Weekly Update 30

A Word from our CEO and Founder, Mr Edouard

Dear Parents,

I want to thank all of you for your ongoing support of our educational programmes. I also want to thank the parents who have taken the time to communicate your concerns regarding the increase of the school fees and the long term development of the school with school management.

We want you to know that your feedback is important and will be reviewed by school management. We aim to complete our review and to send a formal response to all parents by email on Monday May 8th. We thank you for your patience, understanding and support during this time.

Best regards,

Jazon Edouard

Founder and CEO

Reflections

Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family.

–Kofi Annan

Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.

Announcements

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.

Mufti Day Friday 19th May Wear Blue to support Water Aid UK

Some of the Year 9 students are hoping to raise money for Water Aid UK and help raise awareness of the importance of clean drinking water around the world. On Friday 19 May, we are encouraging students to make a donation dress in the colour blue to represent water. Donations can be dropped into the water bottles in classrooms or at the school entrance on Friday 19th May.

Water Aid is a UK based charity which works in some of the poorest communities in many different countries around the world. The main aim of the charity is to improve quality of life through sustainable approaches to water, sanitation and hygiene education.

In Africa, a child dies every ten seconds from drinking dirty water. If HeadStart can raise approximately 7,000 Baht, it could buy a locally manufactured rope pump which would provide clean, safe drinking water to a community of 250 people - this would make a huge difference to the quality of life for so many people.

Term 3 Charity Appeal

Are you ready for a clear out and not sure where to bring your bags of clothes and toys? This term, HeadStart will be supporting The ‘Yes School’ in Rawai and we are asking for donations of clothes and toys to help the children in Rawai.

Often the children of Burmese migrant workers miss out on receiving an education. Sometimes this is because their parents are unable to send them to school or afford the fees. Yes School was set up by Mers Song, one of our parents, to give Burmese migrant children access to education and good prospects for further education and better jobs.

The Yes School currently has 45 children from 3 years to 15 years old and 2 Burmese teachers and 1 Thai teacher. The school focuses on language and communication skills and also offers other subjects including mathematics, English, Thai and the Burmese languages, and studies on the culture of different ethnic groups. In addition, students are also taught Christian principles. The ‘Yes school’ issues a certificate of education once the children have completed their studies. The ‘Yes School’ is working hard to allow these children an education which opens the door for further study in Thailand or Myanmar.

The school community will be able to bring in clothes and toys from next week and leave them at the collections table which will be placed in the atrium. Please can you ensure that toys are not damaged and clothes are in a good condition.

Parent Fitness Class Time Change

As of Monday the 8th May, fitness classes that are offered to parents in the mornings will now commence at 8:00 and finish at 9:00 am. An earlier start will benefit people with busy schedules who need to get their day started.

P.E. and Sports Department Update

Swimming News

By Coach Brown

The Thanyapura Open League 3rd session took place on Saturday April 29th and the Aqua Panthers set the pool on fire! We have one meet left in this series, but we are setting ourselves up for a very successful finish to the season! Our next meet will be this weekend at BIS for the Flying Fish Invitational where over 500 swimmers will be in attendance! Go Aqua Panthers!

Here are our top 10 point earners for this 3rd installment:

80 Juno Wannakitti / 69 Yejin Lee / 72 Peter Guglielmi / 69 Shane Walters / 67 Innes Alexander / 67 Nazar Zakharov / 58 Joey Parsons / 53 Artem Kiselev / 53 Vova Vladimirov / 46 Mat Zakharov

Football News

From Cruzeiro Coaches

Thank you for such a positive start to the Phuket Youth Development League. It was great to have so many players and supporters there to enjoy games that were well balanced and highly entertaining with some great team and individual performances.

Results can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/phuketyouthleague/

The league will now be on hold for 2 weekends, but the action will resume on Saturday 20 May with:

Chelsea v Manchester United and Real Madrid v Barcelona

We would also like to remind all girls that they will play down 1 age group for the league. For example, an U9 girl will play in the U7 age group.

Thank you once again for supporting this event and bringing the Phuket community together.

Pictures below: Man of the Match Vincent Edouard (HeadStart) and Till Assman (HeadStart)

The Under 9 and Under 13s from HeadStart and Kajonkiet in action on Wednesday. The Under 9 HeadStart team won 4-0. Well done kids!

Secondary News

By Ms Elizabeth Mason, Head of Secondary

This is a reminder for the year 7, 8 parents that there will be a Parent Teacher Conference (PTC) on 10th May at 3:15 pm in the Sports Hall. We look forward to seeing all of the parents there.

We offer our continued support and encouragement to the Year 12 and 13 students who are undergoing exams.

Post 16 Programme

By Ms Heather Lucass

From the 12th to the 23rd of June Year 11 and 13 students are invited to take part in our Post-16 program. This program will involve a work experience placement, career advice and guidance sessions, team building and fun activities along with sessions preparing students for Sixth form life and University. A full timetable of events will be released in the coming week.

Year 12 students will be accessing normal lessons in this time where they will begin to cover Year 13 content to provide them with a head start for next year. Year 12 Students will be invited to attend the celebration day on Friday 23rd of June.

This week students in Year 8 in Kru Kan’s Thai class have learned about vowels changing form. They have learned how to read, write and identify words with different vowels.

Business, ICT and Design Technology Week–Coming Soon!

Starting on the 5th June 2017 the Business, ICT and DT departments will co-host a lively and fun packed week of events designed to highlight and celebrate the influence these subjects have on our lives today. Students can look forward to a range of stimulating and challenging events, organised and hosted jointly by teachers for each of the three departments.

Some of the planned events for the week include:

• Dragon’s Den – a competition for budding HeadStart Entrepreneurs

• Drone Demonstrations

• Business Entrepreneur / guest speakers

• Scavenger Hunt

• 3D Printing

• House Competition – Small Business. “Bake A Cake” competition

Plus much more! You can look forward to a full and fun packed week!

French Students Visit the Upside Down House

In the context of the unit ‘Chez moi/My house’ Year 7 French class students went to visit Baan Teelanka (the upside down house). The field trip started with some French songs in the bus. After that, students in pairs had to do a “furniture hunt” and finally, the whole group had to answer some questions in order to make sentences and practice their house vocabulary. It was a studious and competitive field trip where students and I had great fun!

Primary News

By Mr Andrew Whittaker, Head of Foundation and Primary

I cannot believe we are already at the end of Week 2! A big thank you goes to Ms Myriam and the Year 1 and 2 pupils who performed beautifully the Danish Seven Jumps Dance at Tuesday’s Primary Assembly.

The Year 6s really enjoyed their Enterprise Projects and it was excellent to see how hard they all had worked preparing and making their products for sale this Wednesday - they all sold out, which was a great achievement. A big thank you goes to Miss Armstrong, Ms Mercado, Mr Eke and Mr Adviento for leading this great project.

It was great to see our Under 11 football team win 4 - 0 against KIS this week and we wish all our Primary swimmers good luck over this weekend as they compete at BIS in the Flying Fish swimming competition.

It is becoming much hotter out so it is imperative that all our pupils have their water bottles at school everyday and are regularly keeping themselves hydrated.

Have a lovely weekend everybody.

Year 1 did a folklore traditional dance from Denmark called ‘Seven Jumps’ for assembly. It’s a fun way to follow the music and exercise restraint while keeping balance.

Year 4 were exploring magnets and force with Ms Dickie.

Year 5 Science Fun!

Year 5 have been designing and carrying out scientific experiments relating to the changing states of matter. They have had to measure accurately to find out about variables that may affect the processes of evaporation and condensation.

Year 6 Eating Healthy Fair

Wednesday was the day that the Year 6 Healthy Eating project came together, and all of their marketing, producing, pricing and selling skills were really put to the test! The students enjoyed a day of making their products and working out how much they had spent verses how much they could sell items for, before setting up their stalls ready for selling to the public after school. The teams were in competition to see who could make the most profit, and the atmosphere was rich with energy and determination. Year 6 have thoroughly enjoyed creating a mini business and learning from their mistakes as well as celebrating their achievements. Many of the students have even been inspired to develop their entrepreneurial skills further!

Foundation Department News

By Ms Fiona Scott, Deputy Head of Foundation

Students in Foundation have had a fantastic start to term 3 as the last two weeks have been packed with a bag full of fun activities. At the moment we are trying to make the most of the dry weather and giving the children plenty of opportunities for outdoor learning.

Whilst on duty this week, I saw our youngsters getting close up with nature as our large trees in the playground have started losing their leaves and turning their colours. The addition of a few bright red leaves to play with helps children to understand the impacts of weather on the environments and the beginning of different seasons. Today I watched as the children scooped up the leaves and use them in their outdoor play. They made patterns on the ground, wheel barrowed them around and collected up water from other parts of the playground – creativity, inventiveness and problem solving all taking place with a few fallen leaves!

Preschoolers had lots of fun today pretending to be people that help us. They also decorated their door to reflect what they have learned. By Ms Lisa Parsons.

Preschool children are now all more confident and happier in deep water. I am very pleased with how they are progressing with their swimming and how much they seem to enjoy these lessons. By Ms Fiona Whittaker.

All classes in Foundation are enjoying their new easels. The Reception children even helped us put them together! Ms Amy Drew

This week students in Early Years were practicing writing their Thai letters. Well done kids! By Khru Dia.

Reception enjoying being back at school and being active in their P.E. and Swimming lessons! By Ms Fiona Whittaker.

Reception classes have had a super smashing time studying the topic of Super Heroes! To celebrate the end of our topic we dressed as Super Heroes for the day, and used our super powers for good within the playground. Miss Amy & Miss Danielle.

Around the Island

iCamp in Kanchanaburi

We are a purpose built residential camp in Kanchanaburi, and offer residential programmes and summer camps for children from 8 years and above. We are offering our happy campers an unique experience in an environment where they can unplug from gadgets and online games to outdoor activities and face to face bonding with friends.

At iCamp Thailand we believe summer camps need to find ways to capture back the attention of the younger generation and we promise that with us kids will experience the very best summer activities. I’m sure this school break the kids at Phuket Headstart International School would have a lot of fun at our Summer Camp Unplugged adventure. Campers will enjoy an active and fun learning programme of sports, arts, circus, music and others, as well as weekly excursions where our campers can explore stunning nature in Kanchanaburi.

Summer Camps dates are:

25 June – 15 July 2017 / 16 July – 5 August 2017 / 6 – 26 August 2017

To get an idea of our camp please see our video in Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20MH8_Z7kEk
For recent photos of activities, you can see on our Facebook page: <www.facebook.com/icampthailand>

Below is our brochure for an idea of a day at camp.