Weekly Update #35 21 June, 2019
Dates for Your Diary
Upcoming events can be found on the calendar on the website School Life → Calendar but we have outlined upcoming events here for easy reference. For daily updates and news follow the HeadStart Facebook Page
| Date | Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 24 June | 8:30-9:30am | Primary Awards Ceremony/Year 6 Graduation | Sports Hall |
| 24 June | 1:00-3:00pm | Secondary Awards/Y13 Graduation Ceremony | Sports Hall |
| 25 June | 8:30am | Reception Graduation Ceremony | Sports Hall |
| 25 June | 12:00pm | House Captain’s Last Supper | Conference Room |
| 26 June | All day | Activity day: wear P.E. Kits | In school |
| 27 June | All day | Parent Teacher Conferences (PTC) | In classes |
2019-2020 Calendar-Change to Term 3 Holidays
Provided below is the 2019-2020 calendar that is now published on the Calendar tab of the website Found Here. Parents should note a small change to Term 3 due to the fact that 3 June has been announced as a national holiday for Her majesty the Queen’s birthday.
The Greatest Show
After a fantastic opening act of ‘Hopes and Dreams,’ Act 1 of ‘The Greatest Show’ was about the weird and the strange with a fifth element; the Manga, the tattooed punk characters and the mini Napoleons. Act 2 featured half human, half animals with cats and tense corporate werewolves leading to negotiation to the other side! Act 3 featured a big welcome to the circus with acrobats, clowns, fortune tellers and magicians ending in a grand finale of all characters and dance teachers sending a message of pride to our audience via the songs ‘This is Me’ and ‘Come Alive!’ Watch the show now available on the HeadStart You Tube channel.
Awards and Graduation Ceremony Information
The 24-25th of June are days to look forward to! We will be hosting the Annual Awards Ceremony with the addition of the much anticipated Year 13 Graduation! 22 of our students will be finishing their studies at HeadStart and moving onto the next phase of their educational journey. We also have planned graduation events for the Reception children moving to Primary and the Year 6s moving to Secondary school. We would like to extend a warm invitation to all of the parents whose children who have won end of year awards, Reception and Year 6 parents to the events in the Sports Hall as outlined below.
| Primary Awards/ Year 6 Graduation Ceremony | |
|---|---|
| 8:25 | Parents take their seats |
| 8:30 | Ceremony begins with ‘The Journey’ by Primary Singing Ensemble |
| 8:35 | Opening Speech |
| 8:40 | End of Year Awards given out |
| 9:00 | Graduation speech by Mr Sam Kahn, Head of Foundation and Primary |
| 9:05 | Speech by Ms Lindsey Williams. Graduation certificates given to Year 6 Blue |
| 9:15 | Speech by Mr Karl Long. Graduation certificates given to Year 6 White |
| 9:25 | Speech by Ms Sophie Webb. Graduation certificates given to Year 6 Yellow |
| 9:30 | ’A Million Dreams’ sung by school choir. Erika Cramp to conduct. All Year 6s stand up and join in the final chorus |
| 9:35 | Ceremony ends. Award winners and Year 6s take photos in hall with parents & at the photo booth then return to class |
| Year 13 Graduation Day Events | |
|---|---|
| 9:30 | Students arrive at school |
| 9:45 | Award winners/Year 13 rehearsal in the Sports Hall |
| 10:30 | Gown and photo prep |
| 11:30 | Lunch party in school Coffee Shop with teachers & members of management |
| 11:45 | Parents reception in the atrium: seating, food and beverages will be provided |
| 12:10 | Photo session in atrium: follow Gemma and Gem’s directions which will be read out loud |
| 12:45 | All participants make their way to the Sports Hall |
| 1:00 | Awards & Year 13 Graduation ceremony begins |
| 3:00 | Graduates walk through traditional ‘Guard of Honour’ |
| 3:15 | Depart from school for dinner venue |
| 4:00 | Graduation dinner at VT Namnuang Restaurant |
Reception Graduation
As we have now come to the end of our transition period, we will be celebrating with a Reception Graduation on Tuesday 25 June. Reception parents are warmly invited to join us for this occasion which will start at 8.30am and will be held in the Sports Hall. There will be a photo booth and professional photographer organised so that each family can have a nice momento of the event. We hope you can join us!
Football Camp on Offer
From Monday 19 - Wednesday 21 August, HeadStart are hosting a football camp here at the school with UEFA A licence coach, Coach Ace. The camp is open to boys and girls of all levels and ages. We will focus on the development of technical skills in fun, game related sessions. Each day will finish with a mini Champions League style tournament!
To book a place on the course, all you need to do is register at the front office at the school. All the details can be found on the leaflet attached but, please feel free to email [email protected] if you would like further information. We hope to see your child can join us for an action packed camp!
Sports Awards
On Wednesday, the 12th of June, the P.E. department hosted the annual HeadStart Sports Awards. It was a fantastic evening, celebrating all the students athletic endeavours and successes over the course of the year. I would like to thank all those who attended, it was a wonderful way to end the year! A list of award winners can be found below. For full albums of the events, head to the HeadStart Facebook Page By Mr Nick Carter, Athletics Director
Sports Academy Awards 2019 Swimming
| Most Enthusiastic Swimmer | Matvey Zakharov |
| 8 Years and Under Most Improved Male Swimmer | Minkyu Song |
| 10 Years and Under Most Improved Female Swimmer | Diana Zakharova |
| 11-12 Years Most Improved Female Swimmer | Annabelle Orrakanya Prentice |
| 11-12 Years Most Improved Male Swimmer | Oleg Gordzievskii |
| 15 Years and Over Most Improved Female Swimmer | Pichamon Delia Baltes |
| 15 Years and Over Most Improved Male Swimmer | Shane Walters |
| 8 Years and Under Most Valuable Male Swimmer | Anton Solnyshko |
| 10 Years and Under Most Valuable Female Swimmer | Suyeon Lee |
| 10 Years and Under Most Valuable Male Swimmer | Phukanok Colin Wanamakok |
| 11-12 Years Most Valuable Female Swimmer | Sarita Poudyel |
| 11-12 Years Most Valuable Male Swimmer | Michael McLean |
| 13-14 Years Most Valuable Female Swimmer | Aleksandra Syrkina |
| 13-14 Years Most Valuable Male Swimmer | Artem Kiselev |
| 15 Years and Over Most Valuable Female Swimmer | Natanicha Chaloemtoem |
| 15 Years and Over Most Valuable Female Swimmer | Bomnuri Kim |
| 15 Years and Over Most Valuable Male Swimmer | Nazariy Zakharov |
Football Academy Awards 2019
| Boys Most Enthusiastic Footballer | Pun Chaokijha |
| Under 9 Most Improved Player of the Year | John Hall |
| Boys Under 11 Most Improved Player of the Year | Oskar Theander |
| Boys Under 13 Most Improved Player of the Year | Nicolas Baltes |
| Senior Boys Most Improved Player of the Year | Chaiwat Takwan |
| Boys Under 9 Player of the Year | Nathee Gorton |
| Boys Under 11 Player of the Year | Natharn Gorton |
| Boys Under 13 Player of the Year | Krittat Phaisamran |
| Senior Boys Player of the Year | Benjamin Lavorel |
| Girls Most Enthusiastic Footballer | Sofia Fisher |
| Girls Under 11 Most Improved Player of the Year | Chutikarn Doowa |
| Girls Under 13 Most Improved Player of the Year | Abigail Page |
| Girls Under 15 Most Improved Player of the Year | Tess Tjernstrom |
| Girls Under 11 Player of the Year | Sarah Tuukkanen |
| Girls Under 13 Player of the Year | Manar Srivakul |
| Girls Under 15 Player of the Year | Sonya Ngarmseang |
Basketball
| Girls Most Enthusiastic Basketballer | Sabrina An |
| Boys Most Enthusiastic Basketballer | Nattanan Poonpises |
| Girls Most Improved Player of the Year | Gemma Holly Brain |
| Boys Most Improved Player of the Year | Pinyo Ochse Freiwald |
| Girls Player of the Year | Natanicha Chaloemtoem |
| Boys Player of the Year | Yuxuan Zhang |
Volleyball
| Most Enthusiastic Player | Alexander Suriyo |
| Most Improved Player of the Year | Nam Ken Yan Bouchara |
| Player of the Year | Hyunseung Lee |
Tennis
| Most Enthusiastic Player | Hyunseung Kim |
| Girls Most Improved Player of the Year | Sirada Harris |
| Boys Most Improved Player of the Year | Kai Wen Liang |
| Player of the Year | Alexandre Pravin |
Foundation News
Stars of the Month
Today we celebrated our final Stars of the Month for the school year. Congratulations to Nida, Oscar, Noah, Caylor, Shihan, Anya, Julie Zheng, Zen, Rene, Rada and Roni in Early Years for all working extremely hard and each receiving a certificate. In Reception, a big well done to Thamas, Kimi, Ari, Puan, Jiah, Jagger, Ella, Liz, Yasmin, Mia, Gun and Yugeon who each received an award for great attitudes and always trying their best. Keep up the great work everyone!
Foundation Farewell Assembly
As most of you already know, we will sadly be saying ‘Goodbye’ to some of our teachers this year. On Wednesday 26 June we will be hosting a short farewell assembly to say Goodbye to our leaving teachers and also say thank you to our hard working team. The assembly will take place at 2.00pm in the Primary Hall, and all Foundation parents are welcome to join us. The Foundation teachers will bring the classes up at 2.00pm, so all parents can go directly to the Primary Hall. There will be no need to collect your child from Foundation before the assembly. If possible, please let your homeroom teachers know if you will be able to attend the assembly so we can prepare enough chairs for our parents.
We look forward to sharing our assembly with you on Wednesday 26 June at 2.00pm.
Please do continue to check your emails and portal messages for any in - class information and events as we slide into our final week of the school year.
Year 6 Transition Days
This week saw our Year 6 students spend a day in secondary where they had the opportunity to experience a range of lessons, in some cases, experiencing a subject for the first time. The day started with an introduction to Secondary followed by a team building activity of seeing which team could build the tallest free-standing spaghetti and marshmallow tower. There were many interesting approaches to this and it was great to see how each group tackled the task.
Students visited subjects such as Design and Technology where they were able to see some of the machinery first hand that they’ll be using next year. They produced phone holders by bending acrylic and desk organisers using the vacuum forming machine. In English, students made potions based on the stories of George’s Marvellous Medicine whilst in Science, they burnt different foods to explore how much energy they stored. These are to name just a few of the wonderful lessons they were able to experience across the day.
We in Secondary are very much looking forward to August when Year 6 become Year 7 and hope that they’ll continue to enjoy their educational journey. Well done Year 6 on great Transition Days.
Year 11 Motivational Days
Year 11 have had a fantastic week getting ready for life in Sixth Form, taking part in the Post-16 programme.
This started with getting to know Year 12 and 13 on our “Relax and Refresh” trip to Bor Saen Villas in Phang Nga. Team building games and a zipline were the main event, followed by pool parties, tandem bike riding, mini golf and other relaxing activities.
On Wednesday we were privileged to host Darren Scherbain for a day of workshops about confidence and motivation. On Thursday, students began to learn the basics of communication by working on body language and reading an audience with Able Wannamakok, who will be working with older students on the Public Speaking LAMDA course next year. A high stakes cooking competition, sessions on maintaining a positive digital footprint and how to stay healthy under stress were all part of the transition activities. We hope Year 11 enjoyed the week and feel informed and ready to join Sixth Form in August.
David Pollicutt
My name is David and I joined HeadStart International School in 2018. I am from the UK and grew up in the large port city of Bristol. I studied English Literature at the University of East Anglia, and trained to teach at The Institute of Education in The University of London. I taught in East London for four years, before moving to teach for eight years as Head of English in Viet Nam and China. I am a firm believer in developing students to be natural enquirers, following the Sir Ken Robinson model of best preparing students to use transferable skills for the shifting landscapes of their futures. I seek to encourage an epistemological approach in my lessons, urging students to evaluate the efficacy of the information they consume and the validity of interpretations. I am passionate about literature and will often be chortling at David Lodge’s tragicomedy or swooning at Ian Mcewan’s literary sleight of hand. Outside of the classroom I am a keen student of Philosophy, Politics and Film. I am a particular fan of the intellect and charisma exuded by Jordan Peterson, Sam Harris and the late and much missed Christopher Hitchens. I have a terminal case of devotion to Tottenham Hostpsur Football Club; it teaches me patience and humility.
Reading During the Summer Holidays
We are pleased that you want your child to make good reading progress and so are sending you these ideas to help for reading over the long holiday coming up. Please:
- make a habit of regularly setting aside time for you and your child to read together.
- be positively enthusiastic about your child’s reading skills and they will be too.
- praise them a lot for their reading skills, even if they are struggling.
- let the child see other family members reading.
- have reading materials at home and get children to practice reading when you are out and about: road signs, newspapers, notices, television guides, board games.
- consider joining the library and make regular trips.
- monitor your child’s progress and don’t over worry if there appears to be a problem. Children acquire reading skills at different speeds.
- practise Paired Reading. (see below)
Paired reading
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The adult reads aloud at exactly the same time as the child, but when the child approaches a difficult word, the adult says it a second before so prompting accuracy and avoiding the child feeling defeated.
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The child and adult continue uninterrupted, keeping the fluency of the reading and continuity of the story.
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This also encourages the child to feel confident about his reading and encourages him to take contextual clues, a skill well worth developing for comprehension and for promoting the enjoyment of reading. (Allowing the child to take time to look at book illustrations before attempting the text also develops this same skill. It is NOT cheating
