Weekly Update #24, 10 March 2023

Upcoming events can be found on the website under School Life → Calendar and are outlined here for easy reference. If you have questions or require further assistance please email [email protected]

Date	Time	Event	Location
11-12 March		DofE Bronze: Group 1 Final Journey	Ao Yon Beach
13-17 March		Math Faculty Week
15 March	3.00-5.00pm	Year 12 & 13 Parent/Teacher conferences (PTC)	Secondary Hall
17-18 March		3v3 Basketball	BISP
18 March	9.00am - 12.00pm	Saturday Thai Culture Club
20-24 March		Science Faculty Week
24-25 March	6.00pm to 6.00am	12 Hours to Make a Difference	Swimming pool/Football pitch
25-26 March	To be announced	CAPA Junior Rehearsals	To be announced
25 March	9.00am to 12.00pm	Russian Language Day
29-30 March	4.45pm	Junior CAPA Performances of ‘Rock Bottom’	Sports Hall
31 March	2.00pm	Primary Student Council Meeting
		Last day of all ASPs
4 April	8.20am	Year 3, 4, 6 Swimming Galas	Swimming Pool
5 April	1.00pm	Year 5 Swimming Gala	Swimming Pool
		Last Day of Academy Practice
6 April	Throughout the day	Songkran Celebrations	To be announced
7 April	8.20-3.30pm	Parent/Teacher Conferences (PTC)
10 April		Songkran Holidays
24 April	8.00am	First Day Back in School

Term 2 & 3 Fundraiser

In 2020, the HeadStart community came together to raise over 300,000 Baht to co-sponsor ‘001’, a catamaran purpose built to collecting floating rubbish. This project was initiated by the Oceans For All Foundation based in Phuket. The idea was, and continues to be that the rubbish collected is separated and sent to recycling centers around the island, providing a source of income for local communities. In addition to this, it also supports one of the core missions of the foundation which is to prevent marine life feeding on floating plastic. The boat is made from high density 100% recycled polyethylene thermoplastic or HDPE. The video link provided below gives you an idea of what the boat looks like and how it operates. Continuing on with our commitment to not only sponsor the boat but also help with costs of running the boat, we are organising a few events for everyone interested to participate in. If you have a passion for ocean conservation and would like to get involved keep reading!

12 Hours to Make a Difference on 24.03.23

After a successful event last year, this year the Football Academy we will be joining forces with the Swim Academy for the ‘12 Hours to Make a Difference’ challenge and all students in the football and swimming academies, along with parents and teachers are invited to take part. They will be joined with the Dance Academy and the basketball players in what promises to be a great community event starting on Friday, 24 March at 18:00 and finishing at 6:00 am on Saturday, 25 March. Detailed information regarding what to wear, where to be and when will be emailed to parents in the following days.

Just a heads up that the academy swimmers and players may approach you for sponsorship: swimmers are hoping to get sponsorship for each lap that they swim and footballers are hoping to get as much sponsorship for the segments of time that they are actively playing on the field.

Brunch With a Cause on 2.04.23

From the Pullman Team: Join us for a fun-filled day of food, activities, and marine conservation at Pullman Phuket Panwa Beach Resort! We’re hosting a special Beach Brunch for the kids and parents of Headstart International School, and we invite you to join us for an exciting day by the sea. The Beach Brunch buffet will feature a wide variety of food options and special shark-themed desserts. You can indulge in delicious dishes while enjoying the stunning sea view as a backdrop.

But that’s not all! We have a lot of exciting activities planned for the day. You can participate in educational presentations on the Bamboo shark and seagrass projects, beach games and activities for kids and adults, a shark release ceremony, a beach clean-up activity, and a marine walk guided by marine experts. We’re also running an Early bird promotion for people who book and pay before March 20, 2023. You can get the Beach Brunch buffet for THB 1,250 (net) per person. The regular price is THB 1450 (net) per person, but kids under twelve (12) years old pay only 50%, and kids under six (6) years old eat for free. With every brunch, Pullman Phuket Panwa Beach Resort will give THB 300 to OFA, a non-profit organization that supports marine conservation projects.

Don’t miss this chance to have a great time with your family and friends while supporting a good cause. Book your spot now and enjoy a wonderful day by the beach! Click here to find out more!

PE & Sports

PISAC Track & Field

A very well done to all U9 & U11 boys and girls from BISP, UWCT, KIS, BCIS who travelled to HeadStart on Wednesday to participate in the PISAC U9 & U11 Track & Field competition. It was a wonderful afternoon of fun competition. → A full album of high quality photos can be found HERE!

• Track Events - 60m, 100, 200m sprints, the 800m distance run, hurdles, and the shuttle relay
• Field Events - Long jump, discus, shot putt, and Javelin

The final results were
1st place	BISP	285 points
2nd place	HSIS	264 points
3rd place	KIS	214 points
4th place	BCIS	197 points
5th place	UWCT	196 points

Basketball

U18 Basketball match VS BISP lost a tough hard fought game by 8 points. The players played a hard grinding match. Despite the loss I’m still proud of the hard effort from HeadStart players. Special recognition to player Alex for his tenacious defense and consistent scoring. Great effort U18 Basketball team! -Coach Curtis

Football

Well done to the HeadStart Panthers U16 Boys team who welcomed KIS for a friendly fixture this week. The boys worked hard and pushed themselves throughout the match, it was a great opportunity for them to hone their tactics in preparation for the Bangkok Super League tournament this coming weekend. Good Luck Boys! -Coach Nueng

Last weekend The Panthers Academy welcomed Oak Meadow school for some exciting friendly fixtures. The Panthers U11 boys team started the morning with a fantastic display of their skills and showcased how well they have developed over the past year. Following the U11 teams, the Panthers U15 Boys took to the field displaying some fast and flowing football, and a physical presence on the pitch in preparation for their trip to Harrow International School next week. Well done to all involved. - Coach Paul

Primary

Congratulations to our Primary ‘Students of the Month’ for Thai Language studies. Well done Tiara, Poppy, Amy, April, Kim, Amelia, Soft, Jagger, Pokpong, Sebastian, Candy, Title, Alex and Kamilla.

We would like to thank Khun Sirapattra, Khun Sujin, Khun Monrada, Khun Pharit, Khun Kuncharat, Khun Piyavan, all parents with children in Year 2 as well as Khun Likit Lalaeng, a Thai teacher from Satree school for coming to teach the Year 2 students how to make traditional Thai fish-shaped ornaments made of palm leaves. - Kru Cherry & Kru Poy

Growing Garden News - Primary

The garden has now fully come to life and is blooming with wild flowers and a wonderful selection of fruit and vegetables. We are always amazed at how quickly things grow and how abundantly. Even with the amount of children that pick and taste the crops each week, we never run out! Year 6 recently harvested their peanuts which they planted back in term 1. They gave back to the garden by learning how to prepare sweet potatoes for planting which links to their WWII topic. Year 3 and 4 have been transplanting their salad plants to the main beds and creating ways to keep them safe from the intense sunlight and any hungry caterpillars! The children have also been rooting lemongrass which is important in our garden as, not only does it smell wonderful, it acts as a snake repellent – snakes don’t like the aroma or the slightly spiky leaves. Along with the planting and garden maintenance, the children have enjoyed picking and munching on cucumbers, bush beans and tomatoes. -Ms Rebecca Ross

Secondary

Socratic Seminars

Socratic Seminars are a way of encouraging students to use their critical thinking faculties. Unlike the oppositional format of debates, the purpose of a Socratic Seminar is to collaboratively explore a complex text in order to develop a deeper shared understanding. Thus the success of a Socratic Seminar rests predominantly with student engagement and preparation- teaching valuable lessons about risk-taking and preparation. Teachers model good practice: asking open-ended questions and strategically guiding the investigation but the students become the ones driving the learning. This week, Year 10 Woolf and Gogol came together to evaluate the character of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. Having now been through this process, I have no doubt that the learning derived from it will lead to both more thoughtful articulation of abstractions and more insightful written responses. -Mr. Pollicutt, Head of English

Students often give presentations in schools and. if we’re honest, they’re often performed under duress. For example, many of the current Year 12 were asked to present on the many varied wonders of Othello last year. Perhaps unsurprisingly, sometimes these presentations can lack a certain, shall we say, intellectual investment (!) Therefore, it has been so very wonderful to see these first year A Level students delivering passionate, informed and highly engaging presentations in their Communications lessons. Today, we had the absolute pleasure of watching two highly contrasting talks from Alex Patterson (on beatboxing) and Nae Nae Singhapan (on medical packaging). I must confess, I have rarely given either of these things much thought but I left the room with a new fascination in both. I must offer particular kudos to Alex- his 10 minute talk went on for over 40, with the audience enthralled throughout by his knowledge and skill. -Mr David Pollicutt, Head of English

Find Your Feet Careers Fair

Thank you to all our parent volunteers who gave up their time to do this for our students. All students benefit from the experience of talking directly to people in the fields they are interested in. We are grateful for the time and generosity of our parent community. -Ms Indu Bedi, Head of Sixth Form

Last Friday Year 11, 12 and 13 students attended a Careers Fair where we got to meet many parents in our community who came in to represent different careers and professions. The representatives included entrepreneurs, a Dentist & Doctor, an Architect, an Engineer, a Lawyers, a Data Analyst, a Psychologist, a Banker, a Seafarer, a Manager in Hospitality, an owner of a Charity and Health and Fitness Coaches. Meeting these parents deepened our knowledge about the many careers and professions that we are interested in. It also gave us the opportunity to learn about their experiences. -Selly, Noey and Jess, Year 12

I had a very inspirational talk with Dr. Kulwadee Kulsrisombut, she gave me an insight on medical school and the journey to dentistry. She reassured me of certain things and was very honest about the hardships of pursuing medicine. -Grace Holtby, Year 12

The conversations I had today were all very enriching. I talked to a banker, an entrepreneur and a business consultant. They all gave me good insights into what life looks like with their careers and how the sequences of their lives got them to where they are today. It gave me a lot of inspiration as to what my future career may be, and I am very thankful for the experience. -Liam, Year 12

This year’s career fair has given me the opportunity to strengthen my knowledge and provided me with the information I required for any potential career I might consider in the future. With the limited time I had, I got to talk to Peter Keiber, a banker, and Torben Busk Jensen, an entrepreneur. Through my conversation with them, I managed to gain a lot of useful information about the careers I might take in the future as well as the skills required for them. -Anda, Year 12

The people who came to represent different careers at the fair were extremely helpful, as well as nice to have a conversation with. They explained what steps they took to get to where they are, the rough patches and how hard they worked. We spoke to Torben Busk Jensen and Jerry Joseph, they were very good to talk to and explain many different aspects of what they do. They explained to me what I would need to do if I was interested in following their steps, they also mentioned the different traits a person may need when applying themselves into these different career paths. -Issy, Year 13

From learning what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur to discovering the intricacies of the secretive Swiss banking industry, this year’s career fair was great! Every conversation was intriguing, intellectual and insightful. My only regret was that we didn’t have more time! -Krit, Year 11

Full album of high quality photos available here!

Mandarin Class News

Secondary students in the Mandarin Foreign Language classroom designed and created their own masks. These masks are inspired by the Chinese Opera tradition, in which the colors and patterns of the make-up change according to the characteristics of the characters in the stories. -Ms Wei Wang & Mr Banchao Tian

Success Stories from Outside of the Classroom

Mrs Marsh, Headstart Chemistry teacher, competed in the Phuket ultra marathon, first female overall in the 60km solo event. She would like to thank Mr Erik Bohm, the school’s running coach for his invaluable advice in helping her to prepare for such a demanding race. Congratulations also to Khun Yod who also completed the 60km solo men’s race and to Khun Nuk from Headstart’s Admin team who ran even further, successfully completing the 100Km sole event!