Patana News Volume 20 Issue 12

Our mission is to ensure that students of different nationalities grow to their full potential as independent learners in a caring British international community.

NEWS Patana

Friday 17th November 2017

www.patana.ac.th

Volume 20 Issue 12

What Are Your Strengths?

Primary Principal, Jason Cooper considers this question.

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2017/18

Also in this issue

In-House Gymnastics Competition / Important Pick Up and Drop Off Information 17/11/2017

Bangkok Patana School News

Bangkok Patana is a not-for-profit IB World School, accredited by CIS and NEASC

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What Are Your

Strengths?

Jason Cooper, Primary Principal

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hen we think of learning we often relate it to a process of learning to do something based on things we have been taught. For example, we learn to read by first recognising the symbolic representation of the sounds (the letters of the alphabet), then learning the sounds themselves, before matching the sounds to the symbols to make words. This is a very crude summary of the intricate process involved in learning to read, but it highlights that we learn skills by going through a process. But what character traits do we develop by going through this process?

In his book ‘What if Everything you Knew About Education was Wrong?’, David Didau talks about learning being liminal rather than linear. In simple terms this is the space and time between not knowing and knowing, and this space and time can be very messy.

When we learn we do not follow a linear progression of acquiring knowledge and skills, sometimes we have to wrestle with new information and go back and forth before we move to the knowing stage.

So what happens in between not knowing and knowing?

During this time, we develop our character as learners.

We learn how to persevere, to take risks through trying different approaches, to embrace mistakes as part of the learning process, to be resilient and bounce back when things don’t go well, and we also learn the value of hard work, self-discipline and patience. When we

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What is it that our children’s future employers will value most?

A fixed set of knowledge and skills, or a set of characteristics that foster flexibility, adaptability, and sense of purpose? look at learning in this way, we begin to understand that learning is a life-long process and the reward is the process itself, not simply completing the learning.

What is it that our children’s future employers will value most? A fixed set of knowledge and skills, or a set of characteristics that foster flexibility, adaptability, and sense of purpose? Children who study Mathematics at school for one hour per day, 180 school days per year, for 13 years, will have studied this discipline for 2340 hours when they graduate (nb. This does not account for individual and guided study completed outside of school). What will they have learnt during those 2340 hours that will have a lasting impact on their employability and future wellbeing? Knowing how to do quadratic equations is important, but this is not what they will call on when deadlines are fast approaching, or when they are dealing with one of life’s inevitable setbacks. As we support our children through their school days, it is important for us to help them identify the characteristics that they are developing as these are the strengths that will help them develop into welladjusted, well-rounded and emotionally stable adults who go out and positively impact the world.

Find your strengths here: VIAcharacter

Bangkok Patana School News

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Bangkok Patana Gymnastics Team Host In-House Competition William Preston, Gymnastics Programme Coordinator

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n Saturday 11th November 2017, Bangkok Patana’s Gymnastics Team hosted an in-house competition with over 100 gymnasts from the school attending.

It was a great opportunity for our gymnasts to gain some more competition experience and receive feedback on their performance by real competitive judges from the Gymnastics Association of Thailand. Each team consisted of an even mix of gymnasts from all different levels. This was a brilliant chance for our junior gymnasts and the senior gymnasts to work together. The senior gymnasts definitely inspired the younger gymnasts with their exceptional and highly skilled tumbling routines.

Thank you to all of our gymnasts, coaches, parents and support staff who made this event such a success.

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the m o r f t s The late

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PTG

Bangkok Patana School News

Click here to join the PTG Facebook page

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Additional Entry IGCSE Language exams Jen Peppard, Head of Secondary World Languages

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t this time of year I get many inquiries about the possibility of entering for an IGCSE in a language that is studied outside of school. The answer to the question very often is yes! But there are some key things to think about.

Language IGCSE’s come in two or even three levels, so it is important to ascertain at which level your child needs to enter. They are not available in every language and at every level – I can confirm that for you.

The levels are: IGCSE Modern Foreign Language.

This is the exam that most of our students sit after three to five years of study of a foreign language in school.

IGCSE Second Language. This exam is not available in many languages, but it is aimed at unbalanced bilinguals – often children who are ‘native’ speakers but who have not studied in the target language.

IGCSE First Language. This is for children who are native speakers and who have studied their language in some depth. It is the equivalent to the English IGCSE which our students take in Year 11.

For many students it is good to have their home language, or a language studied outside of school validated by giving them a qualification to add to their CV. I do not recommend students below Year 9 taking these exams – they are designed to be taken by typically 14 – 17 year old students.

Parents are billed for these exams in the normal way.

We can only undertake an IGCSE MFL exam in a language other than those taught at school if parents can provide a suitably qualified person (not a family member) to undertake the oral exam.

We cannot provide tutoring at school for children who wish to take additional entry language exams, but I can provide access to the relevant syllabus and past papers.

Please do contact me at school (jepe@patana.ac.th) if you are interested in your child being entered for one of these exams.

Exam entries need to be made during early December, for the summer 2018 exam, but it is worth finding out what might be possible ahead of the deadline. This will also give you time to ensure suitable lessons, if required, is in place in good time.

I look forward to hearing from you, Jen Peppard Head of Faculty World Languages 6

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IMPORTANT: New Procedures and Information for Parking, Drop Off and Pick Up Dear Parents, We would like your help to ensure that the traffic management is working well for our community. The morning Drop Off is a crucial time for traffic and parking and we hope that with your help we can ease some of the difficulties. You may not be aware of the procedures for pick up and drop off and the parking regulations, and we would like to give you this information.

DROP OFF AND PICK UP 1. Morning Drop Off: The morning is the busiest time for traffic into school and the drop-off zone gets very crowded. Please follow these procedures: a. Use Lane 1 for Drop Off. Vehicles cannot stop for longer than 30 seconds. No parking is available at the drop off area. Vehicles that stop for longer will be asked to move by the security guards. See diagram here. b. Lane 4 is only for vehicles that need to U-turn on Lasalle Road.

2. Afternoon Pick Up: a. Parents are allowed to stop and wait in the pick-up zone as early as 1.30pm only in Lanes 1 and 4. Cars stopped in this area, must have a person inside the car, who is capable of moving it. See diagram here.

3. Taxi Rank: Please do not pick up and drop off students from private vehicles at the taxi rank outside True Coffee. This makes it dangerous for people who are using taxis as they have to step into oncoming traffic in the second lane to get into their taxis.

4. Pick up or drop off is not allowed at Gate 7 (on Soi 39).

GENERAL 5. Vehicles driven by Bangkok Patana families should have a parking sticker affixed to the left-hand side of the front windshield. If you do not have stickers for your cars, please download this form and return it to the front reception desk or email them to reception@patana.ac.th. Our security guards will be looking for these stickers.

6. Please be cautious and courteous: Do not honk your horn or drive aggressively and be cautious when reversing. Always give way to pedestrians.

7. When exiting the vehicle, hold the hands of young children. Young children should not be moving around vehicles unaccompanied by an adult.

8. Follow the directions of the security team controlling the traffic. Our traffic procedures sometimes need to be adapted and only the security team has the authority to change traffic procedures.

9. Engines of parked cars cannot be left idling at school.

PARKING 10. Nursery parents with a pink Bangkok Patana parking sticker can park in the area near the Nursery building and in the Foundation Stage parking lot in front of the Arts Centre.

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Bangkok Patana School News

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11. Foundation Stage parents with a light blue Bangkok Patana parking sticker are allowed to park in the Foundation Stage parking lot in front of the Arts Centre.

12. Year 1 to Year 13 parents can park at the Sports Complex and use the bridge to walk onto campus.

Parking is available in front of the Arts Centre after 3.00pm only.

Please note there is always plenty of parking available at the Sports Complex.

Overall, we ask all drivers to be courteous to pedestrians and to other drivers, with special care taken to watch for students who are entering and exiting vehicles. Please share these procedures with your drivers as well.

We hope these procedures are well explained and we will continue to monitor them and make adjustments. Do consider using the school Transport, which offers a door-to-door service and can save you the hassle of dealing with traffic and parking.

If you have any questions please contact Khun Toon at suha@patana.ac.th.

Thanks in advance for your cooperation.

This information is available in Thai here. Please share with your staff.

Transport Corner Weekly news from the Transport Department Block 2 ECAs begin on Monday for Secondary students returning from Residential Visits. Please ensure that ECA commitments are up to date and accurate for your child. Any changes must be communicated to Transport.

Seatbelts MUST be worn by all students using the school Transport Service. Please remind your child about the importance of wearing a seatbelt and ensuring that it remains on for the whole journey. Please help by reporting any students who do not wear or take off their seatbelt during the bus journey to the Transport Department or your child can report directly to their class teacher/tutor. Thank you for helping to keep all bus users safe.

Year 12 and 13 students can make changes to their own Transport arrangements without parental consent but please note all changes must be made prior to 11:00am. Changes after this time or requests made at the Bus Park may be denied. Please plan ahead to avoid disappointment and inconvenience to Transport staff and other bus users. Your cooperation is appreciated.

Contact Us

Direct phone: 02 785 2470 Email transport@patana.ac.th The office is staffed from 6:00am - 6:00pm Monday to Friday.

Upcoming University Visits University / College

Tokyo International University Lingnan University

Country Rep

Keiko Takahashi Hong Kong Tracy Kwok Japan

Location

Date

Time

Senior Studies, 2nd floor 20.11.17 09:15 Senior Studies, 2nd floor 11.12.17 09:15

Click here for the Canteen Menu 17/11/2017

Bangkok Patana School News

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International Day 29th November

Come and join the

Great Canadians on Bangkok Patana International Day. Please contact us for T-shirt information.

Ann – eanngb@gmail.com Caroline – caroline@epboucher.com

Cash donations welcomed Baking encouraged!

Join us in the Food Hall

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International Day 29th November

Many thanks for your help and support, any questions please contact Sinead Horton at whysweats@hotmail.com

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Community

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T EX D N KEN EE W

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Community

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Community

BCT AUDITIONS! All the world’s a stage!

Next up with BCT: Shakespeare’s classic comedy, As You Like It, a play about finding safety and love. For complete list of characters and an audition application, please email: info@bangkokcommunitytheatre.com Auditions will take place at Bistro 33, Sukhumvit Soi 33 at 7:00pm. The play will be performed on the 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 29th, 30th and 31st March, 2018 at BNH Hospital in the stately Conference Room.

Anyone aged 16 and over can audition to take part in this BCT show. Even though our productions are in the English language, some of our most active members are non-native speakers.

Questions? Want an audition form? Email info@bangkokcommunitytheatre.com and check out the BCT Facebook page.

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Community

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Community

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Community

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For daily updates, snapshots and news on life at school you can find us here...

643 Lasalle Road (Sukhumvit 105) Bangna, Bangkok 10260. THAILAND Tel: +66 (0) 2785 2200 Fax: +66 (0) 2785 2399 www.patana.ac.th Email: reception@patana.ac.th 18

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