Weekly Update # 30, 26 June 2021

Upcoming events can be found on the website under School Life → Calendar and are outlined here for easy reference. For daily updates and news follow the HeadStart Facebook Page and YouTube channel.

Arrangements for Last Day of School

We hope this explains the timings and arrangements for the final day of term and I wish you all the best during the summer vacation where I hope you will have time to relax and enjoy spending quality time with your family.

Summer Camp

HeadStart Summer Camp 2021 is about to begin. We are looking forward to four fantastic weeks of action and fun for all. A limited number of places are still available in Week 1. If you are interested in applying, please do so before the 1st of July. You can do so by contacting the front office at [email protected] or calling 076-612875. If you are interested in booking the Summer Camp for your child for weeks 2, 3 and 4, please contact us and make a payment for the camp one week before your child’s Summer Camp start. For those who have already registered for week 1, invoices will be sent out on Saturday, 26 June and payments are due by 2 July.

• If you have already committed to sending your child/children to the camp, don’t forget to fill in the Parent Self-Declaration Form- Click HERE!.
• If you are interested in your child taking the school bus, use this link to sign up: School bus sign up link -Click HERE!

Primary Awards Ceremony

Congratulations to all of this year’s Primary award winners for Outstanding Effort, Outstanding Student, Most Improved Student, Outstanding Sports Performer, Creative Arts Prizes, Thai Etiquette, Most Improved English, Sports awards and finally Primary Student of the Year. We have been extremely lucky to be able to celebrate the student’s achievements in person last week and we hope that all of our Primary students will strive to be next year’s award winners! A full album of photos can be found on the HeadStart Facebook Page

Reception Transition Days

On Monday 21st June the Reception children visited the Year 1 classrooms and teachers as part of their transition to Primary School. The children participated in Year 1 activities, got to know some of the team and took their break on the Primary Playground! The children were extremely excited and inquisitive about Year 1 and came back from the event feeling confident and optimistic about the next step in their academic journey. -Ms Hannah Brown, Deputy Head of Foundation

Year 3 Yellow “hot-seating” George Stephenson, the inventor of the locomotive, as part of their debate as to whether a railroad should be built in their town. -Ms Nicola Fallows

Over the last 2 months or so our Year 8s have embarked upon a 20th century History project. They could choose whatever topic they liked just as long as it was in the 20th century and also they had a History “Learning Menu” to give them some ownership on what format they would choose to present their work. Please, when you can, pop into the History room and look at some of the best work, which includes books for children, diaries, mini graphic novels, detailed posters and podcasts which you can access using a QR code! -Mr Richard Cramp

In the culmination of their study of Denis Kelly’s DNA, students in Year 9 Austen performed in their collaboratively written plays to the rest of the year group. These pieces explored similar dark themes and used some of the conventions of the genre to bring them to life. The sophistication of the students’ scriptwriting and their thematic explorations were particularly noteworthy. Well done to all! Mr Pollicutt, Head of English

As we move toward the year’s end, Year 7 White took the opportunity in PSHE to engage with a mindfulness exercise. This was designed to calm and focus the students, especially in the relentlessly fast pace of 2021. A break, if you will, from the madness of crowds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEl6_pRK4-w. -Mr. Pollicutt, Year 7 White Homeroom Teacher

Here is a sample of student reflections: * ‘My brain is clear’ Egor * ‘Very calm and relaxing- I would do it again.’ Khun * ‘Soothing…like a part of me was conscious and another wasn’t. It felt like I was walking down a very long corridor’ Ton-Kla * Relaxing and calm’ Prim * ‘I was conscious of the aircon, my breathing and the movements of others..a lot of the tension I didn’t know I had just disappeared. It was my own space; I felt at peace.’ Dom

With the current trend of misuse of statistics to selectively prove or disprove a hypothesis, the Year 7 students were given a challenge. This challenge was to come up with an investigation they were interested in doing, come up with what they think the answer is - their hypothesis - and then objectively and in an unbiased fashion, investigate. They collected the data, analysed using statistical techniques such as finding the averages and correlation and use that data to come up with a conclusion. They then compared this to their hypothesis to see if what they actually thought were true. The results were intriguing…-Dr Portelli, Head of Maths

Last week, Miss Elodie, a member of the animal welfare organization, World Animal Protection, gave us an impressive lecture about animal rights and the food production system. We also received an informative talk about Human Rights from Mr Ishmael, during which we learned about and discussed current events in which people’s rights are violated. From both workshops, we have gathered useful information about ethics, morals and rights and wrongs concerning humans and animals. The talks were informative and moved us all inspiring us to take action and encourage others to do the same. Perhaps we will explore ways to incorporate service and learning into clubs we run at school next year which we can, as student leaders, run to further support our understanding of these issues and how we can play a part in making a difference for the betterment of society. -Written by Linda, Alicia in Year 11

Well done to Teerat Thongtong (Tito) in Year 5 White for his achievement of being a great library monitor over 5 years. In the meantime, I would like to say thank you to Liu Ying Ge (Linda) and Nasapon Hanpipat (Poy) for their volunteer work in the library. -Mai, Librarian