Weekly Update 19
Announcements
Mom’s Night Out 10 February, 2017
It’s time to leave your responsibilities behind and have some fun! We invite you to join our first ‘Mom’s Night Out’ for 2017 at the Skye Lake Club in Chern Talae on the 10th of February, 2017, from 7:30 pm until late. There will be canapes, drinks and dancing and most of all a relaxing time getting to know each other. Sunny yellow is out theme.
We have organised school transportation from the school and back so that you can enjoy your evening without having to worry about road safety. Please register with the office if you would like to sign up for this service free of charge courtesy of HeadStart. Buses leave from school at 6:30 and 1 bus returns at 10:30 pm and another by 12:00 pm.
Tickets are only 800 Baht and can be purchased in the front office. Tickets include 2 drinks, canapes and a lot of fun! We look forward to seeing you!
Thai Parents Meeting–1 February, 2017
We would like to invite you for a meeting regarding Students Accident Insurance on Wednesday the 1st of February between 08.15 - 09.15 am in the Secondary Hall. The meeting will be presented in Thai.
Eco Garden Update
With a design now in place for our Eco garden, we hope to have some shape, colour and interesting creations for us to share in the coming weeks. If you would like to help and support the development of the Eco Garden you can by donating one of the species of plants shown below. Thanks for your support and assistance with this project. Please contact Ms Scott in Foundation for more details at [email protected].
Eco Tip of the Week
Many students are reverting to single use plastic bottles for drinking water. Let’s do our part to save the environment and use HeadStart’s reusable bottle that is available at the school shop. Help HeadStart reduce the use of single use plastic products!
Bus Route Survey
We are currently reevaluating the bus routes and are calling on parents who are interested in having a school bus to Karon/Kata to please contact the front office. We will make a final decision once all of the data has been collected.
Welcome New Art Teacher
We welcome our new art teacher, Ms Kamillah Bilbe from the UK who will be a teacher for both Primary and Secondary art classes. She will begin her duties on the 30th of January, 2017.
Chinese New Year 2017 Activities Around the School
Many activities were organised for Chinese New year this week. Students in Mandarin class learned of Chinese New Year traditions, made and tasted dumplings together, as well experienced Chinese dances and made new year cards. The Foundation students has tea breaks, dressed up in Chinese clothes, played a racing game with the animals and even took part in a dragon dance, which we really enjoyed. Everyone was having fun and enjoying the most important Chinese Festival. Good luck in year of the Rooster to everyone!
Chinese New Year Celebrations that you can join in Phuket: http://www.phuket.com/festival/chinese-new-year.htm
House News
By Nick Carter, House Coordinator
I am very sad because this weeks weigh your waste competition was a complete disaster! On average, as a school, we waste approximately 20kg of food during Friday’s ‘Weigh Your Waste’ competition. However, this weeks competition saw us waste 40kg of food! Double the average?!?! We must never lose sight of what the weigh your waste competition is about which is to value and appreciate the people who bring food to us and not waste it.
I have awarded ZERO points for this weeks competition because this message clearly isn’t being fully understood by the vast majority of pupils. Parents, please help us by reiterating to the students about the importance of only eating what we need and not being greedy. To counteract this, I am awarding double points for every House that wastes less than 5kg of food this week. However, if any House wastes more than 7kg then they will receive zero points again. Let’s see if this helps students to understand a little better.
Foundation News
By Ms Fiona Scott
We have all enjoyed a fantastic, colourful week in Foundation which started off with the celebration of Chinese New Year. A big thanks to the Languages and Art department for bringing their festivities to shred in Foundation.
Health Update
We have had a few students off this week with slight fevers and colds but I am pleased to inform you that we have had no more confirmed cases of HFM. Our House keeping team work hard to ensure the department remains clean and disinfected throughout the school day, and with continuous handwashing, we are able to reduce the spread of any infections and viruses. Just as reminder, if your child does have any flu like symptoms, please keep an eye on them and inform the school as soon as possible if you have taken them to see a doctor.
Late Pick Up
We still have a number of parents who are not collecting their children on time at the end of the school day. The school day finishes at 2.40pm. Any child not collected at this time will be taken to the Foundation Dining Hall and can be collected from there. Children do become stressed and anxious when parents are late, so please bear this in mind when you are collecting your child.
Late Pick Up and ASPs
Thank you to the parents who have registered their children for the Late Pick Up club. This will operate next week in the Indoor Learning Centre from 3:00m – 4:00pm. Only students who have siblings in ASPS further up the school can register for this club. Any child not registered for this club will wait for collection in the Foundation Dining Hall.
Early Years Visits Botanical Garden
This week Early Years had a wonderful time visiting the Botanical Gardens. We learnt about the different types of plants and what they need to grow. We enjoyed the different smells and colours. Early Years especially enjoyed feeding the fish and visiting the house. **By Ms Massey and Ms Bellis
Early Years students were learning about colours in Thai class this week.
Year 3 hunting for natural and man made rock around the school for out new topic ‘Rocks and Soil’.
Year 4 Optical Illusion Art
Year 4’s visual representation of evaporation and condensation.
Year 5 First language Thai students were working on a project regarding pollution.
Secondary News
By Ms Mason, Head of Secondary
Year 11 Parent Evening–8 February, 2017
This week I am sure Year 11 will be very pleased that the mock examinations are now complete. This is a reminder to Year 11 parents to RSVP regarding the Year 11 Parents Evening on Wednesday 8th of February between 3:00-5:00 pm by writing to [email protected]. During this meeting you will be able to pick up your child’s report with the full mock examination results. You will also be able to meet with your child’s teachers.
Year 11 Motivational Camp–3 March, 2017
On Friday the 3rd of March, Year 11 will take part in a Motivational Camp featuring guest speakers, Bubble Football and a BBQ with a quiz. Please arrange to pick up your child from school at 7:00 pm.
KIS Drama Workshop–1 February, 2017
An exciting Drama Workshop for Key Stage 3 will take place at KIS on Wednesday, 1st of February, 2017 continuing our links with the community and others schools, plus expanding students’ creative talents.
Outbound Field Trips–April 3-5, 2017
Students will receive additional insurance and kit list information for the outbound trips that leave on the 3rd of April 2017. The swift return of these important forms is essential for our booking processes and the safeguarding of your child.
Outbound Field Trip info http://headstartphuket.com/secondary/secondary-outbound-field-trips
Secondary Student Academic Success
Morgan Kieffer, Year 13 achieved an extremely pleasing Grade B in his recent AS Business resit examination. His score was 2 marks away from Grade A. A wonderful achievement that was well deserved.
Tina Sowton, Year 13 sat the IGCSE ICT examination for the very first time and achieve an ‘A’ grade. We are very pleased and proud of Tina’s efforts and she is currently showing fantastic promise as an Applied ICT A-Level student. Equally, I would like to thank Mr Barker for all of his hard work and support he provided as Tina was preparing for the exams.
Three of the brightest Year 11 students sat their final examination in Business six months early. Their commitment and determination resulted in a wonderful set of results:
Ratima (Bell) Bunyongponglert: Grade A*
Pimpaporn (Beam) Phongworasak: Grade A
Pornpitcha (Piano) Khaosutham: Grade B
DofE Bronze Level Update
By Craig O’Nions
It is my pleasure to be able to provide an update on the progress of many students who are completing their Duke of Edinburgh Bronze award. All of the students have shown that they have great determination, courage, practical thinking skills, teamwork skills and problem solving ideas. These attributes combined with a fantastic attitude have helped these students top overcome bad weather conditions, tiredness, blisters, hermit crab attacks and stressful environments to be successful on their Adventurous Journey section of their award. The students involved can be proud that they have achieved this and give themselves a small well-earned break and start to focus on the other 3 sections of the award: Skill, Service and Physical recreation, before signing off the award. A big thank you to all teachers who have helped support the students and a final well done to all students involved, you have been excellent ambassadors for the school.
February sees the last trip of the academic year, the Silver group from year 12 and 13 will be planning a 3 day trip, staying overnight at Banana beach and Koh Lon. Their mode of transport is dinghy sailing and I look forward to reporting to you more successes from the HeadStart Duke of Edinburgh award after their journey.
Year 8 Design & Technology
Students are designing and making a simple mood light using a colour cycling LED (red/blue/green) and a microcontroller. The style of the lamp will be based on the product designs of the Memphis design group. In this photo the students are exploring the microcontroller by programming it to blink LED’s on and off at various intervals. Later in the project the students will make the lamp housing.
Sports News
Swimming Success
Natalie Hallerman (2Y) participated at the Nakorn Sri Thammarat regional swimming championships January 21st and 22nd. She competed with top level age group swimmers in the region and achieved 2 silver medals in her heats and in Breaststroke she achieved the overall 5th position which allowed her to get the trophy for overall 9th place.
