all the floor space!
The bags will be collected by Wesley Mission today for distribution to needy families in time for Christmas.
Thank you Somerset for this very tangible expression of goodwill, and for all the other ways your spirit of generosity has prompted you to share gifts of time and substance this Christmas season.
The students only had five school days to prepare and create a solution for a problem that they had brainstormed in their ‘Think Tank” session in the previous week.
Their ‘business brief’ was to create a company name, logo, mission statement, financial background and a code of conduct outlining human rights for their workers, how to lessen the impact on the environment and what charities they were going to support with this new venture.
These were modelled and taught in different subject classes during Term Four so that the students could then use these skills from IAS, Mathematics, Language and Literature lessons to produce their final presentation.
In teams of mainly three they had to produce four slides outlining their Company’s product and policies, and present it to the Judges. Heats were held to choose first, second and third in each Year 7 Class. The winner of each class would then progress to the Grand Final.
Our Guest Judges were Year 11 Business studies students who had the very hard task of choosing not only the Heat winners but also first, second and third place winners in the Grand Final, with our Guest Judge-Ms Corina Jeflea.
The winners of the inaugural “Sustainable Business 101” award for 2020 went to the following:
1st - Act Social - Noa Chester-Haviv , Mako Inukai, Tristan Vasquez
2nd - EcoBeauty - Natasha Bvumbura, Sasha Hanford, Shanti Keats, Alice Niu
3rd - ElectroPool - Leylah Zubair, Raphael Chou, Abigail Brinkworth
Year 11 Grand Final Judges: Patrick Sowerby, Nikhil Patel and Ms Corina Jeflea.
All the Year 7 Teams, dressed in their corporate attire, produced an amazing array of product creations and their presentations were well articulated and very professional.
The Year 7 Teaching Team would like to take this opportunity to thank the many people who made this happen; Mr Grocott, Mrs Wheeler for their immense involvement in ensuring the students had the knowledge and skills to complete this Interdisciplinary Unit of work. The Year 11 Grand Final Judges: Patrick Sowerby, Nikhil Patel and Ms Corina Jeflea and Ms Narelle Higgs for taking photos.
A BIG ‘thank you’ to all the Year 7’s who worked very hard together to produce imaginative and creative products and Services and were willing and eager to experience the workings of the Corporate World!
Ms Carrie Smith, Mr Jeff Grocott and Mrs Eileen Wheeler.
This Program is one that is used in PYP classes to help promote confidence, organisation, resilience, persistence and cooperation. The performance explored each of these qualities by taking its young audience on a journey with two timid Year 1 students, who met some friendly “puppet people” to help them through their day.
With MYP students performing to our PYP friends for an IB Theatre task, it was not only a fusion of programs, but also a real testament to the value in working across the IB framework within the College community.
Well done to all involved!
Within that subject they have free rein to explore and investigate a topic of their interest. They then design their own research question, begin researching and then write and edit a final essay.
Our Year 12 students put the finishing touches to theirs earlier this term and are now awaiting their results.
I have been talking to these students about their Extended Essays and the message that I am receiving from them is that, while they found the process challenging, they were quite happy with their final products. They even went so far as to say that they were proud of their final products. I would like to say that, having read them, they are justified in feeling proud of their efforts. Moreover, I am proud of their efforts as are, I am sure, their parents.
Here are a sample of the Extended Essay topics from this year:
• ‘Jus in bello’: an evaluation of Oliver Cromwell’s invasion of Ireland• "To what extent, has the increase in Turkish interest rates from 17.75% to 24% in 2018, impacted the Turkish Lira in US dollar terms• Pell’s Equation and Fermat’s Sandwich Theorem• Foreign Influences in Cambodia- A study of the impact foreign influences on the rise to power of the Khmer Rouge• Improving the Intergenerational Futures of Indigenous Australians through Contemporary Artworks• To what extent did British air superiority influence the outcome of the Falklands War?
As you can see from these titles, this is a robust and challenging task – these students will certainly find writing 1000 word essays in first year of university a breeze! This is a key take away about the IB Diploma: its proven benefits as a university preparedness course.
If you are interested in reading some (or all!) of these, they can be found on the Senior School Homepage on Schoolbox, under the Diploma Programme tile. Click the Schoolbox link here.
The students found it rewarding to become mini-experts in the field associated with their essay as it is a task that requires the students to think and research deeply on their chosen topic.
If you would like to know more about the Extended Essay, or about the IB Diploma generally, please feel free to contact me: swalther@somerset.qld.edu.au.
What an interesting year it has been!
The Wordsmiths adapted and moved online with approximately 60 wordsmiths zooming from home to continue their writing. There was also the first and hopefully the last ever ‘Covid Writing Competition’. We loved watching this adaption with Eliza and James leading the way with the ‘Zoom Reads’. Their support for creative writing during this period was so important for many wordsmiths who were finding it difficult to write during the uncertain time.
We loved watching James and Eliza perform at the Dusk Temple in front of a crowd of sixty Gold Coast creatives including authors and illustrators. The pieces written and read out by them definitely showed such amazing talent and we couldn’t help but be amazed.
The 2020 Write a Book in a Day is always a highlight in the Wordsmith Calendar in which wordsmiths tackled the challenge of writing, editing and illustrating their own book based off difficult parameters. James and Eliza’s support, encouragement and leadership here was present with the success in both fundraising and writing. Wordsmiths raised a total of over eleven thousand dollars.
Through all the events that have happened this year, James and Eliza have led the way with their enthusiastic and creative forces. Always creating opportunities for the Wordsmiths to be creative both within the workshops and outside the workshops. Their enthusiasm as well as the entire Class of 2020 Wordsmiths’ enthusiasm for writing encourages others to keep writing. We know that we speak on behalf of the Wordsmiths Club when we say they will be deeply missed.
The Wordsmiths Dinner was a creative success. Students rose to the occasion and capped off an unusual year with optimism.
Leaders for 2021 were presented by The Headmaster and the Cath Clarke Trophy for the Best Writer/s in 2020 was announced.
2021 Captains: Sofia Smith and Lilliana Swainson
Poet Laureate: Giulia Provenzano
Editorial Board: Calvin Walther, Anna Hori, Gaelle Nicolau and Helena Hagan
Cath Clarke winners for 2020: James Enwright, Sofia Smith
You've worked hard, and you deserve this. But even if you haven't quite achieved all these goals this term, don't worry! You can learn from your experience and do better next time. So we highly encourage everyone to take a few minutes to mentally reflect on your exam preparations: what went right and what went wrong? What could you change about your study methods/techniques?
Remember, you learn more from setbacks than from success.
And we must not forget to mention – the holidays are just around the corner! During the break, make sure to take some time to relax, recharge and get your well-deserved rest. Getting adequate rest is essential to stay healthy and motivated, so you can come back next year feeling fresh and ready to go.
However, don't forget to get back to work and complete your assigned holiday work:
Have a wonderful holiday everyone! We wish you and your family all the best for the summer break. And to the graduating class of 2020, congratulations on finishing all your external exams and of course, finishing Senior School! Thank you for being such wonderful role-models to everyone in the College, and we wish you all the very best.
And a special thank you, to Jacinta and Mohnish, for being such great academic captains- we are very honoured to take on this role.
He also took out some higher rated opponents in an excellent performance! Oscar Credland-Ballantyne scored 4/7 (and plus 22 rating points) in another very good performance, whilst youngers Harrison Qu, Elijah Hadikusumo, and Alessandro Martinese all took part and scored some good results.
On Sunday morning, the Gardiner Chess Blitz Championship was held with five Somerset students taking part: Byron Morris, Kenny Ming, Eason Wang, Alessandro Martinese and Tamar Chester-Haviv. In what was a tough day for competition, it was the secondary students who starred. Kenny scored 7.5/9 to finish in second position, Byron Morris scored 7/9 for =3rd and Eason Wang scored 6/9 for = seventh.
In the afternoon was the Gardiner Chess Transfer Championship with even more Somerset representation, including Mr Graeme Gardiner playing his first competition of any kind in over four years! Students taking part in the event were: Byron Morris, Kenny Ming, Oliver Yang, Eason Wang from the senior school, Alessandro Martinese, Oscar Credland-Ballantyne, Alessandro Martinese, Harrison Qu, Tamar Chester-Haviv, Dylan Hu, Oliver Moir from the junior school, and current/former Somerset coaches and staff, Graeme Gardiner, Andrew FitzPatrick, Shaun Curtis and Dusan Stojic all playing too. The transfer was a lot of fun with plenty of banter between Somerset students (see some photos below).
Finally, with school coming to an end, don’t forget the Gardiner Chess Holiday Program and Summer Cup which will be running from the 14 December to 17 December in the Gallus classrooms.
Good luck to the Senior Girls team (Lyanna Chan, Jennifer Yeung, Melody Yang, Nina Varcoe) as they play in the Australian Schools Teams Championships (Online) on December 5 and 6 and also to those students competing in the Queensland Junior Chess Championships the following week.
We will be back again in 2021 for another awesome year of chess – keep an eye on the Schoolbox page which will be filled with information in the New Year.
The Corporate Challenge see the parents take over the shed for six weeks and race each other in one of the most competitive regattas of the year. We have also seen the next wave of rowers start their journey with the Come and Try sessions.
Our presentation dinner in the Ray Dining Hall was a wonderful farewell to our Year 12 rowers how have made such a fantastic contribution to the rowing programme over the time they have been with us. 2020 Rowing Captains Jordan Wilson and Jack Daly did a splendid job hosting the evening and passed the reigns over to Sofia Smith and Fergus McKeon for 2021.
Somerset Rowing hosted its Corporate Regatta on Saturday 21 November with the winning crew from Weight Loss Solutions Australia of Asha Soni, Jen Hoult, Isabella Miamone, Carla Anderson and coxed by Sofia Smith. All four rowers picked up the sport in six weeks and come out champions. It was a fantastic day and amazing to see just how well all the crews competed after just six weeks of training.
For the Come and Try sessions the school pool was stripped of its lane ropes and filled with rowing boats as it was time for new rowers to test their balance skills and learn how to get into a boat for the first time. It wasn’t long till several of them were standing up and mastering being in the boat, a great sign for what is to come.
With holidays upon us there will be Learn to Row sessions, so even if you missed the Come and Try sessions, any interested student can sign up. It will be a fun way to spend your school holidays as we take to the water at Bond University and master moving a boat.
Click here to see notice on Schoolbox for Learn to Row sign up.
From all the rowers, coaches and parents, we wish you all a wonderful holiday break and look forward to seeing you all in the new year. Be a Spartan!
The programme has been overseen by Somerset College staff Dr Annette Eastwood (Sports Physiologist), Mark Ladbrook (Athletics Coach) and Emma Sturges (Strength and Conditioning Coach), with Bond University Sports Science students assisting with the programme delivery.
The sessions have included activities such as obstacle courses, circuit training, interval training on the treadmill, rowers and Wattbikes in the gym. The students have worked really hard during the sessions and have made some good improvements in their fitness over the six week programme. All students have really enjoyed the sessions and it is hoped that their new found enthusiasm for physical activity will continue into the future.
All players had a fantastic experience at the Primary School Cup.
We took the school bus towards Brisbane early, to participate in the Cup. After an hour and a half of driving, we arrived at the Australian Futsal Centre in Oxley. All Students were excited and nervous at the same time.
After setting up our rules on how to behave for the day, players could focus on their matches.
We turned our first match into a win and this gave the Spartans lots of confidence. Maybe a bit too much confidence, because we lost the second game. The third we won again and qualified for the finals but still had one more game to go. This game we used for the development of the team, playing Spartans in different positions to where they usually play. We lost but then focused on the final.
In the finals we were facing Lords. Our opponents were undefeated in the tournament and beat us earlier in the day. Our Year 2 Futsal Spartans wanted to take revenge and were ready for it! We had a slow first minute but the Spartans then took the lead. The Spartans played a great game and deserved their win.
Congratulations to Alex Pourre, Izaak Barclay, Hugo Hasselle, Edward Hassett, Abhiveer Gupta, Jesse Kim, Henry Pevy, Vaughan Furlong and Benedict Thompson.
Thanks to our parent volunteers James and Mark who made sure everything went smoothly during the day.
Any questions about Football and Futsal at Somerset College? Please contact our head of Football and Futsal Maarten de Kruijf: dekruijfmaarten@somerset.qld.edu.au
In the group stage, games were play to best of five points. From quarter finals the first team to 11 points is the winner.
The teams that went through to the semis were Patrick and Carter, Alex and Augustine, Harry and Jayden, Rylan and Phoenix. Both Semi-Finals were great games. Teams played well together and showed the referees great technique.
Alex and Augustine won the Semi to play the final versus Rylan and Phoenix.
Alex and Augustine took the lead form the start and did not give this away. The final ended in 11 to 1. Well done Alex Benson and Augustine Charisiou.
During Term Four we played the Senior Lunch Time Competition. At the start of the term the teams were able to register themselves and we ended up with three teams:
Year 7: Harry, Carter, Alex, Augustine, Will, Patrick and Jayden.
Year 9/10: Patrick, Bongani, Jackson, Raffi, Peter, and Ethan.
Staff: Mr. Fenson, Mr Smith, Mr Kemp, Coach Kydra, Coach Cooper, Coach Keita, and Coach Nigel.
All teams played each other once. It was the Staff team who took two wins, 5 to 4 and 5 to 3. The game from Year 7 verse Year 9/10 was a win for the older students. This gave the Year 9/10 team change of revenge verse the staff team. The staff team started well in the final but after a few minutes the students took the lead.
Staff came back strong in the second half. The final score was 10 to 7 for the Somerset Staff Team.
In the Junior we had Year 3 and Year 4 students playing in the quarter finals. Great performances from our Juniors who were playing Futnet for the first time this year.
The teams who qualified for the semis were Lukas and Dylan, Liam and Tiago, Connor and Oliver, Paxton and Julian.
Liam and Tiago and Connor and Oliver made it to the semis but unfortunately, Tiago was away on the final day.
This did not stop Liam from playing with a request for Lukas to fill in. This was accepted by the referee and the game began. Oliver and Connor (both in Year 3) had the best of the first part of the game. But Liam’s team fought back and took the lead over and continued scoring points until they reached 11.
Congratulations to team Liam Hartley and Tiago Basile. The final score, 11 to 7.
Every Wednesday we had a group of 10 girls playing futsal during lunchtime. The girls played every week in new teams and had much fun.
We are very happy to see many students playing sports during their lunch break. We hope to see you all back next year!
For any questions for Football and Futsal related Lunchtime Activities, please contact the Head of Football and Futsal at mdekruijf@somerset.qld.edu.au
Under 8 Pink keep giving their all and improve every week. Well done to Imogen who scored a goal today in our game. Well done girls!
Playing a younger Spartans Green team, the Blues needed to make five passes before attempting a shot, and got off to a perfect start after Henry finished off a through ball from Alex after two minutes to open the scoring.
Passes started to flow and after Izaak, Edward and Henry connected, Hugo saw his shot thump into the side netting. With the players each coming home with a champion medal the day before, after five matches at the Futsal Primary School Championships, the Blues could be forgiven for being a little unfocussed…. A few stray passes and the odd ‘air’ shot followed and the Blues found themselves under pressure - Spartans Green were growing in confidence. They were almost rewarded, but for a great save by goalkeeper Benedict on 12 minutes. Benedict was tested again shortly after and pulled off another classy stop. Edward, Izaak and Hugo combined with slick passes and the move was finished off, this time with a shot from Alex testing the Green No 1.
The opposition Immediately responded with more pressure and two good chances. The first going wide and Benedict was called into action again before the half time siren. The Blues started the second half sprightlier and were rewarded with a penalty after just four minutes for a handball. Alex made no mistake from the spot with a thunderous shot to the keepers right. 2-nil! This sparked a Green resurgence and when a corner deflected off Benedict’s shin past the stranded keeper Hugo, it was 2 to 1 and game on!
Benedict looked for redemption immediately and was not far off with a long-range shot. Shortly after, Henry tried to replicate his right foot wonder goal on Friday, this time going just wide. Then for the best moves of the match…. All five players combined with eight passes before striker Alex’s shot shaved the post. Minutes later, an Izaak ‘kick in’ from his own half found the unmarked Alex, and his finish was composed to make it 3 to 1 to the Greens with 5 minutes to go. With only seconds remaining Alex turned provider, completing a solo run before laying the ball off to the grateful Benedict to finish and get the goal wanted. The final score Spartan Blue 4, Spartan Green 1.
The U10 Somerset futsal team took on the Somerset U9 this Saturday at Robina. This was one of teams best matches so far this season, putting on a brilliant performance in the first half to go up 4 to 2. With notably a great goal from Miranda and multiple superb goals by Jacob. The second half saw the team end the game drawn 6-all, with some amazing defending by Eli, Zac, Dylan and Farrai in the final half to ensure the draw. It was a great game played by the whole team, with key lessons to not on positioning and passing to be taken into future games.
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