Weekly Update #14, 4 December 2020

Upcoming events can be found on the website under School Life → Calendar and are outlined here for easy reference.

For daily updates and news follow the HeadStart Facebook Page and You Tube channel.

Foundation Stay and Play Invitation

Parents are invited to spread some festive cheer in Foundation on Monday 7 December, with a special Christmas Crafts Stay and Play session. Please do get involved with the activities. This is an opportunity for you to spend quality time with them in their school environment. -Ms Hannah Brown

Invitation to watch ‘Welcome to the Moulin Rouge’

Here is a sneak peek of what to expect from ‘Welcome to the Moulin Rouge’ show performed by our CAPA students on the 9th and 10th of December at 6.30pm in the Sports Hall. Have you got your tickets? To book your tickets, click HERE! You do not want to miss this show!

Welcoming everyone, young and old, to the HeadStart Christmas Fair that will take place on 14 December from 2.00-5.00pm on the covered football pitch. This is a wonderful time for us to come together and celebrate our thriving community with food, drink, games and entertainment in a fair-like environment where the children will have plenty of activities to choose from and there will be lots to see and do.

Dress in festive colours, bring along a picnic mat so that you can sit and relax and enjoy the event.

Here’s what to expect on the day:

• A professional photographer to take photos of you and your family in Santa’s Grotto from 2.00-3.00 pm! Don’t miss it!
• Delicious traditional Christmas roast from the well known Pullman Hotel.
• Asian fusion food by the famous Chef Noi from Suay in collaboration with the Chalong Bay Rum team.
• Eat-in or take-out traditional pies from Lady Pie.
• Cold, creamy ice cream from the Italian Gelateria Pluto.
• A fun variety of beverages prepared by the HeadStart Food Service team and Fresh-pressed fruit juice.
• Gingerbread men, cookies and delicious baked goods to take away or children can join in decorating their own personalised cookies!
• Performances by the Dance Academy, CAPA students all managed by our BTEC Music students.
• Lucky Draw organised by Mr Khan and the Primary team!
• Student leadership organised games and activities for the children.
• Gifts and trinkets to buy as gifts.
• A balloon castle and the Central Kids Club offering activities for the children.

Important!

On 14 December, parents are requested to pick up their children promptly at 2.00 pm and join the Christmas Fair. Children going home on the school bus will be departing from school at 2.15 pm. Parents with children on the school bus should communicate with the bus nannies if they will be going home at 2.00 pm or if they will be picking them up so that we can account for each child’s wellbeing and safety.

Parent-Teacher Conferences will take place on the 15th of December throughout the day. PTCs are a chance for parents to meet with their child’s homeroom or subject teachers to catch up on what the child has been learning, what areas can be improved and how you, as a parent can be a support. Parents will be invited to book meetings with teachers starting next week Tuesday via email. If a Primary parent wants to see a subject teacher, please contact the teacher directly. This function is available on Engage. Secondary subject teachers will be in their own areas of work, e.g. PE in the sports hall, Maths in Maths rooms, etc. For Secondary parents, A QR code will be available in the atrium as you enter so that you can access a digital map of the facility and be able to locate the teacher that you have booked a meeting with.

Swimming

Blue vs Yellow meet is happening today, December 4th! This is the first-ever intrasquad meet the Aqua Panthers have had and it is sure to be a good showdown. Who will win? Come by the pool today at 4:00 pm!

→ Monday, December 7th, we will be having our tryouts for the Swim Academy and Advanced Swimming ASP. Those who want to join, please see Coach Brown poolside by 3:30.

→ Wednesday, December 9th, our 10 & Under swimmers have a meet against UWC at home. Come support our swimmers starting at 4:00 pm.

Football

This week our HeadStart Panthers U13 girls football team travelled to BISP for a fun friendly match. The girls played really well and showed a fantastic attitude to come from behind twice in the game. The game was very well matched and challenging for both sides however the game finished with very well taken goal on the breakaway from HeadStart. Well Done Girls! -Coach Frost

Our U13 boys had a great game against Cherngtalay Academy. The boys scored some great goals with excellent individual efforts and good combination play. It was a competitive game played in the right spirit by both teams. Great job boys! -Coach McKenna

Holiday Football Camps Available

Volleyball

HeadStart A and B teams were once again successful at the third and final instalment of the PISAC Volleyball Jamboree, held at UWCT on Friday, 27th November.

HeadStart B - 1st / HeadStart A - 3rd

A special thank you goes to Coach Naomi for her help during the events. Well done, everyone! -Mr Nick Carter, Athletics Director

Rugby

On Wednesday night, the HeadStart touch rugby team were undefeated during a teacher and student tournament against BIS and KIS teachers! HeadStart won every match we played which was a fantastic start for what is hopefully many more tournaments to come. A reminder that everyone is welcome to come along and train with us on Wednesdays at 6.00 pm. If you would like to join the touch rugby ASP in Term 2, it is now FREE! So come along and learn some new skills, have fun and get fit - all levels are welcome! -Ms Alicia Niemand

The Year 2 staff team and all the students would like to say a huge thank you to our Thai parents for putting on an amazing demonstration of Bua Loy (Floating Lotus) cooking today. The children all made their own colourful rice balls and watched them boil until they floated ‘Loy’. We learned where the beautiful natural colourings came from, and how to make the coconut milk flavoured with pandan leaves. Then we all enjoyed the yummy snack. Thank you so much to all the parents for organising it and helping. -The Year 2 team, Mrs Drew, Miss Wintersgill & Mr Marx

Year 3 Blue are completing their autobiographies from previous notes. We are looking forward to the finished product and will display the finished work for the parents to see. -Mr Blacklee (Click to expand photos.)

The students in the Robotics club have now used block programming to control the robots so that they can follow an object, navigate around a maze and can be controlled using an App on their tablets or phones. The next stage will be for them to start changing variables within the coding and see how it affects the movement and tasks of their robots. -Mr Dean Wells

Collaboration is key in developing the depth of student understanding when analysing poetry. After working together to deconstruct and annotate one stanza each of four in total, Year 10 Literature students then took part in a ‘silent debate’ where they read and responded to each other’s annotations. This process then culminates in each group presenting their interpretations. This deepening of understanding leads to a greater sophistication of thinking and, ultimately, writing. -Mr. Pollicutt, Head of English

Over the last few weeks, Year 7 students have been very busy learning the skills to create their own Stop Motion Animations. Students have spent time on their individual projects, applying what they’ve learned as they went along and have eventually made their own short film – be sure to check them out! -Ms Alicia Niemand

Year 11 have begun revising for their upcoming ICT Theory mock exam. Good luck to everybody in Year 11 in their preparation for this; may it be thorough and useful! -Ms Niemand

Well done to Gemma and Regina and our student leadership team, for organising our term 1 all-school fundraiser for the Phuket Sunshine Village Foundation last Friday. The students were able to raise 34,586 baht for this good cause! Well done!

▶️ In order to reach our goal of sponsoring all 50 underprivileged children we still need 24 donations. Contact the front office if you are able to support a child in need! ◀️

“In November 2020, Headstart International school Phuket donated 347.29 KG of good quality surplus food to SOS Thailand. Your donations have allowed us to provide over 1,458.62 servings to those in need! Also, by reducing this amount of food waste, you have successfully saved 659.85 KG of GHG equivalent emissions (Co₂-e (kg)) or 58.92 days equivalent of electricity consumption of one household. For more on this check the GHG Calculator” -From Jack, Manager at SOS

Last week Ben and Brighton took part in the LTAT Level 4 Tennis Tournament PTT series no. 6 in Phangnga. Ben achieved runner up in the U12 Boys category and Brighton achieved runner up in the U10 Boys category. This accomplishment will take them to the National Tennis Master Cup 2020 which will be held in December 2020. Only 16 players from all over Thailand in all age categories will be selected to compete in this event so this is quite an achievement for the boys. Congratulations!

Congratulations to Maksim Vinogradov who completed in the Hong Kong Science Olympiad and won a Gold Award for his ingenuity and hard work in the ‘Mini Experiment’ category!