Weekly Update 27

Dates for Your Diary

Upcoming events can be found on the HeadStart calendar on the website School Life → Calendar but we have outlined the main ones here for easy reference:

After School Announcement

Due to the Secondary Outbound Field Trips taking place next week, 2 After School classes will be cancelled:

Monday–English Booster for Year 7

Tuesday–Math Booster for Year 8

Please remember that there is no sign up fair at the beginning of term 3. The ASP’s that the students signed up for in Term 2 stretch until the end of the academic school year. Stay tuned for improved sign up methods and new features in the After School programmes for the 2017-2018 academic school year.

Outbound Field Trips

Next week 64 of our Year 7, 8 and 9 students will be going on their annual Outbound Field Trips. Parent meetings have been held to discuss the details of packing, arrival and departure dates but in case you missed it you can find all of the information by clicking on this link http://headstartphuket.com/secondary/secondary-outbound-field-trips. If you require additional information please call the office at 076-612876 or email us at [email protected].

Blessing Ceremony at School

On the 8th of April we will host a Buddhist blessing ceremony for the school. Parents who wish to join the event can starting at 9:00 am and finishing at 11:30 am with a complementary lunch at school.

International Day 2017

On the 24th of March the HeadStart community celebrated International Day in a grand flurry of colour, music, dance and a delectable international food buffet prepared by over 20 different countries. Our deputy teachers rocked the stage with amazing handmade costumes and a carnival style dance from the Philippines while Switzerland gave a humorous live demonstration on how cheese and chocolate are made meanwhile throwing little bits of tasters out to the audience. We were lucky to have a guest appearance from Adele as well as the Queen of England who dropped by to give us a wave. We were treated to a Coco Channel fashion show with a guest appearance from David Guetta from France after which HeadStart’s CEO came out on stage to give some life to the party with a Caribbean number. It is safe to say that International Day is one of the communities favourite events.

Thank you to the 20 countries that participated: Thailand, Taiwan, China, Japan, Nepal, India, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Paraguay, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Mauritius, Australia, Great Britain, France, Italy and Switzerland! We look forward to your participation next year.

A full album of pictures can be found by clicking on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/headstartphuket/

Earth Hour at HeadStart

Last week the school participated in Earth Hour, with teachers and students turning off lights, fans, air conditioning and computers. But do we have to wait for Earth Hour every year? How about thinking of the Earth every hour of every day? Use electricity consciously. Make sure all appliances are turned off and unplugged when not in use. Think about whether you really need lights or fans on. Making a conscious effort to turn off all unneeded electricity will not only help to save our environment, it will save you money as well. By Ms Kate Thongsen

Sports News

Football Academy Upcoming Fixture

Teams: Under 11 and Under 13

Date 3 May 2017

Venue HeadStart

Kick Off 4:00 pm

Rocket Science Swim Meet

Do you have that burning desire to attend a swim competition? Well, consider this your lucky day! 54 of the Aqua Panthers are heading to Thanyapura Friday-Sunday for the Rocket Science Invitational. The open water swim on Friday starts at 5:00 pm and 8:00 am on both Saturday and Sunday. Will there be fast swims? You bet your boots there will be! This weekend will be filled with exciting races, record breaking performances, and the chance to watch the elite athletes of HeadStart compete against over 200 other athletes from all over Asia and other countries. The action kicks off tomorrow at 5:00 pm. See you poolside! Coach Brown

Football News

This is an exciting opportunity for young footballers interested in playing more competitive matches. Application forms and payment can be made to JR, Head Football Coach for the HeadStart Football Academy.

Sports Days News

By Mr Richard Lukats, Athletics Director

This week HeadStart has gone Sports Day crazy with 5 separate Sports Days this week! This week we have followed on from an activity packed Sports Faculty Week which included swimming galas and various events and activities during the week for students to have a go at. Hopefully those students who are normally very active have benefited from even more opportunities to compete and have a go at, and those that are less active normally, found an activity they enjoyed and felt the benefits socially, physically and psychologically of physical exercises!

The P.E. Team would like to thank the following people for making the 2017 Sports Days great HeadStart community events;

The students our students were truly inspiring in the way they approached all the activities and supported and valued each other’s efforts. Whether it was our Pre – School children doing toy races or our Year 11’s establishing new school records in the 100 meter, 200 meter, etc. they all excelled!

Student Helpers Sports Days require incredible organisation and people to help out. This year our fabulous HeadStart Students from across the school rallied to help their fellow students to make all the Sports Days special. Year 5 & 6 Students helped out with the Year 1 & 2 and Early year/Reception Sports Days, Year 8 & 10 Students helped out with the Year 3 – 6 Sports day and the Year 12 students led by Athena helped ensure the Secondary Sports Day (Year 7 – 11) ran smoothly

HeadStart Staff whether staff were helping set up equipment, organising House Teams, supervising students, running and officiating the activities or taking part, they did it with such enthusiasm and diligence it was impossible for our students not to have fun!

Cheerleaders it was great to have our very own Panther Cheerleaders setting the tone for all the Sports Days, with their high energy routines to start the activities

Parents/Guardians it was amazing to see so many parents/guardians attending the Sports Days and entering into the spirit of fair play and fun.

Pre – School

The Pre – School Sports Day on Thursday 30th March, 9:00 – 9.:0 am, was a great success with our youngest children showing their parents/guardians all the physical skills they had learnt in their PE Lessons this year. The children were involved in running, jumping, crawling and balancing activities, all done in front of a large crowd of parents in the Sports Hall. They were too cute!

Early Years and Reception

Our Early Years and Reception children had a fantastic morning at their Sports Day on Thursday 30th March 9.30 – 11.00am. During the morning the children showed their parents/guardians how enthusiastic and energetic they are about their PE Activities. Right from the start the parents/guardians saw how well the children had been learning in their lessons, with a coordinated warm up and Sports Day Chant to get the event under way. The children then went off to do their activities in their House Teams – lots of fun relays, space hopper races, obstacle races, throwing activities and balancing games. The children thoroughly enjoyed the event and especially performing in front of such a large audience of parents/guardians and other family members. Well done to the Blue Tigers, winners of Sports Day 2017!

Year 1 & 2

Year 1 & 2 were involved in fun pact Sports Day with the event kicking off with the Sports Day Chant and warm up, then the children went off to do their activities in their House Teams – lots of fun relays, space hopper races, obstacle races, throwing activities and balancing games. The children thoroughly enjoyed the event and especially performing in front of such a large audience of parents/guardians and other family members. Well done to the Yellow Cheetahs, winners of Sports Day 2017!

Year 3 – 6

The Primary Sports Day was extra special this year as competitors had a chance to establish School Records in some of the events and therefore potentially set the standard for the next generation of HeadStart Students. All students were involved on the day in, throwing competitions, Sprints, fun relays and the Tug of War. The events were all done in front of a large audience comprised of parents/guardians and other family members who cheered on all the children competing. Well done to the Blue Tigers, winners of Sports Day 2017!

Secondary Year 7 – 11 (12/13 optional)

The Secondary Sports Day was extra special this year as all the competitors had a chance to establish School Records in all the events and therefore potentially set the standard for the next generation of HeadStart Students. All students were involved either on the day or in the throwing competitions held during Sports Week. The activities students took part in on Sports Day ranged from the 100m Sprint to the fiercely competitive 4x200m relays, but undoubtedly the last event – The Tug of War – saw the biggest crowds as the Houses went head to head in a battle of strength.

Well done to the Yellow Cheetahs, winners of Sports Day 2017!

Secondary News

By Ms Elizabeth Mason, Head of Secondary

We had a fantastic week with Sports Day completed and Songkran preparation now in full swing for the 6th of April. Plenty of active learning and excitement for the students.

Some of the CIE practical examinations have started this week for both A level and IGCSE students. Please support your child by encouraging good sleep patterns and nutrition plus checking their revision schedules to ensure they are on track.

Teachers are completing reports this week and next. This end of term report will be available to parents on the parent portal. Please let the office know if you have any trouble with accessing these important documents.

The next parent teacher conferences (PTC) for Secondary will take place on May the 10th for Year 7 and 8 parents. It will start at 3:15 pm. More information to follow after the holidays.

Congratulations to the following students for winning Student of the Month for March 2017!

Year 7 Maths students used sweets to help them identify how ratios can be applied in the real world. Students used the sweets to come up with a range of different ratios for given scenarios and were able to explore how values can be distributed between groups using this knowledge. By Mr James Barker

Year 9 had great fun investigating combustion of fuels. The students were quite good at the science but their knowledge of contemporary music had a little to be desired. By Mr David Cook

Year 9 Foreign students have been learning about selling and buying clothes in Thai class. We set up a clothes shop for students to practice!

Tsunami Aftermath Remembered

Written by a Year 10 student

Our Year 10 English class had the privilege recently of receiving an emotional yet inspiring talk from Mr. Andy Payne, the parent of one of the students. His family visited Thailand on a planned holiday around five days after the Asian tsunami hit in 2004. He shared his experiences with the class and the heart rending highs and lows during this time. The object of the talk was to enable our English class to write descriptive essays from their own investigations, coupled with the interesting talk by Mr Payne. Everyone in the class appeared to be lost in their own thoughts as to what it might have been like to have actually experienced the traumatic aftermath of the tsunami.

Primary News

By Mr Andrew Whittaker, Head of Foundation and Primary

This week has been another active one with all pupils in Foundation and Primary taking part in their Sports Days. All the pupils had lots of fun and were able to demonstrate all their skills for running, throwing as well as their agility, coordination and balance.

A very big thank you goes to all of our P.E. department and our teachers for organising these wonderful events.On a personal note, I managed to ride a Space Hopper for the first time in over 30 years and live to tell the tale!

Next week all the pupils in Foundation and Primary will be finishing school on Thursday 6th April and there are the Parent Teacher Confrences on Friday 7th April. Please make sure you sign up for a time slot to meet with your child’s teachers on that day where you will be informed of their progress and targets that have been set for next term.

I wish you all a relaxing weekend with your family.

Congratulations to the following students who have won Primary Student of the Month for effort and hard work in English!

Year 2 had the opportunity to visit Phuket Old Town. As part of their History and Geography learning, they studied photos of Phuket from 100 years ago. They then visited those same locations to compare and contrast. They spent time thinking about what had changed and what had stayed the same in the last 100 years. Mr Williams and Mr Cuesta.

Year 4 were making Burfi, a desert originally from India.

Year 5 went to Bang Pae Waterfall and visited the Gibbon Sanctuary as part of their science and geography work.

Foundation News

By Ms Fiona Scott, Deputy Head of Foundation

Foundation – Our Shining Stars!

Over the last couple of weeks we have seen our students take part in a number of outstanding school events and what a joy it has been to be a part of these celebrations and see how much our children have grown and developed over the last few months. Each little growing personality at HeadStart has shown us that they are capable of taking part in many different activities and that each of them has a special gift or talent that is individual to them.

As children grow, they develop their own sense of personal preferences. They chose the friends they want to play with, they know what games and toys they like to play with and they are aware of what activities energize and animate them.

As we have seen from The Gruffalo to the sports events, some children are natural performers and enjoy the attention of being in the spotlight. However, other personalities may despair at being the centre of attention, struggle with photographs and microphones and would rather embrace a more solitary activity.

It’s true that no one is the same; but regardless of our children’s personality types, our recent events have shown that in each and every one of our students is a spark that shines in a different way to others. As teachers, understanding children’s personalities can be helpful when planning lessons that will bring out the best natural talents and skills in our children. Teachers will also have a sense of which situations can cause discomfort and be difficult for our children.

We are so lucky at HeadStart to have the very best teachers who make that spark in each of our students shine so very brightly so that all children are given the strength, confidence and courage to not be afraid, aim high and reach their full potential.

Early Years students are learning how to write Thai letters.

Thank you to Year 11 student Teya Reynolds for coming and playing violin for the Early Years students! By Mrs Myriam Adams

House News

Last week’s ‘Weigh Your Waste’ winners were once again the Yellow Cheetahs. This was an important win for the Cheetahs, because it keeps the Green Dragons off the top spot…but only just!

Results from last weeks P.E. Faculty Week

As you can see, our overall winners of the P.E. Faculty Week were the Blue Tigers. This is a fantastic result for the Tigers who are currently winning the most points in term 2, which is helping them crawl their way out of fourth place! P.E. Faculty Week was a fabulous week of friendly, competitive fun that culminated in a students v staff Gladiator Ball competition. Unfortunately, for the students, the teachers won. So, better luck next year, students. Ha ha!

We also had our Primary and Secondary Sports Days this week. Both were fantastic events and the students, staff, and parents alike all had a wonderful time. The Blue Tigers were the Primary winners, earning 50 House points, and the Yellow Cheetahs were the Secondary winners, also earning 50 House points. Very well done, everyone!