Patana News Volume 20 Issue 26

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 30th March 2018

Volume 20 Issue 26

www.patana.ac.th

Head of School’s Monthly Blog Including SEASAC Champions!

Page 2

2017/18

Also in this issue

World Scholars Cup / FOBISIA Coding Challenge / The Latest CAT Events 30/03/2018

Bangkok Patana School News

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

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End of Term 2 Our Year 11s and 13s are very busy getting themselves prepared to go on their very important exam leave. I want to wish them all the very best and believe me, I do know what they are all going through at the present time as both my sons are in exam years this time around.

Jason Cooper, Mick Smith and myself will fly back to the UK on the final week of Term 2 as we still have nine teacher vacancies to fill for the 2018/19 academic year. Assistant Principal Helen Thew will be Acting Head of School during my absence.

Waste Less Weeks Our third annual environmental event, Waste Less Week, had an extra ‘s’ added this year as the Student Environmental Committee felt that there would be more impact if it lasted a fortnight.

I think they were absolutely right: Waste Less Weeks (WLW) seem to have been a great success judging by the headline statistics – for example, we cut out over 1,400 plastic smoothie cups from our waste, replacing them with biodegradable alternatives. However, it was the many ways in which members across the whole community pulled together which made it the best WLW so far. The @bangkokpatana_sec Instagram account shows some wonderful examples of this. From parents, students and staff investing in more than 400 reusable straws, to student and teacher volunteers manning stalls at break times, to teachers across the school promoting the messages in lessons, to our incredibly supportive business staff who made sure it was a success. Special thanks go to Khun Wichit, Khun Prim, Khun Dao, Khun Jo, Khun Toon and their teams and also to Khun Toom.

James Penstone, Cross Campus Principal

Important People in the Bangkok Patana Family A selection of very important people in our school organisation who you may not know that well but their impact on the school is enormous. This month we interviewed Khun Nong, our wonderful School Manager who has been part of the Bangkok Patana family since February, 1989 Khun Nong was born in Bangkok at Chulalongkorn Hospital and studied International Affairs and Political Science at Thammasart University, also undertaking international relations courses at Chulalongkorn University.

Khun Nong is married to Chinnavuthi Khawsumlee who is a Government Officer. She worked at Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction for a year prior to joining Bangkok Patana School. Khun Nong loves to read and enjoys travelling, sightseeing and bird watching. She says that her top personal achievement at Bangkok Patana thus far, has been surviving 29 years of dedicated service! She is a highly valued person in our community no doubt and is such a calm and experienced professional at all times.

New Head Coach Positions Following a full strategic review of our sports provision at Bangkok Patana School, in 2018/19, we are embarking on two very exciting new projects - the launch of both a Football and Dance/Drama Academy. These new Academies will offer a year-long provision for those students who are interested. They will mirror the large and successful programmes we have in place for Swimming, Gymnastics and Tennis. We are currently recruiting a Head of Football and a Head of ECA Dance/Drama to lead these programmes and have had

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some excellent applications from several very dynamic and highly qualified professionals. These new full time staff members will arrive in August and work closely with our Assistant Principal for ECAs and Sports, Cindy Adair, to plan and develop the vision for their programmes.

They will recruit a team of assistant coaches and instructors to provide a full yearround, Year 1 - 13 provision. The Academies will be officially launched in Block 2/ Season 2 of 2018/19.

In Football, as well as our usual Under 9 to Varsity BISAC, SEASAC and FOBISIA teams, we hope, over time to offer ongoing skills training, 11-a-side development, futsal, goal keeper training, weekend leagues, community football and travel tours. In Drama/Dance we plan, over time to offer a development pathway for students who wish to pursue graded examinations in Ballet and Jazz, increase our world dance offerings, our dance fitness options and expand our performance schedules beyond our single Dance Extravaganza.

Look out for your invitation in early 2018/19 to come and meet our new Head of Football and Head of ECA Dance/Drama.

Cindy Adair, Assistant Principal Extra-curricular Activities and Sports

Motorcycle Deaths I know I sound like a broken record but once again this week I observed a number of senior students hopping on the back of a motorcycle some times in two’s, and very sadly none of them were wearing a safety helmet, mostly heading down to the local BTS station. Please remember that there is the option of the school shuttle bus or a taxi, which are far safer options for our precious students.

Often when I comment to the students, they will say that their parents are aware that they are using the motorcycles without wearing safety helmets, which really surprises me. Here is an article that I think should be compulsory reading - hopefully fewer students that choose to take the dangerous option to get home after school.

Celebrating SEASAC Champs!

Congratulations to all of our Tigers sports teams who played and competed so brilliantly over the weekend and a big thank you to our talented coaches who supported their teams so well.

The highlight of my weekend was watching some of the SEASAC Softball which was held here at Bangkok Patana. Our Girls’ Varsity team were crowned SEASAC Champions for the second year in a row with our Boys’ team coming a commendable third after beating NIST on Saturday, in a very intense, tightly contested game.

Special mention to our Most Valuable Players over the weekend tournament: Aryan Jain, Jai Suphavadeeprasit, Moniqa Nielsen, Savannah Olds, Praewa Taylor, Emiko Araki What a fine achievement!

Great Educational Article to Share A friend shared this wonderful, clever piece of writing via email the other day and I thought I would share it with you all as it would make a great dinnertime topic to discuss with your children.

Have a wonderful weekend, and I do hope all of our Bangkok Patana community have a safe and fun Songkran.

Best wishes Matt Mills Head of School

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S AV E T H E D AT E

Dick Moore at Bangkok Patana School W E D N E S DAY 2 N D M AY In collaboration with the PTG

Who claimed that adolescence is just a phase?

Who suggested that being a parent is easy?

Dick Moore, the parent of four often errant children and a headmaster for almost 23 years, embarked upon a mission to discover more about what makes young people tick and what he could or should have done during the challenging times! He has a passion for adolescent mental health and wellbeing and will be exploring how young people think, why adolescence is an especially vulnerable time and about common issues which can arise when the going gets tough. Finally, he will offer some tonguein-cheek tips for parenthood‌..

Dick has spoken at over 300 schools, universities, businesses and conferences both in the UK and overseas. He has also appeared on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 5 Live, various local BBC radio stations and ITN News with Mary Nightingale.

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World Scholars Cup Christopher Wright, Secondary English Teacher

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superbly talented Bangkok Patana team of debaters and collaborative writers took on the best of Bangkok schools at the World Scholars Cup competition at Brighton College on 19th March and came home with a bundle of prizes. Their excellent efforts also saw them qualify for the global round of the competition, which will be held in Kuala Lumpur at the end of June this year. The Bangkok Patana team comprised the following Secondary students: Shrish Mahesh, Arnav Baliga, Abhi Golikere, Rie Ayama, Luanne Poh, Ishani Saran, Patrick Ledoit, Aric Singhsacha, Aastha Sawlani, Tavisha Khanna and Shriya Srivastava.

The strength of the team lay in their diverse interests and

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specialities. Luanne, Rie and Ishani were the top writing team, with Ishani coming first place in the competition out of over a 150 entrants. Patrick Ledoit came a creditable fourth place in the social studies competition, and there were top 20 finishes for Rie and Aric in science, Tavisha and Arnav in social studies, Aastha and Luanne in history, Shriya in special areas and Ishani in literature. The teams also won the majority of debates against other Bangkok schools. Topics for the debates included, ‘this house believes that parents should have parenting classes before having children’ and ‘this house believes that there should be a single, global currency.’

Bangkok Patana School News

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FOBISIA Coding Challenge Pete Howe, Leader of Learning, Primary ICT

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group of keen Key Stage 2 students embarked on They performed tremendously, achieving an ‘Excellent’ the FOBISIA Coding Challenge just before Christ- grade and finishing 20th overall. The students loved meetmas. They had to complete as many coding challenges as ing Mr Mills to receive their certificates and congratulathey could within eight hours. They met on two December tions for an incredible achievement. evenings after school, with many other secondary enCongratulations to the Key Stage 2 team: trants too. They coded for four hours straight, two nights Braden – Year 6 in a row!

Simo – Year 5 The team were up against 81 other entries from British Trin – Year 5 schools across Asia. Most of the other teams they were Wesley – Year 6 competing against were in Years 7, 8 and 9.

Zheng – Year 5

Dates for your Diary...

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Wednesday 4th April Patana Unplugged Wednesday 4th April Dartmouth, Harvard, Stanford and Wellesley University Presentation Friday 1st June Bangkok Patana School AGM Wednesday 6th June Patana United Bangkok Patana School News

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2018 Guiding Statements Survey This April, we are conducting a survey of our community understanding of our Mission, Vision and Values.

You should have received an email requesting your feedback with this important survey to help us understand how well we are fulfilling our Guiding Statements.

Thank you for helping us to shape meaningful experiences for your children here at Bangkok Patana School.

Click here to complete the survey

click here for the Canteen

Please note the menu is updated for the following week on Friday at 1pm

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Congratulations!

We would like to wish Year 4 student Narida (Claire) Charanachitta congratulations on winning two music competitions in New York. Claire was awarded Gold Medal Winner of the 18th AADGT International Young Musicians Festival 'Passion of Music 2018’, and the First Prize at the Golden Classical Music Awards International competition. Claire performed at Carnegie Hall, New York after being invited by the AADGT who choose youngsters from around the world to perform.

Claire is now looking forward to performing in Vienna at the prestigious Musikverein next month.

5 pm

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CATs Corner

Tania Leyland, Youth Club and Community Services Coordinator

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Changing Lives One Smile at a Time Celebrating the International Day of Happiness

magine not being able to smile, being made fun of as if you don’t have a name and desperately wanting to change the way you look and feel. Children should not be suffering from cleft lips or cleft palates. Operation Smile help to raise awareness about children with these birth defects as well as raise mon-

to celebrate it and share our passion to help others who are in need of surgeries, with our fellow students. We had a stall in the Lounge where students could come along and write what makes them smile on the chalkboard. We used the board as it was a great opportunity to involve our school community and raise aware-

ey through events both inside and outside of school such as bake sales, campaign days and colour runs.

ness of our CAT club, as well as seeing what makes other people smile. We also had a projector where we played a video we had made asking students around the school to answer the simple question of ‘what makes you smile?’. It was engaging for many and a lot of students signed

We recently had our first campaign day as a new board and it was very successful. On March 20th 2018, it was the International day of Happiness, so we had

up to become a part of our wonderful community to change children’s lives.

On March 21st 2018, we had a bake sale through which we raised 4000 THB. I am very proud of my team and happy that this money will of course be going towards the Operation Smile funds to sup-

port children so that they can get the surgeries they need. If you would like to get involved please come and join us every Thursday after school when we meet in the Drama Department, we’d be glad to see you.

Carina Mendonca, Year 12

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ight To Read would like to say a huge hank You to everyone who donated books over the last two weeks. They have been sorted, categorised and stacked ready for translation into Thai before transporting to Thomas House. This school in Northern Thailand provides essential learning opportunities for children with a range of learning disabilities who would not normally have the opportunity to go to school.

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So...Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?

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uring the past few months, STOP Patana have been working hard in preparing an eye-catching to educate the school community about human trafficking in an interactive and positive learning atmosphere.

The Great Migration.

During the event, we quizzed teams enthusiastic Year 6s and Secondary students about a variety of topics including migration and change, both of which neatly integrate the current Year 6 cur-

This week, we proudly hosted Bangkok Patana’s first ever “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?” competition involving the Year 6s and some secondary students over two-days.

We realised how important it is for students to develop a sense of curiosity and awareness of social issues, such as human trafficking, in a safe and comfortable environment at an early age. As future secondary students, we wanted to encourage the Year 6s to learn more about our cause, which is closely linked to a topic that they have been studying,

riculum. One of our goals when setting up this event was to foster the learning of Primary children outside the classroom and give them a chance to apply their knowledge in real-life situations. We found it rewarding to hear whispers and gasps from the Primary side upon realising that the topics they studied were being asked on the big screen!

“Wow! We just learned that yesterday! We can definitely answer that!” eagerly murmured a voice from the Year 6 team. They proceeded to give the correct answer and the supportive

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n Tuesday 22nd March, World Food Project (WFP) hosted their annual MasterChef Competition… with a twist! The interest in this event was overwhelming and six contestants were painstakingly selected. The chosen chefs had to cook a balanced meal with a budget of just 200 THB. The aim of the event was to show people how minimal amounts of money can make a nutritious and fresh meal.

The event got off to an exhilarating start with contestants setting up their workspaces and cooking in a calm and composed manner, that is, until Ms Bailey yelled out “10 minutes left!” Eyeing the competition, the contestants ran and rushed around the kitchen in a frenzy, their excitement bubbling over - just like a certain contestant’s tomato sauce…

Tensions arose as the judges circled the contestants like

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audience gave a roar of victory. It was great to see that both teams responded maturely and sensitively to all questions and displayed humble sportsmanship.

In the end, it was the Year 6s that won with quite a few points to spare - proving

to everyone that ‘5th graders’ really are brainier than you think!

At the end of the day, all members of STOP Patana feel that we have accomplished our mission which was to raise awareness about human trafficking throughout all age groups, forge a positive learning bond between Primary and Secondary, and nurture the young global citizens in Year 6.

Palis (Fresh) Pisuttisarun, Year 11

hawks - waiting to pounce upon any mistake. Suddenly, the smell of burning filled the air as the panicked Ms Marshalls retrieved their burning pan from the stove….

As the timer counted down to zero, pasta was thrown into bowls, sauce flew out of pans and vegetables were plated up meticulously. Contestants wiped their brows and submitted their creations to the judges. The critical eye of Ms Leyland, Mr Wright and Khru Somchok was cast over the dishes as the rest of the kitchen held their breath. There may have only been one winner, but everyone who took part showed amazing skills and sportsmanship. We hope this event managed to raise awareness about the difficulties of cooking healthily on a budget, but also the joy and art of cooking!

So...could you be the next WFP MasterChef?

Bangkok Patana School News

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Congratulations TO ALL GYMNASTS AT SEASAC! CONGRATS TO THE LEVEL 5 GIRLS FOR COMING THIRD. CONGRATS TO LEVEL 6 GIRLS COMING SECOND AND LEVEL 4 AND 5 BOYS WHO BECAME SEASAC CHAMPS!

Well done

TO THE THE GIRLS’ VARSITY BADMINTON COMING FIFTH AND WELL PLAYED TO THE BOYS’ VARSTIY TEAM WHO UNFORTUNATELY GOT RELEGATED.

Well done

TO THE GOLF TEAM WHO WERE AT BISAC THIS WEEKEND. CONGRATS TO CONOR AND JENNY FOR COMING THIRD IN THEIR AGE GROUPS.

Congrats TO ALL TRACK AND FIELD ATHLETES WHO COMPETE AT BISAC LAST WEEKEND. THE TEAM RETURNED WITH A HUGE HAUL OF MEDALS AND MANY RECORDS SET!

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Congratulations TO THE GIRLS’ VARSITY SOFTBALL TEAM FOR BECOMING SEASAC CHAMPS FOR THE SECOND TIME, AND WELL DONE BOYS’ VARSITY FOR COMING THIRD!

Congrats TO THE UNDER 15 GIRLS’ TENNIS TEAM FOR COMING FIRST UNDEFEATED IN BISAC AND BOYS’ UNDER 15 FOR COMING SECOND!

G O O D L U C K TO ALL ATHLETES COMPETING IN B I S A C T H I S W E E K E N D - COME SUPPORT! Go Tigers!

Work out of the week...

20 MIN JOG FOR CARDIO PLUS 10 MIN OF WEIGHTS AND STRETCHING

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KEEP UP

W I T H T H E AC T I O N . . .

@BPS_ATHLETICS _COUNCIL

@BPSSPORTS

@BPSSPORTS

TIGER SPORTS TEAMS

Bangkok Patana School News

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#87 FireShot Chrome Extension

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here are some really useful Chrome extensions out there. You can search for any of them on the Chrome webstore. Almost all of them have a free version that can cover most of the tasks you need to do without having to pay for the premium version. One on my favourites is called FireShot. It allows you to capture and annotate a whole webpage or select just part of it. This is useful if you’re a student revising, or somebody designing a page and want to make quick manual edits to pass on to others.

Direct links in this article: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/category/extensions?hl=en-US https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/take-webpage-screenshots/mcbpblocgmgfnpjjppndjkmgjaogfceg?hl=en-US

Have a relaxing weekend.

Brian Taylor Assistant Principal, Cross Campus Curriculum Technology Integration

Final Withdrawal Reminder If your child will be leaving Bangkok Patana at the end of Term 3 2017/18, please submit a withdrawal form to the Admissions Office by Monday 23rd April 2018 at the latest.

Many thanks, The Admissions Team 14

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PTG Staff Appreciation Day Please help us show our appreciation for all our Bangkok Patana staff by contributing baked goods or desserts to the Staff Appreciation Day lunch on Wednesday 3rd May. Please bring your home baked or store bought donations on 3rd May to the Primary Hall before 11am. Absolutely NO NUTS please!

Thank you!

Upcoming UniversityVisits UNIVERSITY / COLLEGE

Northeastern University Dartmouth College Harvard University Stanford University Wellesley College University of Leeds Yale University

COUNTRY

US US US US US UK US

REP

Lauren Melaugh Nicola Smith -

LOCATION

Senior Studies Rosamund Stuetzel Theatre Rosamund Stuetzel Theatre Rosamund Stuetzel Theatre Rosamund Stuetzel Theatre TBC TBC

DATE

TIME

02.04.18 04.04.18 04.04.18 04.04.18 04.04.18 05.04.18 07.05.18

09:15 19:00 19:00 19:00 19:00 12:30 TBC

REMINDER TO

SWITCH OFF YOUR ENGINE WHEN IN THE SCHOOL CAR PARK

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DONATE YOUR

PLEASE DROP OFF @ YEAR 6 SHARED AREA BEFORE THURSDAY 5TH APRIL

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he t m o r f st e t a l e h T

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PTG

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Click here to join the PTG Facebook page

B a n g ko k Pa t a n a P TG i s a c l o s e d g ro u p f o r p a re n t s a n d t e a c he rs 30/03/2018

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IL R P TH A 5 Y A D RS U H T Y DA T S LA

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Community

FOBISIA Events Executive FOBISIA, the Federation of British International Schools in Asia, is an organisation that supports British International Schools in the region. One of the main aims of FOBISIA is to provide high-quality student and staff events within the 58 member schools. The role of the Events Executive has been established to provide administrative support to achieve this aim. The successful applicant will be based in Bangkok.

Events Executive applicants must have: • a Bachelor’s Degree and be highly proficient in written and spoken English; • strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work independently; • strong organisational and ICT skills; • proven administrative skills including budget management.

Please send CV and any queries to Ms Tania Donoghue at tania.donoghue@fobisia.org

Closing date: Friday 4th May, 2018 Federation of British International Schools in Asia www.fobisia.org

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Community

BRITISH SCOUTING OVERSEAS

Would your child like to join UK ​Cubs​ (Ages 8 10½) or ​Beavers​ (ages 6 8)?

There is now a British Scouting Overseas group in Bangkok!

These new Cubs and Beaver groups run from 9am to 10:30am on Saturday mornings at Regent's International School, Pracha Uthit Road. If any adults are also interested in helping out, we would love to hear from you too.

Please email all enquiries to ​1stBangkokBSO@gmail.com​.

What is BSO? British Scouting Overseas is a UK Scout area, providing UK Scouting to UK citizens (and in some cases other nationalities) who are living overseas. BSO exists to support families around the world where, due to cultural or language barriers, it is not always possible for young people from the UK to join local Scout Groups in the country where they reside. Our aim is to ensure that all members of BSO will feel they are full members of UK Scouting. They will enjoy their activities in a safe and secure environment best suited to their local circumstances and will have access to high quality support and advice no matter where in the world they may be situated. There are a number of groups around the world including KL, Jakarta and Singapore however ​1st Bangkok​ is

the first group in this area.

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Community

ANAPANA MEDITATION COURSE FOR STUDENTS

Anapana (Mindfulness of breathing) teaches students improved concentration skills and enhances calmness of the mind. This technique helps to relieve anxiety and is very useful at exam time to calm those nerves, but also for every day life.

The next Anapana Meditation course will be on

Sunday 29th April for students between 8-14 years.

The course is completely free!

To enrol or for more information, please contact Eva Sophonpanich at evasophon@hotmail.com You may also find this site useful: http://www.children.dhamma.org/en/children/about-meditation.shtmlÂ

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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 26

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