Weekly Update #19, 11 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]

What if my child missed his/her Yearbook Photoshoot?

Students who have missed their photo session will unfortunately not be able to be in the class photo but have the opportunity to take a photo at home and send it to [email protected]. These photos will be added to the Yearbook. The photo needs to be 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 used. If you have any questions or require clarification drop an email to [email protected].

Upcoming Meetings

The meetings listed below have been planned out to give parents optimal information regarding the HeadStart curriculum, future pathways and detailed instructions on how parents can support their child with his/her academic progress, social interactions and future pathways. We would like to encourage you to mark these dates in your diaries and try to show up for as many of the meetings as possible. If you have questions or would like further clarification please email us at [email protected].

An introduction to PSHE & Online Bullying

This meeting will take place on 15 March at 8.15am in the Secondary Hall and will be presented by Dr Matt Sillett, Deputy Head of Secondary, Pastoral. (PSHE is an acronym for Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education).

UPrep Talk: Your Child’s 5 Year Plan

This meeting will take place on 17 March at 8.15am in the Secondary Hall. The presentation will be made by our Head of Sixth Form, Ms Indu Bedi and is extremely helpful for parents with children in lower Secondary.

Sixth Form Developments

This meeting will take place on 18 March at 2.20 pm in the Sports Hall. Headmaster Mr Adam Drew, Head of Secondary Mr Richard Lukats and Deputy Head Ms Indu Bedi

Secondary Pathways

This meeting will take place on 22 March at 8.15am in the Secondary Hall. All Year 7 - 11 parents are invited to attend this meeting led by Mr Lukats and Mr Drew. In the meeting, parents will hear about the academic programmes that we follow, their overall objectives and the support we put in place for parents and students to help make decisions as they progress through Secondary school. We will also cover the incredible learning experiences in the academic, sporting and aesthetic spheres available to Secondary Students at HeadStart.

UPrep Talk: Choosing Subjects and Careers

This meeting will take place on 24 March at 8.15am in the Secondary Hall. The presentation will be made by our Head of Sixth Form, Ms Indu Bedi. This talk is open to all interested parents.

Introduction to Sixth Form

This meeting will be held on 29 March at 8.15am in the Secondary Hall. All Year 11 parents and students are invited to attend this meeting led by Mr Lukats, Ms Bedi and Mr Drew. In the meeting, parents will hear about the academic programmes that we follow in Sixth Form, the overall objectives and the support we put in place for parents and students to help with making academic and college decisions in Year 11 to 13. We will also cover the incredible learning experiences in the academic, leadership, service, sporting and aesthetic spheres available to Secondary Students at HeadStart.

UPrep Talk- How HeadStart Supports University Applications.

Thank you to all of the parents who came to last week’s UPrep talk. We hope that you found it helpful and informative. If you missed the presentation, please have a look at the download provided below. If you would like to contact our University Prep team please email Ms Indu Bedi, Head of Sixth Form at [email protected]. Our next UPrep talk will be next Thursday, 17 March at 8.15am in the Secondary Hall. The presentation will be on the topic of ‘Your Child’s 5 Year Plan’ and is extremely helpful for parents with children in lower Secondary.

Phonics Workshop for KS1 Parents

On Tuesday 8th of March, Key Stage 1 parents had a productive morning with Mr Young and Ms Wintersgill. They learned how to use phonics to help their children to read and spell. The importance of repetition when learning a new sound was emphasised and how to segment and blend sounds to help with reading and spelling. Below is a download with some helpful resources presented in the meeting. Thank you, Mr Young and Ms Wintersgill for taking the time to be with our parents and for sharing information. The presentation was recorded and can be accessed by clicking on THIS LINK -Kru Nee, School Director

Primary ‘Student of the Month’ Awards

Congratulations to all of our Primary students of the month for putting in a good effort and showing progress in their English classes and assignments. Well done Jessica Hornby, Katie Purkis, Aleksandr Lovero, Charoenpanich, Natrada, Natas Promjeen, Shiloh Vorderleitner, Pupu Liu, Pachara Janchoowanichkul, Chalaychon Ketroj, Pattawan Sawangpatanakul, Emily Lange, Makar Gavrilov, Erik Reul-Smekens, Tanapat Eksatapornsakul, Ashley Wiegand, Amalia Ogay, Alena Franchuk, Pimlada Kitsubun.

Congratulations to all of our wonderful Foundation children who have won ‘Student of the Week’ for being kind and doing well in their Thai classes.

Early Years Participate in ‘Kindness Week’

For kindness week, the children of Early Years took a tour of the school and gave out cookies to say thank you and show kindness to all of our support staff. It was so nice to see the children giving their cookies from home to the kitchen staff, the cleaning staff, maintenance, gardeners, office staff and the librarian. After we spoke about how it felt to be kind to others and was an all-around wonderful experience for the children and staff to see. -Ms Suzi

Football News

→ HeadStart U13 girls played a hard fought game against UWC U13 girls. It was a close match and a great performance from the players. We look forward to playing again soon!

→ Headstart U15 Boys played some fantastic football against a strong UWC U/O 15 team. Credit to the players who pushed themselves all the way. -Coach Paul

Last week the Football Academy U15 Boys and U/O15 Girls both took on the mighty HeadStart Staff teams and there was some fantastic football being played. It was great to see all the players involved enjoying their football in these friendly and competitive fixtures. -Coach Stef Frost

Basketball ‘Five a Side’ Game 2 News

Bad Boys Panthers ‘steal’ game 2 and tie the series with a thrilling one-point victory!

Inspired by a game 2 MVP performance, The Bad Boy Panthers prevail with a last-second, last possession steal by the one and only ‘Mighty OAK’ and tie the series at one game a piece (1-1). After a fast start and what at the time seemed to be another blowout, The Bad Boy Panthers raced to an early lead. The Kazakhstan Snow Tigers through their headman Judah valiantly chipped away at the lead and with one final play and possession in their hands, the game was at their fingertips. A game that left us on the edge of our seats and was decided with the very final possession of the game with 5 seconds left on the clock.

Other noticeable efforts included a standout defensive effort from Omsin with 5 steals in a great individual defensive effort! Also a good contribution by Bad Boy Panthers star guard Vivek and from the Snow Tigers Benjamin ‘Cutting’ was brilliant. Looking forward to Game 3 next week. Don’t miss it!

Touch Rugby Invite

Miss Niemand, who is our ASP Touch Rugby Coach, is now also seeking players for the Vagabonds Women’s full-contact rugby team. If there are any parents or students over 16 who are interested in joining please check out the information in the poster and contact Miss Niemand directly. -Mr Nick Carter, Athletics Director

Our beautiful rooftop garden keeps blooming with many edible herbs and vegetables such as eggplants, salads, mint, coriander, spinach, corn, sweet potato, dill, rosemary, ginger, turmeric, butterfly pea, aloe vera and many kinds of basils. In preparation for the expansion of the rooftop garden, we are now transitioning from being mainly a vegetable and herbs garden into a fruit garden with bananas, papaya, mulberry, lime and lemon trees but also pineapple, mulberry and hibiscus and many more to come! Thanks to the Phuket Farmers for lovingly tending to this project and bringing their expertise to make it successful! If you want to learn more about gardening, have a look a the poster below and contact them for more information.

“In the month of February, Headstart International school Phuket donated 384.10 KG of good quality surplus food to SOS Thailand. Your donations have allowed us to provide over 1,613.22 servings to those in need! Also, by reducing this amount of food waste, you have successfully saved 729.79 KG of GHG equivalent emissions (Co₂-e (kg)) or 65.16 days equivalent of electricity consumption of one household. For more on this: GHG Calculator

For the year 2022, we are committed to serving over 7 million meals, expanding toward a wider area of operations, and reaching even more people in need. It would be our honour to have ever-loyal companionship to join us in this year’s food serving journey toward the sustenance of numerous communities across Thailand. We hope we can count on your commitment to give vulnerable people access to good food. Thank you for making that impact on many lives, and on the environment”.  -Jack, SOS Manager for Thailand

As part of Kindness Week, we were very pleased to be able to offer additional food supplies to the SOS foundation. Thank you to all who participated and donated to this cause. -Ms Miki Edouard

Congratulations to Mona in Year 6 on the release of her single ‘Only You’ that she wrote for her friends at school. Well done Mona. Keep up the good work!