Patana News Volume 18 Issue 14

Patana

NEWS Student Environment Committee Makes it Easier to Reuse and Recycle in Classrooms P. 2

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

Letter from the Secondary School Principal Dear Parents, As I write this in my office in the Secondary School a flotilla of krathongs are floating in the pond below me. All day long excited Primary and Secondary students have carefully carried their krathongs to the water’s edge before launching them, anxious that their one should make it away from the edge but nervous that they may sink it while giving it an extra strong push. Thank you to our Thai academic staff for sharing this very special taste of Thai culture with us each year.

Last week was a very special week in Secondary for almost all of our

Secondary students as Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12 headed out on their Residential Visits across the country. Not so lucky Year 11 spent the week taking their trial exams, a valuable experience in itself, while Year 13 benefited from their ‘Completion Week’, a chance to get key pieces of work finished and handed in without the pressure of regular lessons.

I was able to visit three Residentials this year and as always thoroughly enjoyed my days out visiting students and staff getting a taste of each of their experiences. On Tuesday Mr Mills and I visited Year 10 in Khao Yai where, after checking in with Head of Year Claire Dale and students undergoing ‘survival games’ at the resort, we joined Mr Collins, Mr Fountain and Ms Turner, leapt (well not quite)

onto mountain bikes and pedalled off

into the wilds of the countryside. The teachers use mountain bikes to check the progress of each group of students who are walking (with packs) and navigating along the 18 kilometres or so of what serves as their Practice Walk for the Duke Of Edinburgh’s International Award at Bronze level. Sometimes a teacher has to ‘retrieve’ students who may have taken a wrong turn. The students that we met were generally three to four hours into their six hour walk and were in good spirits, not to mention surprised at the arrival in the middle of nowhere of myself and Mr Mills on bikes.

On Wednesday I drove to Kanchanaburi for a change of pace when I joined Mr Berghuis and two different groups of teachers and students as they visited the famous Kanchanaburi World War II Cemetery and museum. The Thai-Burma Railway Museum really offers a superb experience for visitors and I know that Mr Berghuis was delighted by the level of interest and respectful approach of our students. The same was true at the beautiful cemetery where our students laid a rose on the headstone of a soldier’s grave and were asked to imagine what a single day in their life as a camp prisoner may have been like.

Finally on Thursday, I joined Year 7 for a day at the beach at Rayong. Under the watchful eyes of our Wild Planet instructor Dave and resident kayaking expert Mr Watson, I shared

a kayak with Mr Worrall (Economics and Business teacher and Tutor to 7S). We effortlessly paddled out (after only two capsizes climbing aboard) and joined students out on the open water where we learned how to ‘raft up’ – linking all the kayaks together – as well as how to develop good paddling technique. What a lovely way to spend a morning! In the afternoon students enjoyed a Thai cookery lesson where they learned how to prepare two delicious dishes – a curry and a sweet and sour to dazzle you parents with! The teachers were a little reluctant to taste the student concoctions but in actual fact they were delicious!

The Residential Visits are hugely worthwhile within our curriculum offering so many opportunities for students to demonstrate strengths and learn new skills in completely different surroundings from school. They also enable them to form and build new friendships as they mix with less familiar students, get to know their teachers better and generally have great fun.

The Residential Visits couldn’t take place without the wonderful work of the teachers and instructors who look after, encourage and support the students all week. I would like to thank them for all of their efforts, and give special thanks to the Heads of Year, who working closely with the Senior Teachers and Assistant Principal Helen Thew, spend the whole of Term 1 preparing for this one very special week.

Have a great weekend and I hope to see you at the Ploenchit Fair.

Mick Smith, Principal, Secondary School

By Florence Lacrosse, 12J, on behalf of the Student Environmental Committee’s Recycling Group Over the past few weeks, the Student Environmental Committee has been distributing reusable paper trays and boxes to all teaching classrooms in Secondary and some Primary classrooms.

The Reusable Paper Tray is for paper that has only been used on one side so that staff and stu-

dents can reuse the paper. The Paper Bin Box is for scraps of paper that can no longer be reused.

In classrooms that are used as tutor bases, teachers have been asked to choose a class volunteer who will empty the paper from these boxes into the house recycling bins when the box is full. By

bringing the paper to the recycling bins, students will be earning points for their house.

If there are any classrooms unoccupied by tutor bases, teachers using this room will ask a student to empty the box into the recycling bins when it is full.

We are currently in the process of getting a new recycling centre at the front of school, but in the meantime, the recycling bins have been temporarily situated between the noodle bar and canteen.

Our next project has been to get similar boxes out, but for plastic bottles.

We understand that this may be a complication that adds time to your busy schedules, but hopefully we can all agree that it is important that we take small steps to protect our environment in any way we can. On Friday 13th November, three student and two teacher representatives from the Student Environmental Committee (Songkhla Surapatpichai, Nucky Korprasertsri, Florence Lacrosse, Ms Bennett and Dr Heddle) attended a 6-day staff meeting. They successfully communicated the aim of this recycling project and received the

Following the sad news this week regarding ex-Patana teacher Jo McArthur, parents and students are invited to sign condolence cards for the McArthur family. The cards are at the Head of School’s Office, at the front entrance of the Sala.

The cards will be available for signing until 4.00pm this Wednesday 2nd December.

support of the staff to whom they presented.

In Primary School, paper boxes have been sent to Key Stage 2 classes and more will go out to Key Stage 1 classes, where needed, before the Christmas holidays.

Six students from the Green Publicity ECA (Primary and Secondary) have volunteered to start off the project by emptying recycling boxes around the school in the hope that other students are encouraged to do the same. A big thank you goes to Puinune Busrapan (5R), Caitlyn Bani (6G), Lucia Polastro Martinez (7D), Zara Mansoor (8K) and Bhisasha (Paddy) Chayangpath (11T).

We hope you can make these ‘small steps’ to help reduce the amount of waste at school.

By Owen McDevitt, Head of Year 7 Whilst many students impressed their teachers during the Year 7 Residential in Rayong last week, six students were nominated by their Residential group leaders for book token awards for their overall attitude during the Residential activities. The activities were kayaking, Thai cooking, a nature trek, a visit to a turtle sanctuary and a day spent snorkelling off the coast of Rayong. The students nominated were Sanskriti Luniya, Earth Kornsri, Ike Sintavanarong, Neil Shah, Charlene Chen and Anika Chatikavanij and they received their book tokens from Mr Smith and Mr Mills in the Thai Sala on Wednesday. Well done to everyone!

(Earth Kornsri is absent from the picture)

By Polly Sinett-Jones, Community Service Coordinator On 17th and 18th December, a 24 hour Rowathon will take place. In order to sign up you must be sponsored a minimum of 300 THB, which you can donate yourself. The fees will go towards helping refugees in Syria and the Middle East. Snacks will be provided and there will also be a Seniors Sleepover as well as house points awarded for each participant!

Two people will be on rowing machines at a time for 20 minute sessions in the Lounge area. Students and staff are invited to participate. Using this link, please sign up in your free time OR where you either have a PE lesson/a study period. You CAN sign up for more than one 20 minute session.

The deadline for signing up is 11th December, so if you are interested please sign up right away and help make this event a success!

If you need any more information feel free to contact these Year 12 students: Reesha Jagdeo, Madison Frye, Stephanie Richt, Buse Ozgulsen, Kilian Kleeman, Jonathan Broadbent or Miss Jones.

Upcoming University Visits University/College

Representative

Panyapiwat Institute of Management Atit Koirala University of South Florida, Tampa Maggie Brackenridge Minerva Schools at KGI

Location

Date / Time

Senior Studies 2nd Floor,Senior Studies 2nd Floor, Senior Studies

30th Nov, 12.14pm 8th Dec, 9.15am 9th Dec, 12.14pm

By Genevieve Ahl, Services Manager All students who are in the Aladdin production will have their bus cancelled on Wednesday 2nd and Thursday 3rd December. If you will be attending the production, please don’t forget to inform Transport in advance to cancel your child/ren’s bus home. Please help to avoid the bus waiting unnecessarily and causing delays to other Transport users and inconvenience to the Transport staff.

On Friday 4th December, many of our Bus Monitors and Bus Drivers may be wearing yellow

for the King's Birthday. They will still have their Patana ID cards but may look a little different when your bus turns up on Friday morning.

Please remind your children to remember to look around the bus and ensure they take all of their belongings when they leave the bus.

If you are planning to come to

By Genevieve Ahl, Services Manager The BCTFN (British Community in Thailand Foundation for the Needy) annual Ploenchit Fair is being held at school this Saturday 28 th November from 10.00am – 8.00pm. Adults 150THB, Children 50THB or 500THB for all day rides. Please see the poster on page 10 for further details.

This year the Fair will be held on the Back Field and Hard Court areas. Entry to the Fair area will be via the Foundation Stage gate between the Arts Centre and Foundation stage buildings. Access via any other areas of the school will not be permitted.

If you will be on school site for non-Fair related purposes, please only enter via the front of school and ensure that you have your Patana ID card or other ID with you. You should exit school via the same entry point only. All entry and exit to the Fair is via the main fair gate only. If you exit the fair and wish to return please ensure that you get a stamp. The stamp will allow access via the Fair entrance.

Please be reminded that there will be a BTS shuttle bus service to and from Bangna BTS, Exit 1, from 9.00am – 9.00pm. Parking will be available in all school car parks but we expect these to be very busy throughout the day, so please plan ahead or make use of the shuttle bus service. We hope that you will be able to attend the fair to enjoy the food, fun, music and entertainment whilst supporting this charitable event.

the Fair on Saturday, please make use of the free BTS Shuttle Bus Service from Bangna BTS, Exit 1. The service will run between school and the BTS from 9.00am – 9.00pm.

Advance Notice to Avoid Areas of Restricted Roads The Bike for Dad event to be held on Friday 11th December will cause some disruption to transport around Bangkok. Please plan ahead for your own private transport on this day and be aware that there are likely to be delays for School Transport users if you live near the areas on the route. The route can be viewed here. Individual Transport users will be contacted if an alternative drop off point is required on this afternoon.

THE ROAR Produced by the Athletics Council

Athlete of the week: Anselm Xavier ~ Anselm was the overall point winner at ISB Swimfest ~ What is your pre-race tradition/routine?

Singing ‘Beyond the Sea’ before getting on the blocks What is your favourite part about swimming?

Not being able to hear people If you weren't swimming, what other sport can you imagine yourself doing?

Boxing What are your guilty pleasures?

Singing in the shower Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

I don't even know what I'm doing tomorrow

Upcoming Fixtures Monday 30th November Basketball JV Boys’ HOME Basketball JV Girls’ HOME Football U15 Boys’ HOME Football U15 Girls’ HOME Touch U18 Girls’ HOME Touch JV Girls’ HOME Wednesday 1st December Basketball Varsity Boys’ Away Basketball Varsity Girls’ HOME Rugby Football JV Boys’ U15 BoysAway - 2nd Football JV Girls’ HOME Touch U15 Girls - Champions

Thursday 3rd December Badminton U15 Boys’ Away Badminton U15 Girls’ Away Football U15 Boys’ Away Football U15 Girls’ HOME Football U13 Boys’ Away Football U13 Girls’ HOME Friday 4th December Basketball Varsity Boys’ Away Basketball Varsity Girls’ Away Touch Varsity Girls’ Away Saturday 5th December Basketball Varsity Boys’ Away Basketball Varsity Girls’ Away

Football Other sports websites to visit: JV Girls - ChampiTiger Sports ons JV Boys 6th place http://community.patana.ac.th/tiger-sports-teams

www.facebook.com/bpssports

A Workshop for Parents 1st December 2015 Primary Hall, 8.00am - 9.30am Due to the popularity of the ‘Digital Learner and Digital Literacy’ workshop in September, we will be running a follow-up workshop called ‘Are You a Good Digital Citizen?’. This will replace the previously advertised ‘Assessment as a Tool for Learning’ workshop.

This is a discussion based workshop. The aim is to:  Share experiences and latest developments with regards to Internet Safety, Cyber Digital Footprints and Digital Identities  Provide ideas and support for scaffolding conversations with children on areas of on Citizenship.

If you wish to participate in this workshop, please follow this link to sign up.

The weekly canteen menu is available here.

Please check the calendar on the Parents’ Gateway, Student pages and Staff Centre for up-to-date information on school events.

Visit www.patana.ac.th and click on the relevant icon to log in