For our Year 1s, The Fabulous Friend Machine, by Nick Bland of the Very Cranky Bear series fame, explored important messages about face to face friends and face-to-face interactions, as well as being a cautionary tale of never talking to people that you’ve only met online and certainly never arranging to meet them face-to-face. In true picture book fashion, they turned out to be wolves.
Once Upon a Time…Online, by David Bedford, was a great way to discover the ups and downs of going online with all of our favourite fairy tale characters, told in a way that some of our youngest students could easily relate to. While Cinderella got a large bill from her online shopping, “…Red Riding Hood, busy watching her screen, walked into some brambles that she should have seen!” “Then the Three Pigs got bored and started complaining that life was too dull when the Wolf was just gaming.”
Meanwhile with our Year 7s, we’ve been unpacking a tale told through a short film format of just how the wrong decisions online can see lives changed forever. For our Year 7 students, life got a little more serious as they explored how some choices made online, could see some student’s lives change – and not for the better. The award-winning short film from the eSafety Commission, Tagged, explored a range of online behaviours that had legal ramifications for some and fractured a group of friends. The film also showed how standing by and doing nothing, saw others that were involved, still held responsible. Our Year 7s discussed the important concept of being an upstander in their classes this week and what forms this could take.
Our Year 6 students have been continuing to work on completing their Digital License, with weekly sessions and quizzes on their knowledge gained. Our recent focus has been on safe communication online, on being a balanced and knowledgeable user of technology and on kindness and respect being the cornerstones in all our online communications and interactions.
For parents and students, we’ve curated a range of eSmart resources in our eSafety Info Guide in Schoolbox, from where to go to report offensive content to how to evaluate new social media apps and worthwhile discussion topics around the use of technology and its impact in our lives. One of our key messages is around balance. We encourage you to take up the conversation at home. eSmart sessions will continue over the next few weeks in the Junior School with each year level with a summary posted on year level communication pages.
It was (and always is) a privilege to see the next generation of artists in action, in a festival that celebrates creativity, bravery, diversity of style and the overwhelming amount of passion for the Arts that the participating students involved possess. To the committee of Drama Festival and fellow hosting schools, we thank you for your tireless work, in the important job that is allowing students from the Gold Coast a chance to perform their work in a professional environment.
Writing on behalf of the GCSSDF staff, we would like to take a moment to acknowledge our student directors and casts. Once accepted into the GCSSSDF process they commit to an intensive lunchtime, after hours and weekend rehearsal process, on top of managing all other family, academic, sporting and co-curricular responsibilities. We thank you for your dedication.
Our second acknowledgement is to all students who were unsuccessful in the audition process. Thank you for exhibiting the IB learner profile attribute of being risk takers. We are constantly in awe of the breadth of talent that our young actors possess. Thank you for being willing to be a part of GCSSDF and we hope to see you in the audition room in 2020.
Our Junior play, The Glass Street Ghost, written by Amelia Mellor, was performed at Southport State High School. Student directed by Year 11 students Anna Boone and Tom Liu, under the guidance and care of staff mentor, Ms Josephine Flynn, The Glass Street Ghost was commended for its strong sense of ensemble, seamless transitions, transformative set, production design and strong character work.
This production was awarded the Junior Division Runner-Up Shield and the Medal of Creativity for direction. Congratulations to the following cast members on all of their hard work.
Our Senior play, Far Away, written by Caryl Churchill, was performed at Somerset College. Directed by Mrs Anna D’Arcy, in collaboration with the Year 11 and 12 cast, Far Away is not an easy play for an audience to witness. The production was awarded the Adjudicators Trophy, for its sophisticated handling of challenging material, worthy of a professional stage.
Congratulations to the Senior cast members:
Our Intermediate play, The Hanging, written by Angela Betzien, was performed at St Andrews Lutheran College. Student directed by Year 11 students Ella Hammond and Lilly McCoomb, under the guidance and care of staff mentor Mrs Sarah Hossy, The Hanging was commended for its thrilling, eerie atmosphere, strong character work and striking use of shadow play.
Congratulations to the Intermediate cast members:
Please take a moment to enjoy the accompanying slideshow that celebrates the body of work from the festival. Congratulations once again, and we look forward to 2020.
Preps' current inquiry, 'Objects move in Different Ways' was the inspiration for the activities. Guests and students became 'Power Planners' and 'Budding Builders' for the afternoon and were given the challenge to create a plan and then complete a construction. Everybody rose to the challenge and it was evident both students and guests were being risk-takers. The afternoon concluded with cuddles and kisses and were then surprised with gifts that the children had busily made for them during the past weeks. The gifts included a hand-crafted bookmark and a special biscuit that was a picture of their dad’s face.
It was delightful to see Prep friends and guests sharing such a busy and fun afternoon together, creating special memories that our Prep friends and families can treasure forever.
Dr Michael Simmonds presented on what scientists ‘actually do’, and to our surprise they do not just wear fancy white coats and squeeze pipettes!
Finally, the moment we were all waiting for, the awards! It was exciting to see all the interesting entries, especially the little ones, even a six-year-old writing a report on Lithium. With over 400 entries in the competition, the Somerset students certainly outdid themselves, with 18 taking out placings of first, second, third and Highly Commended.
We are all very honored to be given this amazing opportunity by Griffith University and the Queensland Academy of Health and Sciences to explore their great facility, meet astounding people and win some impressive medals.
On the behalf of all participants, we would like to express our gratitude to all our teachers, for their wholehearted guidance and feedback throughout this whole experience.
Congratulations to Benjamin Just, Heath Walker, Emmeline Anthony, Lauren Chan, Brianne Major, Vanessa van Twuiver Suarez, Amy Barry, Megan Cattell, Lily Peters, Ruben Yam, Momoe Gondo, Chloe Ming, Nicholas Tan, Thomas Kilmartin, Leigh Amores, Nada Wilson, Stewart Ford and Kevin Song.
The rooms were full on encouraging parents and teachers and the entertainment was wonderful. Many great speeches were heard and the adjudicators, made up of teachers and senior students had a difficult time selecting those students to continue on to the A B Paterson Competition. These students will be emailed.
Congratulations to all. Public Speaking is such an important skill!
The Italian students wrote their speeches during class time, and were selected to represent the College on the basis of their performance in class. They were all very courageous to deliver a speech in a foreign language and did so with confidence and grace.
The results as are follows:
Students performed very well and represented the College with pride.
Please congratulate them if you see them on campus.
In Year 5 we have learnt many interesting facts that have formed us into very knowledgeable human beings. The whole grade has been taught all about global citizens and the united nation.
Here are some banger facts about global citizens that we have learnt: you don’t have to go overseas to be a global citizen, you are always a citizen of the country you were born at and we can be global citizens by feel, imagine, do, share.
Some other phenomenal facts are:- 40% of the bananas that the farmers farm go to waste because of shopping centres strict rules, on average, 1/5 of the food you buy goes to waste.- Approximately 2% of the oceans water is clean. How devastating.
Week 6 in PYP exhibition is the most important part of PYP because it is research week. We gather lots of information on our key questions that we formed, researching Line of Inquiry 1, 2 and 3. Later on in PYP we are going to use this research for nearly every single subject. Art- using our research to display information on stop motion. In ICT - making multiple questions about our issue on scratch, using our knowledge gained from researching in class. Completing our written component too. We also had the option to book a research appointment with the librarians, helping us with any places in research that we got stuck on.
Throughout PYP exhibition we will be having mentor meetings. Mentor meetings is when you get assigned a teacher - for example mine is Mrs Mclaughlin - and they talk to us about the inquiry, what we are doing and how she can help, maybe assigning us someone for a primary source for research or just talking to us about stop motion or the written component by stating his/her opinion. These meetings have been invaluable.
Did you know that last year in PYP you had to do your issue about children but now your allowed to do whatever you want! From climate change, to children around the world, or ocean pollution! We are enjoying the process and can’t wait for September 18th to share our understanding.
All players improved their skills and had lots of fun.
Street Football is a style of Football that demands precision, agility, and creativity in an environment where extensive foot work is required. This freestyle game challenges players to use strength and strategy in an unconventional way. The term 'street football' emerged from playing football on the street, where many of the best football players around the world got their start. Its focus is on fast-paced games on short space with freestyle moves, respecting the fair play of the game.
2v2 Panna Knock Out is one of most popular street football games in Europe. The duration of the game is two minutes. The team with the most goals wins. But if you got nutmegged, (ball played through the legs) you lose immediately.
In the Junior School the teams competed very well. On the last day all teams had the chance to win the league. It was the Jayden Mclean and Harry Mackintosh that won. Congratulations boys!
We want to congratulate Year 4 student, Caspar Crampton. He was the youngest player and he Nutmegged the most players. Well done Caspar!
In the Senior School it was Year 8 and Year 9 students Bongani Mhalanga and Patrick Abdel-Malek who took a big lead from the start. Year 7 students Phoenix Crampton with Bowen Mansell came close. Great effort from Patrick and Bongani.
We hope to see the winners back next year to defend their title.
Below are the fixtures for this weekend's final games. Please come and cheer our Somerset teams on, if you can.
Don't forget, our Presentation Event for the end of Winter Season 2019 will be held on Friday 13 September from 5.00pm near the Basketball Courts.
RSVP and ticket purchase closes Friday 6 September.
The day started for the Under 9 with a game versus the parents. In the first half the parents were too strong and took the lead. In the second half the Under 9 players had assistance from Coach Fabio and Ethan Robinson. The kids and parents had a lot of fun.
While the Under 9 had their match versus their parents, The Under 6 and 7 had their league game playing. All teams performed great and showed all their skills they have learned in the last months.
After the games were finished, all parents and players came together for the final presentation. The players received their Somerset Spartans Football Club medal and their team photo. Also, we were very lucky having Marty the Spartan with us.
The presentation concluded and the players enjoyed a sausage sizzle. Once finished, the kids played football games in the inflatable football field.
We thoroughly enjoyed a great day to wrap up the season for the Somerset Spartans Football Club 2019.
Thank you to all volunteers, referees, coaches, parents and players for the season. We hope to see you all back next year.
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