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Birthday Celebrations in Primary School

Please be reminded that a birthday celebration at school is an occasion for the class to share the opportunity to wish a fellow pupil a happy birthday and to share a birthday cake. We have a Healthy Food Policy and do not allow fast food and sweets/candy into the classrooms. Please do not prepare ‘goody bags’ for pupils.

Our policy if that only a cake should be shared at school. Parents wishing to bring a cake should communicate with their child’s Homeroom Teacher at least one week in advance to confirm that it will be okay for the celebration to go ahead.

Once again, please note that this is not a full birthday party. It is a way for the children in the class to share a friend’s birthday celebration. On the day of your child’s birthday celebration, please report to the school Admin Office so that you can be escorted to your child’s class with your delicious cake.

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Lost Property/Return Items That Don’t Belong

Parents of Primary children have reported missing water bottles, goggles and other personal belongings that are brought to school. In some cases, water bottles, uniforms or other items may end up in the wrong school bag and travel all the way home. Parents are appealing to the community to please return items that do not belong to your child. The best location to return items to is the First Aid room next to the Library.

As a school, we urge parents label all items sent to school including uniforms, water bottles, goggles, bathing suits, etc. If the item is labeled the chances of having them returned to you are higher.

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Why Study English at A-Level?

Unfortunately, I have inherited the tiniest cohort of English Literature A-Level students in 2018-19; five girls in Year 13 and a lonely duo in the year below. This really is a crying shame, as I feel the subject offers so much reward and embeds so many skills in young people. With this in mind, I feel compelled to dispel some commonly held myths about studying English at A-Level, which are shared by many parents and students alike.

1) English Literature is irrelevant

Horribly untrue. Perhaps in the most dunderheaded, literalist view of the subject, one can scrape out a flaccid kernel of veracity to this inasmuch as, yes, people do not walk around quoting Shakespeare and Chaucer.

A rusty moped and a new Mercedes will both take you to Phang-Nga, but how would you prefer to travel?

English Literature develops in students not the ability to speak in English, but the consideration of how that communication takes place. Shades of meaning, irony, rhetoric- all are investigated and nurtured in the course. Especially in the multi-platform social media age we now inhabit, clarity and control of communication are vital, and no other subject better prepares students with these skills.

Furthermore, we are all humans, and as such subject to the panoply of human emotions: love, hatred, jealousy, ambition and so on. It is through the study of literature that we better understand ourselves and the world around us.

English Literature lights fires.

2) English Literature is Anglo-centric

Here, the problem lies with the word (damn those words and their pesky associations). The active word in the course should be considered ‘literature’, not ’ English’. True, some of the texts come from England, but many of the others come from all over the world , and from various time periods. The study of English is not a Little Englander’s attempt to get students to subscribe to a myopic world view of cucumber sandwiches and cups of tea.

3) I want to study Science at University and my University will look negatively at my studying of English Literature.

Nope. Non. Nein. Universities are increasingly looking for students who have a breadth of experiences and skills sets and have not been funnelled down a narrow path from the age of 16. Studying English (or any subject in the Arts and Humanities) shows universities that the applicant has many strings to their bows and will not sit in their room for three years looking at a computer and eating cup noodles.

4) English Literature won’t help me get a job

Ah, young Jedi, your path to the dark side of wrongness is now complete. Again, this is untrue. Just look at the skills acquired, developed and polished in the study of English literature and the writing of essays. It’s almost as if Benjamin Bloom wrote his taxonomy with the subject in mind. Where else do students get to analyse, evaluate, synthesise sophisticated information? This results in the intellectual equivalent of alchemy : creating something from nothing.

I would challenge any parents in managerial positions not to want an employee in their organisation who embodies the skills learnt in English lessons: a creative, articulate, analytical and empathetic individual.

Year 11s will shortly be making their decisions about what to study after their IGCSEs. Given what you have just read, I hope that many of them consider studying English Literature at A-Level . I am happy to speak to students and parents about the course, as is any English teacher in the faculty.

I can promise students a stimulating and well supported two years of studying in which we will do our best to open their minds and souls to new intellectual, and dare I say, spiritual experiences.

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Sports Department News

What’s Coming Up?

Next week will be the PISAC Football Tournaments. Here’s the details -

• Thursday, 15th November: Primary School 3:00 to 6:00pm. U9 boys and U9 girls, U11 boys and U11 girls at Thanyapura/UWCT

• Friday, 16th November: Secondary School 3:30 to 6:00pm. U13/15 girls: HeadStart / U13 boys: KIS / 15O boys: Thanyapura/UWCT

HeadStart are hosting the U13/15 Girls competition and everyone is welcome to come and watch!

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Swimming

Over the weekend, the Aqua Panthers had some fantastic races! Several teams competed at the first Thanyapura Open League meet. Currently we are placed 2nd and hoping to gain more momentum by the next league meet on March 3rd. We had several outstanding swims on Saturday! Huge shout out to those who broke some team records!

Top point earners from the weekend were:

Points Name

75 Anton Solnyshko,

65 Nazar Zakharov

63 Michael McLean

58 Shane Walters

56 Armin Schmid

50 Artem Kiselev

43 Kirill Kochetkov

41 Cameron Smith

39 Sean Corley

35 Min Kyu Song

30 Callum Smith

Points Name

66 Lisa Kim

65 Yejin Lee

63 Nae Nae Poudyel

59 Anna Meakin

59 Sasha Syrkina

57 Jiraya Prieur

56 Natasha Chaloemtoem

33 Fleur Sauter/Masson

28 Regina Lee

20 India Smuthkochorn

20 Vitalina Oshchepkova

Our next competition will be the last for 2018! We will be taking 34 qualifiers to the Bangkok Patana Feeding Frenzy meet in Bangkok December 7-9. Thank you for all your support!

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Volleyball

Two of our Volleyball seniors squads traveled to Kajonkiet on Tuesday for the PISAC Volleyball tournament (HeadStart / Kajonkiet / UWCT). The Panthers played exceptionally well, winning all of their games, and I’m delighted to announce that HeadStart Team 2 finished in 1st place and HeadStart Team 1 finished in 2nd place (six team tournament). This was the inaugural competition, and I can definitely see it happening again in the future.

Year 11 Language and Literature

In order to prepare IGCSE students for the demands of the First Language English examination, Year 11 Language and Literature students have been practising their summarising, one of the skills assessed in Paper 2.

Here, the keys to success lie in identifying the relevant parts of an unseen text; using synonyms to show understanding and an ability to phrase in one’s own words; and writing concisely.

Therefore, students were set the task of summarising well- known narratives into no more that 100 words. As you can see below, some made it, some were a touch over, yet all showed progress in their ability to write succinctly. Have a read and enjoy. If you think it’s easy, have a go at doing it yourself!

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Harry Potter By Charlie Suzuki (78 words)

Harry Potter, an unusual boy lives with his evil uncle, is discovered and accompanied to a witchcraft school called Hogwarts by a giant named Hagrid. This is where they teach magic and witchery and is where he comes to the realization that his parents were killed by a malevolent wizard Voldemort and leaving him with a permanent scar on his forehead. With Ron and Hermione, who are friends he finds at Hogwarts, he defeats Voldemort after various quests.

Aladdin (Disney version) By Ben Caspi (108 words)

Aladdin, considered a street rat, becomes friends with princess Jasmine before being taken in by the guards and only saved from execution by Jaffar who tells him to the lamp from the cave of wonders and to touch nothing else. Aladdin’s pet monkey, Abu, touches a gem and the cave collapses. Aladdin rubs the lamp and finds a genie inside. The genie gives him 3 wishes but Aladdin tricks the genie into freeing him without a wish. He uses his first wish to turn into ‘Prince Ali’, his second wish to receive a magical flying carpet, and his third wish to set the genie free in the end.

Noah and the flood By Suphatchaya Phewngam (95 words)

God found out how sinful the world has become and therefore wiped away all living things with a disastrous flood. The only righteous man, Noah, was told by God to build a ship for pairs of living organisms and load it with every kind of food for survival during the flood. After chosen animals entered the ark, a massive rain started and create flood over the earth and everything outside died out. The ark sat on Ararat mount for 8 months before all water dried out and all livings are invited out of the ark.

Lord of the Rings By Elizaveta Stashevskaia (110 words)

A hobbit, creature similar to a human, finds a ring, the most powerful weapon in the world of Middle Earth. An evil god desperately attempts to reclaim the ring and bind middle earth to his sadistic rule. The hobbit, accompanied by representatives of all the races of middle earth, goes on a thrilling quest to the only place where it can be destroyed: a mountain in the middle of the dark realm. The journey takes almost a year but after many battles and deaths, the hobbit destroys the ring saving middle earth. The ring’s impact on the hobbit cannot be undone so he leaves Middle Earth never to return again.

Hansel & Gretel By Alexander Ogay (91 words)

There lived a woodcutter’s family, the children were called Hansel and Gretel. Famine came, and to survive, the stepmother decided to bring the children into the woods leaving them. The next morning, not remembering how to get back home, the children walked until they found a candy house, after eating the roof, a witch walked out saying she will care for them, but she enslaved Gretel and locked up Hansel, after Gretel pushed the witch into the oven, she rescued Hansel and left back into the woods finding their way home.

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HeadStart students pushing themselves to complete the many top rope and boulder challenges at REBEL Rock Climbing. There are still places available for students who wish to join, including any Year 6 students! Please contact Mr Lamprell for further details by writing to [email protected]