Weekly Update #21, 10 February 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]

International Day Update

Starting on the 20th February, parents and students are invited to come to the front office to book a tent and inform us of any stage performances. If it’s more convenient, you can send an email to [email protected] with your specifications. The cut off date for registration will be 27 February.

Office Move

In order to accomodate additional staff and improve our service to you, we have extended our office spaces. If you need to contact a member of staff regarding the After School programmes, Summer Camp or to make a payment, please visit our new office space in front of the Library.

Parent Committee Meeting

The Parent Committee meeting will take place on the 2nd of March. If you have points that you would like to be represented at the meeting, please send an email to [email protected] by the 23rd of February. If you would like to find out more about the roles and responsibilities of the PC, click here!

Body Image & Online Influence

It was wonderful to see many turn up to the presentation on Body Image and Online Influence. There were many in-depth conversations and parents sharing their experiences. We know that not all of our community are in a position to attend these events and so we would like to share the presentation as a download below. These slides cover information on issues that we are aware of within our school community, as well as advice on establishing dialogue with children. We have also included some links to interesting resources and information. If you have any questions regarding the information, please feel free to get in touch. -Dr Sillett, Deputy Head of Secondary

Basketball

U16 3 vs 3 Basketball tournament was a success with HeadStart winning 3 out of 4 matches. The players played hard with tremendous effort. Myself and Coach Elijah were proud of the team. This was a good experience for the player’s confidence moving forward and an awesome start for our Basketball program. Special recognition to player Alex for scoring the most points in the matches. Well done U16 team! -Coach Curtis

PISAC Invitational Swim Meet

Last weekend, our Aqua Panthers competed in the PISAC Invitational Swim Meet at the British International School, Phuket. We are very proud of all of our swimmers, who really made a splash at the meet!

• Our 9-10 boys, Kirill, Pavel, Fina, and Hugo set TWO PISAC relay records in both the 200 Medley and 200 Freestyle relay!
• Kirill, Natalie, Victoria, Loch, Ryan C, Pavel, Fima, Fura, Sofie, India, Masha, Colin, Seraphina, Ryan M, and Nae Nae, were all awarded various top 3 medals in their individual events.
• Our 200 Medley and Freestyle relays received top 3 finishes in almost each age category!
• Congratulations to Kirill and Pavel to took the first and second-place high-point trophies for their age group!

Last but not least, CONGRATULATIONS to the entire team! All their efforts lead us to placing 2nd overall! It was an amazing weekend filled with fast swims, laughs, and a lot of sun! -Coach Brown

Football Academy News

Last week the HeadStart Panthers Football Academy linked up with Kajonkiet International School Phuket for six friendly fixtures between the schools. There have been some fantastic games and the scores have been very close and competitive for all.

👉 We successfully started with the U16 boys away at KIS which was a great game of football and goals came from Krit scoring two and one from Jun. 👉 The U11s Boys had a really entertaining game which was end to end but only one goal was scored and it was a fine finish from our striker Amarin. 👉 The over 15 girls were next up and this game saw the girls never giving up after trailing the game at half way to come back and take the game with a hat trick from Peemai and a superb curled finish from Jess in the box. 👉 Our U13 and U15 boys also had some entertaining matches over the last few days and next up is the U15 Girls on Thursday at KIS. Well done to all of the players and good luck on the upcoming games.

👉A great display of football on Saturday, as the HeadStart U15/16 Panthers Boys welcomed Republic academy for an exciting friendly fixture. Well done Boys!

We had a wonderful messy play time with the children taking animals from the classroom to play with. This week we have also read Owl Babies and made crafts to discuss with the children about parents leaving and how that can feel at times. -Early Years Teachers

The children in the Early Years Thai Foreign language class have been busy learning their colours this week. They used a range of different coloured balloons to practice this language in a fun and purposeful way.

Growing Garden

In gardening lessons the children are learning all about how to grow, harvest and use Rosella Hibiscus. This simple robust plant is one of our favourites and more plants are becoming established and providing a great crop. The plants have vivid colour, intense flavour and many health benefits! As well as the delicate flowers, the striking colour of the red flower calyx adds such a beautiful contrast in the school garden. The children had the opportunity to eat the petals and have used the flower calyces to make Hibiscus Tea. The reproductive parts of the plant are clearly visible in a Hibiscus flower which supports current learning in Science. The children have also been busy gathering and planting more seeds to add to the garden. We look forward to seeing how much more we will be able to harvest and what other tasty treats we can create from it. -Ms Rebecca Ross

The students were given electrical components and various other materials and tasked with creating a torch that incorporated a switch. They all did a fantastic job and each torch was uniquely designed. Mr Jamie Robertson

Student Kindness Takeover Week

As a part of kindness week, secondary student council members had the opportunity to run the homeroom activities by coming up with kindness themed activities, organising and running the activities throughout the week. The activities involve: kindness telephone game, posters and notes, where our councillors have the chance to brainstormed ideas being involved within the school’s community. Sixth form received kindness notes written by their peers and were so happy to receive them this morning! -Nae Nae and Charles (Deputy Head Girl and Boy)

In our UPrep lesson on Tuesday the Year 12s were very lucky to have IDP IELTS deliver a workshop on the IELTS tests for us. IELTS is an English Language proficiency test that many of our students need in order to study abroad for university. Students found out more about the test, the different sections, question types, and the test format. They were able to practice some questions in preparation for the real test in the summer. IDP also gave students some top tips on the test and how marks are allocated. -Ms Gratton, University Counsellor

Secondary students have been busy, a special thanks to the Duke of Edinburgh students who are helping in the garden as a part of their voluntary service. They are taking responsibility for running the activities alongside our regular Year 7 gardeners. This week we have been harvesting dried beans ready to plant our next crop. Planting watercress as a natural mulch and completing general garden maintenance. Well done team! -Mr Dale Benham

The Year 10s and Year 11s this week continued with the reading programme with the Year 2 children in homeroom time. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to build their confidence and relationships with the primary students and the Year 2s have been excited to have their buddies back reading with them in the morning for this valuable time together. -Ms Lucy Wilson

This week our year 13 BTEC Performing Arts students performed their final examined play. For this unit the students were tasked with taking charge of all elements of the performance. They explored numerous theatre and dance companies and used techniques from these to develop their own devised play. The brief for this performance was ‘Rapid Change’ and the students created a highly thoughtful and powerful performance exploring the life of one man. Missed it? this piece will be performed again at CAPA EXPO in June. Ms Alia Sillett, Director of CAPA

Paper Birds Theatre Visit

This week we were lucky enough to have Gabby from The Paper Birds join us from the UK. Gabby led an incredible 3 hour workshop where the students explored their 5 step approach to creating devised work and created 3 thoughtful and diverse performances during the workshop. We had 30 students attend the workshop from year 9-13. The students loved the experience and came out excited about how they can incorporate these ideas into their own performance work. -Ms Alia Sillett, Director of CAPA (Creative & Performing Arts)

Last Saturday, 4th Feb, the Student Eco Committee organised a beach clean-up at Kata beach. More than 20 people joined, including students, teachers and parents. We spent an hour on the beach, collecting more than ten filled garbage bags. Surprisingly, many tourists on the beach joined us as well. I believe our actions can inspire more people to participate in environmental protection. We all have a part to play, whether as individuals who are mindful about our actions concerning the environment, supporting community projects like our beach clean and even as a school making a statement through our efforts and becoming influencers for the hood of society and the earth.

Something that filled me with dismay was the amount of microplastic on the beach. According to research from Rutgers University, we ingest 10,0000 microplastic particles daily which is equivalent to eating a credit card a year. Less plastic usage and correct disposal can directly impact individuals and future generations today. -Linda, Year 13 student & Head of Eco Committee

Shout out to Anoushka in Secondary and Ms Marsh for 3rd and 5th place in their categories at the Vichit Run this past weekend. Well done ladies!

Food Donations to Scholars of Sustenance

In the month of January, Headstart International school Phuket donated 208.50 KG of good quality surplus food to SOS Thailand. Your donations have allowed us to provide over 875.7 servings to those in need! Also, by reducing this amount of food waste, you have successfully saved 396.15 KG of GHG equivalent emissions (Co₂-e (kg)) or 35.37 days equivalent of electricity consumption of one household. For more on this: GHG Calculator -Mr Jack, SOS Manager