Patana News Volume 19 Issue 31

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 26th May 2017

Volume 19 Issue 31

www.patana.ac.th

Looking Forward to Exciting Changes in the Primary School Page 2

Also in this issue

2017/18

Year 6 Get Tops’ Green Commitment / R.A.P and Read Week Fundraising

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Bangkok Patana School News

Bangkok Patana is an IB World School, accredited by CIS and NEASC

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Changes in the Primary School Jason Cooper, Principal, Primary School

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t this time many staff, students, and parents begin reflecting on the past year. As a school leader, I am thinking more and more about the coming academic year. The more I think about it the more excited I get about all of the changes that will be in place for the 2017/18 academic year.

Having all of our students, from Nursery to Year 13 finish school at 2:30pm is a change that we are really looking forward to. Providing additional learning time for our youngest learners helps us to create more time and space in the curriculum to ensure that we are incorporating our School Values of Well-Being, Learning, and Global Citizenship into our children’s learning experiences.

Extending the school day has given us the opportunity to review our ECA programme in Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. When looking at our ECA programme we need to ensure that we are providing a broad and balanced range of experiences that support and enhance the development of our young learners. Our children need opportunities to explore and develop their creative and artistic skills, their sporting and physical skills, their academic skills, as well as their ICT and 21st century skills. Utilising a combination of a Curriculum Enrichment Programme

within the school day, and a refined selection of quality ECAs after school, we are confident that our young learners will have these opportunities.

We are really looking forward to returning in August and seeing the wonderful new Primary School facilities that will be developed over the summer holidays. These building projects will include: • A new purpose built learning environment specific to Nursery and Tiny Tigers • A complete overhaul of the Foundation Stage building • A comprehensive renovation of the Year 3/4 building • The development of a Dance/Martial Arts studio on the third floor of the Year 5/6 building • Renovation and modernising of the Primary Office At Bangkok Patana School, we are continually looking for ways to improve the learning experiences for our students. We are very excited about the changes for the coming academic year and are really looking forward to the wonderful learning opportunities that these changes will facilitate.

Please note that perspectives are for illustrative purposes only and are subject to change.

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R.A.P and Read Fundraising W Sally Flint, Head of Libraries

e are pleased to share that the money collected from the Primary R.A.P. and READ Dress Up Days was spent on provisions for the FFAC Nursery in Dusit District, Bangkok. This is an orphanage that our students and staff at Bangkok Patana School have established strong links with over the years. The orphanage staff were very appreciative of the extra baby shampoo, food and other household items that enables them to continue operating to take care of young babies until they are adopted overseas. Thanks to the generosity of our students and also other teachers and staff who contributed gifts. We are particularly grateful to Khun Waree in the Secondary Library who donated a set of her own published Thai large picture books.

The money collected from the Sec26/05/2017

ondary R.A.P and READ Dress Up days was bid for by our Secondary CAT Clubs. The group writing the most convincing proposal was the Patana Marine Conservation Group. These students are currently helping the Phuket Marine Biological Centre raise funds to provide a pump for the tanks where baby turtles are kept. Turtle eggs are collected from beaches around Phuket and brought to the centre to hatch safely and allow the turtle shells to harden so that birds and fish cannot eat them as easily. These turtles are then transferred to the Mai Khao Turtle Project for release into the ocean. The dress up day funds were contributed towards this.

A big thanks to everyone who took part in not only making the day great fun, but also facilitating that considerable donations could be made to these important charities.

Bangkok Patana School News

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TOPS’ GREEN COMMITMENT TK Buristakul, Lucas Perren and Korn Niruttinanon, 6F

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n Year 6, students have been focusing on how plastic damages the earth. Each class in the Year group have sent a letter to a supermarket, for example Seven Eleven (7/11) and Makro. In 6F, the students used their combined full potential to send a letter to Tops. First, students researched about this supermarket in detail and wrote their individual letters. Then, our class looked into each other’s writing and took parts from everybody’s work. That way, everyone had contributed in helping to write the letter. In the letter, the students talked about how plastic affects the ocean, how plastic is contributing to global warming, recognised the countries that have already banned plastic bags and offered simple solutions to be eco-friendly. Lots of students gave ideas to help the staff by training them to suggest a cloth bag or a biodegradable plastic bag. Our class also talked about making the employees passionate about saving our earth and packing things more efficiently in plastic bags. Mr Ferguson, the class teacher of 6F, found the address for the man-

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ager of Tops and sent the letter that the class had written. We all hoped for a reply and waited excitedly one to come. After a week or two, a parcel came.

“I felt excited and nervous, we weren’t sure that they would even respond.”- Leti On the day of the parcel’s arrival, everyone was excited and full of anticipation to see what was inside – it was a very exciting moment! Some were bewildered by the size of the parcel, not knowing what it contained, many were asking Mr Ferguson to explain what was in it, but he was determined that his great yet frustrating idea of keeping it a surprise until the end of the day would happen. Finally, after we finished our last lesson, we looked at the letter.

A tense atmosphere swept over the room. At last, Mr Ferguson produced two pages out of the parcel, excitement swept the room. Mr Ferguson read out the letter, which included lines like “...and ultimately,

Bangkok Patana School News

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“When we sent the message, I felt excited and I couldn’t guess what Tops would reply back. Once we received the message, I felt overjoyed that Tops is being eco-friendly.” - Billy I agree with you all” and “Together we can make the difference and you have my word that we will keep looking at and employing new initiatives to reduce the amount of bags we are giving out.” Finally, Tops replied “Keep up the good work.” An important thing in the letter was that Tops had said that they would look at staff training - an issue we raised in the letter. However, people were still curious of what else was in the parcel. Inside were lots of ‘Bags 4 Life’, which everyone in our class received. This was an extremely special once-in-a-lifetime event. Everyone in our class had contributed to a better future.

“I was so excited! I waited for what seemed to be an eternity. I was shaking with anticipation! I needed to know how our hard work paid off.”- Aran A

huge well done to

6F

in their

amazing efforts to bring about positive change for the future of our planet!

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Bangkok Patana School News

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CATs Corner Tania Leyland, Community Services Coordinator

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he Patana Enterprise elective students have once again shown a commitment to ‘giving back’ with their donations to the CAT of their choice : ● Wheelie donated 2372 THB to Habitat for Humanity ● Mama Marco’s Decent Pizza donated 231 THB to

Habitat for Humanity ● Bubblepop donated 851 THB to habitat for Humanity

Presentations and proposals

The teams have completed their annual reports, prepared their proposals and are in the process of delivering their presentations to Senior Leaders within the school in a bid to seek approval for continuation next year. The teams have had to reflect on this year’s activities and use this to inform the development of their proposals, with a focus five on key areas ● What is the problem or issue that you want to address? ● How will you do this? ● What does success look like? ● How will you measure this? ● How will you ensure ‘whole school’ engagement?

The quality and content of the presentations is excellent and I am confident that next year we will see more collaboration, more sustainable impact and a greater focus on the development of global citizenship with many ideas being developed from the Global Learner Conference 2016.

And Finally...

Are you a teacher or parent looking for a new challenge? Do you want to have a positive impact on our local and global community? Do you have a passion for empowering young people to make a change?

If your answer is yes then I have a perfect opportunity for you!

I am looking for supervisors who are able to offer support and guidance to our student Community Action Teams. The CATs are essentially student driven and each group has its own leadership team. The role of the supervisor is to meet with the core team and offer support and guidance for their campaigns, fundraisers and in school activities. If you have a particular passion that you would like to pursue through supporting a CAT, please let me know and I can introduce you to the right team.

We are always on the lookout for more help on a regular as well as casual basis. We cover a wide range of ‘causes’. Please go to the CAT FF page and take a look at the different groups and to find out more information.

If you are interested in getting involved in any way, please get in touch tale@patana.ac.th. I would love to hear from you.

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BISAC Gymnastics 2017 Will Preston, Gymnastics Coordinator Tristan Vandermeer – 2nd Place Individual Allaround Jacob Broadhurst – 3rd Place Individual All-around Level 4 Team – 1st Place Giles Kinsella – 1st Place Individual All-around Level 5 Aron Steinmetz – Level 5, 2nd Place Individual All-around

Girls

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here were some fantastic results for BISAC Gymnastics on 29th and 30th April.

Boys

Bangkok Patana Boys’ Gymnastics team were crowned BISAC Champions! They won every single team category which is first since with records going back to 2011.

Level 1 Team – 1st Place Phillip Duckworth – 1st Place Individual All-around Max Lai – 3rd Place Individual All-around Level 2 Team – 1st Place Xavier Arkotxa-Lakha – 1st Place Individual Allaround Thanan Chuwanon – 3rd Place Individual All-around Level 3 Team – 1st Place

Level 2 Junior – 1st Place Payton Brenner – 3rd Place Individual All-around Level 2 Senior – 5th Place Level 3 Junior – 3rd Place Level 3 Senior – 2nd Place Level 4 Junior Team – 2nd Place Level 4 Senior Team – 1st Place Evelyn Cannon – 1st Place Individual All-around Level 5 Team – 1st Place Kaitlyn Dibbayawan – 2nd Place Individual Allaround Level 8 Password Thepkanjana – 1st Place Individual All-around

Special mentions go to

Jenny Greenbank for placing 1st on Vault; Claire Tantapakul placing 2nd on Vault; Kaitlyn Dibbayawan placing 2nd Individual All-around for Level 5, and for all the Level 5 girls for beating their BISAC score from last year and coming 1st place in the Level 5 Overall Team Award.

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FLEXIBILITY IS ONE OF THE FOUR MAIN COMPONENTS OF FITNESS, ALONGSIDE STRENGTH, SPEED & STAMINA. If you are an athlete looking to take your fitness to the next level and looking for an edge in your sport; increasing your flexibility and range of movement is vital.

Next academic year, the Gymnastics programme in partnership with Absolute You are looking to provide a high value morning athlete stretching programme from 6:30am – 7:15am with a stretching expert.

The morning athlete stretching programme is open to all. The class will guide you slowly through the right progressions to increase your flexibility, range of movement or simply a recovery stretch in a mindful and engaging way from a world-class teacher in the gymnastics hall at Bangkok Patana.

Sessions would cost around 150-250 baht per session depending on numbers (Absolute You classes normally costs 750Baht per session) and sign up will be on the ECA system.

To provide this service next academic year we need to know if there is enough demand to run it. If this is of interest to you please click here.

Term 1 2017/18 School Fee Invoices Invoices for school fees for Term 1 2017/18 were sent to families/companies on Thursday 11th May 2017. If you have not received your invoice please contact the Accounting Department or email accounts@patana.ac.th Please note that the due date for settlement is on Friday 9th June 2017 and payments received after this date will be subject to a late payment charge of 1% per month.

Thank you, Accounting Department

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Bangkok Patana School News

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Notice of the upcoming

2017 PTG AGM Dear Patana Parents and Academic Staff,

I would like to notify you of the upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Bangkok Patana School’s Parent Teacher Group (PTG) which is to be held on Tuesday 30th May 2017 in the Sports Hall, Room SPH-201, from 8:45am to 9:45am. Refreshments will be provided. For AGM business to be valid, we require a quorum of 25 parents to be present at the meeting. PTG membership is automatically held by any parent or guardian with a child or children attending Bangkok Patana School and any member of academic staff.

At the AGM, the PTG Committee will review its activities over the 2016/17 year, including their annual accounts. The financial position of the PTG will be discussed, and the total PTG budget for 2017/18 will be decided at the AGM. How the budget is allocated however is the decision of the incoming committee.

PTG AGM May 2016 We will also be electing new representatives for the 2017/18 PTG Committee at this meeting. The PTG would not exist nor be able to carry out its important duties without the wonderful support of it's many parent volunteers. We are still looking for Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer roles. I strongly encourage you to consider volunteering. If you would like to nominate for a position on the 2017/18 PTG Committee, please send email ptg@patana.ac.th. Please visit the PTG Firefly page for more information.

We would love you to join us for this important meeting. If you are unable to attend the AGM, you can nominate a PTG member as your proxy in order to have a quorum of members to vote in the new committee. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact myself, an existing PTG member, or email ptg@patana.ac.th. I look forward to seeing you at our 2017 PTG AGM!

Kind regards, Anthony Chang Acting PTG Chairperson

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Bangkok Patana School News

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Transport Corner Weekly news from the Transport Department

PTG Bus Inspections

Transport are still looking for a few more volunteers to help with the PTG Bus Inspections on Tuesday 6th June from 8.00am – 10.00am. If you are able to help please contact Khun Pa in the Services Department phca@patana.ac.th Your help is much appreciated.

After School Events

There are a lot of afterschool events coming up for the remainder of the term. Please ensure that you plan ahead and change or cancel your child’s bus in advance. Your help with this is very much appreciated.

Moving House

If you will be moving house or accommodation between now and the end of the year please contact Transport well in advance to see if we have a route to your new location.

60th Anniversary Transport Tiger

The Transport Team decorated a tiger for the recent 60th Anniversary celebrations. The instantly recognisable tiger is in a school bus to represent the thousands of bus trips the Transport Department oversee every year!

The Transport Tiger will soon be back outside the Transport Office so make sure you stop by and have a look!

Contact Us

The Transport Department’s direct phone number is 02 785 2470.

The office is staffed from 6:00am - 6:00pm Monday to Friday.

You can also contact us via email at transport@patana.ac.th

Upcoming30thPMay rimary Workshop 8:00—8:30am

Was The Primary Report and APP (Assessing Pupils’ Progress) Please note this workshop will now focus on ‘Changes in the Primary School for 2017/18’ For more information on any of the Learning in the Primary School Workshops please contact Ondine Ullman, Acting Primary Assistant Principal, Learning and Curriculum onul@patana.ac.th

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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 14

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