Patana News Volume 20 Issue 34

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 15th June 2018

Volume 20 Issue 34

www.patana.ac.th

THE MONTHLY BLOG TEN YEARS AND STILL LOVING IT! Page 2 Also in this issue...

15-year Long Service Awards / PRIMARY FOBISIA 2018 / Summer Campus Updates 15/06/2018

Bangkok Patana School News

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

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TEN YEARS AND STILL LOVING IT! Greetings everyone, As the academic year draws to a close, I’m delighted to take some time to reflect on another great year at Bangkok Patana School. I can’t believe that I have completed 10 years as Head of School; my how time goes so quickly when you are having so much fun!

The school places an unequivocal emphasis on excellence, whether academic, sporting or cultural. In our school’s vision, we aim to inspire our students to develop their talents, to reach well beyond the ordinary as they meet their full potential and in so doing, acquire a life-long passion for learning. I am thrilled that our latest round of community surveys confirms/affirms a very clear understanding of our school’s Guiding Statements, which drive everything that we do.

At Bangkok Patana School, all students are encouraged to strive for personal achievement in the context of a supportive, empowering environment. Our aim is to enable our students to become productive global citizens who appreciate the importance of service, leadership and traditional values in a rapidly changing world.

We are very pleased with our academic results over the years and have a high expectation that our exam results will be stronger than ever this academic year. Over the past 11 months I have observed; confident polite students who are at ease in wanting to question to improve understanding, strong music and drama performances both solo and in groups, great displays of sportsmanship and high success rates in sporting competitions both at home and away, amazing visual art shows that are unique and thought provoking, a huge array of ECAs on offer that are geared for high student motivation, strong debating skills at the MUN, healthy numbers of students attaining their Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold International Award encapsulating outdoor education and numerous examples of successful student-led service projects. All of these student successes are beautifully showcased in the 2018 Yearbook, which is being published as I write this account. Many thanks to our editor, Rebecca Meadows who has spent hours putting together this year’s compilation. Our resident photographer Khun Rooth has done a splendid job taking thousands of photos of our students in action over the past year.

I am delighted to confirm that we have created and appointed two new Head Coach positions in football and dance/

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drama and both the new head coaches will start on August 15th. We had a very strong field of applicants and we are very excited that Mark Potter and Tamara Spalding will be joining us after the summer break.

Hot Off the Press!

Congratulations to Year 12 student Athena Intanate who won the Original Short Story in the 18-years and under category in the Neilson Hays Young Writers Awards. Athena took first place with her story, ‘Life Itself’ which you can read here.

Staying up to Date Have you heard of the term “Phubbing”? Watch this film to find out more...

Thank You I would like to thank every teacher and staff member for their professional dedication in helping guide our students to reach their full potential. I have been extremely pleased with the quality of teacher instruction that I have observed during the academic year supporting our learners.

Special thanks to the myriad of Business Staff who continue to help and support the academic staff on a daily basis, what would we do without you?

Huge thanks also go out to our wonderful, supportive PTG who are so ably led by Chairperson, Melissa Golden.

Farewells As usual being an international school, we have a number of students and families leaving us this year and we want to wish all of them the very best for their future where ever they are moving to around the globe. Please stay in contact with us, we are keen to stay in touch and welcome you to our worldwide alumni network – please take a moment to register to receive the latest news and reunion invitations.

We have a number of teachers leaving us this year, as we do every year, and we want to wish them all the very best as they move on to new positions around the world.

Cross Campus Principal, James Penstone is leaving us after 13 years of dedicated service. He has made a huge impact on how the school embraces environmental issues and we wish him and his lovely family all the very best as they move on to Zurich, Switzerland.

Our Head of EAL in the Secondary School, Rob Brown, is early retiring after 25 years of dedicated service at our school and we wish him all the very best as he moves down to sunny Rayong.

Assistant Principal of Professional Learning, Jackie Houghton has been appointed to a Head of Secondary position starting in August 2018. Jackie has had an incredible career at Bangkok Patana starting as a Secondary Science/ Biology teacher way back in 1992. She has been a Learning Support teacher, Secondary Assistant Principal for pastoral as well as her current professional learning position. We all wish Jackie all the very best for her future and thank her for her amazing dedicated service to our school.

On behalf of Jason Cooper, James Penstone, Mick Smith and myself, we would like to wish all of our Bangkok Patana community a wonderful, safe, summer holiday and we look forward to welcoming you all back to school on Wednesday 15th August.

Enjoy your last weekend before the summer holidays!

Matt Mills Head of School

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Long Service AWARDS

We would like to recognise and congratulate the following members of staff on their long service 15-year milestone. We sincerely appreciate their hard work and efforts to the school and thank them for their years of dedicated service to the Bangkok Patana community.

In Term 3 Magazine : 20 and 25-year Long Service Awards

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Ms Jarinthip Akkhaphati Secretary to Head of Thai Program

Mrs Wantanee Takongkaew Housekeeper

Ms Potjanee Chulapakorn Year 1 Teaching Assistant

Mrs Tippawan Tangjittham Cook, Secondary Canteen

Mr Alan Davis Secondary Art Teacher

Mr Siwapong Wisedwoharn System and Network Section Manager

Mr Pimonchai Phawa Carpenter

Mr Keith Wright Secondary Teacher and Geography Coordinator

Mrs Bangorn Sirimanop Housekeeper

Mr Supachai Wutiprasert Plumber

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SUMMER CAMPUS UPDATES T

he final major building works of the 10-year Masterplan were all completed last summer meaning the focus this year will be on the maintenance and refurbishment of our campus. There are 75 projects planned for the holiday including buildings getting a lick of paint, undertaking electrical and plumbing updates to get Bangkok Patana looking its very best on 15th August.

Among the 75 planned projects, there are some that will vastly improve the already impressive facilities we already have as well as increase the learning opportunities of our students including: • Renovation of the Gymnastics Hall to include a viewing gallery and additional windows for added light.

• A playground refurbishment for Year 3/4 including new equipment • A motorised shade system for the 25m Swimming Pool • Resurfacing the Back Hard Court • Installation of cricket nets on the Back Field • The installation of a roof over the Mini Tennis Courts • A centralised Lightening Alert System

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PRIMARY FOBISIA 2018

The Primary Physical Education Team

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rimary FOBISIA 2018 was a tournament to remember, being held for the first time at Thanyapura, Phuket. On Thursday 31st May, we had a great send off by parents from school and at the airport to lift our spirits on our journey to the games.

DAY ONE We dived in with swimming and made a big splash, spending most of our time on the podium gathering medals as the morning progressed. We came away with a whole treasure chest and came second overall. The afternoon began with a bang at the Athletics, with our Bangkok Patana athletes scooping medals on the track and field. This gave us an overall podium position of second place, which was a superb result after several crucial injuries.

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DAY TWO After a restful sleep we were on the field again for Tee Ball, competing across four mixed gender tournaments.

All teams enjoyed many intense games which certainly challenged them to work even harder for each other. We snuck runs and made double plays, hit home runs and made our catches to become: first for the D team, second for the A and B teams and third for the C team.

DAY THREE The third day kicked off with football on the field with the boys’ tournament. There were more lows than highs for our A team as we lost all three groups games agonisingly 0-1 which put us in a playoff for seventh which we drew. Our B boys played their hearts out but other results in their pool went against them and they ended as eighth but with their heads held high. The parental support on the side lines never wavered, which certainly carried us through the morning.

The Girls’ tournament started in the afternoon with some challenging pool games and then into the play offs and finals. It was an amazing day from sun up to sun down, the students gave it their all. Our Girls’ A team lost on penalties to Shrewsbury in their semi-final and lost a close bronze medal match 0-1. Our B girls were fantastic all afternoon and battled hard in all of their matches to finish a very proud second. In the evening, our students celebrated their achievements together with all of the other 280 students at the Gala Dinner and Disco, certainly making some new friendships along the way.

The dedication and drive that all of those students who tried out for the FOBISIA team this year has been amazing. They have always challenged themselves to reach higher standards and it has been reflected in their performance. Congratulations to everyone for a very memorable FOBISIA games!

A huge thank you to all of the parents, students and Coaches who have supported us during the year.

IF YOU ARE A YEAR 5 OR YEAR 6 STUDENT NEXT YEAR, ARE YOU UP FOR THE CHALLENGE OF TRYING TO REACH THE FOBISIA GAMES 2019?

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CATS CORNER

Tania Leyland, Youth Club and Community Services Coordinator

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his week we continue with the student team proposals and provide a brief overview of some of the successes from the year, the objectives for the coming year and some of the activities that are planned to achieve the objectives.

Spectrum continues to raise awareness of, and campaign for the equal rights of LGBTQ individuals. They help us change our language and consider how we use imagery in school to reinforce gender stereotypes and gender inequality.

Global food poverty is a growing concern. As new technology enables us to lead longer healthier lives, the pressure on agriculture to produce enough food is growing. Alongside this we have the huge disparity between countries and individual communities that have sustained access to sufficient food in order to maintain a healthy life. Migration, natural disasters and climate change have a growing impact on the ability of individuals to feed themselves on a daily basis. World Food Project (WFP) is a group of students that look at this global problem in a local context.

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For our final spotlight, I would like to introduce a new team this year. This group of students have been working with Hub Saidek for the past year and would now like to continue with their support for the fantastic work that takes place at the Hub Saidek.

CHECK BACK AT THE START OF TERM 1 OF THE NEW ACADEMIC YEAR FOR MORE SPOTLIGHTS ON THE AMAZING IMPACT THAT OUR STUDENTS ARE HAVING ON OUR LOCAL COMMUNITIES.

Dates

for your

Diary...

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Tuesday 19th June Key Stage 2 Busking Day Friday 22nd June End of Year Assembly Wednesday 15th August Term 1 2018/19 Starts

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Suyash Kothari, Year 12

HOW DOES TOUCHSCREEN TECHNOLOGY WORK?

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ouchscreen is extraordinary because it is both an input underneath this layer is lined with many small capacitors in a and output device, allowing users to click on items while grid-like format and so when the field does change, the spealso displaying information to us. Traditionally, these two ‘in- cific capacitor can be identified with X and Y coordinates. put’ and ‘output’ processes have been separate: such as the case of using keyboards for typing and a monitor display for displaying; or a scanner for digitising documents and a printer for outputting a physical copy. The characteristics of touchscreen that allow it to do both have made the technology one of the most popular forms of user interaction – but how does it work?

There are two main types of touchscreen: Capacitive and Resistive. As shown in the diagram to the right, Resistive technology involves physically pushing the top layer of screen into the bottom layer. Because both these layers are coated with conducting film, contact of the top layer with the bottom essentially completes a circuit, allowing current to flow. The air in between the layers cannot conduct electricity, so pushing the top layer down is essentially the same thing as closing a switch. Once the switch is closed at a particular point, the location of contact can be precisely determined by measuring the resistance of both layers and finding an anomaly.

Similarly, Capacitive Technology consists of two conducting layers. The difference however is that when your finger comes into contact with the top glass layer, the electrostatic field (an electric force caused by charges) changes. The area

Because Capacitive Technology has many capacitors, it allows us to use ‘multi touch’. Resistive Technology relies on a circuit being completed, and circuits can’t really be completed twice. That’s why most of our phones and other modern touchscreen devices use Capacitive – zooming into a picture with two fingers, for instance, isn’t possible with Resistive Technology. Conversely, Capacitive Technology relies on the conductive nature of our hands, so we can’t use our phones while using gloves. The glass layer of our phones is also prone to damages, more so than the polyester film of Resistive touchscreens.

Both of these approaches have their own advantages and disadvantages, but for the modern touchscreen device, the benefits of Capacitive – namely the ability to multi-touch – outweighs the relatively cheaper, more robust Resistive touchscreens.

AND FOR NEXT ACADEMIC YEAR… HOW DOES ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE WORK AND WHAT ARE ITS IMPLICATIONS? Bibliography http://www.sky-technology.eu/en/displays/touch-screens/difference-between-resistive-and-capacitive-touch-screens.html https://www.bbc.com/education/guides/z9bqrwx/revision/4 https://www.electronicproducts.com/Sensors_and_Transducers/Sensors_and_Transducers/Resistive_VS_Capacitive_Touchscreens.aspx

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Techathon

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Featured in the Bangkok Post, June 5th 12

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For more information on the Graduating Class of 2018 see the display board at the front of school.

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#95 Holiday Fun for the Family with Geocaching

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omething I’ve been wanting to try with my family for some time now is Geocaching. With most of us travelling to various destinations over the summer, perhaps it’s a good way to get off the beaten track to some more unusual locations? If relevant, you may even want to submit a photo to our #patanasummerphoto challenge, capturing how you are empowered by your interculturalism.

The Geocaching review by Common Sense Media says: “Geocaching hunts range from simple but exciting challenges to complex problem-solving adventures.

Parents may want to remain heavily involved in the chase, instead of letting kids roam on their own; with a little help, the activity can be a good chance to reinforce valuable geography, map reading, and other skills and get your kids excited about exploring the world around them. After entering coordinates into a computer, GPS device, or phone, kids can track down hidden geocache packages, which are ranked by difficulty level and terrain rating. Many just contain a logbook or trinkets; but the contents really aren’t the important part. With geocaching, getting there is more than half the fun -- and, as an added bonus, because users are encouraged to replace any items they remove, kids will get a bonus lesson in good citizenship.”

Have fantastic holiday!

Brian Taylor Assistant Principal, Cross Campus Curriculum Technology Integration

click here for the Canteen

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

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CHANGES IN SCHOOL FEE PAYMENT OPTIONS

We’re working on a new video and need the community’s help...

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here have been some recent changes to the methods by which school fee payments can be made.

1. Payments can now be made online via the Parents' Gateway using Paypal. You can access the online payment via this link https:// community.patana.ac.th/online-payment or from the Parents' Gateway dashboard.

2. Bill payments can be made using the ATMs and online banking services from Kasikornbank and SCB. 3. Payments can still be made by transferring to the school bank account and sending a copy of the transfer advice to ar@patana.ac.th 4. Unfortunately, SCB bank no longer supports bill payment for school fees by person at the branches effective from 1st June 2018.

“WHY IS PATANA IMPORTANT TO YOU?” Film your answer to the question and upload to the Flipgrid (password PatanaGrid) on this link before the beginning of Term 1 2018/19.

Any questions please email Mr Max Hopwood, maho@patana.ac.th

If you have any questions or difficulties, please contact accounts@ patana.ac.th or call 02 785 2419.

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m the o r f t s e The lat

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PTG

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Click here to join the PTG Facebook page

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the m o r f e r Even mo

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PTG

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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 20

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