Weekly Update 5, 22 Sept. 2017

Dates for Your Diary

Upcoming events can be found on the HeadStart calendar on the website School Life → Calendar but we have outlined upcoming events here for easy reference.

Annual Events Calendar

An Annual Events calendar has been created for parents so that you can know what’s coming up. The calendar can be found here Events or in the download below.

Insurance Upgrade Announcement

In order to qualify for HeadStart’s upgraded insurance policy, please pick up and sign a copy of the Home and School Partnership Agreement from the front office.

Parent Meeting Invitation

We would like to invite new Primary parents for a meeting on Tuesday 26 September 2017 in the Secondary Hall at 08.15-09.00. At the meeting we will give a presentation of MyiMaths, Parent and Bug Club, our online reading programme. We will show you how you can access these programmes to support your children’s teaching and learning. This meeting will be presented in English and Thai.

Parent Committee Information and Invitation

Establishing a clear channel of communication between parents and management is at the top of our priorities. A large focus is placed on getting the Parent Committee organised for the upcoming academic year. In June, during our accreditation visit from EDT (Education Development Trust), HeadStart was awarded ‘outstanding’ status in terms of our partnership with parents.

‘All aspects of the school’s partnership with parents and the community are now outstanding. The school continues a long tradition of involving parents fully in its life. The school uses a variety of mechanisms to keep parents very well informed about their children and more generally about school affairs.’ Education Development Trust (EDT) Accreditation Report, June 2017

With your help we will continue to build on this strength. We are calling on parent volunteers to step up and join the Parent Committee for the 2017-2018 academic school year. A full description of the roles and responsibilities, current members as well as notes of previous meetings can be found here Parent Committee

In order to apply for a position, please write an email to our executive secretary Khun Yong at [email protected].

Parents should feel like they have an open line of communication with the PC. Two weeks before a Parent Committee meeting, a reminder will go out to all parents to send in points to the Parent Committee members. The PC will then bring your points to the scheduled meeting to be presented and the notes of the meetings will be shared with all parents in an update.

Scheduled meetings for this year: 2 November, 2017 / 1 March, 2018 / 31 May, 2018

Phuket Governor’s Volunteer Project

If you would like to volunteer to join the Phuket Governor as a volunteer to carry out duties related to the King’s Cremation which is scheduled for 26 October, please contact our Thai department as they are organising a place of registration for students and parents who are interested in this project. More news will follow.

Languages Day

Languages Day for HeadStart falls on 26 September this year. This is our second Languages Day and the Language Department has prepared a lot of fun activities for you and your kids to join in. There will be display boards in the atrium where you can find on that day, please help us to put more languages on the board.

House News

By Mr Nick Carter, House Coordinator

Another fab week of House competitions. Here are this week’s results:

Weigh Your Waste winners: The Red Phoenixes won for the second week running, wasting only 3.7kg of food. Next week, as part of our Global Goals initiative at HeadStart we will be running Weigh Your Waste competitions every day. Our target for the week is to waste less than 70kg. Then, on Friday, the Weigh Your Waste competition will be worth double points!

The House Quiz winners: The Green Dragons

Primary lunchtime activity winners: The Blue Tigers

Secondary House competition winners: The Year 8/9/10 Badminton and Table Tennis event was won by the Yellow Cheetahs, and the Year 7/11-13 board games were won by The Green Dragons.

The students also participated in the international ‘Talk Like A Pirate Day’ (Tuesday 19th September). If the students wore a pirate hat and patch they received a point for their House. They also had the option to tell their best pirate joke for an extra point. The winners of the ITLAPD event were The Blue Tigers.

Foundation Department News

By Ms Fiona Scott, Deputy Head of Foundation

Health Alert

With the recent rains we have had a few children absent from school with coughs and colds. Please be vigilant and keep an eye on any cold - like symptoms (coughing, sneezing, runny noses) and if any of these symptoms persist, please seek medical advice. Don’t forget to contact the school if your child will be absent and send in a medical certificate if they have seen a Doctor. Thanks for your continued support in this matter.

Foundation and Primary Playground

Just to remind parents that our playgrounds are not open until 3.20pm. They are not supervised by members of staff in the afternoon, and parents are urged to take responsibility for their children after school. Children do enjoy playing on the play equipment, but at times, can get into a bit of difficulty and require the help of an adult. To avoid any accidents or upset children, please ensure you are keeping an eye on your child at all times, whilst they are playing in the afternoons.

Eco Club Construction - Urgent Appeal for More Materials!

Construction has begun on our Eco projects and we are urgently asking parents for more materials. We need more cardboard tubes! Please help to support the Eco construction team and send in your cardboard rolls. There is a bin for all cardboard rolls in the Foundation corridor.

Preschool really enjoyed their first water play session. They were developing their confidence in the water and had lots of fun! They will soon be ready for the big swimming pool! By Ms Jones

During our ‘In The Garden’ topic we have read the story of ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and learned the names of all the foods in the story. The hungry caterpillar came to our classroom and we practiced identifying these foods as we fed him. The children loved feeding the hungry caterpillar. By Ms Jones

Early Years children have been getting ready for their swimming lessons by developing their water confidence in their first water fun lesson with Miss Fiona. They had a splashing time! By Ms Amy & Ms Holly

Early Years have also been practicing our scissor skills in class. we made fluffy chicks for our ‘On the Farm’ topic. Some children even tried to cut out a curly pig’s tail but this was very tricky. By Ms Strawbridge

Last Friday the Early Years learnt about colour mixing in our messy play. The children experimented with the primary colours to find out what happened when they were mixed together. By Ms Strawbridge

This week in Reception we made learning tricky words fun by going outside and looking in bushes and trees for the hidden sight words on mini beast cards. The children loved the hide and seek activity and were thrilled when they could read some of the words on their own. By Ms Smithie

Primary Department News

By Mr Whittaker, Head of Foundation and Primary

I have been very impressed with the excellent work our pupils are producing in Maths. As you are all aware we are following the Inspire Maths scheme in Primary, which is based on the Singapore Maths approach, and the children have been getting to grips with the Bar Model as a visual concept used to solve mathematical word problems. All of our pupils from Year 2 upwards have been exploring this method to visually display how to solve word problems in varying degrees of complexity.

If you would like to be able to share your child’s learning experience using the Bar Model approach, please view these two videos:

Bar Model Part 1

Bar Model Part 2

Please do ask your children how they are using the Bar Model, and maybe set some word problems of your own for them to solve.

Sometimes all that’s needed to encourage a child to read is a comfy place! By Ms Mai, School Librarian

This week Year 1 ‘Thai as a First Language’ students learned about the Thai vowel called “Sara Ei”. By Kru Way

Year 4 students practicing their multiplication tables in class. By Ms Dickie

Students learned about Marco Polo’s journey to China in Mandarin after school club this week. They even made a mini book to illustrate his journey. By Ms Wei

Year 4 learning about the structure of a tooth in their science class. By Ms Dickie

As a part of their work on light and shadows, Year 5 Blue have been measuring their shadows at different times of the day to see the effect the position of the sun has. By Ms Williams

In science, Year 6 have been learning about evolution and played ‘The Evolution Game’ where we simulated being finches collecting ‘seeds’ using different ‘tools’. After an environmental change, some ‘seeds’ became scarce and only some of the ‘finches’ were able to collect enough ‘seeds’ to survive. The children learned about how environmental change can lead to changes in species populations and then, over a long period, Evolution. By Ms Webb

Year 6 have been making healthy sandwiches this week as part of their health and nutrition unit in PSHE. We had a competition judged by Miss Webb and Mr Adviento based on presentation, nutritional value and taste! The winners in year 6 Yellow were Nathalie, Yan, Aly and Abbie! By Ms Webb

Secondary Department News

By Mr James Barker, Deputy Head of Secondary

Deputy Head Boy and Girl–New Appointments

The start of the school year always brings about changes and student leadership is no different here at HeadStart. Although we had to say goodbye to our previously excellent Head Boy and Head Girl, Morgan Kieffer and Isabelle Fruehwirth, we have more than fitting replacements in Enzo Couture and Luybov Emelchenko who have stepped up from their roles as deputies. This had left a gap that needed filling with equally able replacements.

Our growing 6th Form cohort were given the opportunity to apply for the newly vacated position of deputy Head Boy and Girl. I released the application forms requiring students to talk about their qualities and what they felt they could bring to the role. Applications were plentiful and demonstrated the excellent attributes our student possess. After working their way through the applications, Mrs Mason and myself invited 5 students to interview for these positions. The opportunity to sit and discuss the students opinions and visions for the role was a real joy and showed a level of maturity beyond their years. Both Mrs. Mason and myself were thoroughly impressed with all the applicants but unfortunately only two could be chosen for the role. After much deliberation from myself, again reviewing students’ applications and their interviews, the final decision was made.

I would like to welcome our new deputy Head Boy and Head Girl; Nattanicha Chaloemtoem and Marco Bokobza De La Rosa. They have had this to say about this exciting new opportunity.

“Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. That’s why I’m proud to be deputy head boy, as I will be able to contribute to the improvement of HeadStart and create a better studying environment for all of us.” - Marco Bokobza De La Rosa

“I am grateful to have received this role that allows me to enrich each student’s education experience and help them to fulfill their potential here a HeadStart.” - Nattanicha Chaloemtoem

Senior Prefects–New Appointments

We are extremely fortunate at HeadStart to have a developing Prefect system that is now supported by both Prefects and senior Prefects. Our senior Prefects will help guide our Prefect team and support both deputy and Head Boy and Head Girl. We are hoping that our school community will see the students frequently, supporting at a variety of events and help support all students across the school. I would like to welcome the following students to their roles:

• Jiraya Prieur
• Nikol Smirnovaite
• Andrea Martinez
• Bomnuri Kim
• Elliott Lovotti
• Jenny Park
• Jonathan
• Paola Stoffel

For a full List of Prefects for the 2017-2018 academic school year click here Student Leadership

Student Council

In addition to this, we have our newly elected student council who will be meeting for the first time this academic year on Monday 25th September. An exciting year ahead with regards to student leadership at HeadStart!

Year 10 enjoyed their photography project on ‘Natural Forms’. By Ms Bilbe

P.E. Department News

By Mr Lukats, Athletics Director

Before School Swimming Academy Sessions

There will be swimming sessions with Kru Nut for those in the Academy, who want to train, on the days below. Head Coach Zak Brown will be back to take the sessions as normal from Thursday 28th September onwards.

Thursday 21st September – Swimming for all Academy members

Friday 22nd September – Swimming for all Academy members

Tuesday 26th September – Swimming for all Academy members

Thursday 28th September – Sessions back to normal with Coach Brown

Phuket Youth Development Football League

HeadStart is delighted to announce that the 2nd Phuket Youth Development Football League is to start on the 7th October 2017, here at HeadStart. Hopefully this means even more young Footballers will take up the opportunity to join in. The 1st PYDFL was a great success and we look forward to this being an even better competition.

If you want to be involved in the League please read through the details in the application letter, fill it in and hand it into Head Coach JR or hand it in directly to Cruzeiro at BIS. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact JR or Mr Lukats.

PISAC Cross Country Event

The P.E. department will be organising 5 representatives form each age group to represent the school at the PISAC Cross Country Event on the afternoon of the 5 October. The school will provide transportation although we are happy for parents to come to pick up your child at the end of the event. Further details will be mailed to parents of the selected students.

Thanyapura Swimming Meet

On Saturday the 16th October our Aqua Panthers took part in their first Swimming Meet of the season at Thanyapura. It was a fantastic morning of swimming and despite flooding on the roads, and the real risk of it being called off, it went ahead as planned with only light drizzle.

The HeadStart Aqua Panthers were amazing along with the numerous parents and family members who came along to cheer the swimmers on. We were by far the biggest team there and there were many swimmers taking part in their first competition for the school. There were numerous PBs set on the day, despite it being a little chilly, and the team really supported each other well. Miss Whittaker, Kru Puy and Kru Nut did an amazing job in marshaling the teams on the day. The format of the league means we will not have a result until the end of the year in terms of were we come, but as defending champions we hope that the performances form the team on Saturday will give us a good start in terms of points scored for the year.