Weekly Update #18, 4 March 2022
Upcoming events can be found on the website under School Life → Calendar and are outlined here for easy reference. Good news! Our term 3 dates have already been uploaded to the school calendar so that you can plan your summer. If you have questions or require further assistance please email [email protected]
| Date | Time | Event | Who for? | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5-6 March | 8.00am-4.30pm | DofE Year 10 Bronze Training (Group 2) | Year 10 | Ao Yon beach |
| 7-10 March | All day | Yearbook Photoshoot | All students & staff | Secondary Hall |
| 10 March | 8.15-9.00am | UPrep Talk: How HeadStart Supports University Applications | All | Primary Hall |
| 12 March | 8.30am-12.30pm | Saturday Thai Culture Club | Thai national students | |
| 12-13 March | 8.00am-4.30pm | DofE Year 10 Bronze Practice (Group 1) | Year 10 | Ao Yon beach |
| 15-17 March | 8.00am-5.00pm | Year 7 Residential Trip | Year 7 students/teachers | to Angsana Laguna |
| 16 March | 3.30-5.00pm | Y12 & Y13 Parent-Teacher conferences | Y12 & 13 parents | Secondary hall |
| 18-19 March | 6.00pm-6.00am | 12 Hour Swimathon for Charity | Swim Academy | Swimming pool/Sports Hall |
| 19-20 March | 8.00am-4.00pm | DofE Year 10 Bronze Practice (Group 2) | Year 10 | Ao Yon |
| 21-23 March | 8.00am-5.00pm | Year 8 Residential Trip | Year 8 | Khao Sok River Side Cottages |
| 21-25 March | In class | Swim Galas | All school | Swimming pools |
| 24-25 March | 8.00am-4.00pm | DofE Year 10 Bronze Final Trip (Group 1) | Year 10 | Ao Yon |
| 25 March | 6.00pm-6.00am | Footie-a-thon for charity | Football academy | Football pitches |
Parent Meeting Invitation
Announcing this year’s first University Prep meeting open to all interested parents on the topic of ‘How HeadStart Supports University Applications’ presented by our Head of Sixth Form, Ms Indu Bedi. Thursday 10 March, 8.15-9.00am in the Primary Hall.
Yearbook Photoshoot Continues 7-11 March
Day 1 of the Yearbook Photoshoot was successful and we will continue from 7-10 of March.
Just a reminder that students should wear their regular HeadStart uniform, clean white socks with school or sports shoes on the day of their photo. Hair should be cut & styled neatly and not cover the child’s face. CLICK HERE for the Yearbook timetable. Due to class closures, we will do our best to reschedule before 10 March. Students who have missed their session will not be in the class photo but can have their individual profile taken if they are in school between Monday and Thursday this week.
We will not be able to schedule any additional days but we would like to invite students who are not in school next week due to Covid or class closures, to take a photo and send it to [email protected]. These photos will be added to the Yearbook.
Description: high quality, clear, smiling, no shadows on the face, white background only. The photo must be taken at eye level, the student must be facing directly forward. Photos taken with filters or apps will not be allowed.
Make Kindness the Norm - Upcoming ‘Kindness Week’
There are things we do every single day with intention, yet we don’t even think about them. We wake up, take a shower, brush our teeth, get dressed, drive to work or school… all part of our invisible routine. What if we added a moment of kindness to our invisible routine? What if we woke up and as we turn the alarm off, we immediately sent an uplifting text message to a friend? Or during the morning commute, what if we let that guy merge into traffic with a wave and a smile instead of feeling upset or slighted?
As we celebrate World Kindness Week, we invite you to look for ways to make kindness the norm in your daily life. Kindness Week is a great way to begin building a new routine which means including intentional moments of kindness, laughter and delight. It also means taking a moment to enjoy and recognise when those things are happening. Kindness starts with one. One smile. One compliment. One cup of coffee. One conversation.
→ On Tuesday bring a cookie for members of the support staff.
→ On Thursday bring dry and tinned foods to be donated to Scholars of Sustenance.
→ On Friday students and staff are welcome to wear bright colours.
Sontana Baci
My name is Sontana Baci. I come from Songkhla, the deep south of Thailand. I joined HeadStart International School in 2010. I hold a bachelor of Thai Language Education as well as a Master degree in Educational Management. HeadStart International School welcomes all international students and Thais. With over 40 nationalities represented in the student body, you will soon feel the mixture of our international progamme as well as the appreciation that we are living in Thailand. We strongly believe that HeadStart is a ‘family’ school, where our youngest and oldest students study and live happily side by side. Our favourable pupil-teacher ratio means that each child is an individual and receives the needed academic and social support. HeadStart International School is a recognized Cambridge International Examinations centre and all students sit the IGCSE examinations here in May/June and November sessions. The Cambridge IGCSE is the world’s most popular international curriculum for 14-16 year olds, leading to globally recognized and valued Cambridge IGCSE qualifications. Students who have completed Year 11 with 5 passes at least at grade C, receives a certificate that is the equivalent to M.6 in Thailand This will enable them entrance into many international university programmes in Thailand. I am very proud to be associated with HeadStart and I am delighted at the many achievements of our students.
Private Education Association Opening Ceremony 2022 for the South of Thailand
Last Saturday, Phuket welcomed Dr Kanokwan Wilawan, the Deputy Minister of Education for the Private Education Association Opening Ceremony for the South of Thailand. Mason and Opal in Year 7 were given the unique opportunity to be student representatives at the event and make the welcome speech for the Deputy Minister of Education. Mason was confident as he gave a welcome message in English after which he accompanied the Minister of Education to the stage. Well done Mason and Opal and a special 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾 to Mason and Opal’s families for their support throughout this event.
Congratulations to Dr Parimon Phaisamram, our School Licensee who was awarded ‘Outstanding Contributor to Private Education 2021’. We also wish to congratulate our beloved Thai teachers, Kru Poy and Kru Cherry who were awarded ‘Outstanding Thai Teachers of the Year 2021’ at the ceremony.
Nutcha, our 2021-2022 Head Girl was invited to perform at the event and as always, Nutcha sang beautifully and drew the guest’s attention. We also would like to Congratulatee Nutcha who won 1st place in the singing section of the Private Schools Academic Competition, Southern Region Round 2021 in the ‘English Song/Secondary level’ category.
University Application News
Congratulations to Gemma Brain, enrolled at HeadStart since Year 9, on receiving five university offers in the UK to study Natural Science and choosing York University.
“Gemma is one of the most hard working, enthusiastic and dedicated students that we have in Sixth Form. She is actively engaged in school life through her student leader role and there is no doubt in my mind that she will thrive at York University. Best wishes for your future endeavors in the UK, Gemma, and hope that you can come visit us again!” -Ben Salmon, Key Stage 5 Coordinator
Year 3 Stone Age Activity
As part of our history learning, Year 3 has been looking at the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages. To encompass our learning, we held a Stone Age Day. The children had a fabulous time dressing up in Stone Age costumes and had the opportunity to, dissect Stone Age poo - looking for foods that people ate in the paleolithic era, make necklaces out of salt dough, make a settlement using materials like those available in the Stone Age. Polina needs an extra mention because she made her own Stone Age diorama at home - this was a fantastic model and well thought out. -Ms Nicola Falllows
Year 4 Visit to the Big Buddha
Throughout the week, Year 4 Blue, White and Yellow made the short trip up Nakkerd Hill in Chalong to view the beautiful Big Buddha statue. The aim of the trip was to consider whether Big Buddha could be included as the eighth modern wonder of the world. Whilst the children were at this historic site, the excited children completed a wide range of activities to see why this attraction is important to locals and tourists alike. These activities included taking traffic surveys, making notes about the stunning views both around the statue and overlooking surrounding Phuket, as well as interviewing visitors and workers about their opinions.
The children represented the school fantastically well and really impressed all of the staff with their confidence and assuredness when speaking to members of the public. Since returning to school, the children have begun writing newspaper reports in third person about their experiences and this writing has definitely been enriched by their visit to this famous landmark! -Mr Ben Stephenson
BTEC News
As part of their assessments, Year 13 students planned their own holiday camp-style activities with Year 4 White. Initiated by our travel and tourism teacher Sam and our director of sport Nick. Year 13 developed their planning, teamwork and leadership skills to run fun activities including bulrush and capture the flag. Year 4s had a great time hanging out with the year 13s! -Mr Samuel Kasim
Drama Exam
This week the Year 10 and 11 students completed their second piece of coursework for their Drama IGCSE. This piece was ‘understanding repertoire’ and required the students to edit and perform a 15 minute extract of a play. The students studied My Mother Said, I Never Should by Charlotte Keatley. For the Year 10 students, this was an opportunity to develop their craft and receive feedback in regards to their development. For the Year 11 students, this work will go to the exam board. All the students did a spectacular job, especially considering the time constraints due to Covid restrictions. They demonstrated excellent performance skills and characterisation. -Ms Sillett, Drama Teacher
Sara Wilson
Hello! I have been a member of the HeadStart teaching staff since August 2019. I am from New Brunswick on the East Coast of Canada. I attended two universities in the Atlantic Provinces before fulfilling my dream of becoming a teacher. At Mount Allison University, I obtained my Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and Mathematics in 2010. I then obtained my Bachelor of Education degree at St Francis Xavier University in 2012. Thrilled to travel and to gain international teaching experience, I accepted a secondary mathematics teaching position in Colchester, UK in 2012. I enjoyed seven years of teaching a wide range of children from varying backgrounds and ethnicities in a multicultural secondary school. Since joining HeadStart in 2019, I have taught Mathematics from Years 7 to 13. In 2021, I introduced the A Level Psychology course to HeadStart students, which I have enjoyed teaching alongside IGCSE and A-Level Mathematics. As of 2023, I get to contribute to our school community as Year 7 Pastoral Coordinator. My passion for mathematics and learning brought me into teaching, but getting to work with brilliant young minds and personalities is what reenergizes me every year. I aim to cultivate real enthusiasm and appreciation of mathematics with my students through dynamic and methodical teaching practice. I hope to encourage a cooperative and supportive learning culture in my classroom, where we learn from mistakes and actively engage our minds in every facet of the subject. In addition to our learning, it is a joy to see students having opportunities at HeadStart to become more well-rounded individuals through clubs and activities. Outside of the classroom I spend as much time as possible exploring, travelling and embracing new experiences. I have a particular fondness for water sports and weight lifting, so I spend much of my free time in the water or at the gym. I also try to balance my love of food with my love of health and wellbeing, so when I am not eating, I am trying to keep active.
AS Psychology at HeadStart
As current Year 11, 12 and 13 students prepare for their upcoming exams in mere weeks, a small cohort of students in Year 12 are preparing for the first external assessment of the AS Psychology curriculum at HeadStart. Together, we have enjoyed recreating and engaging in some well known theories in Psychology while learning the essentials of methodology in scientific research.
As an aid to the process of consolidating this year’s learning, students have created our revision wall, full of key concepts, quick reminders and interactive resources to assist them in their revision. Students can take pictures of and have easy access to Izzy’s online flashcards, Elena’s study summaries, Linnea’s key terms glossary, Keira’s ethics acronym, Alicia’s organised methodological strengths and weaknesses, and Fabian, Luna and Salina’s additional revision resources. We would like to share our work with the HeadStart community with two aims in mind.
First, fellow classmates may consider creating their own working revision displays at home. Research in cognitive psychology suggests that information is better encoded and retrieved given multiple factors, but some to consider are: frequency of active engagement with the material (thinking about and using information, rather than rote copying,) number and quality of connections made between materials, and the multiple modalities that we use to engage with learned materials. Consider the ways that you can present the information you need to know to make it easier to want to actively revise as you approach your final exams. Remember to spend more time engaging with the information than displaying the work for maximum efficiency.
Second, current Year 11 students who are still deciding on their AS subject choices for next year are encouraged to explore the resources created by their contemporaries. Feel free to scan the QR codes for revision resources and keyword glossaries created by the inaugural AS Psychology class. You may find it useful in deciding whether Psychology is the subject for you.
From our budding psychologists to the rest of the KS4 and KS5 community, good luck in your exams and we wish you a productive and successful active revision period.
Swimathon on 18 March
The Aqua Panthers have their annual 12 Hour Relay on March 18th starting at 18:00 and finishing on March 19th at 6:00! This event is to help support Oceans For All and their mission of cleaning up the beaches and oceans of Phuket. Please help support our cause by sponsoring a swimmer. -Coach Brown
Footie-a-thon on 25 March
Following on from the very successful annual Swimathons, the Football Academy is also inviting players to join a ‘Footie-a-thon’ where players will be taking turns to play starting at 6.00pm - 6.00am. Players should show up before 5.30pm. The goal is to raise money to support the Oceans for all Foundation. More details will be emailed to parents closer to the date.
Basketball News- The Kazhigstan Snow Tigers fire from all cylinders in a game blowout!
An all-around complete game, including stand out performances from Kazighstan snow tigers big man Judah and floor general Pinyo. Both stars were on their game to help power home the Tigers in a convincing win over the Bad Boy Panthers with a 52 -33 victory and take out the first game of the five-game series. -Coach Milke
Sometimes you don’t want to see a Counsellor, you just need the ear of a good friend.
This week in our SEL PSHE lessons we have been working on how to support each other by developing our active listening skills. Sometimes we just need our feelings validated through talking to a friend. Students were given the tools and the opportunity to practise their listening skills whilst also having the opportunity to air some of their current stressors. Active listening involves turning our whole bodies to face the speaker, giving eye contact, using facial expressions which show kindness, nodding to show acknowledgement, paraphrasing what we hear and asking good questions which help the speaker unpick what is really going on.
This is an invaluable skill which we use everyday to help us to build strong relationships, better understand others, and ensure we are taking an active role in our learning journey. It requires a conscious effort that demands empathy, effort, attention, and lots of practice. Talk with your child about the skills they learned and practice active listening today! -Indu Bedi, Deputy Head Secondary (Sixth Form & SEL)
In preparation for Kindness Week please find attached a Random Acts of Kindness sheet, maybe families would also like to follow at home.
