Weekly Update #29, 28 April 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]

Welcome back to school for what promises to be a power packed, action filled Term 3!

EAL Parents Presentation and Workshop 03.05.23

Parents of students currently enrolled in HeadStart’s EAL provision are invited to our parent presentation on Wednesday 3rd May 2023 at 08:20 am in the Primary Hall. This will be delivered by our guest speaker, and expert on the Fast ForWord system, Mr.Naresh Indhewat. There will also be two workshops on Wednesday the 3rd of May for parents to experience the programme firsthand and have an opportunity for one to one guidance, as well as troubleshooting any issues you may have.

• Workshop for parents of Students in Years 3-9: 09:20 in Secondary Computing 2 classroom.
• Workshop for parents of students in Years 1-2: 14:00 - 15:00 in the Secondary EAL room.

We strongly encourage you to attend the meeting and the workshop to ensure you are informed about the program and how it can be of benefit your child’s learning. If you have any questions please email [email protected]. We look forward to seeing you there!

Congratulations to Luna Ducasse, who has received offers from University of New South Wales and University of Groningen. Luna has been at HeadStart since 2013 and has contributed widely to the school community as a Prefect, dance teacher and as a CAPA member.

Congratulations to Alicia Martin, who has received offers from Leiden University and University of Amsterdam. Alicia has been at HeadStart since 2012 and has contributed widely to the school community as a Prefect, as a CAPA HeadStar and through voluntary work.

Funds Raised for Ocean For All Foundation

Thanks to everyone who contributed time, energy and donations to the ‘12 Hour to Make a Difference’ fundraiser for the Oceans For All Foundation. As a community we have raised 189,677 Baht that will go directly towards ocean conservation and preserving the beautiful island of Phuket!

Swim Galas

We are proud to announce the results of our incredible 2023 HeadStart Swim Galas! Our students, staff and parents all came together on the pool deck for fun and exciting swim races, in which our students competed in their houses for points, new school records and eternal glory. From Preschool through Year 6, our students competed throughout the week, and the Red Phoenixes took the pool by storm, winning almost every single gala! Congratulations to all of our swimmers, and we thank all of our staff and parents for participating, helping and supporting our students as they showed off their swimming skills!

• 1st: Red Phoenixes (89 pts)
• 2nd: Green Dragons (87 pts)
• 2nd: Yellow Cheetahs (63 pts)
• 3rd: Blue Tigers (57 pts)

We also had some new school records broken!

Primary ‘Student of the Month’ Awards

Congratulations to all the pupils in Primary who received certificates for ‘Pupil of the Month’. These were awarded for showing great curiosity and for working hard during science faculty week. Many of these pupils also presented their great work during a whole school assembly and showed great confidence. They were excellent at sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm for the subject. -Ms Rebecca Ross, Deputy Head of Primary

Primary Magazine Club Newsletter

In the second half of last term, having completed their brochures advertising Phuket and HeadStart School, the Primary Magazine Club chose to experiment with a new form of publication - the newsletter or blog. One of the issues the students experienced was realising that news happens fast, especially in a busy school like HeadStart with so much going on, so they found that the topics they were writing about quickly moved from the future to the past tense! Still, they enjoyed the pressures of working to a deadline and managed to complete a newsletter in time for the start of Term 3. The children are also becoming more familiar with the online design tool, Canva, for publishing their work and are improving their design skills. We hope you enjoy reading it. -Mr Alex Bell

English Exam Prep

T.S Eliot famously wrote in The Wasteland that, ‘April is the cruellest month’ and this seems to be applicable to the school year too for our examination classes. For the students, it might seem cruel as the screws are turned with last minute support being put in place to help them best prepare for their examination. In practice, unavoidably this means an increase in the volume, intensity and focus of work for everyone. Happily, Year 11,12 and 13 English students have all risen to this challenge commendably. For us teachers, the month is cruel too, as it contains our last formal lessons with the students before their impending IGCSEs, AS and A Level exams. Personally, it has been a pleasure to teach all my exam classes this year. Seeing students progress both intellectually and with their mental resilience to the point where they are now poised on the precipice of examination success gives me immense pride. I wish all English students the best in their external May examinations. -Mr. Pollicutt, Head of English