Dates for Your Diary

Upcoming events can be found on the website under School Life → Calendar and are also outlined here for easy reference.

For daily updates and news follow the HeadStart Facebook Page and You Tube channel.

Introducing the Team!

Meet Kru Dia, Head of Thai department. Kru Dia has been working at HeadStart for 9 years. In 2018, she was awarded ‘Outstanding Teacher’ by the Teacher Council of Thailand. Aside from being a fantastic addition to our team Kru Dia loves cats (she has 11 of them!) yoga and travelling. Kru Dia plays a vital role in organising meetings and events for Thai Community as well as making sure that students are able to successfully access the curriculum.

This is Michael’s 6th year of teaching. He has worked in many schools across the UK, including London, Hampshire and Bristol. He enjoys working with computers and editing and making films. One of his proudest moments, was coming first in a Crossfit competition (The Phuket Throwdown) last year at Unit 27. He believes that hard work and the right attitude goes a long way to gaining your achievements in life.

Parent Committee Meeting

Our first Parent Committee Meeting for this year is scheduled to be held in our school conference room at 8.15am on Thursday, October 31st 2019. Please send in any points that you would like the Parent Committee to discuss. Contact information can be found on this web page along with relevant information about the functions, roles and responsibilities of the PC. Website Parent Committee Link. If you would like to join the Parent Committee, please send an email to Khun Yong, Executive Secretary at yo[email protected]>. We look forward to hearing from you!

Year 7 Parent Teacher Consultations

On Wednesday the 9th of October, from 3:35pm until 5:30pm, the Year 7 Parent Teacher Consultation will take place in the Secondary Hall, History Room, Geography Room and English 3 Classroom, which can all be found on the 4th Floor. Year 7 students and parents should attend the consultation as this will be the first chance to talk to subjects teachers in secondary school about the progress their son/daughter is making and most importantly what they need to do in a subject to improve. There is no sign up for these meetings and the meetings will generally last around five minutes per subject teacher. Unlike primary PTCs, in secondary school students will typically have nine or ten different teachers teaching them, hence the need for multiple short meetings. If for any reason you want to make a particular time to see a teacher, please email them in advance and they will make a specific time to meet with you. We hope you will attend the PTC and enjoy talking to your child’s subject teachers.

Parent Fitness Class Updates

It’s great to see that the fitness gym is fully booked every morning and that we have a healthy and active group of parents who appreciate this aspect of school life. A few adjustments will need to be made in order to insure everyone’s safety and well being. We ask for your support in following the guidelines mentioned below:

1. Sign up to guarantee your place in the class.

2. Maximum of 25 participants per fitness class.

3. Do not enter the class if it has already begun.

4. Adults only in the fitness center.

5. Clean your mats and equipment after use.

Parent Dress Code at School

Please remember to dress appropriately and show respect for the school by refarining from wearing clothing that would cause offense to others. Since we are living in Asia, parents should err on the conservative side showing respect for the local customs and culture. Refrain from wearing short skirts and shorts. Shirts should cover your mid riff. Do not walk around in school only wearing a sports bra.

Are You a Photographer?

Do you have a good camera? Are you an avid photographer? Since coaches and staff are usually busy with duties and managing students, we want to extend a welcome to parents to take photos of sports events and send them in to the HeadStart Facebook page or email them to [email protected]. Students love to see their photos on the school TV screens and it encourages more participation in sports…so send them in!

Successful Fire Drill

Health and safety is of paramount importance at HeadStart. At the beginning of every academic year an announced fire drill takes place followed by unannounced fire drills in term 2 and 3. Well done to the over 1,000 people at school who quietly evacuated the building in 6:11 minutes on to the astro turf. If you are in school and hear the alarm go off, calmly and quietly make your way to the football pitch until further instructions are given.

TIMO Registration Date Extended

Registration for TIMO and HKISO has been extended until noon on Saturday 5th, October, 2019. The venue in Phuket will be on the 4th floor at Kajonkiet International School, Phuket.

→ TIMO participants can register via this link: https://form.jotform.me/92202782879467

→ HKISO register via this link: https://form.jotform.me/92204312708449

The Little Mermaid Primary Production

The CAPA team is very excited to announce that our Primary production this year is The Little Mermaid. Rehearsals for years 3 to 6 start after half term ready for our performance on Thursday February 6th. We are looking for children from years 3 to 7 to play the main roles and will be auditioning in Music 1 on Monday October 7th from 4.30-6pm. Rehearsals for successful applicants will be held every Monday from 4.30-6pm starting on October 28th. If you need any more information please email [email protected]

UPrep Upcoming Meeting Invitation and Student Success!

University applications are well underway at HeadStart and we are delighted that we have had our first acceptance already! Well done to Denalyn from the graduating class of 2019 - Denalyn is taking a gap year and is currently travelling in Africa undertaking voluntary work. Before she left she had the great news that she had been offered a place at Oral Roberts University to study English Literature - congratulations to her and good luck to all the other students who are about to send off applications.

A reminder that parents are a big part of these success stories and our UPrep programme is here to help parents support their children as they start to think about what happens next after school. Next Thursday, 10th October, our UPrep talk will be on “Your Child’s 5 Year Plan.” This is designed to help parents with younger students from upper primary onwards find out information about what students should be doing as they progress through school to get ready to make a stellar university application. This was a popular session last year and we will be providing new information as well as showing parents how to use our online platform, Unifrog, to find information and get tips for useful activities. We will be in the Primary Hall from 8.15 and hope to see lots of parents there!

UPrep Drop In Session

Great to see so many parents at UPrep drop-in session on Thursday. We chatted about applying to Cambridge, moving to the USA, Swedish universities, the best places to study Business and much more! Do come and see us in the Cafe every other Thursday with your questions, no matter how big or small. By Ms Gemma Caines

Positive Parenting Talk

Positive Parenting Talk 2 was a great success on Thursday morning. Parents from Foundation and Year 1 had the opportunity to work together to identify and evaluate the building blocks for raising confident, competent children. Thank you to all those parents who attended and participated. It was wonderful to you all sharing your own positive experiences of parenting, whilst also reflecting on how you can approach challenges in different ways in the future. Full album can be found on the HeadStart Facebook Page Stay tuned for the date and venue of the next workshop. The theme will be - Setting expectations: how to respond to challenging behaviours.

Thai Parent Meeting

Last week’s meeting for Early Years and Reception Thai parents was well received. We discussed the Thai curriculum, homework policy and school expectations regarding learning Thai in an international school setting. A big thank you to our guest parent speakers Khun Oi and Khun Nee who took the time to share their valuable experience about how parents can best support their children with learning Thai.

P.E. Department News

The Aqua Panthers have the annual Thanyapura Super Sprint this weekend! This meet is filled with fast racing and it is always a great time! We have 41 of our athletes in attendance this weekend and I look forward to watching our team compete! The first race is at 8 am on Saturday and concludes on Sunday. See you poolside! By Coach Brown

Upcoming P.E. Faculty Week

Next week; Monday 7th to Friday 11th October is PE Faculty Week. This year our theme is “The World Series of Burnball”.

During PE Faculty week, students will take part in the Striking and Fielding game Speed Burnball as well as one of their usual PE lessons for that week. Speed Burnball involves two teams. A batting team where students hit a ball and run round a square as far as possible to score points for their team, whilst the fielding team collect the ball and put it back in the bucket in the middle to stop the batting team from scoring any more points.

→ Dates and times are provided in the download below.

→ All classes will need to wear PE kit to school on the relevant days, as they usually would for PE lessons.

→ Students will also have the opportunity to try and win points for their House in Striking and Fielding themed activities running before school and at lunch time throughout the week.

→ Homeroom teachers will go through this information with their students and help to answer any questions the students may have. We hope your child/children enjoy taking part in these themed activities and please make sure they wear their PE kit on the correct days.

Football News

Last weekend, seven HeadStart teams participated in the PISAC Development League. All the teams played extremely well as they reaped the rewards of the intense pre-season schedule. The Under 9, Under 11 and Under 15 boys won every match. The Under 11 girls and Under 13 boys were also unbeaten whilst the Under 13 girls won two out of four matches.

PISAC Week 2

→ Soccer Circus starts at 10.30am on Saturday at HeadStart for the last session of this half term.

→ Football Day Camp is on Monday 21st October at HeadStart.

→ ‘Number One Goalkeepers Academy’ is taking place on 26th October at HeadStart.

Students News

Student Council Meeting

Student voice is very important to us here at HeadStart and we do like to provide opportunities for students to give us feedback and work on projects to help make school an even better place for them to learn, work and play! One of the ways we do this is through student leadership and an important part of this is our Secondary Student Council. 18 Fearless representatives came to our first meeting of the year last Friday and we had a full agenda of points to talk about. Discussion was heated at times and we didn’t always agree, but nevertheless we were able to talk through a wide range of issues from uniform to community events, and food to parking. Our main projects for this term will be planning our Halloween social event (watch this space!) and thinking about the social areas around school. Check out our noticeboard on the 3rd floor to see our progress! By Ms Gemma Caines, Head of Sixth Form

Year 12 began future planning in earnest this week by starting “The Apprentice”! Over 6 weeks they will learn how to create a perfect CV, how to write an effective cover letter, and try their hand at selling themselves at interview. This project is a collaboration between HeadStart and Prince of Songkla University, and we were delighted to welcome Colin Gallagher into school so we could harvest his expertise. Colin is a lecturer in Advanced Business English and Intercultural Studies at PSU and, as an expert in Human Resources Management, we were lucky to hear from him directly about how to make sure application paperwork is top class! The students will be completing and being judged on a variety of application related tasks and we will announce the winners in 6 weeks! By Ms Gemma Caines, Head of Sixth Form

We had a great time in Preschool sharing our daily provision activities with parents. We loved showing them our learning styles, songs and dancing! We are excited to have parents back again next month. By Ms Charlotte Myers

Year 1 students in the ‘Thai First Language’ class have been learning how to read words with the different vowels. They had fun making ‘spelling rulers’ so that they can learn to read easily. By Kru Cherry

History has joined Active Learning for the first time this year and we spent our first lesson cooking ancient Greek desserts in the canteen! Every week in “Cooking with the Ancients”, students will be learning about a different ancient dish before cooking and eating it. A great way to actively connect with the past. By Mr Richard Cramp, History

In our native Russian lesson this week, we talked and wrote beautiful essays about the beautiful season of autumn in Russia now. By Ms Alina Platkova

This week Miss Leamons Year 8’s begin their new module studying Plant anatomy and Photosynthesis. Students have been learning about the chemical reaction that takes place in the chloroplasts and the products of photosynthesis including the storage carbohydrate starch. Students investigated whether starch is present in leaves by using ethanol to break down the cell walls and chloroplasts and then using the indicator iodine to test positively or negatively for starch molecules. They year 8’s also did fantastic in their recent End of Topic Test. Well done year 8’s! By MS Ellie Leamon

This week the Year 13 Biology cohort have been practising their exam skills, group work and presentation skills by preparing answers to some of the more challenging exam questions in groups and then presenting their knowledge back to their peers. The students have demonstrated really strong scientific knowledge and a strong grasp of the content taught so far this year, and outstanding presenting skills, something of which will be extremely useful to them when they go on to university next year. Well done Year 13’s for you dedication and hard work this early in the year. By Ms Ellie Leamon

On Monday the 30th of September the IGCSE and A Level Music students travelled to BIS to participate in a World Music Workshop. The day was jam packed with rhythms and beats from the Carribean, Africa, the Arab World, India and Spain. The students improvised, performed and listened to music, deepening their understanding of World Music in preparation for their exams. By MS Erika Cramp, Director of Music and Performing Arts

The BTEC students visited Bangkok last week for an overnight stay and took part in the Iconic Global Leadership Careers Workshop, hosted by Les Roches’ and Glion Institute of Higher Education. The event took place at The Waldorf Astoria where the students participated in an interactive educational programme. They learned about career opportunities in many industries, spoke to alumni and used a globally recognised Business Canvas Model to create a business plan. Our Headstart students did an amazing job at working in teams and presented the business plan to over 80 people, some of which were industry experts. Congratulations to Patrick in year 12 who won a prize for his outstanding efforts and well done to everyone! By Ms Yardenna Jones

House News

The Primary School have been bouncing there way to points this week by competing in the ‘Speed Bounce’ event. The Green Dragons won both the Y1-3 & Y4-6 events and showed great house spirit and determination. Our winner Aleksei from Year 3 Yellow scored 59 bounced in 30 seconds. It is PE Faculty next week so there are lots of points to be won! Who will be on top next week?

The House Captains have received their House badges and are wearing them with pride. They play and important part in the running of the House activities as they organise, prepare, deliver and keep score. They can be seen around the school encouraging members of their house to take part in activities and keep the spirit of their house strong. By Ms Kirstie Melville

Around the Island

Tickets are available for Melbourne Cup hosted by Angsana Laguna Phuket Tuesday, 5th November from 9:00am to 2:00pm. The purpose of the event is to benefit The Good Shepherd Phuket and Phuket Has Been Good To Us. Free flow food and beverages. Individual bookings or tables of 10 available. Facebook Page Event Click Here!.