Weekly Update 21, 9 Feb. 2018
Dates for Your Diary
Upcoming events can be found on the HeadStart calendar on the website School Life → Calendar but we have outlined upcoming events for the month here for easy reference.
| Date | Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 February | 9:00-11:00 am | Saturday Thai Culture Club | In school |
| 12 February | 8:10-11:45 am | Key Stage 2 Sports Day | Football pitch |
| 12 February | 1:00-3:10 pm | Key Stage 1 Sports Day | Football pitch |
| 13 February | 8:45-11:00 am | Foundation Sports Day | Sports Hall/Football pitch |
| 16 February | 2:00-5:30 pm | Friday Market | Atrium |
| 18-25 February | All day | Mid term break |
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Announcements
Year 6 Parent Meeting Invitation
We would like to invite Year 6 parents to attend the information meeting on Tuesday 13th February, 2018. At the meeting we will be explaining about Primary Checkpoint Year 6. The meeting will be from 8.15 to 9.15am and will be in located in the Secondary Hall. We look forward to welcoming you to this meeting.
Eco Initiatives
Mr Jazon Edouard, HeadStart CEO, challenged all of the departments to find one way in which they can improve on being more eco-friendly in their daily operations. Congratulations to the Housekeeping team who came up with the idea of conserving on plastic bags by dumping rubbish from numerous bins into one bag instead of using many plastic bags everyday.
Exam Timetables
By Mr Adam Drew, Academic Director
In the downloads below you will find timetables for the different exam series that we have coming up over the course of late February through to mid June. The main exam timetable for IGCSE and A Levels remains provisional and there may be some small movement of times of exams or rooming between now and the final entries, however, dates and sessions (AM or PM) will not change.
Checkpoint Examination Times 2018
The Checkpoint exams for Year 6 and 9 will take place Wednesday, 25-27 April. All Exams take place in the Secondary Hall. Students must arrive 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time of the exam and must line up outside the room in two lines on each side of the corridor. Students are placed by candidate number with the lowest number closest to the door in the room. The students will have mock exams so that they are aware of the regulations and what is expected of them between 14-16 March.
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns regarding the up coming exams by writing to [email protected] or by visiting my office at school.
Furry Friday Fundraising for Bodhi Dog Shelter
What a fun and active day we had for Furry Friday dress up in order to raise awareness for the Bohdi Dog Shelter. A big thank you to Ms Fiona Scott and the students in Sixth Form for organising so many activities around the corridors so that the students could be involved.
–Bake sale which was sold out
–Book and Bear donations
–Toss the ping pong ball
–M&M chopsticks game
–Face painting
–Guess how many balloons
And so much more!
Wishing Ms Fabienne Mester and the senior dance group the best of luck as they compete in the ATOD (Australian Teachers Of Dancing) International Competition in Bangkok this weekend.
Sports Department News
Preparation for Swimming Lessons/Classes
By Head Swim Coach Zak Brown
Recently we have had a number of children not bringing their swimming kit to their lessons and therefore having to use spare school kits, which the children sometimes do not return. Please ensure your child has their swimming kit packed ready the night before they have swimming. It may be a good idea to pack their swimming kit and bring it in on Monday so it is in their lockers/classroom ready for when they have swimming during the week.
I would also like to remind all parents and children that swimming goggles are an absolutely necessary piece of equipment that all children must bring with them to every swimming lesson. Many children say they can see just fine without goggles, but unfortunately this is not the case. When they can’t see clearly, they are not focusing on what we are learning in class that day. They constantly lift their head up to see where they are going and therefore do not perform strokes correctly, which drastically impedes the progress they make. Please find below some tips on buying goggles.
Tips on Buying Goggles
Do not use full face masks in class, a blocked nose does not help with their swimming. Also the bigger the area that needs to have contact with the skin leads to a greater possibility of leaking. Simple goggles with rubber lining around the eyes are perfectly efficient and effective. The more complicated the design, the greater possibility of complications. There are great goggles for sale at the Speedo shop in Central Festival for around 300 baht.
Tinted Goggles: We live in a sunny country and eye protection is very important. Giving your child clear lenses exposes their eyes to very bright light. Please when purchasing goggles, make sure they are tinted to protect from harmful UVA/UVB sun rays.
Nose Piece: An adjustable nose piece will help with keeping a good seal around the eyes.
Strap: The strap should be able to lock into place. The slider straps do not stay in place, they tend to loosen throughout the lesson. A good option is a swimmer bungee cord, they are easily adjusted and lock without fail.
Name: Write your child’s name or some sort of indication so they will know which pair is theirs if lost.
Swimming Caps
These are necessary for all girls (or boys) who have long hair. This helps prevent the clogging up of the filters as well as keeps the hair out of their eyes. If you have ever tried to breathe with wet hair in your face, you understand it is quite difficult. The swim cap is designed to keep hair under control and to prevent potential breathing and filter issues as well as reducing the damage caused to hair by swimming.
Thank you for your support in the above and I look forward to seeing our HeadStart young swimmers making even more progress over the coming months.
Foundation to Year 6 Sports Day Reminders
Students in Foundation to Year 6 need to come into school wearing their House shirts (if they have one), P.E. shorts and trainers. Each student must also have a clearly named water bottle, sun hat and sun cream. Parents are welcome to come and watch. The event timetable is shown below.
| 12 February | 8:10-11:45 am | Key Stage 2 Sports Day | Football pitch |
| 12 February | 1:00-3:10 pm | Key Stage 1 Sports Day | Football pitch |
| 13 February | 8:45-11:00 am | Foundation Sports Day | Sports Hall/Football pitch |
| Preschool | 8:45-9:20 am | Sports Hall | |
| Early Years | 9:20-10:30 am | Covered Football pitch | |
| Reception | 9:20-11:00 am | Covered Football pitch |
Football News
By Head Coach JR
It was a full week for the football academy! Saturday 3rd February, the Under 11 team played against the MJ academy team. Our 11 Under blue lost 4-1. Despite the unfavorable score the boys learned a lot during this match and tried hard. The Under 11 orange team had a great performance, beating MJ academy 13/0! Huge congratulations to all our players!
The Under 11 team went to BIS to play against the Under 11 Cruzeiro team on Thursday, 8th February. The team has started to realize important qualities that make a football match: good passing, moving around the field, and working as a team. Further understanding and growth in these areas are only achieved while working hard during training.
The outcome: Cruzeiro 1-5 HeadStart
Our under 9 team also played the Cruzerio academy. The players have made great progress in the game and they now understand the importance of covering their position of the field. All our athletes played very well.
The outcome: Cruzeiro 3-1 Headstart
I would like to thank all the parents for supporting him to our teams.
Important note from the coaches: The only way to progress is a team and if every player attends their training sessions. We work as a team and grow as a team; the only way to get better is to play together. “I never lose. Either I win or I learn.” –Nelson Mandela
House News
By Mr Nick Carter, House Coordinator
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Winners of ‘Weigh Your Waste’ competition (only threw away 2.7kgs of food): Yellow Cheetahs
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Primary Activities-Connect Four competition winners: Green Dragons
Students News
The Preschool children have had lots of fun painting with their hands during Art class. They have made a giant police car and an ambulance. By Ms Danielle Jones
Reception and Early Years students made rainbow dog masks in participation with this term’s charity which was raising funds for Bodhi Dog Shelter in Thalang! By Kru Sue
We have had a great week in Reception with the Jack and the beanstalk fairy tale. We used cotton wool to grow our own beans and put them into plastic bags on the window so we can watch them grown in the bags like a greenhouse effect. We have been observing them all week and noticing the changes. We can write sentences about what we see and use full sentences to describe the changes. Because of how the beanstalk grows, we have been doing measurement as well. We measured the beanstalk using Jack and the Giant’s footprints and counting to 20. Did you know that Jack used more footprints to climb because his were smaller? We learnt that! We also traced around our feet and used beans to measure how long our feet are. By Ms Candice Smithie
The Reception children made adorable dog puppets in celebration of the Chinese year of the dog as well as the upcoming furry Friday fundraiser! By Ms Hannah Kuusik
Year 1 Blue are developing their gymnastic skills in weekly lessons during this half term. The children all do a group warm up and then they have been working on creating unusual balances. By Ms Fiona Whittaker
Maths Faculty Week News
Maths week has continued to develop at HeadStart and this year we saw many more new and exciting activities around the school! From primary students wearing Maths hats to secondary students memorising digits of Pi, there really was something to excite everyone. Please keep an eye out for the announcements of the winners of the cup-stacking tournament, Pi memory challenge (who will get to throw a pie in the maths teachers’ faces!) and the maths-sports lunchtime challenge coming up in this weeks assembly. By Mr O’Nions
As part of maths week, Primary students made some amazing maths hats. Each class chose a winning hat and the owners were awarded a certificate and house merits. By Ms Sophie Webb
Congratulations to the winners of the Maths Hat competition!
Year 1 students enjoyed playing colour games during Thai lessons. By Kru Sue
Year 3 had a great time solving clues in our Maths treasure hunt and competing in their houses to triumph in the Big Maths Quiz! The green house came out victorious. Everyone had fabulous Maths hats and enjoyed wearing them during the Maths Week assembly! By Ms Lee White
Year 5 and 6 learned maths magic tricks and taught them to one another for Maths Faculty week! By Ms Sophie Webb
Year 6 students are learning about ‘going to the market’. These lessons are designed to give students an understanding of the environment and explore the local Thai market experience. The students spent lots of time learning the words, sentence structures and using new vocabulary in their conversations. They worked extremely hard! By Kru Sue
The Year 9 students enjoyed learning the vowel ‘e’ ( สระเอะ) in Thai class. They learnt how to make a sentence by using word with the vowel ‘e’. They did a great job! By Kru Dia
Some of the Year 10 students visited the Big Buddha to get ideas for their essays in Thai class. By Kru Kan
Around the Island
Phuket Farmers Vitamin Promotion
These special capsules are the result of a successful collaboration between a French plant expert and a Swiss physician. They have created 36 combinations made of 100% locally and organically grown medicinal plants from the Boon Ya Garden located in Kao Sok.
Contact us for more details and the complete list of vitamins available. We can help you elaborate a treatment dosage according to your symptoms. It will take 1 to 2 weeks to get them after order confirmation. Please write to [email protected] if you are interested.
