Weekly Update #6, 28 September 2018

Dates for Your Diary

Upcoming events can be found on the calendar on the website School Life → Calendar but we have outlined upcoming events here for easy reference. For daily updates and news follow the HeadStart Facebook Page

Good News! Eco Bags Available to HeadStart Community!

We are pleased to announce that HeadStart is giving out eco-friendly cloth bags for all of the students in Foundation to Year 6. The children used them in art class for a painting project making beautiful patterns relating to the environment. We would like to continue to encourage the HeadStart community to bring along reusable cloth bags instead of plastic bags and help reduce the amount of single use plastic being wasted on our beautiful tropical island. Let’s reduce, reuse and recycle and do our part to keep Phuket clean and green!

‘Although it might seem convenient to grab a plastic bag at the cash register, the habit is actually wasteful. One source estimates that plastic bags have three times the greenhouse gas impact of reusable bags. Worse, a few years ago scientists discovered a gigantic mass of plastic floating in the Pacific Ocean, which is an especial threat to marine life. Make a more eco-friendly choice by bringing your own reusable bags on your next shopping trip—they’re way trendier than the plastic stuff anyway!’ Quote taken from 40 Unexpected Ways You Can Help the Environment Right Now!

Year 7 Parent Teacher Conference (PTC) Invitation

We would like to welcome the Year 7 Parents and students to the Parent Teacher Conference (PTA) that will take place in the Secondary Hall on Wednesday, 10th October 2018 between 3.30-5.30pm.

HeadStart Joins Trash Hero Phuket on World Cleanup Day

On the 15th of September, 158 countries and a predicted amount of 15 million people went out and helped rid their local areas of dumped rubbish for World Cleanup Day! Trash Hero Thailand organised cleans up and down the country, including Trash Hero Phuket who organised their own event at Karon Beach to join in with this record breaking civic action. 220 volunteers (including 160 kids from all over Phuket) collected 770 kgs trash from the beach! Luckily the rain cleared for an hour and a half which allowed us to collect as much rubbish as possible. Thank you to the 28 HeadStart students and 6 members of staff who helped make this happen!

Languages Day 2018

By Mr Michael Opaliski

Languages Day 2018 got off to a great start with music in the atrium along with a sampling of traditional Thai foods. Students danced and sang along to popular songs while attempting to fix translations of signs that went horribly wrong. In addition, many students wrote the word ‘Peace’ in their native language on the Peace board and that trend continued throughout the entire day.

During the lunch periods, students and staff were able to read the food menus in multiple languages and everyone was treated to the beautiful voices of students singing songs in their native languages. Students were also busy playing various games in the atrium during the lunch periods and it seemed as if everyone was enjoying themselves.

Throughout the day during language lessons some classes listened to songs in various languages while making short videos in their native languages. One of the more challenging activities students participated in was creating a tongue twister in their native language. Students certainly had a lot of fun trying to say their tongue twisters aloud quickly! Overall, the day was engaging for all who participated and we look forward to having Languages Day be one of the new crowd favourites in the years to come.

Student Success

Congratulations to the following students who were awarded certificates of appreciation from the Governor of Phuket for their efforts to create a good reputation for Phuket.

• Louise Landgraf in Year 5 who won the girls ‘Golf Junior World Star Championship’ ages 9-10 category in Las Vegas, USA.
• Nutcha Phaisamran in Year 10 who won the International Performing Arts Competition.
• Nichapa Ngernanek (Kiki) and her sister Pattarachanon Ngernanek (Mimi) who won the Siam Golagarn Under 19 Electone category.

Phuket Art and Academic competition 2018 Results

On the 22 September, a group of HeadStart students took part in Phuket Art and Academic competition 2018 at several different Thai schools for the 5 years running. There were over 95 schools from Phuket competing. Special thanks to our Thai teachers, Kru Way, Kru Bo, Kru Pim, Kru Fon and Kru May for their dedication in training the students this year.Congratulations to these following students for their winning.

Thai Etiquette Competition:

Gold Prize: Ten Ten in Year 6, Toni in Year 5 Silver Prize: Opal in Year 4, Tete in Year 3

Thai Dulcimer (kim): Jomnang in Year 5, won gold prize Thai Handwriting: Jie Jie in Year 5, won silver prize and Putter in Year 4, won silver prize

Team Modelling Clay: Buahom, Pun, Nawa in Year 1, won bronze prize Team Paper Collage: Ying Ying, Pluem, namon in Year 1, won bronze prize

Mid-Term Holidays Sports Camps

Lastly, myself and Coach JR will be holding camp’s over the half term break (Monday 15th - Thursday 18th October).

Coach JR’s Football Camp (which was announced last week). Sign Up HERE

Also, there’s going to be my ‘Coach Carter’s Super Sports’ camp. Coach Carter’s Super Sports is open for Boys & Girls aged 9-12 and will focus on physical activity that is both co-operative and competitive. Most importantly, Super Sports will be loads of FUN! To sign up, please register your details on this google form and then make your payment at HeadStart’s front office with Khun Aom Sign Up HERE

Physical Education News

In Physical Education, many of the students are currently studying gymnastics and this week year 8 have been learning how to perform acro-balances. The lessons have challenged the students not only physically but also mentally. In a safe and supportive environment the students were encouraged to move out of their comfort zones and to trust each other in order to create some of the amazing acro-balances you can see below.

By Ms Nadine Brelstaff and Ms Cardelle Dunne

Foundation Department News

We’ve had a super week in Foundation. Children have been bouncing back in good spirits and good health and we have had no more confirmed cases of any viruses or infections, which is very pleasing indeed. Once again, a huge thank you to the fantastic teams in Foundation and Housekeeping who have spent many an hour bleaching and scrubbing to ensure our department is germ free.

Settling In meetings for Parents - Thursday, 4 October 1.00pm - 2.00pm

As part of our school transition and settling in procedures, we would like to invite parents with children in Foundation to a settling in meeting next Thursday afternoon. The meeting is informal and of a drop - in nature. Refreshments will be supplied. Teachers will be available to chat about your child and how they have settled into their new classes. Please note that this is only a meeting to discuss settling in and not academics. The academics parent / teacher consultations will be held at the end of Term 1.

Celebrations

Today our end of the month celebrations have included Party- Friday birthday celebrations, Star of the Week and Stars of the Month celebrations. We wish all our little ones celebrating their birthday, a very Happy Birthday and congratulations to our hard working students for a fantastic week and month. Well done to Alex, Liliia, Raegan, Napat, Naomi, Jagger, Mia, Gun, Alex, Leo, Fynn, Kimi and Jacob for all their efforts this week and over the last month.

Reception Fun House Challenge

On the last Friday of each month, the Reception children join in with some fun House activities to earn vital points for their teams. Today there was an outstanding sporting performance put on by all teams, with the Green House taking the lead and winning a magnificent amount of House points. These will be calculated and added to the schools running totals. A big well done for everyone joining in and earning points for their teams.

Saturday Thai Culture Club News

The Early Years to Year 1 students enjoyed a fun first Saturday Thai culture of Term 1 on the topic of Thai fruits. Students learned about different fruits by playing a game called ‘The Mystery Box’. They learned how to make a colourful Thai dessert that looks like fruits called “Luk Chup” which was lots of fun!

The Year 2 - 6 students had a marvelous experience learning how to make traditional tie dye handkerchiefs using natural colours.

Today in Early Years we completed the learning of our planting and farming topic. We made some beautiful flower crowns and also learned about where milk comes from! We milked udders made from rubber gloves. During this topic, the children were able to learn about different farm animals and plants, as well as use our fine motor skills to make different crafts. Well done everyone, I’m so happy to see such great progress! By Ms Saki Shabuya

Early Years Students have learned Thai consonants by playing card activities. By Kru Cherry

This week in Reception we have been learning about different types of transportation and enjoyed exploring cars, planes, trains and more. Reception Yellow made their own passports and aeroplane tickets this week before boarding our class flight to Beijing! It was a very exciting take off and landing! By Ms Hannah Kuusik

Reception students are learning how to count 1-20 in their Thai class. They also are leaning to recognize big numbers. For a video showing how well the children can count click HEREBy Kru Sue

The Year 2 White students are learning instruments in their music classes. By Ms Mency Regalado

Year 2 sharing and learning languages across the year group. By Mr Michael Marx

Year 2 Yellow have been looking at poetry this week. They worked together to match rhyming words then performed their own poems with actions! By Ms Kirsty Hark

In Year 3 children have been completing a report on the death of Tutenkhamun - was it murder, or simply an unhappy accident? Come and take a look at the windows of the Year 3 classes to see some of the children’s superb writing. By Mr Ian Jackson

The students in Year 3 had a lot of fun in their Art ASP making cave art. By Ms Mency Regalado

The Chinese Moon Festival took place on Monday this week and the Year 5-6 students in Mandarin class had a little taste of moon cakes with green tea to celebrate. They also studied the history of the event with Ms Wei.

Students in the Mandarin Culture Club learned how to make 茶叶蛋 (Chinese Tea Egg) on Friday. They really enjoyed the experience! By Ms Wei

In Year 6 White this week we have been learning about the story of Eweka. This was a Benin Oba (King) who came to power in around AD 1100. We acted out the story.

In Mr Long’s Mathematics lesson this week we learned how to plot mixed numbers and fractions on a number line. To help us learn this we made a human number line.

This week Miss Leamon’s Year 7 class have begun their new Biology topic learning about the Human Body. The students are applying their knowledge to treating real life injuries and illnesses for example diagnosing patients, recognising broken bones on X-rays and splinting broken legs. If the students pass all stages they can receive a year 7 medicine certificate

The Year 10 students learned about comprehensive reading in the Thai IGCSE class. By Kru Kan

House News

By Ms Nadine Brelstaff, House Coordinator

Each week the students from year 5 to 13 take part in a house quiz, the theme of which this week was World Heart Day. The students were quizzed on their knowledge of living a healthy active lifestyle with a particular focus on how much exercise they should do each day and how to eat healthily. It was the Yellow Cheetahs who could answer the most questions correctly and therefore this week’s house quiz winners. Continuing with this theme, next week, the primary students will have the chance to take part in house fitness competitions during Tuesday and Wednesday lunchtimes.

Phuket Comedy Invitation

This month we have an amazing trio of comedians performing at Marriott Merlin Beach Hotel on 9th October and as we want to give you the best offers possible we have half price tickets available only for our comedy club members ! Tickets are 300 baht instead of of 600 baht and are only available until Sunday 30th at midnight. To purchase go to https://www.ticketflap.com/martinmor-phuket and type in the promo code: MARTINMORSTN

Are you a VIP ? Until Sunday night our VIP tickets are available to our members @ 1000 baht instead of 1400, these tickets are very limited and include VIP free-flow bar, meet & greet comedians, best seats & nibbles. To purchase these tickets, go to the above link and enter this promo code: MARTINMORVIP. For info on this event go to and like our Facebook page :PhuketComedy

Thanks & see you October 9th! Phuket Comedy.