Weekly Update #8, 21 October 2022
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]
| Date | Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 October | 8.15am | Social & Emotional Development Foundation Parents Meeting | Secondary Hall |
| 26 October | 8.00-9.00am | Wai Kru Ceremony for Secondary | Sports Hall |
| 27 October | 8.00-9.00am | Wai Kru Ceremony for Primary | Sports Hall |
| 8.15am | UPrep Drop in & Future Ready Workshops | Nakita Coffee Shop | |
| 28 October | 8.00am | Wai Kru Ceremony for Foundation | Foundation building |
| 29-30 October | Open Swim Event | BISP | |
| 31 October | Halloween Activities & Events | ||
| 01 November | 8.15am | Parent Meeting: Introduction to Sixth Form A Levels & BTEC Curriculum | Secondary Hall |
| 03 November | 8.15am | UPrep Talk 4 - Applying to Thai Universities | Primary Hall |
| 04 November | 8.00-11.30am | Thai University Fair | Sports Hall |
| 05 November | HeadStart Premiere Football Cup for U/O 15s | ||
| 7-11 November | English Faculty Week |
| Outstanding Results from Cambridge Learner Awards! |
Adam Drew
Since joining HeadStart International School in August 2014, I have been genuinely impressed by the hard work and commitment of all those involved in making HeadStart a place where students are inspired to have the ‘love of learning’ described in the school’s motto. The school community here is one of the best I have ever-worked with and the positive energy that this creates enables us to achieve so much together. Since our last inspection where the school was rated as a good with a number of outstanding features highlighted, I strongly believe that HeadStart International School is well on the way to becoming one of the best schools in Thailand, providing the highest standards in teaching and learning. As we prepare for the next phase where we hope to gain a solid ‘Outstanding’ rating, the next few years will be a truly exciting time for all those involved. Having had a successful Teaching career in the UK for a number of years and having worked in various different management positions, my wife Amy and I made the decision to move to Thailand in 2012 where I worked at an International School in Bangkok. The opportunity to make a real impact at HeadStart and to help shape the future successes of the school drew me to move to Phuket. On a personal level, I am a keen sportsman and have an interest in many sports both as a spectator or participant. A highlight for me was having a leadership position for Event Services at the London 2012 Olympic Games. I am also keen golfer and compete in many of the regular competitions held here in Phuket and further afield. My wife Amy is a teacher in the Foundation department having joined HeadStart shortly after I did. Since working at HeadStart we have become parents for the first time. Ted Drew was born in April 2018 and is excited to be joining pre-school in this academic year. I look forward to continuing to working with the inspired staff and students and the committed and supportive parents that make up the HeadStart. Together we will ensure that we continue to build on the existing successes of the school and make each academic year even more successful than the last. Please feel free to email me at any time to discuss your ideas on how we can do this together. I look forward to meeting you again as the year progresses!
With over 10,000 Cambridge schools worldwide in 160 different countries, there are over 1.2 million examination entries for Cambridge IGCSE, AS and A Level qualifications on an annual basis. In Thailand alone, there are over 100 schools offering these qualifications and thousands of students completing them. This makes the following news quite exceptional indeed!
In October of each year, Cambridge announces those students who have scored the highest marks in their exams within Thailand, as well as in the world. HeadStart students have regularly received ‘Top in Thailand’ awards over the last nine years. However, this year our student’s performance in their exams has been truly exceptional. 14 of our students have scored the highest marks in Thailand and for the first time, one of those students scored the highest marks in the world! The diversity of the subjects that have received such high marks is incredible: Literature, Mathematics, the Sciences, Humanities, Computing, Language and the Creative Arts.
The success of these students is a result of sustained hard work, effort and dedication on their part, and outstanding teachers and supportive parents helping them to achieve success.
The students truly deserve the recognition that they will receive from the community and at the Cambridge Awards Ceremony in Bangkok. Each one should be rightfully proud of all they have achieved. I am sure you will join me in congratulating them on this amazing accomplishment. Well done to all of you!
| Announcements |
Additional Bus for Chern Talay Route
We are pleased to announce that, due to the increasing demand for students going home via school bus to the North of the island, we will be adding a bus to the Chern Talay route with the addition of 1 bus leaving at 3.30pm. If you have any questions or would like to register for this service, please contact the admin team by writing to [email protected]
Lost & Found to be Donated by Wednesday
Please check the Lost & Found cupboard in the nurse’s room before Wednesday next week. There is a mounting stack of school jackets, water bottles, sports gear, etc. Any unclaimed items will be donated to charity by 4.00pm next week. Suggestion: label your child’s belongings. Items that are labeled are more likely to find their way back to their owner.
| Parent Meetings |
Foundation Parents Meeting on 25.10.22
We would like to invite parents to take a deeper look into Children’s personal, social and emotional development within the foundation stage. This will be held on Tuesday 25th October at 8.30 in the Secondary hall. Personal, social and emotional development (PSED) supports children to learn to get on with others and make friends, understand and talk about feelings, learn about ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, develop independence and ultimately feel good about themselves. We will also discuss how we talk about our emotions at HeadStart using the zones of regulation. We look forward to seeing you there. -Ms Natalie Walker
| Events |
Halloween on 31.10.22
Children in Foundation & Primary are invited to come into school dressed in ‘spooktacular’ costumes to celebrate Halloween on Monday, 31 October. During the day the children will have a costume competition, scary Science projects, a Halloween themed snack and lunch and finally student leadership will organise games and prizes for the children in the atrium at their lunch break. Something to look forward to!
Secondary students are invited to come to school wearing Halloween colours (and themes) during the day and full costumes for the Secondary Halloween Disco starting at 6.00pm in the Sports Hall. This event is for HeadStart students only and is being organised by the Secondary student leadership team. It is bound to be a lot of fun! There will be a live DJ, games, a costume competition and refreshments provided by the BTEC Business students. There are prizes to be won for the following categories:
- Scariest costume
- Costume with the most effort and detail
- Best group costume
- Best presented costume on the catwalk
- Funniest costume
Fitness Update
Erik Böhm is a Phuket based running coach and HeadStart parent of two daughters in Primary school who joins us in the capacity of ‘Community Sports Liaison’. With an extensive background in health & physical education as well as sports science, Erik lives and breathes sports, health and wellbeing. He joins HeadStart with the aim to promote community engagement through sports & activities for all. In this capacity, you can see him leading a ‘Morning Wake-Up’ family-activity every Tuesday and Thursday from 07.00-07.45. Tuesday will be a running specific session for students and parents and Thursday sessions are a full body workout that gets you ready for a perfect day ahead. Students, teachers and parents are welcome to join!
| PE & Sports |
PE Faculty Week
At the end of the first half term, the PE team hosted the first faculty week themed ‘The Touch Rugby World Cup’. Rugby skills and activities were put on during PE classes, ending with the Touch Rugby World Cup for each year group. Lunch activities were also a lot of fun for the students, culminating in the highlight of the week, our famous ‘Splash the Teacher’ event. Lots of students were unable to smash their teachers in the face with a sponge though, so they should ‘try’ better next time, haha. -Mr Carter, Director of PE & Sports
Meet the Team
Physical Education Coordinator Ms Lucy and Head Football Coach Stef, part of the dynamic team who organised a fantastic PE Faculty Week! Visit our webpage to get to know all of the PE & Coaching team: https://headstartphuket.com/staff/coaches
The HeadStart Panthers Over 15 Boys travelled to Republic Academy this week. The performance and work rate shown by our boys was second to none. They played fast and flowing football throughout the match, creating numerous attacking chances and scoring some excellent team goals. Well done Boys! - Coach Paul Rothwell
| Primary |
Year 1 have been learning about heroes and villains from the past. Over the last 5 weeks we have learned about people such as Henry the 8th, Boudica and Robin Hood. We also learned about the amazing divers that rescued the football team from the caves in Thailand. At the end of the half term, we celebrated all of the wonderful heroes in our world by dressing up as some of them. Can you guess who we have dressed up as? -Mr Sam Young
Year 2 students in the Mandarin Foreign Language class are having fun using play dough to form family member words while paying attention to stroke proportion and positioning. -Ms Wei Wang, Mandarin coordinator & teacher
Growing Garden
What better way to connect children to mother nature than to teach them to grow their own food. Before the break, Year 6 had a fabulous time constructing the worm hotel on the HeadStart rooftop growing garden and were fascinated with the elephant manure. -Ms Rebeca Ross, Deputy Head of Primary (Pastoral)
| Creative & Performing Arts |
This week we had our first ever Battle of the Bands event. 8 bands from Year 8 through year 13 prepared a wide range of songs and performed them brilliantly for a packed audience in our school atrium during lunch break. Although this was a competitive event, there was so much talent on display for this performance that our judges (Ms Sillett, Ms Edouard, Mr Rasheed, Khun Jajah) have found it extremely difficult to make final decisions on winners and runners up! Particular stand-out moments for me include Tanya flying into the crowd during her fantastic performance, the Year 10 girls’ ridiculous sunglasses, or the year 12 boys’ ahem interesting fashion choices. All told this was a massively successful event and the students had a whale of a time. Congratulations to all our rockstars! -Mr Graham, Music Coordinator
| Student Success Out of School |
Sora, Roma and Nawa participated in the TKG Tour Golf Tournament at Katathong Golf Resort and Spa in Pang Nga on October 15-16. Congratulations to Tanawut Ketprapakorn (Sora) in Year 2 who was the winner for F-Boy division 2, to Nichanan Aikwanich (Roma) in Year 6 who was the 3rd runner up for the C-Girl division 2 and to Nopparoot Aikwanich (Nawa) in Year 5 who was the 2nd runner up for D-Boy division 2.
Yasmin Halamandres in Year 4 participated in the ACT 60th Anniversary Swimming Championship at Assumption Thonburi School in Bangkok on the 15-16th October. Congratulations for coming 2nd runner up in the female Under 8 category!
| Promotions from Around the Island |
Pura For Life Beverages
For parents and pupils looking for something healthy and delicious to drink at the Coffee Shop at HeadStart International School, you can now find Festilia, our line of high-quality natural juices there. Made from freshly squeezed citrus fruit from Italy, our juices contain no additives or preservatives and NO ADDED SUGAR. With nothing added or taken away our juices are rich in nutrients, especially vitamin C, as well as potassium, folate, and magnesium to help boost immune system functioning.
♻️ What is more, our juices come in glass bottles which not only offer a better taste but are environmentally friendly as they are much easier to recycle or reuse. ❌ No additives ❌ No preservatives ❌ NO ADDED SUGAR 💯 % citrus juice
Melbourne Cup Fundraiser
We are proud to be host to the most popular event in Phuket, the annual Melbourne Cup! Alongside Phuket Has Been Good To Us, The Pavilions Phuket invites guests to join in this prestigious event whereby they will be treated to a free flow of food and beverages with exciting events throughout the day. Highlights include Fashions on the Field, best-dressed competitions, the screening of the race, live and silent auctions, bids, and more. Proceeds from this event will go to Phuket Has Been Good To Us Foundation. 📅 Date and Time: Tuesday, 1 November from 10 am – 2 pm. Free flow beverages 10 am to 1 pm: Complimentary glass of Chandon for all the guests on arrival followed by Prosecco, white wine, red wine, beers, and soft drinks. Menu: https://cutt.ly/zVFK94V
💃 Dress code: At the races 📌 Venue: Firefly 💝 Donation: THB 3,500 👉 Book Your Ticket: [email protected]
