Weekly Update 14

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.

Announcements

Shoe Box Update

By Ms Fiona Scott, Charity Appeal Coordinator

The Christmas Shoe Box Gifts have now been organised and will be ready for delivery next week. I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to the team of Mums who have spent their afternoons this week sorting and wrapping the Christmas gifts. With nearly 600 shoe box presents, it has been a massive task, and we are truly grateful for your time and support. We hope to bring you more photos in the coming weeks of the final journey our charity boxes will take. Thanks again to everyone who contributed so generously to our Term 1 Charity Appeal.

Good luck to our Under 11 team as they head off to the bangkok Patana Football League this weekend!

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Term 2 and 3 ASP Booking Information

By Ms Anisa Van Der Laan, ASP Manager

Everything that you need to know regarding booking ASPs for Term 2-3 can be found here. If you require additional information please contact me by writing to [email protected] or visit me in the front office.

All free ASP classes that you book for Term 2 will continue through until the end of the academic year. There are 11 weeks of ASP activities in Term 2. There are 7 weeks of ASP activities in Term 3.

Fee paying activities are booked and paid for by the term. Fee paying activities are paid for in full by the term.

Secondary students can now book their own ASPs through the Pupil Portal. Parents must book for Primary children.

Remember it’s NOT first come, first serve. The system will allocate activities randomly based on order of choices.

After 29 January There is absolutely no switching, changing or new bookings until the end of the academic year. Exceptions will be made in specific cases such as if a student has been moved out of a Booster.

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Academy Announcement

For the last week of Term 1 and the first week of Term 2 academy practice will take place between 3:30-5:00 pm.

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Parent Teacher Conferences (PTC): Foundation and Primary

By Mr Whittaker, Head of Foundation and Primary

An email will be sent to parents with instructions on how to book an appointment to see your child’s teacher via the Parent Portal. Here are the allocated times for Foundation and Primary classes for easy reference.

Foundation Parent Teacher Conferences:

Tuesday 12th December–2.30 – 5.00pm

Wednesday 13th December–2.30 – 5.00pm

Thursday 14th December–2.30 – 4.30pm

Primary Parent Teacher Conferences:

Tuesday 12th December–3.30 – 5.30pm

Wednesday 13th December–3.30 – 5.30pm

Thursday 14th December–3.30 – 4.30pm

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Parent Teacher Conference (PTC): Secondary

By Ms Mason and Mr Barker, Head and Deputy of Secondary

We are writing to inform you of our end of Term 1 Parent Teacher Conferences (PTC) at the following times and locations. Please note that all appointments should be made through the Parent Portal on Engage. The venue for the PTC will be on the Secondary floor due to the Foundation to Year 3 Christmas performance in the Sports Hall happening on the same day.

Years 9, 10, 12 & 13 Parent Teacher Conferences:

Wednesday, 13 December–3:35pm until 6:15pm

Years 7 & 8 Parent and Teacher Conferences:

Thursday 14 December–3:35pm until 6:15pm

Please note that the Year 11 PTC will be on 28 February, 2018 after the student’s mock examinations.

We look forward to your attendance with your child and discussions regarding your child’s progress in all of their subject areas.

Foundation Christmas Performance Programme

By Mr Andrew Whittaker, Head of Foundation and Primary

Children in Foundation and Years 1, 2 and 3 are busily practising for their Christmas production which will be performed during the school day on Wednesday 13th December; I look forward to seeing you all for what promises to be two fun and exciting shows.

Teachers are requesting that parents drop off their child and then leave to avoid large crowds of people that are not directly involved in preparations. Fot this purpose, we have organised a waiting area in the dining room where parents can have a morning cup of coffee, tea and a light snack.

No seating reservations need to be made. The area for parents to sit will be the middle section and will be clearly marked.

Please also be advised that the school has organised a photographer for the event. A full album of photos will be available on the Facebook page one week after the show.

Foundation Performance Programme:

08:00—Bring your child to their Homeroom so they can prepare for the show.

08:15—Parents are welcome to a Christmas Parent Coffee morning in dining room while you wait.

09:00—Parents please take your seats in the Sports Hall.

09:05—Performance begins.

09:40—Students are accompanied back to classrooms. Parents please wait to leave once students have already left the hall.

Year 1-3 Performance Programme:

01:45—Parents please take your seats in the Sports Hall.

02:00—Children are seated in their places in Sports Hall.

02:10—Performance begins.

03:00—Performance ends: students will make their way to the classrooms to change clothing.

03:05—Parents leave after students have left to collect their children from classrooms.

Christmas Market

We would like to extend a warm welcome to all of the HeadStart community to a Christmassy afternoon filled with traditional moments on 15 December between 2:30-5:30 pm. Everyone is encouraged to dress in festive Christmassy colours on this special day.

In order to faciliate better access to the market, we have organised for school buses to drive up and down the road picking up and dropping parents and students off at their cars. If you need a ride, flag down the school bus and request assistance.

Important: The school day ends at 2:30 pm. Children in Foundation and Primary will be waiting to be picked up at 2:30 so that they can join in the Christmas Market. Until they are picked up they will be waiting in the regular ‘Late Pick Up’ spot. Please make an effort to be on time so that you child is not disappointed. School buses will depart at regular times.

Come and support the Secondary ‘Active Learning’ students at the Christmas Market. They have made adorable Christmas souvenirs in their morning sessions. All money raised will got to Soi Dog.

House News

Last week’s House Quiz winners were the Red phoenixes. The Primary lunchtime event winners (Granny’s Footsteps) were the Blue Tigers. Secondary House activity winners were the Red Phoenixes. Weigh your waste winners, wasting only 3.2kg of food were the Yellow Cheetahs. Also, the shoe box appeal was a resounding success. Here are the results:

Green Dragons 136 boxes = 680 points

Yellow Cheetahs 142 boxes = 710 points

Red Phoenixes 153 boxes = 765 points

Blue Tigers 161 boxes = 805 points

The final results for the Term 1 House competition will be announced during next Monday’s Flag Raising! Good luck!

Sports Department News

By Mr Richard Lukats, Athletics Director

Last weekend saw our U9, U11, U13 and Over 15 Boys Football Academy Teams competing in the BISP International 7s Tournament. The Panthers played with flair and passion and were very competitive in every age group. The tournament is not only one of the biggest in South East Asia, but it is also one of the most competitive, so our boys did incredibly well across the age categories and on average it was our best performance at the tournament with a number of quarter final placings.

On Wednesday the girls Senior Basketball Team played a mini tournament at home against KIS and BIS. The girls played really well in their games and were runners up.

This weekend the U11 Boys Foot Football Academy Team wiĺl be playing in the Bangkok Soccer 7s @ Patana School, if there tour shirt is anything to go by… they should definitely be the most stylish team at the tournament. We wish them good luck and a safe trip!

Next weekend will see our Aqua Panthers, some 60 of them, making the same trip to Patana School to compete in the International Schools Swim Meet. Go the Panthers!!!!

If you want to see some great Football and you have nothing to do on Tuesday 5th December, pop into school in the morning and see Phuket’s best footballers from around the island, playing in the Phuket Youth Development League Soccers Finals.

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Foundation Department Announcements

By Ms Fiona Scott, Deputy Head of Foundation

It’s hard to believe we are so close to the end of term. Our youngest HeadStart children have certainly come a long way this term and made terrific progress. We are all very proud of their hard work and enthusiastic efforts.

Foundation Morning Drop off and Late Pick Up

Just a gentle reminder that learning starts in Foundation at 8.00am. Parents are welcome to stay in the classrooms if they arrive in school before this time. After 8.00am, the Homeroom Teachers have a number of activities planned and organised for different groups of children which can be difficult to implement if parents stay for longer periods of time with their child, and can be upsetting when parents leave. Our children are now very settled in school and with a full, busy day ahead, we do encourage parents to say their goodbyes and leave promptly. This does enable the children to make a settled start to the day.

Please also be reminded that the pick up time for Early Years and Reception is either 2.20pm or 3.20pm. The late pick up club (3.30pm - 4.20pm) is for children who have older siblings attending ASPs around the school. We do understand, that at times, parents run late and are unable to collect their children on time. Recently we have noticed our Indoor Learning Centre has been very busy with children awaiting collection after 3.20pm. Christmas time is always a fun, yet very busy time of year for children and our little ones do get tired and emotional. Please do try and collect your child at the correct time in the afternoon.

Foundation Non Swimmers

Now that Phuket has reached high season for tourists and visitors, we appear to be having some rather unwelcome wet weather. This nonseasonal weather has an impact on children participating in swimming lessons, and we do understand that the wet weather can cause runny noses, sore throats and other cold -like symptoms.

If your child is not taking part in swimming, we encourage all parents to inform the Homeroom Teacher and to bring in a Doctors certificate. All non swimming children must remain with their classes at all times, unless advised by a Doctor. For Health and Safety and security reasons, children are not allowed to wait in the Nurse’s room if they are not swimming. Please do come and speak with me if you have any concerns regarding this issue.

Foundation Book Gift

On Friday 15th December we have a surprise visitor coming into Foundation between 10.00 - 11.00am. We are inviting all parents, with children in Foundation, to send in a gift of a book so that Santa can give this as a gift to your child. Please send to school:

A book of your choice for your child (not toys).

Please gift wrap it and write your childs name on it.

Please give the wrapped and labelled book to the Homeroom Teacher before Wednesday 13th December.

Parents are welcome to come and take photos when Santa visits (from 10:00 - 11:00). If you can not attend we will also be taking plenty of photos and will put them on the HeadStart Facebook page for you to see and share with your family.

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Students in Action!

This week the Preschool enjoyed doing different things in the swimming pool. By Ms Fiona Whittaker

Early Years students are learning to count in Thai. We counted all the objects that we found along the corridors. By Kru Sue

Reception had a lovely time on our field trip to the bird park on Tuesday. We fed the goats and bunnies, got to watch the crocodiles sleep and the birds came to sit on our shoulders or land on our heads. We had so much fun! By Ms Smithie

Key Stage 1 students are refining their techniques in preparation for sports day next term! By Ms Fiona Whittaker

Athletics is where the KS1 children develop their skills in isolation and then get competitive and race against each other in a range of activities. The highlight will be Sports Day which will be in thenext term. The children will also be competing for their House. By Ms fiona Whittaker

Year 5 Blue wrote newspaper reports about evacuees from World War 2. We used tea staining to make them look very old! By Ms Lindsay Williams

GCSE students practical coursework. By Mr Duncan Peake

IGCSE ICT Early Morning Booster

By Mr Mason, Head of Business, Computing & Technology Faculty

I would like to congratulate Mr Barker of the successful launch of the early morning IGCSE ICT Booster which took place in Computing 1 on Tuesday from 07:30 to 08:00. This small study group was made up of around 20% of our Year 11 students and about 80% of them that arrive at school by 07:30. The first session focused on answering practical exam questions from the section on Databases entitled ‘Data Manipulation’. This free early morning booster will continue from next Tuesday until the mock exams are complete and then will be reviewed.

Phuket Has Been Good to us Fundraiser

Take a minute to check out a request for sponsorship for the (Phuket Has Been Good to Us Foundation here) [https://chuffed.org/project/gift-them-an-education]