Weekly Update 4

Message from the Director of Studies

Dear all,

Just a few sentences to let you know a small side of my job here at HSIS.

2012 – 13 Results Analysis

One of my jobs is to look at the students’ progression over the year. Here are a couple of charts to give you an idea: As an overall KS2 analysis….

The UK authorities recommend at least 51% are at or beyond the UK expected ATL. Please remember, these results are for those with English as their first language. Here at HSIS we have many who are definitely NOT in this group. This is throughout the Years 3, 4, 5 and 6. It is clear for all to see that by the time our students are leaving Y6 and are moving on to the secondary school we have a huge percentage of students well above the grade required.

Well done Key Stage 2 students and teachers. I will continue with the theme of KS2 and look at their reading ages. We test them at the start of the year and at the end of the year using an official reading age test. Here are the results for Year 6:

This chart shows how the average reading age of a child entering Y6 in 2012 was at 10 years and 6 months. The average age of the children was 10 years and 7 months. The students were, on average, 1 month behind the required standard. Many of the Y6 were new to the school and came from Thai or Russian backgrounds so this was not too surprising. However, by the time they had left Year 6 the average child had a reading age of over 1 year beyond their true age. Again, fantastic stuff. In Key stage 3 we have already ordered a full new reading scheme of books in mini-libraries in the English classrooms. We will not sit on good results, we will improve them. Next time around we will look at another area of the job and another age range. People say “there are lies, damned lies and statistics”. All the statistics I present are factual and not made up for a show piece. Have a great week! Ralph Millington Director of studies

Announcements

Year 2-6 Pick Up

To make the Primary pick-up flow more easily we would like to propose the following.

1.) Students that are in an after school programme or go home on the school bus will be brought to the library at 3:00 pm.

2.) Parents who pick up their children around 3:30 on a regular basis will need to inform your child’s homeroom teacher and he/she will make arrangements for your child to also be brought straight to the Library everyday.

Important Notice: Any parents driving through to pick up your child from 3:00 and 3:20 will need to place your child’s name in the window of your car so that his/her name can be read out loud on the speaker system. This will enable staff to prepare the students who can then be picked up quicker thus alleviating the traffic congestion at this time.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Congratulations to the Theze family on the arrival of their daughter!

The Sound of Christmas Drama

The Sound of Christmas… Yes, we start this Friday from 3:45-5:45. All children involved in the play must attend this first rehearsal. We’ll learn the main musical numbers and give out parts. Parents please pack a light snack for the children to consume after school. We are all very excited and ready to start!

Beach Clean Up

Get involved! Clean up Phuket! Get Fit!

From Debra Mierczak, Representative from the Magic Eyes campaign in Phuket.

We invite you to join hands with the “Clean up the World” organisation for a huge ‘Environmental Awareness ‘ weekend from 20-23rd September. It is part of the UN’s theme for 2013 “International Year of Cooperatives”.

We are encouraging as many individuals, groups, organizations, schools, businesses, hotels, resorts and communities to join together to do something special for the environment on this weekend. There will be media coverage and THE FULL SUPPORT AND INVOLVEMENT OF THE GOVERNOR. It will put Phuket and its people on the global map, as green ambassadors!

How can you get involved? Join the Beach Clean Up at Kata Beach with Krix Luther on the 21st of September from 10:00 am onwards.

How does it benefit you? Free fitness class on the beach with personal trainer Krix Luther and benefits at the Surf House SEA championships!

Note that this is not a school organised event just an invitation to do your part to help keep Phuket clean!

Safety Campaign

This is a reminder to all parents, students and staff regarding safety while traveling.

1.) Each student and staff traveling in the school bus is required to wear a seat belt. We suggest that all parents require your child to do the same when traveling anywhere in Phuket. One of the parents has recommended we remind the students with this easy to remember rhyme:

‘clickity clack, front and back’.

2.) Anyone traveling by motorcycle should wear a helmet!

‘Wearing a helmet while riding your motorcycle doesn’t just make good sense, it is now the law. When considering that a helmetless rider involved in an accident is three times as likely to suffer a brain injury as a motorcyclist wearing a helmet, wearing a helmet is a smart proposition.

Wearing a helmet is a reflection of your attitude toward riding and shows that you are a responsible rider who takes motorcycle riding seriously.

Transportation to and from school–Miki Edouard

We appreciate that many parents are in need of reliable, safe transportation to and from school for their children. To accommodate this pressing need the school has purchased an additional school bus which runs to and from the Rawai/Chalong area. In spite of this addition there is still a waiting list.

For this reason we would like to suggest that families help each other out by car pooling. At the moment there are quite a few families needing transport to and from Land and House. If you are willing to take a few additional students, please contact miki in the upstairs office or at [email protected] and I can help co ordinate. Car pooling is a good solution for transportation as well as a good cure for the issues Phuket is facing with pollution and traffic jams.

Foundation News

Preschool in Thai class

Reception A Outdoor Learning Fun!

Primary News

Shark Awareness

We are pleased to announce that Brendon Sing & Elizabeth Ward-Sing,

Founders of the Shark Guardian Foundation, will be coming to visit the HeadStart students on the 14th of October to raise awareness about sharks. You can see more information regarding their projects and the work they are doing around Thailand.

www.sharkguardian.org

[email protected]

Year 2A science–Lindsay Benner

In Science we have been learning about different forces of motion. We have explored different ways we can push and pull things to make them move or change shape. We tested the push force by pushing cars down a ramp and measuring how far they rolled. We found out that a steeper ramp will make the cars roll further.

Year 5B Outdoor Investigation

Here are some photos from our science investigation about shadow movement size and shape. The students enjoyed this activity!

Year 1 needs Puppets!

**In Year 1 we are learning about toys in history and next week we are learning about puppets. We would like to show the children some examples of different types of puppets (e.g. string puppets, finger puppets, sock puppets, marionette, etc) both old and new. If anyone has a puppet at home (especially if it’s older) we would love to borrow it next week to show the children! Thank you.

Laura and Cathy

Secondary News

Year 8 Learns about Photosynthesis

Year 8 have spent the last 4 weeks looking at photosynthesis in plants. We can prove that plants produce oxygen by counting the bubbles that are produced by pond weed under water.

Good work year 8!

Rachael Mayfield

Year 9 makes HeadStart National Anthem!

Thai Department News

Phuket Technology College visits HeadStart

Last week, the Phuket Technology College visited our school to observe how we run the English program.

Mr Theze, Head of the English department and Mr Osbourne, English Support teacher, gave excellent presentations outlining the way their department is run.

Meeting Invitation for Thai Parents

We would like to invite Foundation-Year 2 parents to the** ‘Phonics initiation’** on Tuesday, the 24th of September, at 8.30-09.30 in the Primary Library. Since we want to make it interactive, we would like to limit the participants to 16. If there is a big demand, we will organise another session the following week. Please sign up at the school office with Khun Choke or send an email to [email protected] by Monday 23rd Sep before 1 pm.

**Head Boy and Head Girl visit the Radio **

Our Head Boy and Head Girl went to speak on the 89.75 Radio station to help promote the school to the Thai community.

ข่าวประจำสัปดาห์ ที่ 4 - Thai version ========================================

ข่าวสารจากแผนกอนุบาล

———————————————————————— นักเรียน Preschool กับการเรียนวิชาภาษาไทยนักเรียน Reception ** กับการเรียนรู้นอกห้องเรียน** ** ** ————————————————————————

———————————————————————— ข่าวสารจากแผนกประถมการเยี่ยมชมโรงเรียนของ Shark Guardians ​นักเรียนชั้น Year 5 กับการเรียนนอกห้องเรียน ————————————————————————

ใน วิชาวิทยาศาสตร์นักเรียนชั้น Year 5 ได้เรียนการสังเกตรูปร่าง ขนาด และการเคลื่อนไหวของเงา โดยคุณครู Danny Redley

———————————————————————— ข่าวสารจากแผนกมัธยมนักเรียนชั้น Year 8 เรียนรู้เรื่อง Photosynthesis นักเรียนชั้น Year 9 กับเพลงเฮดสตาร์ท ————————————————————————