Weekly Update #18, 20 January 2023
Upcoming events can be found on the website under School Life → Calendar and are outlined here for easy reference. If you have questions or require further assistance please email [email protected]
| Date | Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21-23 January | Final Journey for DofE Silver | Ao Yon beach | |
| 23-27 January | Languages Faculty Week | ||
| 24 January | 8.30-9.30am | Parent Workshop on ‘Zones of Regulation’ | Primary Hall |
| 26 January | 8.15-9.15am | UPrep Drop in & Future Ready Workshop | Nakita’s Coffee Shop |
| 27 January | TBA | PISAC Basketball Event for U11/U13/U15 | UWCT |
| 30 Jan - 2 Feb | Year 9 Residential Trip to Chiang Mai | Green Trails | |
| 31 January | 8.30-9.30am | Parent Presentation - Online Influences & Body Image | Primary Hall |
| 01 February | 3.30-5.00pm | LAMDA Evening | Dance & Drama Studio |
| 02 February | 8.15am | UPrep Talk9 - Applying to Australia and Asia | Secondary Hall |
| 03 February | 2.20-4.30 pm | Friday Market | Atrium |
| 3 - 5 February | PISAC Swim Champs | BISP | |
| 07 February | 8.30-9.30am | Year 8 Residential Trip Parent Meeting | Secondary Hall |
| Meetings & Presentations |
UPrep Talk 8 - Applying to Universities in the USA & Canada
If you weren’t able to make it to our UPrep Talk on Thursday of this week, the information can be found on the UPrep tab on website. If you would like further information or need to speak to one of our University Counsellors, please email Ms Bedi at [email protected] or Ms Gratton at [email protected].
Parent Workshop - Zones of Regulation on 24.01.23
Inviting all Year 1 - 2 parents to a parent workshop about Zones of Regulations - Helping Your Child with Behaviour Parent Workshop on Tuesday 24th January 2023 in the Secondary Hall. We will be starting at 8.15am.
| Upcoming Events |
Our annual Yearbook photoshoot is coming up soon! Time to freshen up your uniform, get that hair cut and make sure you’re in school on the days shown in the poster below.
Languages Faculty Week
Next week our Languages department will be organising lots of fun and interactive games, activities and projects for the students to take part in.
Year 9 Residential Trip to Chiang Mai
We are very excited to finally be in a position where we are able to take the students off the island to experience Chiang Mai and all of its breathtaking beauty! Here at HeadStart, we passionately believe in the value and importance of learning outside the classroom environment; I am positive that students will not only learn a great deal from the trip but will also enjoy themselves immeasurably. On the morning of Friday the 20th of January, a presentation was made to parents with the purpose of sharing the details of the trip with everyone going. If you missed the presentation or have any questions, please drop me an email at [email protected]. As a reminder, if your son or daughter is not attending the trip, there will be no school provision available and they will have to stay at home during the residential dates. - MR Ashley Paice, Trip Coordinator
| PE & Sports |
Basketball Tryouts
The HeadStart Panthers Basketball programme are delighted to welcome students to attend tryouts for our basketball teams. Students should meet Coach Curtis in the sports hall on the days shown below wearing the appropriate sports clothes. Don’t forget to bring water bottles. Good luck!
- U11 Boys & Girls (Year 4-6) on Friday, 3rd February 15.10-16.00
- U13 / U15 Boys & Girls on Tuesday, 31st January 16.30-18.00
- U18 Boys & Girls on Monday, 30th January 16.30-18.00
Congratulations to our Football Academy ‘Players of the Month!’
| Foundation Lunar New Year ‘Stay & Play’ |
The Foundation children were excited to celebrate the coming year of the rabbit with our Lunar New Year Stay & Plays. They dressed in their New Year outfits and engaged in lots of fun activities with all their parents and teachers. Not only are our Stay and Plays a wonderful way for our children to share their school life with parents, but they are also an excellent way to promote our parental partnerships and share the importance of play-based learning. Lunar New year is a celebration that many of our children will be involved in over the weekend. We wish you all a happy and prosperous Lunar New Year. Full albums can be found on the Foundation Facebook group for pre-approved members only. -Ms Natalie Walker, Deputy Head of Foundation
| Student News |
Year 1 had a very enjoyable morning at Ao Yon beach last Friday. After learning about the weather and seasons last term, we decided to do the best thing on a sunny day! The children enjoyed drawing things that they could see and of course, enjoyed playing in the sand.
Secondary Students Volunteer to Teach at Vichitsongkram School
During the first week of the school holiday, a group of Secondary students volunteered to teach English at Vichitsongkram School, located just 100 meters down the road from HeadStart. The students organised activities with the aim of teaching English to students in Kindergarten and Primary. It was great to see our students take initiative in the planning and organising of community service and it was refreshing to see them taking part in ‘giving back’ to the local community. I was so proud to see our students behave so responsibly, taking time out of their holidays to do something that has a marked positive impact. This experience no doubt has helped them to appreciate their lives and be grateful for what they have. I hope they continue this project in the future! -Kru Nee, School Director
| BTEC News |
Yardenna Jones
My name is Yardenna Jones and I joined HeadStart in 2019. I am from the UK and I grew up in South Wales. I have a BA Honours degree in Journalism which I studied at Southampton Solent University. After university I assisted in the set-up of a small business, a fashion retailer in Bournemouth. I also continued with my love of journalism and travel by becoming an assistant editor of a travel & lifestyle magazine. Educating others and working with young people had always been a passion of mine, and I was keen to further my lifelong learning as I believe this is important continue with personal growth and development. With this in mind I moved to London and studied a DTLLS (Diploma to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector) with Business and Travel & Tourism being my subject specialisms because of my industry experience. In the UK I was working at Brooklands College in Surrey teaching Business and Travel & Tourism. More recently I have taught at Westminster Kingsway College in London an inner city school with children from varying backgrounds and ethnicities. I have now been teaching these subjects with awarding bodies BTEC, OCR City & Guilds and NCFE for 5 years and I am very experienced with the 14-19 age group. I love working with these ages- it's such an exciting and significant time for students. I’m very passionate about creating a positive learning environment and want to inspire my students to be independent and motivated during this crucial time of becoming a young adult. I am so excited to be continuing with the delivery and coordination of the BTEC programmes at HeadStart. For a learner It can be such a valuable experience and enjoyable way of achieving a qualification. Watching a student grow and learn an array of transferable and employability skills in a holistic environment is a wonderful experience for all involved. Outside of the classroom I practice mindfulness, yoga and I am passionate about spreading the importance of sustainable living. I have travelled much of South East Asia and look forward to more adventures this year as travel is a great passion of mine!
The BTEC Business students have decided to put to the test their ever evolving entrepreneurial skills by opening small start up businesses this term. They will be offering products and services to the HeadStart community and Linnea in year 12 is kicking off the business ventures by selling beautiful handmade crochet items that can be individually customised to your liking. By word of mouth only, this week orders have been flying in for items such as these gorgeous lavender stems and other items including flower and mushroom pouches. Linnea is already considering offering crochet workshops so that she can expand her business and keep up with the orders- how amazing! If you are interested in purchasing a product form Linnea then please contact me at [email protected] and I can pass on your details.
We also have some students who are going into Business Partnerships together and will be selling other products and services such as snacks, delicious Bubble Tea and even offering cooking and Language lessons for Sixth Form students helping them prepare for the transition to different countries and universities. Watch this space for more small start up businesses from the BTEC students this term.
| English Department News |
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.
EAL Graduates
It was great to see developing English learners in Years 7 to 9 take a great step forward on their learning journeys as they ‘graduated’ from the EAL cohort on Friday. Such an achievement was made possible by their continued hard work in the four components of language acquisition: speaking, listening, reading and writing as well as (of course) making great progress on FastForWord. We hope that students currently in EAL will continue their good work and take the same step at the end of term 3.
If inspiration was needed in the ceremony, it came in the form of insightful speech from Year 13 prefect Linda Liu- a former EAL student herself-someone who went on to achieve an A* in First Language English and is currently applying to study Environmental Science in the UK. Congratulations to all students leaving EAL and thanks in particular to Mrs. Davidson for her enthusiasm and expertise in working with these students.
| Creative & Performing Arts Department |
In CAPA we strive to provide an exciting array of opportunities and have an ‘open door’ policy in our classrooms, encouraging students to work independently and develop their skill set. It is wonderful to see students taking these opportunities in Design Technology this week. The classroom was active with students from across the year groups at 7.30am with students working away on tasks and receiving support from our wonderful DT team.
Design Technology
It has been a busy week for Design Technology as the Year 10 Dragons Den presentations have begun. The students have been working incredibly hard to create a prototype of a product that could be mass-produced and solve an existing problem. Their presentation were thoughtful and insightful, so far all the students managed to convince at least one dragon to invest!
This week our CAPA HeadStar of the week goes to Rita in year 5. Rita has been impressing Ms. Mina, our head dance coach with her hard work and dedication to her dance training. Rita also has a mature and committed attitude to all her CAPA endeavours! Well done Rita!
| Gymnastics |
We are always looking for ways to develop our CAPA ASP programme and are pleased to announce that Gymnastics Club Phuket is joining the CAPA family and delivering weekend lessons at HeadStart International School! For more information please scan the QR code on the poster or speak to Ms Mina.
| Student Success Out of school |
Some of the HeadStart children participated in the TKG TOUR 2023 at Katathong Golf Resort & Spa Phang Nga from the 14-15 of January. Congratulations to Tiger in Year 3 who was the 1st runner up and to Leo in Year 5 who was the 2nd runner up.
| Promotions from Around the Island |
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