Somerville House is aware of our duty of care and responsibility for the welfare and wellbeing of the students in the School and children in our early learning centre. We recognise the need to protect children from abuse by people who may have access to our students and kindergarten children. Our values are founded in a strong Christian ethos based on relationships, care, ethics, faith and love.

Queensland law requires that all school staff report all suspicions and allegations of child sexual abuse and likely sexual abuse immediately to the police. Teachers, registered nurses and Education and Care Service professional staff have a legal obligation to report to Child Safety Services, significant harm of a child where there may not be a parent able and willing to protect the child.

We have a range of strategies and processes in place to support the protection of students, including:

Staff and volunteer selection

All staff and volunteers are screened for their eligibility and suitability to work with children. All persons, if required by legislation, will hold a current Positive Notice (Blue Card) issued by Blue Card Services, Department of Justice and Attorney-General.

Student Protection Officers

A number of key staff have been delegated the role of Student Protection Officer. These staff receive additional child protection training and fulfil the role as contact person for students, staff, volunteers and other members of the school community seeking advice and/or report student protection concerns.

Please click here to view the Student Protection Officers

Policies and procedures

We have a range of policies and procedures in place to ensure the ongoing safety and wellbeing of all students. These policies and procedures provide written processes for how the School will respond to allegations and/or concerns of sexual abuse, likely suspected abuse, harm or risk of harm of a student by another person or inappropriate behaviour of a staff member or volunteer to a student.

The PMSA has developed the following policies to ensure the care and protection of people within Somerville House and the other PMSA schools.

• PMSA Blue Card (Working with Children) Policy – This policy outlines the requirements for PMSA Board members, employees and volunteers to hold Blue Cards in accordance with Queensland requirements.

• PMSA Child Protection Policy – This policy outlines the conduct expected of the PMSA schools’ employees and students in accordance with legislation in Queensland about the care and protection of children.

• PMSA Historical Abuse Redress Policy – This policy outlines the PMSA’s processes for dealing with allegations of abuse relating to individuals who, as children, received education and/or accommodation or care within a PMSA school or early learning centre but who are not students of the school or centre at the time the allegations are made. Such individuals will be described within this policy as former students.

• PMSA Homestay Policy – This policy outlines the processes to ensure that PMSA schools and homestay hosts arranged by and for PMSA schools comply with relevant legislative requirements for ensuring the suitability of accommodation, support and general welfare for homestay students under 18 years of age.

• PMSA Child Protection Risk Management Strategy - This strategy identifies the policies and procedures in place across the PMSA and our schools which, together, act to protect students from harm.

• PMSA Homestay Risk Management Strategy – This strategy ensures that the PMSA and our schools have appropriate policies and procedures in place to identify and minimise the risk of harm to homestay students where the school has taken responsibility for the accommodation, support and general welfare of the student.

• PMSA Diversity and Inclusivity Policy – The PMSA values diversity and inclusion and is committed to creating an inclusive system at a policy level and as a part of everyday practice within our school communities. The purpose of this policy is to foster a culture that celebrates diversity and inclusion, as well as a strong sense of physical, social and emotional wellbeing, amongst students.

• PMSA Child Safeguarding Processes – This document provides a comprehensive guide for PMSA staff, students, parents, and members of the community in the navigation of child safeguarding incidents and operationalises the PMSA Child Protection Policy.  

We encourage all members of the Somerville House community to continue to work with our staff to ensure that we are doing all that we can to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of all of our students.

Student Congratulations

Congratulations to School Captain, Suhani, on her contribution to the research publication in the Journal of Clinical Medicine. Suhani has been involved with the QUT Research Program at the Queensland Children’s Hospital since 2021.

"Cough Hypersensitivity Syndrome: Why Its Use Is Inappropriate in Children" has been published in JCM as part of the Special Issue Novel Insight into Cough: Seed of Respiratory Disease with a Focus on Children, and is available online.

For those who have interest in the recently published article, please access the article here.

Enrolment for 2024

In Term 3, we do our serious planning for the following year, including planning for staffing, the number of classes required and associated learning spaces.  I remind parents that if your child is not returning to Somerville House in 2024, we require one full school term's written notice (or one school term's fees in lieu of notice) when withdrawing a student from the School. Please notify the Principal’s Office by Tuesday, 5 October, with your written confirmation of a planned withdrawal. We are about to commence work on the 2024 timetable and staffing and so, it is important that we have accurate enrolment numbers. In some year levels, we have waiting lists and we need to be able to contact those on the list who are hoping to secure a place at the School. Thank you for advising [email protected]

Mrs Kim Kiepe
Principal

Last week, Year 10 students undertook their Senior Education and Training (SET) Plan meetings, and it was a pleasure to be a part of this stage in the Year 10 SET Planning process. In these one-on-one meetings, where parents are invited to join, students discuss their academic progress, which subjects they enjoy, possible career paths and courses of further study beyond school and their co-curricular and other activities. The aim of these meetings is to ensure that the students are on the right path before they select their subjects for Year 11, including making sure they understand university pre-requisites if they apply. 

The part of the interview I find most interesting is discussing the other activities students enjoy. Part of this includes ensuring they can map out their week, allowing them to set aside time for study, activities, work (if they have a job), family time and down time. It is essential to have a balance in their week so that they are mentally at their best to learn and get the most out of life. Now might be a good time to reassess your weekly schedule to see if your balance is right so that you can get the most out of your mind and body to maximise your success and enjoyment of life. 

Mrs Jo Matherson
Deputy Principal

Anyone who did the ‘Barbenheimmer’ double the weekend Barbie and Oppenheimer both came out is to be commended for your stamina! I have seen both of them, but I cannot imagine seeing them back-to-back, as they were so different. As a Science teacher I was interested in the Oppenheimer story and the science behind it, and with a movie almost three hours long, I am proud to say I only fell asleep during it on one occasion 😊.

My main takeaway was how difficult it must have been for Oppenheimer to live with the fact that he was the first person to successfully split the atom and produce nuclear energy, and how shattering it would have been that his achievement was used to kill over 200 000 people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. There is a strong argument that ultimately the atomic bomb saved far more lives than it destroyed, as it brought an abrupt end to WW2, but it still must have been hard to be the person who made it possible.

I found this movie an interesting social comment on human nature. How often does a great invention end up being used for mostly evil purposes? Think of the internet – such a great tool but 30% of its content is now pornography.

We all know the wonderful potential of mobile phones, social media platforms and AI, but how quickly they have all been used for terrible evil.Why does this happen? I would suggest that the ancient wisdom of the Bible has much to say about this. Taking God’s good gifts and using them for evil is an embedded part of human nature. On the one hand we are brilliant creatures; smart, creative and resourceful, capable of moral good and deep humanity. On the other hand we are all deeply flawed, capable of moral evils of all types. As the Apostle Paul says in his letter to the Church in Rome, thanks be to God who has rescued us from this dilemma.

It is the heart of the Christian message. We are simultaneously wonderfully made in the image of God and deeply flawed by selfishness and rebellion against God. All of us are a mixture of good and evil except of course Jesus, who was perfect in every way. That’s why he qualified to die for us and thus pay the price for our sin.

Ms Chris O'Gorman
Senior Chaplain

Gratitude for the Opportunity to Learn

Wellbeing Week was celebrated across the School last week with students and teachers making time to practice mindfulness, enjoy interacting with others in our beautiful grounds, writing letters of gratitude and experiencing acts of kindness.

Whilst a great many practices have been shown to assist us to manage our wellbeing, one that I believe has the potential to make a significant contribution to education stems from the work of Dr Kerry Howells whose research considers the powerful alignment between thankfulness and thinking. Dr Howells began her examination of how ‘gratitude’ can contribute to education today by considering the etymology of the words to thank and to think.

Both are derived from the term ‘thonk’. Her proposition is – if we are thankful before we enter the classroom, thankful for the experience we are about to engage in, thankful for the teacher, and thankful for each student in the class, then the attitude we bring is one that readies us to think, and hence to learn.

Howells’ interest in readiness, or preparedness for learning, was stimulated by her observation of students in university lectures and stories related by teachers of their classroom experiences. She conceived the quintessential question to be, what stops us from being totally engaged and concentrated in the classroom? Her response, the attitude we bring.

Howell’s studies have focused on steps which move away from taking the right to an education for granted. Step one is to begin to feel a sense of appreciation, an acknowledgment of what we receive. Step two, to act.

She concludes, “If we thank while we think, we think in a more awake and engaged way”.

I had the pleasure of working with Dr Howells when she was speaking in Queensland a few years ago. If you are interested in her line of thought you might consider reading “Gratitude Practice: A Radical View”.

Ms Wendy Lauman
Acting Dean of Student Wellbeing 

If we try to secure the wellbeing of others, we will, at the same time, create the conditions for our own. 

Dalai Lama 

Mindful Monday, Together Tuesday, Wonderful Wednesday, Thankful Thursday and Fun Friday, were this year's themes for Positive Wellbeing Week. Nurturing and focusing on the wellbeing and pastoral care of students of Somerville House has long been part of our core values and ethos. Pastoral care and wellbeing are viewed as being as important as academic success, physical agility and musical creativity.  

Fostering and teaching wellbeing is a way to show students that we care about them and want to support them by enabling them with short- and long-term benefits. It means depositing knowledge and emotions into an account that may someday fund their future marriage, health, wellbeing, profession, creativity, and success.  

Whilst we have shone a spotlight on wellbeing for the past week, pastoral care is deeply embedded with dedicated curriculum programs, EiPulse, assemblies, chapel and values that focus on one’s personal development and growth. Areas of wellbeing, such as gratitude, hope, and emotional regulation, have been found to improve performance across several areas of life. Giving students a toolkit of strategies that support their wellbeing and the emotional ups and downs of life, enables them to feel supported, connected and resourceful. 

Some of the highlights from this year's wellbeing week included a teddy bears picnic, mindful meditation, and a visit from Farmer David and Barnyard Babies. 

Year 6 led the first of our year group assemblies last week with a theme around reading, they shared tempting book reviews, anecdotes and then captured everyone’s attention with their moving rendition of ‘When I Grow Up’ by Tim Minchin. Pizzicato Strings also performed. Thank you to all of the Year 6 teachers, Ms Hoger and Mr Leonard for supporting the girls in delivery their assembly. 

As the sports season progresses, last Wednesday saw our Andrews Cup Netball teams battle it out on the courts of Downey Park. The competition was fierce, with some very close matches at play. The Somerville House spirit shone through at all times, with determination and enthusiasm at the forefront of competitors' minds. Congratulations to all teams, it was a cracking day of sport. As the day drew to a close, all teams gathered around the Open As match, as we met St Aidan’s in the final. It was a fast paced, competitive match with Somerville House outplaying their opponents with dominant defence and attack. Congratulations to all members of the Open A team – 1st Place Andrews Cup! 

Year 3 Strings Congratulations 

On Sunday 30 July, the Year 3 Strings had the opportunity to perform their first solo at the AUSTA String Festival. They have been preparing for this event for many weeks, and on Sunday their got to perform for two professional adjudicators and a supportive audience of family and friends. The girls played confidently and produced polished performances with a clean sound and reliable intonation. Fantastic work! More importantly, each girl received valuable feedback and a shiny trophy to take home. Well done Year 3 Strings, we are so proud! 

Congratulations to Abigail S (4C) who participated in section 10 and 11 years old Marimba-Percussion Competition at Quota Beenleigh City of Logan Annual Eisteddfod recently, and was awarded third place – well done Abigail! 

Great Book Swap 

Last week, the Cotton Library held the Great Book Swap, which is a fundraising event for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. Thank you to all of the families at Somerville House who donated books and/or supported the event by purchasing books for gold coin donations. We aimed to raise $500; we more than doubled that amount by raising a total of $1032.25. What a wonderful effort! Thank you to everyone who contributed in some way. Children living in remote parts of Australia will be so happy to receive brand new books purchased with the money raised. 

Mrs Susan Clarke
Head of Junior School

JUNIOR SCHOOL PASTORAL CARE 

Beyond Consequences – Mending Relationships 

The restorative philosophy recognises that when wrongdoing occurs, relationships are damaged. For successful learning to occur, these relationships must be put right. 

Margaret Thorsborne - Managing Director of Margaret Thorsborne & Associates & Transformative Justice Australia (Qld). 

Conflict is an inevitable part of human existence. At some point in our lives, we will all be faced with some level of conflict ranging from minor disagreements to more serious conflicts that might include emotional or physical harm. Traditionally, the response to discipline focuses on identifying the wrongdoing and enforcing a consequence. However, a solely punitive response rarely restores positive relationships and often fails to address the underlying cause of the conflict. In contrast, a restorative approach involves staff and students working together to mend relationships as well as determining an appropriate consequence. 

Typically, a restorative conversation involves: 

• Identifying the harm caused – what happened? 
• Identifying how a student’s behaviour has affected others – who has been harmed? 
• Working with the students to develop a plan to repair the harm – how can we fix it? 

In the Junior School, staff may employ a restorative process to help manage student conflict and restore relationships. Ultimately, the relationship between teachers and students lies at the heart of cooperation in our classrooms or in the playground. A restorative approach offers many advantages in terms of improving social and emotional wellbeing including: 

• Increased accountability by understanding the impact of harm.  
• The offender, victim, and the school, working together to repair the harm. 
• The offender taking responsibility for developing positive relationship skills. 
• An opportunity to make amends, show remorse and express forgiveness. 

Click here to find out more about the school Student Code of Behaviour & Management Plan in the Family Handbook. 

Mr Tim Smetham 
Assistant Head of Junior School – Pastoral Care & Administration 

At the Early Learning Centre, we are committed to promoting children's understanding of and role in caring for the natural world and fostering a sustainable future, as reflected in our service philosophy. Our goal is to embed environmentally sustainable practices into all aspects of our operations, building lifelong values and behaviours that consider future generations.

To achieve our objectives, we focus on:

• Being responsive to our community's needs.
• Instilling a hands-on, age-appropriate understanding of sustainability.
• Encouraging critical thinking by supporting children to find creative solutions to unsustainable habits.
• Promoting discussions and stories that question over-consumption and encourage inquiry. 
• Integrating sustainable practices into everyday routines.
• Building confidence to address unsustainable practices and empowering children to make a difference. 
• Engaging in continuous professional learning to stay up to date with current research. 
• Reflecting on our practices to promote ongoing improvement. Caring and promoting sustainable practices and operating the Early Learning Centre recycling station: This project involves learning about sustainability. We select an area of recycling that is of interest to our class and develop processes or activities to support this area. We think about water and electricity usage, and ways we can protect our world.

Our sustainable practices evolve over time as we deepen children's understanding and engagement. Classroom projects play a significant role in learning about and embedding sustainable routines and processes. These projects include:

• Caring and promoting sustainable practices and operating the Early Learning Centre recycling station: This project involves learning about sustainability. We select an area of recycling that is of interest to our class and develop processes or activities to support this area. We think about water and electricity usage, and ways we can protect our world.
• Caring and maintaining the Early Learning Centre’s edible gardens: This project involves learning about our gardens. We plant, water, maintain and harvest our herb and vegetable gardens. We add some of our harvest to the natural resource area and ensure it is well maintained. 
• Caring for and operating the worm farm and compost: This project involves feeding the worms and collecting the worm juice to share with the gardeners. We learn about composting, collecting organic waste and maintain the compost bin.
• Learning about tickle bees and caring for our gardens: This project involves planting and maintaining the gardens with flowers suitable for the bees. We check our tickle bees are active and have water to drink.

Through regular reflection and review, we ensure that our sustainable practices are effective and integrated into all our daily activities, fostering a culture of environmental sustainability that we hope will lead to positive, large-scale changes in the future.

Ms Mariana McIver
Director of Pre-Prep

Volleyball 

Round 3 Volleyball fixtures against St Margaret's was competitive, fun and successful! Somerville House recorded 6 wins over the day, with our Opens cruising to a 3-0 win. Well done to all teams on an enjoyable round!

Swimming 

Congratulations to Jhnayali T (9A) who has been selected to represent Papua New Guinea at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad. Swimming will see 35 medal events contested across the competition from 6-9 August at the National Aquatic Centre in Couva, Trinidad. Jhnayali will be competing in the 50m Freestyle, 50m Backstroke, 50m Butterfly and 100m Freestyle.

Good luck Jhnayali!

Swimming 

Last week, the World Aquatic Championships were held in Fukuoka, Japan. Somerville Aquatic swimmer Cam McEvoy raced in the 50m Freestyle, and has been crowned World Champion! Cams winning time of 21.06 was the largest margin in the history of the World Championships (2nd was .51 of a second behind), and he now holds the 4th fastest time in history for the 50m freestyle.  Congratulations Cam!

Netball

Another great week of Netball for Somerville House. On Wednesday we had our Junior School players travel to Downey Park Netball Association to play in the Andrews Cup Netball Championships. All teams displayed their resilience and improvements to skill in all games. A big congratulations is in order for the Open A Netball team who came home Champions of their division.

We also had a great weekend of Netball with our QGSSSA players taking the courts in Fitzgibbon against St Margaret's. It was a tough day on the courts with many games being won and lost by only a few points.

Mr Andrew McCabe
Director of Sport

Student Achievements

Congratulations to the following students for the recent instrumental and vocal exam results:

• Harper B (11G) Grade 7 AMEB Voice - B+. 
• Claire W (7B) Grade 2 Somerville House Clarinet - A+

Percussion Spectacular

On Thursday 27 July, Somerville House’s most rhythmic musicians took part in the 2023 Percussion Spectacular at Anglican Church Grammar School. Students participated in a combined workshop and outdoor concert featuring individual performances from percussion ensembles and a massed drum performance involving students from both schools. Congratulations to Ms Anna Kho and Somerville House percussion students for representing the Music Department most admirably! 

We have had a week with many events in Strings!

On Thursday 27 July we welcomed the Guitar Ensemble 1 from Loreto College to collaborate in a workshop with our own Guitar Ensemble. Both schools worked together to prepare a piece to perform that same evening! The workshop finished with a performance by both groups and their combined item which also included some audience participation. It was an enjoyable and inspirational event – congratulations to Ms Emma-Shay Gallenti-Guifoyle and the Somerville House guitarists! 

On Sunday, the Year 3 Strings had the opportunity to perform their first solo at the AUSTA String Festival. They have been preparing for this event for many weeks and the day finally came. The girls played confidently and produced polished performances with a clean sound and reliable intonation. Fantastic work! More importantly, each girl received an adjudication and shiny trophy. Well done Year 3 Strings!

We congratulate Kathleen L (4B), Ella L (6C), Mira W (8C) and Tiara N (8A) who performed in the highly competitive AUSTA Concerto Competition and produced very refined performances. Tiara was awarded 3rd prize in the Advanced Category. 

This week, we also congratulate Audrey L (4C) who received a highly commended at the Sydney Eisteddfod, and Irene O (8D) who performed at the Beenleigh Eisteddfod and won the following prizes:

1st place: 20th Century Piece 

2nd place: Baroque 

Well done to all the string students who through hard work and resilience continue to pursue excellence at the highest level. We are so very proud of their achievements!

Mr Will Eager
Director of Co-Curricular Music
 

Still Life Fruit Bowl 

Julieta has successfully created three dimensional pieces of fruit using value to show form in her objects. She has reproduced the traditional gilt frames of the past using Pattern and Texture under papier mache and gold paint. Her work is a nod to traditional art making of the past. 

Somerville House Foundation invites you to join them for the Foundation Golf Day to be held at Nudgee Golf Club, Friday 4 August.

• 4 Ball Ambrose 
• Shotgun start at 7.30am 

All are welcome to gather your team or register as an individual. Proceeds will fund Director of Sport, Andrew McCabe’s ‘wish list’ for equipment for SomerFields. Limber up and grab your tickets here!

***

Want your business name on the carts, putting green or the 19th hole?  Click here to view our sponsorship prospectus or contact Karen Scott in the Foundation Office via [email protected] to become a partner or prize donor.

The 2023 Somerville House Open Day will be held on Sunday 20 August from 11.00am to 2.00pm. Please save-the-date and stay tuned for more information to come.

Prospective and incoming families are invited to this event to experience life as a Somerville House student. There will be student led tours, demonstrations, performances and much more on offer.

We look forward to sharing this important event day with our Somerville House Community.

Have you ever thought about the benefits of hosting a French exchange student, including the opportunity to practise your French language skills and learn about French culture first-hand? Are you ready to create lifelong memories and experiences for your family by hosting a French exchange student?

Somerville House has been offered the wonderful opportunity to host students from a school in New Caledonia for eleven days in October/November this year.

Collège Jean Mariotti is a coeducational Middle School in French-speaking Noumea, New Caledonia. Somerville House welcomed a group of students and their teachers for one day in 2022, and the visit was so successful that they are coming back this year for eleven days from Wednesday 25 October to Sunday 5 November.

The group of 19 students (boys and girls, but almost certainly mostly girls) will be aged from 14 to 15, so during the school day they will be paired with our Year 9 French students, attending classes with them on most of those days. If you agree to host a student, you would need to provide them with their own room, all meals, transport to and from school, and basically involve them in your family activities. Any family members aged 18 or over would also be required to obtain a compulsory Blue Card.

Hosting an exchange student can be an incredible experience for both the host family and the student. It is a unique opportunity for your daughter to immerse herself in French language and culture. Not only could she improve her French language skills through daily interactions, but she could also develop a deeper understanding of New Caledonia, a part of France located only two hours from Brisbane. Over the years, I have seen long-term friendships develop from such interactions.

If you are interested in hosting an exchange student, please contact the Head of Department - Languages here. Registration is open to parents of students in any year level.

Thank you for your consideration, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Ms Debbie Haupt
Acting Head of Department - Languages

Somerville House has a host of exciting community events yet to come on the Term 4 calendar in 2023.  

Be sure to never miss an event by downloading the Community Events Calendar here.  Event information is also available at the bottom of our homepage or via the website event pages here. 

We look forward to seeing you at our community events in November.