HeadStart Weekly Update #18, 25 January 2019
Dates for Your Diary
Upcoming events can be found on the calendar on the website School Life → Calendar but we have outlined upcoming events here for easy reference. For daily updates and news follow the HeadStart Facebook Page
| Date | Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 26 January | 9:00am | Saturday Thai Culture club | Classrooms |
| 26-28 January | All day | DofE G2 Silver Sailing Adventurous Journey | Ao Yon beach |
| 28-30 January | All day | Math Faculty Week | In school |
| 01 February | 2:30-5:30pm | Friday Market | Atrium |
| 05 February | All day | Chinese New Year Activities & Dress Up | In school |
| 06 February | 3:30pm | Year 11 Parent Teacher Conferences | Sports Hall |
| 08 February | 8:30am | Around the World Foundation-Y2 Performance | Sports Hall |
| 14 February | All day | Foundation (am) Years 1-2 (pm) Sports Day | Sports Facilities |
| 15 February | All day | Year 3-6 (am) Year 7-11 (pm) Sports Day | Sports Facilities |
University Preparation at HeadStart
In this short video we interviewed five of our Year 13 students in order to get a better idea of what it has been like to apply for university while completing Sixth Form at HeadStart. The students talk about what universities and where they have applied to, what challenges they faced, what helped them the most in their applications and what tips they have for students who will be applying shortly. We are happy to say that all of the students confirm that they have benefited from HeadStart’s U-Prep programme that has been recently launched.
As a school we will continue to fulfill our commitment to support each and every student with the time consuming and sometimes difficult process of moving on to higher education. We urge parents to avail yourselves of the time that has been dedicated to meeting with you every Thursday. A time table and list of topics are available in the download.
We wish the students success as they complete the final few months of their schooling at HeadStart International School and go on to the next part of their educational journey!
U-Prep Talk Notes
Notes from last meeting held on 24 January can be found in the downloads provided below.
Outstanding Teacher Awards
Congratulations to Kru Dia and Kru Bo who have been chosen for the ‘Outstanding Teacher Award 2018’. The awards were given to them by the Teacher’s Council of Thailand on 16th of January at the Rajabhat Phuket University.
Turnstiles
In an effort to speed up traffic coming in and out of the turnstiles, next week we will try something new! There will be 1 turnstile designated for exit only and 3 turnstiles designated for entering the school. Please follow the signage and let’s see if it improves the traffic.
Healthy Living Talk
A big Thank You to Mr Hayden Rhodes for taking time out of his busy schedule to come and speak to the parents on the topic of ‘Healthy Living’ last Tuesday. It is great to have such a variety of professionals within the HeadStart community who can contribute in such significant ways. If you want to contact Mr Rhodes for fitness and healthy living advice, visit the RPM website or write to [email protected]
Can you sing?
Come and join the CAPA Academy and HeadStart teachers in forming a HeadStart community choir. We will perform for the Awards and Graduation Ceremonies in June. Please contact Erika Cramp at e[email protected] to sign up. Rehearsal dates to follow.
P.E. Department News
Next week we have our Basketball Invitational Cup at HeadStart. On January 30th (U15 Boys Competition) and January 31st (U17 Girls Competition) the HeadStart squads will be competing against Phuket Wittaya, Thaihua and Kathu Wittaya. Both competitions will run from 16.00-19.00pm and all are welcome to come and support.
Japanese Martial Arts Beginner Classes
Introducing a new beginners course to Japanese Martial Arts such as Aikdo, JiuJitsu, Judo and Karate for male and female parents, staff and any interested adults. Every Friday between 4:30-5:30pm. Please write to coach Stefan at [email protected] for more information.
Foundation Department News
It’s been a super week in Foundation this week with many students continuing to bring in healthy snacks and talk about the importance of keeping healthy. Well done Foundation!
Today we enjoyed our first ‘Fun Friday House Challenge’ for Reception. All the children took part in the fun activities and earned many House points for their teams. Our winning House for this month’s challenge was the Red House. Great job red team!
Our new Early Years assembly began this week, with children coming together for stories and celebrating ‘Star of the Week’ awards. A big well done to Julie, Tyoma and Nida In Early Years for working hard and receiving this weeks certificates.
Reception also celebrated lots of successes this week with our ‘Student of the Month’ awards. Congratulations to Lucy, Mia, Seraphina, Yasmie, Napat, Gun, Xiao and Tee for each achieving great results in lessons outside of the Homerooms and a super well done to Polina, Elena, James and Gun for being this weeks ‘Stars of the Week’ for Reception.
Next week we will be joining in with the whole school Math’s Faculty Week. We have a number of in-class and playtime games and events which will challenge and inspire our little learners.
This week we have been reading the story ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. The children have practised their measuring skills in Maths, as well as finding one less and solving subtraction problems. In Literacy we have been describing the characters in the story and developing phonics skills through writing simple sentences. The children followed instructions to plant their own beanstalks and we are looking forward to watching the beanstalk plants growing taller and taller! By Ms Hannah Kuusik and Ms Candice Smithie
Reception students now have more confidence in writing words with the vowel ‘a’ (สระอะ). They have been putting a lot of effort into making hand shaped word cards all by themselves. By Kru Poy
Secondary Department News
This term in Active Learning pupils have been learning stop motion animation techniques. They began by creating story boards for their films and then built sets and characters out of plastercine, paper and using illustrations. This week they began taking photographs using a stop motion app and learnt how to add audio to their footage. At the end of the term, the Active Learners will enter an Oscar’s style movie award competition for the best animation. By Ms Gill
Secondary students in the ‘Thai as a First Language’ class are assigned the duty of raising the flag every morning. This helps the students to be proud of their nation and to encourage Thai values in the community. By Kru Karn
Year 10-11 Winners of the ‘No Trash, Save the World’ Essay Competition
Congratulations to Thai students in Year 10 and Year 11 who won the ‘No Trash, Save the World’ Essay Competition organised by Faculty of Technology Environment at the Prince of Songkhla University.
| First prizes | Aorn Supatchaya Phewngam | Year 11 |
| Preaw Channattha Sinsawaiphol | Year 10 | |
| Second prize | Tin Tin Natdhawat Pankudrua | Year 11 |
| Honorable prizes | Kiki Nichapa Ngeranek | Year 11 |
| Ruphi Eungyeo Kang | Year 11 | |
| Mild Napasra Eawsakul | Year 11 |
Ross Armstrong
My name is Ross I began working for HeadStart International School in August 2018, as well as being a teacher I now head of faculty for Economics, Business Studies, Computing, Travel and Tourism and ICT. Overall, this will be my eighth year of teaching Computer Science and IT. I am from Bushey, just outside London, in the UK. I first studied Psychology at the University of Essex and in-between term time worked for a computer company as an Engineer. After two years I then decided that I wanted to become a teacher and commenced on a fulfilling journey by doing a Computing course at Reading University and, finally, my PGCE at UCL’s Institute of Education. I have experience in various types of schools and I have run school clubs such as CCF, which is a cadet force for both the Army and RAF. This included teaching (and learning myself!) a whole squadron how to sail, kayak, canoe and mountain bike – I also learnt how to pilot a small plane! I’m a firm believer that a student’s experience of school should extend beyond academic success. Being able to offer students extracurricular activities is an important process of growing up, making friends and understanding commitment within a team. I like to live an active lifestyle which I believe can be transferred into a classroom. I have taken part in multiple triathlons and aquathlons, achieving a best 2nd place – 1st place still alludes me! One of the main reasons I went into teaching was to be able to visit cultures around the world and truly immerse myself in them; HeadStart has given me the opportunity to do this. I’m extremely excited to make a positive impact with my new role at HeadStart, making my mark on an already thriving institution.
Year 12’s Silver Duke of Edinburgh award.
The students used their previous trips knowledge to adeptly sail to Ko Lon in very windy, difficult conditions. They then set up camp and began to cook some truly impressive meals, salmon, bacon, gyoza, even pigs in blankets! This was followed by some orienteering activities, such as planning the coming days sailing around the south of Phuket.
Despite a few hiccups with the sailing boats, the students were able to navigate and sail around Ko Lon and down toward Laem Panwa independently of tutors for large periods of time. A few of the students then showed their ability to ‘uncapsize’ their sailing boats, with Alex P also showing his ability to face-plant the water whilst also successfully inverting his overturned boat - an impressive feat. Overall, the four observing sailors were very impressed, not least with their excellent team work and ability to push each other for three days whilst also harmoniously enjoying one another’s company.
David Pollicutt
My name is David and I joined HeadStart International School in 2018. I am from the UK and grew up in the large port city of Bristol. I studied English Literature at the University of East Anglia, and trained to teach at The Institute of Education in The University of London. I taught in East London for four years, before moving to teach for eight years as Head of English in Viet Nam and China. I am a firm believer in developing students to be natural enquirers, following the Sir Ken Robinson model of best preparing students to use transferable skills for the shifting landscapes of their futures. I seek to encourage an epistemological approach in my lessons, urging students to evaluate the efficacy of the information they consume and the validity of interpretations. I am passionate about literature and will often be chortling at David Lodge’s tragicomedy or swooning at Ian Mcewan’s literary sleight of hand. Outside of the classroom I am a keen student of Philosophy, Politics and Film. I am a particular fan of the intellect and charisma exuded by Jordan Peterson, Sam Harris and the late and much missed Christopher Hitchens. I have a terminal case of devotion to Tottenham Hostpsur Football Club; it teaches me patience and humility.
Year 8 English
My English class in Year 8 are an enthusiastic group who are working hard to develop their English skills. Half of the students in the class are EAL students, meaning that their English stage is developmental. They have nevertheless impressed me greatly in their study so far of ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’. This week, their task was to write in the style of the novel’s narrator and chief protagonist. Christopher has ASD and unique approach to writing prose. There are many subtleties to his narrative style, but some of the major traits of his are as follows:
- Talks about maths
- Talks about science
- Says a day is a ‘Bad Day’, ‘Super Good Day’ etc.
- talks about things he doesn’t like – brown, people touching him (‘I don’t like brown’)
- Says he doesn’t understand things
- Uses too many ‘ands’ in one sentence
- Describes things in detail – he has sharp senses
- Uses numbers – he is very exact (I saw my father at 8.28pm)
- Repetitive sentence structures
- Tells the truth – even if it offends people!
With these traits in mind, please enjoy these Year 8 students writing in role as Christopher, creating an imagined scene when his Christopher’s father met with the Headmistress of his school, Mrs. Gascoyne, in order to try to convince her to allow Christopher to take A-Level Maths.
It was 12:03pm when my dad had a conversation about me taking a A-Level Maths test with Mrs Gascoyne. I can tell that he is angry because he is shouting but still I don’t really understand what are they talking about so I went out to study my Maths books . I love Maths (especially prime numbers) and I love Science too and I like to talk about planet sand space. I don’t like when people touch me and I don’t like yellow and brown. I think I can do very well at A -Level Maths because I love the subject and this makes me remember Maths staff very quickly. I think Mrs. Gascoyne will let me study Maths, because today is a good day because there were five red cars in a role and if you see four yellow cars in a role then it’s mean is a very bad day. Still , I do not know if she will let me study Maths, because I do not know what she is feeling. Siobhan draws my some faces when I don’t understand someone’s feeling. Siobhan wears very thick green plastic glasses which gives you a headache when you wear it. My dad finished his conversation with Mrs Gascoyne at 1:17.And I went to my English class I don’t really like English so I didn’t talk to anyone in class and I had to sit next to a girl who smells. Annie Kaiq
I am really good at Maths. I’m definitely good enough to take A-level Maths. I wasn’t sure why Mrs. Gascoyne didn’t let me take A-level Maths in the first place. I’m probably even better than everyone in the whole school at it, so really Mrs. Gascoyne should’ve put me in A-level Maths.
I think people in my school are dumb and they don’t know anything about Maths compared to me, and they probably can’t even solve the world’s easiest Maths equations and I’m still confused why I’m not in A-level math and why Mrs. Gascoyne didn’t put me in A-level Maths. Maybe she killed Wellington the dog and is trying to hide something. This makes her what we call a ‘suspect’. Alyssa Zuber
It’s been 1 hour, 26 minute and 13 seconds that me and my father had been in Mrs. Gascoyne’s office. I don’t get why they are arguing so long but its fine, because I got to count the numbers on my clock every second. They were shouting, but I didn’t knew what they were thinking and feeling inside and I was confused as to why couldn’t I do the A-Level Maths exam, because I like Maths. Mrs. Gascoyne kept pointing at me. I don’t like people pointing at me and people touching me, almost as much as I don’t like the colour brown, its weird and ugly.
However, today was a super good day because I saw 4 cars in a row while I was on the way to school, and that why I know I will be chosen to do A-Level Maths exam and get an A. At 2.48pm dad was mad. I didn’t want dad to get mad, so I didn’t say anything; I didn’t know what to say. I sat beside dad in silence in the car, and it was 3.22 when I arrived home. Nina Maneekan Sonthayanawin
