Weekly Update #18, 10 January 2025

Announcements

All Term 2 ECAs Start on Monday 13th January

Please be reminded that all ECAs start on Monday next week. Our ECA team has been busy working through the waiting list and finalising class lists. All ECAs will be enroled at 10:00am on Saturday morning. To view the ECAs your child has been successfully enroled in, go to their timetable on the Parent Portal, making sure to set the dates at the top of the timetable to Week Beginning 13/01/2025.

Parents who have missed the booking phase or would like to adjust their child’s ECAs should email [email protected]. To book additional (more than 3) HeadStart ECAs, parents must visit the ECA Team in person.

Please be aware that invoices will be raised on Monday, 20th January at 16:00. Invoices for Fee paid ECAs cannot be removed once they have been raised so please check your child’s ECAs carefully!

Community Beach Clean this Sunday @ Rawai Beach

We look forward to seeing you at our next beach clean event held at Rawai beach, this Sunday 12th January (meet 9:30 am @ We Cafe). Bring with you water, suncream, a hat and reusable gloves if you want to wear them. We will provide collection bags and of course House Points for every participant.

So come join us for a fun and rewarding community event where we give back to our local community.

Calling All Vendors for our Lunar New Year Market

If you are interested in sharing your unique products with our ever-growing community, why not book a stall at our next Friday Market. With a Lunar New Year theme, this promises to be another wonderful community event taking place on Friday 31st January 2025. Contact Khun Boss in the Marcom office or email [email protected]. We can’t wait to hear from you!

Meetings & Presentations

Year 9 Options Parent Meeting and Options Fair

On Wednesday 8th January, parents of Year 9 students from City and Cherngtalay campuses joined Mr Wakeford and Dr Marsh for a presentation on the IGCSE Options process at HeadStart. Following this, parents joined their children to attend the Options Fair, where they met with teachers and guidance counsellors to discuss details of the syllabuses and curriculums. Guiding students to make the right decisions for their future is central to HeadStart’s mission of “Inspiring a love of learning”. Further conversations with teachers, Pastoral Coordinators and Senior Leaders will be happening throughout the year.

If you were unable to attend the Options Parent Meeting, or would like to review the content, please find a copy of the presentation below.

Year 9 IGCSE Options Parent Meeting 2025

Parent Meetings: Residential Trips for Year 7, 8 and 9

We are sure Year 7, 8 and 9 parents are all very excited to hear more about your child’s upcoming residential trip, taking place during the week commencing 20th January 2025.
To provide you with detailed information and address any questions you may have, we invite parents to informative presentations as follows:

• Year 8: Friday 10th January from 8:00 to 9:00 am in the Secondary Hall (3rd Floor)

• Year 7: Monday 13th January from 8:30 to 9:30 am in the Primary Hall (2nd Floor)

• Year 9: Tuesday 14th January from 8:00 to 9:00 am in the Dance & Drama Studio (4th Floor)

Parent Meeting: Thai Homework for Early Years

Inviting Thai-speaking parents of Early Years children to a meeting about Thai Homework at this stage. Please join us at 8:30am on Tuesday 14th January in the Primary Hall.

HeadStart Alumni

HeadStart Graduates are known for their academic excellence and global perspective. Many of them continue their education at prestigious universities across the world, pursuing diverse fields such as engineering, business, and the arts, while others seek a different path, following their dreams and aspirations in all corners of the globe. Our programs prepare students to thrive in international environments, with alumni often embarking on successful careers in various sectors globally. Over the coming weeks, we will catch up with some HeadStart alumni to find out where they are now.

Keira Brain - Class of 2023

Keira is currently working for Airbus in the UK as a Business Management Degree Apprentice, and will graduate with an Applied Business Degree in the summer of 2026.

Keira’s role entails working 4 days a week in various business roles across the Airbus Operations and Management departments, rotating between areas on a 3-monthly basis. For the 5th day, she attends a Swansea University degree course where she will qualify for a BSc degree after 3 years of study. She is thoroughly enjoying the variation of roles across the company, and is given responsibility to undertake various projects whilst learning about the wider company and its numerous suppliers and business contacts. Keira has already undertaken travel to meet suppliers and is receiving excellent feedback from all her department managers.

Keira always loved managing projects within the HeadStart community and was inspired to go into Business Management based on her duties as Head Girl at HeadStart during the academic year 2022-23.

ECA News

Exciting Highlights from the Hackathon at KIBERone

The latest Hackathon at KIBERone was a total blast, bringing together young tech enthusiasts to showcase their incredible skills, creativity, and tech expertise! Held during the winter holidays, the event attracted students from various schools, including HeadStart Chaofah City, HeadStart Cherngtalay, British International School, UWC Thailand, and KIBERone Chalong. It was an inspiring gathering of young minds eager to push their limits in tech!

Participants competed solo in fun-filled categories like Scratch programming and Roblox Studio development, pushing their limits to build jaw-dropping digital projects.

One of the coolest highlights was the VR Park Experience, where participants dove into immersive virtual reality environments! For many, it was their first time exploring VR tech, offering them a fresh and mind-blowing perspective on its possibilities. This hands-on experience not only expanded their understanding of emerging technologies but also sparked their curiosity to learn even more!

The Hackathon wrapped up with an exciting award ceremony, where the top performers were recognized and rewarded with amazing prizes for their standout projects.

The winners:

• Junior group: Remy, HeadStart Chaofah City

• Intermediate group: Jacob, HeadStart Chaofah City

• Senior group: Grigorii, KIBERone Chalong, and Anson, HeadStart Cherngtalay

Prizes included:

• 🏅 Medals for each participant

• 🎓 Certificates for study in our coding school valued at 2000 baht

• 🎟️ Certificates to 50fly Trampoline club

• 🎒 Cool IT Pro’s backpack

Every participant received a medal, honoring their hard work, dedication, and passion for tech! The Hackathon at KIBERone wasn’t just about celebrating incredible talent but also about inspiring the next generation of innovators to chase their tech dreams.

Want to see the Hackathon in action?

Check out the highlights on our Instagram! Relive the energy, creativity, and excitement of the event! Follow our news so you don’t miss the chance to participate next time and test your skills! We can’t wait to see even more groundbreaking ideas at future events!

P.S. The winners were the ones who practiced at least two hours a week — proving that dedication makes a real difference!

Student Chess Tournament @ Chaofah City Campus

Fight for cash prizes, medals and a bunch of other attractive awards for all participants! All HeadStart students are welcome.

🗓️ Date: Saturday, 18th January

🕘 Time: Attendance check 11:15am

📍 Location: Canteen, Chaofah City Campus

To register and reserve your place, act fast! Double entry fee if register on the day of tournament! Contact Coach Dawid.

Languages Department

Analysing Texts in Year 5 First Language Russian Lessons

Our students have returned to classes after the holidays, and we are excited to share how the new academic period has begun. Year 4 students worked on creative assignments aimed at developing their writing skills and imagination. The students analyzed a text they had read and expressed their thoughts in the form of flowers, each chosen based on specific criteria. In this way, they learned to evaluate work from various perspectives, which is an important part of working with a text. Additionally, the students wrote New Year’s stories, sharing their impressions of how they spent the holidays. The works were designed in the style of New Year’s gifts and decorations. The students are enthusiastically participating in the lessons and demonstrating excellent results. Ms Kiiamova - Russian Language Teacher

Наши ученики вновь вернулись к занятиям после каникул, и мы с радостью поделимся тем, как начался новый учебный период. Четвероклассники выполняли творческие задания, направленные на развитие письменной речи и воображения. Ребята анализировали прочитанное произведение и оформляли свои размышления в виде цветов, каждый из которых был выбран с учетом определённых критериев. Таким образом, обучающиеся учились оценивать произведение по различным аспектам, что является важной частью работы над текстом. Кроме того, ученики написали новогодние истории, в которых поделились впечатлениями о том, как они провели каникулы. Работы были оформлены в стиле новогодних подарков и игрушек. Ребята с энтузиазмом участвуют в занятиях и демонстрируют отличные результаты.

Primary

Welcome Back to Term 2!

It was great to see so many smiling faces back at school this week. With the winter sun shining, our Primary children took the opportunity to catch up with friends, old and new, in the Primary Playground. We are all looking forward to a term full of sunshine, happiness, laughter and friendship!

Secondary

BTEC IT Get VR Gaming at BTC

Last month, HeadStart BTEC IT students visited the Blockchain Technology Centre (BTC) located just north of Chalong circle. They were given a seminar by the owner of Finstable, where students were taught about the emerging cryptocurrency market and trading assets using their trading platform on their own personal devices. Currently, HeadStart students are designing, programming and creating their own games using various gaming engines, so we visited the inhouse Virtual Reality gaming space to inspire students for their future career, but also, their current assignments. Mr Armstrong - Head of Computing & Commerce

Logging Vocabulary and Reading in KS3

To help students in Years 7 to 9 develop their vocabulary and track their reading, we have made reading and vocabulary log books for each student.

To parents, please take a look at your child’s log book at home and talk with them about what they’re reading and the new words they’ve learned.

It’ll surely be a most sublime, transcendent and meritorious experience…(!) *Mr Pollicutt - Head of English and EAL