Weekly Update 23

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.

Receive Daily updates and news from the school by following the HeadStart Facebook Page

International Day 2018

Welcome to International Day 2018!

Following on with a popular HeadStart tradition, we will be hosting International Day 2018 on 30 March between 3:30-5:30 pm. This event is a community driven activity which requires everyone’s participation. It is a grand display of tastes and colours from around the world! By the 9th of March countries can start to book 1-2 tables as well as performances. There is a small stipend of funds designated for each country that prepares food. Please contact the office for more information by writing to [email protected] or visiting us.

Typically families of the same nationality gather together to prepare the following:

• Traditional costumes

• Food and drinks

• A performance per country

• Displays with souvenirs, pictures or facts from your country.

• Games or activity for the community to engage in.

Here are some photos to give you an idea of last year’s International Day.

Yearbook Photos

Next week we will be taking photographs for the school yearbook. The timetable has been published on the school boards all week. This is a gentle reminder that on Monday 5th March there will be a whole school photo on the covered pitch between 7.45 - 8.10am

The gates to Foundation will be locked at this time. Please ensure your child is in school by 7.45am and brought down to the pitch ready for the whole school photo.

Secondary Parent Meeting Invitation

We would like to invite Secondary parents for a meeting on Tuesday 6th March 2018 at 8:15 am in the Secondary Hall. There will be a presentation about sex and relationship education covered at school, our drugs policy and how parents can control their children using digital devices at home. These three topics are very important for parents in Secondary to be aware of in order to help support and guide your children to make the right choices in their lives. The presentation will be done in English and Thai by Mr Barker and Kru Nee.

---

Furry Friday Fundraiser Results

By Ms Fiona Scott, Charity Coordinator

This week Tina from Bodhi Dog Shelter came into school to collect the final amount of funds raised from Furry Friday Fundraising Day! A fantastic, fun-filled day was had by all at the end of last half term, and over 35, 000 baht was raised for the dog shelter which will immediately go towards food, medical and vets expenses. A huge thank you to all the HeadStart community for their support and generosity to make this fundraiser another successful charity event.

Tina has asked if HeadStart can send a message to any dog lovers out there in the school community, who may have a few spare hours a week, and would like to help out up at the shelter. With over 100 dogs to look after on a daily basis, and only 2 part time assistants to support, Tina is crying out for any additional help. Please get in touch with me by writing to [email protected] if you can offer a few hours a week to lend a hand, or if you would like to become a permanent volunteer with Bodhi Dog shelter. I will pass any any messages of interest to Tina as soon as I get them.

Thanks again for your efforts in supporting our local, Phuket charities.

---

Sports Department News

P.E. Kit - Student Reminder

This is a reminder to all students, in the instance of being injured or unwell, they must still always their P.E. kit for P.E. class (with the exception of swimming classes). If students are well enough to be in school, they may not necessarily be expected to participate fully in class, but they are always encouraged to do work that is appropriate, or they will be given other P.E. related tasks; coaching, scoring, time keeping, etc.

Please also ensure that parents either email the P.E. teacher or write a note informing the teacher why the student is unable to participate in P.E. class.

---

Swimming News

By Coach Zak Brown

The first weekend of half term break, the Aqua Panthers set the pool on fire! We sent 45 of our athletes to Thanyapura to compete in the annual Rocket Science Invitational! Out of 14 teams, we came in 2nd! Final team scores are as follows:

1st Place goes to Thanyapura/UWC 3,402 points

2nd Place goes to HeadStart Aqua Panthers 3,159 points

3rd Place goes to Shanghai American School 3,039 points

Our team is filled with amazing athletes and our combined effort made this happen. I am so proud of all our swimmers. We are continually striving towards getting better! Our amazing success aside, it is important to remember that you won’t drop time every race; that is part of the challenge. It isn’t always about winning; it is about focusing on what you need to do to improve. March 10th is our 3rd of 4 open league meets at Thanyapura. Don’t forget to sign up if you haven’t already.

Here are the top point earners for our team:

Student News

Congratulations to YoYo, Mia, Marat and Wansuk in Early Years as they are awarded this week’s Star of the Week certificates.

Well done to our hard working students in reception this week. Emma, Jiwoo, Andy, Assena, Sona and Emily all get awards for trying their best in all lessons and making super progress. Well done Reception!

Now that the weather is getting hotter Early Years decided that they should cool down with a special Water Fun lesson. We had a great time as well as learning through our play. We fished for fish and octopus, experimented with capacities of containers and movement of water, and we even washed each others hair, and the teachers! By Ms Amy Drew and Ms Holly Strawbridge

The children loved dressing up for World Book Day! They were really proud to show off their costumes and talk about their favourite story characters. We also enjoyed an exciting surprise visit from the Mad Hatter which the children found hilarious! By Ms Hannah Kuusik

The children have enjoyed learning about ‘growing’ this week and we have explored how different fruits and vegetables grow. The children wrote brilliant sentences about their favourite fruits and vegetables and have been really engaged with lots of fun and practical activities in and outside the classroom. By Ms Hannah Kuusik

We are really enjoying our growing topic at the moment. We have done lots of gardening and planting beans and vegetables and also learnt all about different fruits and vegetables. We are learning numbers to 30 and arranging them in order by ourselves, as well as reading different sentences about the garden. We also dressed up for world book day and told our classmates all about our characters. This first week back at school has been tonnes of fun! ​By Ms Candice Smithie

Year 4 students learnt how to read words with different final consonants. We made a peacock fan and wrote the words on its tail. We all kept practicing by reading all words. The students put great effort into it. Well done Year 4! By Kru Pim

This term Year 5 have been learning all about the different parts of a flower and the processes of photosynthesis, transpiration and pollination. In their Houses the children competed to create informative and colourful posters. The winning team were then invited into the Year 2 white classroom to present their work. Year 5 spoke confidently and clearly and Year 2 were eager to share their own knowledge on the subject too! Well done Blue Tigers! By Ms Kay Forster

In Book Club we are reading a book about Oliver and the Seawigs. By Mr Toribio

Students have been working Design and Technology as part of their Active Learning mornings. They have been combining Science with Design and Technology to make a cardboard pneumatic robotic arm! Using syringes filled with water and cardboard they have made the robotic arms. By Mr Duncan Peake

Here are some videos of the robots in action! Design and Technology 1 Design and Technology 2

House News

By Mr Nick Carter, House Coordinator

Here are the results of the competitions before half-term ~

Weigh Your Waste: Yellow Cheetahs (wasting only 3.8 kilos)

Primary Activities: Yellow Cheetahs (Snakes & Ladders)

House Quiz: Red Phoenixes

Lastly, the current House Merits were announced at flag raising, and the positions so far are:

First Place Blue House with 1,250 merits

Second Place Green House with 1,240 merits

Third Place Yellow House with 1,140 merits

Fourth Place Red House with 1,114 merits