Weekly Update #13, 29 November 2019

Upcoming events can be found on the website under School Life → Calendar and are also outlined here for easy reference.

For daily updates and news follow the HeadStart Facebook Page and You Tube channel.

School calendars for the next two academic years are now available online. Visit THIS LINK to find out more.

It is with great delight that we announce the names of the Outstanding Cambridge Learner Award winners from HeadStart International School. These awards are for students who sat for the June 2019 Cambridge IGCSE and AS/A Level exams. The awards ceremony was held on 27 November at Charter International School in Bangkok. Congratulations to Alexandre, Natalia and Elizaveta on these outstanding achievements! Ms Jennifer Blackweir, Academic Director

This is now the second year that we are running First Language French, Mandarin and Russian classes as part of our curriculum. Ensuring the quality of the language programme and making our school as effective for our French, Mandarin and Russian speaking community as possible is an important part of our development plan. This questionnaire is strictly anonymous. We appreciate you taking the time to carefully read and honestly respond to this questionnaire in order to help us improve our programmes.

Вопросы для опроса родителей на родном языке

Sondage langue première à destination des parents

中文第一语言项目家长调查问卷

Today marked the conclusion of Movember! As part of the grand finale, 6 brave souls (Messrs Brown, Clarke, Crowther, Khan and Lukats) risked their precious faces to be shaved by our guest barbers (Ms Brown, Ms Blackweir and Kru Sue) to raise money in the Grand Shave-Off Auction. Great effort from HeadStart students who raised around 5,000 Baht for The Movember Foundation. Thanks to all the MoBros for making it a very hairy Movember and now- to your razors! Mr David Pollicutt

How to survive the holiday break with young children.

Celebrating the holidays with children can be magic but it can also be tiring to keep them amused when your normal routines are no longer in place. Learn some strategies to alleviate stress, take care of yourself and to keep the children happy.

UPrep Talk: Applying to Top Universities

On 28 November Ms Gemma Caines, Head of Sixth Form, gave a presentation on applying to top universities around the world. If you were not able to join the meeting, the notes are provided for you in the downloads below. Our next UPrep event will be on 12 December in the Coffee Shop. Parents are invited to grab a drink, drop in and speak with our UPrep team giving the chance to ask questions and find out more details specific to your situation.

Thanks to our fantastic HeadStart community, all 50 foster children from Phuket Sunshine Village Foundation and Life Home Project Foundation have been sponsored. Well done to the HeadStart community and friends for coming together in such a meaningful way.

Next steps…

→ Have a look at the ‘Needs list.’ If you are able to donate any of the needed items or if you have clothes, toys or other items that may be of use to children between the age of 2 and 17, please bring them to the front office and we will make sure they are presentable and organise for the items to be brought to the foster homes.

→ Phuket Sunshine Village is organising a Christmas Market charity event on the 14th of December between 3:00-8:00pm. A group of students, teachers and management will be running a games and activity booth but we would like to extend a warm welcome to the community to be a part of the action. Let us know if you would like to participate in any way by informing admin staff in the office or by writing to [email protected]

Foundation Christmas Morning Programme

08.15- Parents please be seated in the Sports Hall.

08.30- Foundation children arrive for a our Christmas Sing Along.

09.00- Parents are welcome to take your child to the Foundation building for refreshments, pictures with Santa and a fun Christmas craft making session in class.

09.45- Children can either stay in school for a regular school day or go home with parents.

10.00-Parents are kindly requested to exit the school.

Please come and show some support for our Business BTEC students. Come and visit their food and beverage stalls in the atrium on 16 December from 2.30pm onwards. They have been planning the Christmas food and beverage menu for a few months now and are ready to put their training into action!

Year 1 and 2 Christmas Activities

The Year 1-2 students will have a delicious traditional Christmas lunch at mid day followed by Christmas activities and crafts planned by their teachers in classes. At 3.00pm parents are invited to hear a festive song that the children will have learnt in their Music class. Parents are then invited to take the children to visit Santa and support the BTEC Business students by purchasing their sampling of food and beverages in the atrium.

Year 3-6 Christmas Activities

The Year 3-6 students will have a delicious traditional Christmas lunch at mid day followed by Christmas themed activities and competitions. By 3.00pm parents are invited to take the children to visit Santa and support the BTEC Business students by purchasing their sampling of food and beverages in the atrium.

Year 7-9 Christmas Activities

Students in Years 7-9 should be prepared to have a very active morning! We have planned 3 stations of activities that should be a lot of fun! Students should be reminded to bring something they can get wet in as well as something cozy to wear for a Christmas movie after lunch. By 3.00pm the school day will be finished.

Year 10-13-Activity Day at Blue Tree

We extend an invitation to all of our Year 10-13 students for an activity day at the fantastic Blue Tree in Cherng Talay. This should be a great way to end a very busy term. Visit THIS LINK to discover more about Blue Tree and what activities are available! Students should arrive at school at 8:00am ready for departure via school bus. Blue Tree entrance fees are covered by the school while students should bring around 500 Baht to pay for their own lunch and drinks. Good news! Blue Tree have offered a 25% discount on all food and beverages for the HeadStart students for this event. Thank you Blue Tree! Parents are requested to pick up the students from school at 2.00pm in order to clear the car park for the afternoon influx of parents coming for the Foundation and Primary Christmas activities.

If you have any questions or require assistance please do not hesitate to contact a member of staff or write to the front office at [email protected] .

Swimming News

The Aqua Panthers have their last meet of the year tomorrow, 30th of November at Thanyapura. This is the first of three league meets against all the teams on the island, as well as a few others outside of Phuket. We have 38 of our swimmers participating and I am looking forward to seeing some amazing performances! Good luck to all the swimmers this weekend! The meet starts at 8:00am and is expected to conclude at 12:00pm. See you poolside! Coach Brown

Volleyball

Congratulations to our Secondary players who are the winners of the PISAC volleyball tournament!

Football News

Last weekend, the U9, U11, U13 (boys) and U15 girls represented the school at BISP Soccer 7s. All four teams did so well with two teams reaching the quarter final stages. The weekend brought together the players, staff and parents to demonstrate how far the football academy has developed so far this year. Special thanks goes to all those that were able to come and support the teams, it was a great competition and one that we will all remember.

• This weekend, Soccer Circus is on as usual.
• On 18, 19 and 20 December, HeadStart are hosting a Christmas Football Camp. All children are welcome to join use from 1.00 - 4.00pm. See poster below.

Early Years had their first messy play day today with the parents! We had so many fun things to interact with, like gloop, water, sand, water jelly stones and so on and so forth. Many of the children got wet and messy and were so engrossed in all of their activities! Thank you to the parents for coming. Ms Amy and Ms Saki

Reception had a lovely Teddy Bears Picnic with their parents and teddies this morning. Our new theme is toys and we all brought our favourite teddy to share lunch with. We are also learning about being kind to our friends and sharing, and the picnic was a lovely way to tie into this. Thanks to all the parents for coming and bringing yummy snacks. The children had a wonderful time. Ms Candice Smithie

Year 2 went to the Phuket Aquarium in Central on Monday to learn about the different marine life around the world. Children were excited to see real cute penguins and long stingy stingrays! They even got a chance to touch some beautiful starfishes and slimy fishes. Some children said their favourite bit was seeing the Otters playing and chasing each other around. Mr Michael Marx

Year 4 students have been learning about sentence structure in the ‘Thai First Language’ class. More specifically they have been learning about simple present, negative, command and request as well as interrogative sentences. Kru way

We are edging even closer to this term’s house winners being announced and the students are eagerly waiting in anticipation for Flag Raising on Monday. The winners will be treated to a movie and popcorn in school on Tuesday 10th December. The primary students have enjoyed playing Connect 4 against the house captains and the results of this week’s quiz are incredibly close. There are a few more totals to be added but here are the current house total points… Ms Kirstie Melville