Patana News Volume 20 Issue 22

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 23rd February 2018

Volume 20 Issue 22

www.patana.ac.th

Getting Ready for Waste Less Weeks

The Student Environmental Committee have been doing more to prepare for the upcoming Waste Less Weeks than just arranging themselves into giant letters, Mr Penstone and the team are here to tell us more...

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2017/18

Also in this issue

Celebrating La Chandeleur / Interact Rise Auction / The Jim Thompson House Visit 23/02/2018

Bangkok Patana School News

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

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WLW3 - Getting Ready for Waste Less Weeks James Penstone, Cross Campus Principal

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aste Less Week (WLW) has become an annual event. Devised and organised by the Student Environmental Committee, the event has two main purposes: 1. To raise awareness of various small steps which we can take, both at school and outside of school, to lead more sustainable lifestyles 2. To try out a few such ‘small steps’ on campus, and to evaluate whether these could become longer term changes at school.

This year, we will have two Waste Less Weeks back-toback which we are calling ‘WLW3’. The event takes place in Term 2 so that for the first time Year 11 and Year 13 can also join in. The dates are 12th to 23rd March, soon after the half term break.

To support the first aim above, we will be encouraging members of the community to submit their own ‘small steps’ - lasting habit changes towards more environmentally sustainable lifestyles. This will involve sharing a photo that clearly shows the change, alongside brief explanations.

We will share via the school website and social media as appropriate. Information on how to submit will be publicised soon. Please do consider taking part. This coming half term break might be a good time to take the photo to show you and your family’s small step commitments.

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For aim 2, there will be some visible ‘small steps’ for the school community to take part in. As most of these have been planned for by students who meet weekly with volunteer staff members, I will leave it to various student group members to explain some of the changes and activities:

PRIMARY SEC Primary Recycling Group - Keira, Year 6 We have made a wooden frame for the Snack Bar recycling bins to help raise awareness. It shows you actual examples of what can be recycled. It informs you what happens to the objects you recycle and what you have to do to the item before you put it in the bin. We’ve been going to the Secondary Design and Technology room to create the frame and design it.

Displays Group - Pon, Year 6 Our aim is to raise awareness of the small steps we are making at Bangkok Patana School. For the Waste Less Weeks we have organised an Art contest, challenging students to take part to create a design which would promote recycling and ways which we could reduce our plastic waste. Anyone in Key Stage 2 can take part and the winning designs will be recreated and hung around the Primary Snack Bar.

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Food Waste Group - Bella and Ranya, Year 6

mental impact of the meat industry. Currently, our group Our main aim is to show people how much food is wast- is collaborating with the canteen staff, and if all goes well ed in the Primary School every day. We will have posters then we will be looking at one less meat dish being served to raise awareness about this and a graph to show how during WLW, with one or two more vegetarian dishes. much food is wasted over the two Waste Less Weeks, we Secondary Re-plastic Group – Alex, Year 12 are hoping to see the graph get smaller! We are also arOur group wants to eliminate usage of disposable plastic ranging for the black bins to be removed from the canteen around school. For WLW3 we have focused on one of the during the Waste Less Weeks so we all have to use the cor- school’s biggest contributors to plastic waste, the Secondrect sorting bins. ary Smoothie Bar. Considering we have been using both Primary Re-Plastic Group - Erin, Year 6 During the Waste Less Weeks, we are reducing the use of individual small milk bottles for Years 3, 4, 5 and 6. In order to do this we will be using milk in large dispensers taken from larger milk bottles. As well as reducing plastic, these also enable children to be more independent, as they will be using reusable cups and cleaning them themselves.

plastic cups and straws in Patana for many years now we finally thought it was time to tackle this prevailing issue. This year we will: • Replace the plastic smoothie cups with cups made from biodegradable cassava starch • Replace the plastic straws at the smoothie bar • Promote reusable metal straws Secondary Recycling Group - Mei Mei and Luke, Year 12

SECONDARY SEC

Energy (“Roots for Shoots”) Group – Peerat (Poon), Our major aim at the moment is to raise awareness of Year 13 recycling bins around school to ensure the that recyclable For WLW3, we will be promoting Climate Force Youth materials go into the correct categories. We are making 2041 (part of Robert Swan’s 2041 initiative) as well as sure that the labels for each material are recognisable to running a campaign called ‘Turn it off Thursdays’! We’ll avoid any confusion and encourage students and teachers promote energy conservation by asking all classrooms in to make the most use of these bins. We are excited to help both Primary and Secondary, to reduce power use on the contribute to this change. two Thursdays. ​ Less Meat Mondays Group – Lily, Year 12 The Less-Meat Mondays sub-group believe that reducing the amount of meat available in the canteen will be an effective way to raise awareness towards the environ-

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Bangkok Patana School News

WHAT ARE YOUR SMALL STEPS?

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CATs Corner Tania Leyland, Youth Club and Community Services Coordinator

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ast Saturday, I attended my final dive trip with the Patana Marine Conservation Group (PMCG).

After being a member of this club for the past three years, it was delightful to see the amazing progress our artificial reefs have made over the years. Although there have been a few incidents and setbacks, we have always managed to solve the problem and move forward. At the weekend, we attached more coral to previous structures and were lucky enough to see a blue spotted stingray in the area! It was exciting for us to see such a diverse community around the artificial reef as it meant that our project has been making a difference to the area.

The weather and water conditions were wonderful and I couldn’t have asked for a better way to end my time with the club. I will be pleased to announce the next presidents of PMCG very soon and I trust they will successfully continue to raise awareness about pollution in the ocean and create more structures to lower into the ocean.

Saranya Fischbach, Year 13

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February 20th was the World Day of Social Justice. To mark this globally important day, each of the CATs produced a single board display to share some of their actions and impacts with the school community. It was fantastic to see the wide range of activities that our teams have been involved in addressing global issues. It was also great to see that the teams have been working hard to connect and develop relationships with external partnership organisations. This greatly increases the impact of the work the students do in school.

We turned the wooden globe into a mini cinema and showed films from the Habitat for Humanity 2017 build and a Forward Film about ‘Gender Inequality’. Students were also able to interact with some of the issues by contributing to thoughts and ideas maps and hanging a ‘pledge to make the world better’ on a washing line display.

CAT IN FOCUS - REFUGEE AID PROJECT (RAP) You might ask, “What is RAP?” Who are they, and what do they do? Let us tell you more...

RAP (Refugee Aid Project) is a CAT with the objective of raising awareness about the plight of refugees around Thailand, as well as fundraising for UNHCR (United Nations High Commission of Refugees). Through these efforts we aim to enhance the refugees’ standard of living, because after all they are humans…like all of us. By the end of this year, we hope to provide developed educational material to satisfy basic educational needs. We hope that we as a club can continue to branch out further, reaching out to those around us and making our society aware of the injustice that needs to be solved. #WESTANDWITHREFUGEES We are looking for new members from Key Stage 3 because you are creative and awesome!

Muskan Shah and Sita (Genie) Wattanavekin, Year 12

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Celebrating La Chandeleur Madame Sentilhes, World Languages Teacher

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very second of February, the French celebrate La adding toppings such as grilled marshmallows, cheese or Chandeleur (Latin: candelorum festum), also known honey…revealing some budding chefs! as the Candlemas, or the festival of lights, to bring prosperOur students thoroughly enjoyed this cultural parentheity and luck for the coming year. sis as well as did their teachers who organised and superYear 8 students had the opportunity to learn about the vised the sessions and also tasted their students’ cooking! historical and cultural origins of this French tradition which Finally, it reminded us that cooking helps to define a culdates back to the fifth century. They found out about the ture, as many layers of ancient beliefs and sharing values shape and colour of the crêpe which symbolises the return remain ingrained in the French culinary tradition. May our of the sun after the long dark nights of winter, the signifi- Year 8 students perpetuate their newly found ‘savoir faire’ cance of the ingredients used (eggs and milk for creation at home and bring prosperity to their family! and purity) and, certainly their favourite part, cooking their Here’s what the students thought: own pancake following a recipe instructed in French.

Mercredi deux février, c’était la chandeleur. Nous On the cooking day, there were a feast of aromas whilst sommes allés à la cuisine et nous avons fait des crêpes. students tried to make the most delicious pancakes. The Year 8s had brought their own ingredients, mixed them to Premièrement, nous avons versé la farine, le sel et le sucre make a batter to pan fry a thin, flat cake. The most daring dans un saladier. Après, nous avons cassé les œufs aussi. members of the class attempted to flip the pancake with Puis, nous avons ajouté un petit peu de lait et l’huile ensuite, one hand whereas others demonstrated their creativity by nous avons mélangé. Nous avons graissé une poêle et fait

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chauffer à feu vif. Finalement, nous avons cuisiné les crêpes et choisi la garniture. À mon avis, c’était très amusant parce qu’on a pu apprendre les traditions de la France. Par exemple, pendant la nuit, les gens faisaient des processions aux chandelles. Aussi, les crêpes que nous avons faites étaient vraiment délicieuses!

Nicole

pâte à crêpe et faites cuire 1 à 2 minutes par face. Laisser reposer la pâte à crêpe si possible une heure. Voilà vos crêpes sont prêtes, maintenant vous pouvez déguster.

J’ai personnellement aimé faire des crêpes avec mes amis et je vais aussi utiliser la recette pour faire des crêpes à la maison pour impressionner mes parents.

Pragathi et Karin

La leçon de français était une grande expérience d’utiOn Thursday, the Year 8s cooked crepes in honour of lisation de la langue française en dehors des salles de Pancake Day! The second of February is Pancake Day classe. Faire des crêpes était vraiment amusant parce que in France, called La Chandeleur. It marks the end of the nous devons passer du temps avec nos amis et apprendre. Christmas period, coming exactly 40 days after Christmas Voici les étapes pour faire une crêpe. D’abord, faire and was originally a pagan holiday but now is a Cathochauffer une poêle, une fois chaude, verser un peu de lic holiday! So, the Year 8 classes went to the kitchen and

“Qui mange des crêpes quand la Chandeleur est arrivée, est sûr d’avoir argent pendant l’année.”

(He who eats crepes for Chandeleur is sure to have money all year long.)

began to create their masterpieces! The whole process was quite messy, the measurements were hard to get right but it was very fun! The crepes were filled with jam, sugar, cheese or Nutella, the latter was a very popular choice!

When I asked my classmates, the feedback was positive; however, that was for the people who had actually made good pancakes unlike others who had either burnt the pancakes or messed up on the batter. The pancake experience beurre pour graisser la poêle. Dans un saladier, verser la was very fun and it was great that we had the opportunity farine et les œufs. Puis progressivement ajouter le lait tout to do this.

Ashley en mélangeant avec votre fouet. Ajouter le sucre vanillé, la pincée de sel. Ensuite, verser une demi-louche de votre 23/02/2018

Bangkok Patana School News

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he t m o r f st The late

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PTG

Bangkok Patana School News

Click here to join the PTG Facebook page

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Interact Rise Hotel and Art Auction Dillon Rajakarier, President of RISE, and Suyash Kothari, Co-President of Interact

At Fun Day recently, the Bangkok Patana Community was invited to participate in the RISE INTERACT Hotel Art Auction, giving them the chance to win spectacular prizes whilst raising funds for charitable causes. But where does the money go?

Interact is a student-run tier of Rotary International. It provides students with the opportunity to help others, as well as the chance to develop invaluable teamwork and leadership qualities. The Interact Club at Bangkok Patana is amongst 20,372 clubs in 159 countries and as part of the Interact family, we aim to fulfil the ideal of holding service above self.

Interact Club offered more than 50 stunning photographs, paintings and sketches donated by students, teachers and professionals at the auction on Fun Day. The vast array of artwork included photographs showing incredible structures, iconic monuments and the very best of nature, as well as an Egyptian pharaoh painting on papyrus! We were also thrilled to have on offer two sketches produced by novice monks whose artistic skills were honed through art workshops with Bangkok Patana students. Interact Club is very grateful for all the donations of artwork from many talented students and parents.

RISE supports the Place of Grace, a community center based in the slums in Mahathai community of Bangna that runs clubs for 160 children and teenagers. Most of the children go to school, but many live with extended families where grandparents or guardians struggle to feed them whilst also work long hours. The Place of Grace also runs a Food Bank which helps to feed the seven slum communities, ensuring that all who cannot provide for themselves, from the sick and elderly to the orphaned, are fed well.

Last year, out of 50,000 THB raised in the RISE Hotel Auction, 39,000 THB funded a beach trip for the children.

The Place of Grace went to the Juniper Tree in Hua Hin, with 30 of the children we support. This was a wonderful opportunity for each of the young people to get away from their environment and visit the seaside. For many, it was a brand new, once in a lifetime experience and was truly inspiring for them.

This year, the RISE Hotel Auction was an incredible sucWe were delighted to have sold more than 200 raffle cess, with RISE raising more than 55,000 THB for the Place tickets, amounting to 20,000 THB! We also look forward of Grace. We will continue to support the beach trip, as well to selling more artwork to the Rotary Club of Bangkok in as their food-bank and other valuable projects throughout the coming weeks at their weekly meeting. All the money the year thanks to the success of the auction. raised for Interact Club will be used to support the GloWe would like to thank RISE’s sponsors from last year rious International School (GIS), an underfunded school and this year for their altruism and commitment to improvthat teaches asylum seekers’ children. Throughout the year, ing the world around them. RISE owes many thanks to U Interact Club members will host children from GIS at Bang- Sathorn, the Anantara Group, St. Regis, the Banyan Tree kok Patana to give them the opportunity to use our excel- Hotel in Sathon, the Hyatt Place Patong, Journey Hub Palent facilities including the Youth Club, the Library and our tong, the AVANI Group and Trader Vic’s Restaurant for sports facilities. We will also use some of the money to fund their generous contributions, without which the RISE Hotel various volunteering activities at GIS itself.

Auction could not have been possible.

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Year 10 Visit The Jim Thompson House Somchok Ongsakul, Secondary Thai Teacher

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his year’s Term 2 cultural trip for the Year 10 students studying the Thai Language and Culture Course was to the Jim Thompson House. Organised by the Thai department and led by Kru Somchok Ongsakul, the visit aims to provide students with an enriched cultural learning experience that links to their studies.

Jim Thompson’s house is a very unique Thai house that is now surrounded by the concrete jungle that is the heart of Bangkok. At the house, students observed how the American assembled six Thai houses to create the one we see today. He curated a vast array of exquisite Thai paintings, Thai porcelain, ancient Buddha images and many other valuable antiques with a rich cultural history.

comfortable.

Abhishek Pawa The students very much enjoyed the visit, here is what they thought: Going to The Jim Thompson House was very interesting. At Bang Krua village, I learned that the process of weaving silk takes a lot of time and concentration. It requires the use of several body parts and skills at the same time. Starting with their arm the weaver has to move the shuttle left to right to straighten a strand of silk at a time. With their foot the weaver has to step on it so that they can have more silk. It takes approximately one hour to produce 90cm of silk. All of this takes a lot of brain power to process doing multiple things at once so that the production of silk is successful. This might be one of the reasons why handmade Thai silk is costly.

At Jim Thompson’s house, I found out that every room has a threshold which is there so that the evil spirits cannot enter.

The house was influenced by Thai design; however, the inside of his house includes some American features. For example, when it was constructed, Thai people would normally eat on the floor with their hands but Jim Thompson had a dining table with forks and spoons so his foreign visitors would be more 23/02/2018

The visit to The Jim Thompson House was an interesting experience. The fusion of Thai and American ideals emerged in this house from the mind of Jim Thompson. We learned about the old, damaged artefacts of south east Asia that are kept in the house/museum. To keep an old and broken artefact is a very western ideal since Thai people believe that keeping broken or damaged item is very bad luck and will attract evil spirits.

Another amazing thing about this house in that no matter how hard you look you cannot find any nails. This is because old Thai architecture used a different method of holding the house together using the wood itself and putting it through one another as if it was a very hard jigsaw puzzle. This meant that you could move the house from one place to another and remake you’re house or even join the houses together. Jim took advantage of this by bring six houses together to make one. It was amazing and worth visiting the museum.

James Palmer

Click here to watch videos from the day

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PRIMARY

Record Breakers

THE ANNUAL PRIMARY SPORTING EVENT, RECORD BREAKERS, TOOK PLACE LAST SATURDAY FOR YEAR 4 THROUGH TO YEAR 6. OVER 100 YOUNG TIGER ATHLETES TOOK PART IN SEVERAL TRACK AND FIELD EVENTS, INCLUDING 60M RACES, 600M AND 800M RACES, LONG JUMP, 3 SPRING JUMP, STANDING TRIPLE JUMP, HIGH JUMP, CHEST PASS THROW, SHOT PUT, TEE BALL THROW, JAVELIN THROW, QUOIT THROW, AND DISCUS THROW.

Standards were high, with many long standing records being held the competitors were able to push the bar even higher by setting some incredible new school records. The event was a great success, full of sportsmanship, personal bests and support all around!

OUR NEW RECORDS

Year 6

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GIRLS’ 60M SPRINT: Margot Werbert

GIRLS’ DISCUS: Athena Lin

GIRLS’ JAVELIN: Saragh Uchiyama

GIRLS’ SHOT PUT: Palak Lunia

BOYS’ SHOT PUT: Justin Plitman

BOYS’ DISCUS: Up Vejjajiva

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Year 5

GIRLS’ SHOT PUT AND DISCUS: Jazzie James BOYS’ SHOT PUT: Daniel Morgan BOYS’ JAVELIN AND DISCUS: Kent Muir Mitarai

Year 4 BOYS’ 600M: Oliver Somantha Arachchige

MESSAGE FROM

a volunteer

When I was in Year 6, I remember going to Record Breakers. At that age, and with all the excitement, it was easy to forget that the event didn’t just need participants, but non competitors too.

Though it may have slipped my mind back then, we must give a big thank you to all the parents, staff members and senior students who helped make Record Breakers run as smoothly as it did. The support is irreplaceable and very appreciated, whether from the sidelines, in preparation or after the events.

For me, getting involved and becoming a volunteer is more than just helping out. I get a chance for others to experience the same thrill and help out those who make it possible.

Come and support at the next Patana event to do the same!

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#83 Social Media Golden Rules

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s part of our Digital Citizenship programme we emphasise the importance of safeguarding in digital environments.

Here are the Social Media Golden rules we share with students during the sessions.

It’s always good to be reminded of them and I hope you find them useful to frame conversations about the appropriate use of technology in your household.

As mentioned in a previous tip, the UK’s National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), said parents should have regular, open conversations with their children about their online lives, and discuss basic safety in the same way they are also are taught how to cross the road and not to talk to strangers. Since the technology is changing so rapidly, they recommend that these conversations should happen at least every two weeks. During our weekly student council meetings there is an agenda item specifically related to online safeguarding. We ask students to feedback any concerns they have and suggest useful sites/apps they have discovered in their digital travels. I encourage you to do the same.

Links in this article: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/06/nspcc-urges-parents-to-do-more-to-keep-their-childrensafe-online Image of slide from the Year 7 Assembly 1st Feb 2018: https://goo.gl/bgRLjy

Have a great half term, Brian Taylor Assistant Principal, Cross Campus Curriculum Technology Integrator

DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN RECYCLE BATTERIES AT SCHOOL? Place any old batteries into the special recycling box near the Secondary Snack Bar. 14

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CHANCES & CHANGES

08 MARCH 18

TICKETS ARE FREE OF CHARGE WITH LIMITED SPACE. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED PLEASE CONTACT JADESADA SCHNEIDER: - JASC19@PATANA.AC.TH -

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Term 3 2017/18 School Fee Invoices Invoices for school fees for Term 3 2017/18 were sent to families/companies on Tuesday 20th February 2018. If you have not received your invoice please contact Accounting Department or email to accounts@patana.ac.th Please note that the due date for settlement is on Thursday 22nd March 2018 and payments received after this date will be subject to a late payment charge of 1% per month.

Thank you, Accounting Department

CALLING ALL FRANCOPHONE FAMILIES IN KEY STAGE 1,2 AND 3 FRENCH HOME LANGUAGE (HOLA) ECA – COME AND MEET OUR NEW PROVIDER! We are delighted to announce that we have a new French HOLA provider for the Primary school, with the potential to also offer an ECA in Key Stage 3 in Secondary! If you would like to come along and meet Dalin, who has over a decade of experience teaching French, and learn more about what the ECAs will offer when they begin in Block 4, please do come and join us on Thursday 8th March at 8am in Library 207. We would be grateful if you could confirm your participation by adding your details to this link. If you have any questions, please contact Jen on jepe@patana.ac.th or Ondine on ondul@patana.ac.th

Dates for your Diary...

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Wednesday 21st March Patana Jazz and Blues Wednesday 4th April Patana Unplugged Friday 1st June Bangkok Patana School AGM Wednesday 6th June Patana United Bangkok Patana School News

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Please feel free to follow your child and their class around the Sports Day stations and cheer them on in all of the exciting activities that they will encounter.

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Thank you to our Fun Day Sponsors!

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Thank you to our Fun Day Sponsors!

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Community

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Community

New Program: CoderDojo @ Neilson Hays Library The Library launches a free monthly coding workshop for kids Inaugural session: Saturday, 24 February 2018 Time: 3:00–4:00pm Neilson Hays Library is excited to announce the arrival of the global movement, CoderDojo, at our library.

What is CoderDojo?

The CoderDojo Foundation was established in 2013 by co-founder James Whelton to help young people around the world learn to code, which the foundation views as an essential life skill.

Joining the list of Dojos around Bangkok, the Neilson Hays Library will host its first Dojo on 24 February.

Anyone aged seven to seventeen can visit a Dojo where they can learn to code, build a website, create an app or a game, and explore technology in an informal, creative, and social environment.

What to bring?

Yourself, a laptop, and a willingness to learn how to code!

How to sign up?

All kids from age 7-17 are welcome, though class size will be limited to 15 people on a first come, first serve basis.

To secure your seat, simply email info@neilsonhayslibrary.org with your name, your age and your school.

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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 24

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