Patana News Volume 24 Issue 20

www.patana.ac.th

PATANA NEWS

Friday 4th February 2022

Happy Lunar New Year!ear

By Helen Thew

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Also in this issue...

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Secondary Student Well-Being Weekend Sports Results Updates from the Transport Office Get Ready for Waste Less Week!

Wildlife Spotting with Coke Smith

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Bangkok Patana School News

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Bangkok Patana is a not-for-profit IB World School accredited by CIS

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Happy Lunar New Year!

Helen Thew, Cross Campus Principal

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unar New Year 2022 started this week on Tuesday 1st February. Also known as Chinese Chunjie, Vietnamese Tet, Korean Solnal, Tibetan Losar, Mongolian Tsagaan Sar and Spring Festival. Marking the end of winter and the beginning of the spring season, observances traditionally take place from New Year’s Eve, the evening preceding the first day of the year and celebrations culminate with the Lantern Festival, held on the 15th day of the year (which this year will be the 15th February 2022). The first day of New Year changes each year as it begins on the day the new moon appears between 21st January and 20th February.

In China, each year is represented by one of the 12 zodiac animals – Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. This is the Year of the Tiger, the third of all zodiac animals. According to the legend, long ago, the Jade Emperor, who ruled the Heavens, wanted 12 animals to represent the 12 calendar years. He invited all animals to a swimming race.

The first 12 animals to cross the river would appear on the Zodiac in the order they finished the race. During the race, the Ox, the best swimmer, took the lead with the Rat having a ride on his back. Then, just as they arrived, the Rat jumped down and landed ahead of the Ox. Thus the Rat and the Ox became the first and second animals. The strong and passionate Tiger came up next past the finish line. Swimming across the river had been an enormous struggle for the Tiger against the strong currents. The Jade Emperor was delighted with Tiger’s efforts and named the third year after it. The Tiger is known as the king of all

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beasts, not only because of the Chinese character that literally means "the king,” but also because it is the symbol of bravery and power.

YEAR 4 AND 6 MANDARIN STUDENTS HOST A VIRTUAL LUNAR NEW YEAR ASSEMBLY

The Key Stage 2 students learnt about the Lunar New Year from the Year 4 and 6 Mandarin students. The Year 4s performed the Chinese song Gongxi Gongxi for them whilst the Year 6 students explained about the Year of the Tiger and the origin of Chinese New Year. Meanwhile back in the classroom, the Primary students learned more about the Lunar New Year through craft activities, music and sensory play. In Year 6, students shared their understanding in a writing activity while in Year 1, children developed their fine motor skills using chopsticks and noodles. A lot of learning and fun was had by all.

YEAR 7 STUDENTS ENJOY LUNAR NEW YEAR ACTIVITIES DURING THEIR WORLD LANGUAGE LESSONS

In Secondary, Year 7 students celebrated the Lunar New Year during their World Language lessons. Many of our Year 7s were born during the Year of the Tiger, 12 years ago, it is therefore a particularly special New Year for them. In their lessons they completed many activities and produced cards, letters, descriptions of the Year of the Tiger and a banner from origami. Their work is now on display in the World Language area for all to enjoy. During lunchtime, traditional and more modern Lunar Festival songs were played in the Secondary lounge.

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BANGKOK PATANA’S LINK TO THE TIGER!

Bangkok Patana has a very strong connection to the tiger given that it is our Sport mascot! What a great name our tiger mascot now has, thanks to Anna Mellor for her excellent suggestion of TukTuk. TukTuk has its own Patana card and is officially enrolled at Bangkok Patana. I am sure we will see TukTuk at many future fixtures. I love it when I am watching a sports match and hear the home crowd roar GOOOOOOO TIGERS! Out of interest do you know which sports academy you would be a member of if you were part of one of the following teams (answers below)?

1.

Tiger Cubs

2.

Little Paws

3.

TigerSharks

4.

Junior Tigers

5.

TigerPrawns

6.

Junior Cubs

(Answers provided at bottom of page)

Recently several of our Academies have expanded their offerings into Foundation Stage and Key Stage 1. Our youngest learners are benefitting from expert coaching and having a lot of fun doing so! Research shows exposing young learners to a range of movement skills in a fun, inclusive environment has lots of health and social benefits to them in the future, including enhanced concentration and focus in the classroom.

ALL THAT REMAINS FOR ME TO SAY IS, TO ALL MEMBERS OF OUR BANGKOK PATANA COMMUNITY WHO CELEBRATE LUNAR NEW YEAR, I WISH YOU GOOD FORTUNE, HAPPINESS, AND HEALTH.

Answers: 1. football 2. gymnastics 3. swimming 4. tennis 5. swimming 6. tennis

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Tracking Student Well-Being in Secondary Lorna Conroy, Secondary Assistant Principal

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s the global pandemic continues to impact us all, supporting well-being has never been more important. Over the past few years there have been a number of major developments in this area at Bangkok Patana. The Hub was created three year ago, the number of social and emotional counsellors working with Secondary students has doubled, the Well-Being Toolkit has been introduced to Years 7-11, and there has been an increased emphasis on well-being activities in the tutorial programme.

With so many external factors influencing student well-being, not least Covid and exam uncertainty, it is hard to accurately assess the impact of these developments. However, what we do know is that the counselling team are able to support a larger number of students on the one-to-one basis and they are also delivering sessions as part of the tutorial programme to help teach students strategies to support their own well-being; students in Years 7-11 are practising mindfulness and developing skills such as resilience, empathy and compassion as part of the Well-Being Toolkit.

In addition, the well-being ECAs are very popular as are the well-being electives for Years 10 and 11. It is also pleasing to report that student feedback on the Well-Being Toolkit has overall been very positive.

We have been looking at ways to measure the well-being of the student population and monitor how it changes over time. With this aim in mind, last term all students were asked to complete the AWE Well-Be-

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ing survey. This is a survey produced by the Australian based social enterprise Assessing Wellbeing in Education Pty Ltd (AWE) who are world leaders in this field.

The survey focuses on general well-being; it is not an assessment of an individual’s mental or physical health and we are not able to view an individual student’s responses.

The results have provided us with a snapshot of well-being across the student body at one point in time.

The results themselves have some use but the real value is in providing a benchmark to compare future results.

This will enable us to identify trends and track changes over time.

Some interesting reflections include: -The majority of students responded positively to the question ‘In general, how satisfied are you that your school supports and enables student well-being?’

-Around three quarters of students feel that they ‘..usually come through difficult times with little trouble.’

-There isn’t much variation across Year groups but students in Year 13 experience higher levels of worry than other Year groups; however, they also had the joint highest scores for positive relationships with other students, alongside Year 8.

Students were also asked to identify ‘one thing that, more than anything else, makes school a great place’.

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The majority of replies fell into three categories. Two of which focused on relationships, those with friends and those with the teachers. Examples include: 1) I have lots of amazing friends and teachers; 2) It’s my friends that help me get through tough times; 3) The enthusiastic teachers and friends that support me; 4) I feel like the community of teachers make the school a better place just by being there for you; 5) Bangkok Patana School is a great place because the community is very open and friendly The third common theme was food. There were a lot of positive comments about ice-creams, the noodle bar and the snack bar.

When asked ‘What one thing, more than anything else, that needs to change to make the school a great place?’ there was a greater variety of themes.

There were quite a few mentions of Covid and students just wanting it to go away so masks could be removed, performances and sports events could resume and celebrations like International Day and the Christmas assembly could take place again.

Exam and exam stress were raised by some students as was the amount of home learning and deadlines. Inevitably food was a fairly common subject with some students wanting a greater variety available and lower prices. Perhaps most significantly, there were telling comments about mental health and clearly some students are struggling with the impacts of Covid, exam stress, lack of sleep and friendships as well as a range of other areas. This is useful feedback for us as we strive to improve our practice and provide support for all students that need it.

I would like to thank all the students who completed the survey. As mentioned, we aren’t able to identify the answers of individual students but we do now have a baseline by which to measure changes in overall well-being, as well as valuable feedback from the students as to how we can improve. The students will be asked to complete the survey twice a year, with the next slot being in June. Over time we will be able to generate a clearer picture of how well-being changes as students progress through the school, which will help improve the support we can offer students.

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Feast of Football Continues!

Mark Potter, Cross Campus Head Football Coach

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ast weekend, with an early start, we welcomed our Tiger Cubs players to the Sports Hall for lots of fun learning games and interactions. These sessions are tremendously well attended and great fun for the players and coaches alike. This was followed by The Football Academy playing host to our friends from Rugby School Thailand and NIST in fixtures for the Under 12 – Under 14 Boys’ and Girls’ Teams. The Sports Complex was buzzing with some excellent play on show.

The most pleasing thing to see was the clear identity of how the teams play: we constantly look to play forward, look for solutions to problems rather than hoofing the ball away and play with freedom in possession. It would be impossible to pick a stand out performance as the coaches are proud of every team on show.

Sunday saw some of our youngest players (born in 2014) take part in their first tournament at the British Educational Schools (BES) Development Cup. Again, the players tried to play the #PatanaWay scoring some excellent goals and working hard as a team!

The ball continues to roll this week with the Football Academy hosting St Andrews in the Under 10, Under 11 and Under 14 age groups, in addition to the Under 8-11s playing fixtures at NIST on Saturday morning.

Please follow @PatanaFootball on Instagram for further updates and clips of our performances!

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Weekend Warriors Richard Molloy, Cross Campus Head of Sports

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port is essential part of many students’ school life and returning to sport has been a huge focus in recent weeks.

Protocols set up, procedures have become established and most importantly, a safe return to Sport has started.

For our Senior students, this represents their final chance to pull on the Tigers jersey, the final chance to etch their name into the record books and their final chance to compete with their teammates.

With the season now underway, our Varsity teams got their first look at the local competition with BMAC Invitationals taking place over the last two weekends: BMAC Rugby Invitational Due to covid restrictions, Coach Graham and the team have been hard at work learning ‘Rippa’ Rugby. The boys have adapted quickly and put in a strong performance at the BMAC Invitational, finishing a close second place to champions ISB. The boys have been back to training this week, refining their tactical understanding of this adapted form of Rugby and will be ready for the Battle of Bangkok!

BMAC Touch Invitational The Touch Girls continue to have a strong season with Coach Richards, beating NIST (9:0) and pushing ISB (4:2) all the way every time they take the field. The girls have shown their skills and are refining their attacking play as the season progresses. Following some added game time this week, in a strong win over NIST, the girls will look to jump to the top of the podium when they play at Battle of Bangkok next week.

BMAC Basketball Invitationals The girls have been on fire all season! Coach JJ and Bim have worked with a very settled team over recent years and the girls understand their game plans extremely well. During the tournament, the girls put in strong performances to beat powerhouse schools ISB (51:44) and NIST (35:18) to take the BMAC title. The team will look to complete an unbeaten season as they face off again with ISB and NIST, as well as Wells at Battle of Bangkok.

The boys returned to full strength having missed a number of players in recent weeks and as such, the performance level has returned. Taking on perennial rivals NIST, they turned around an early season loss to win 63:44. In the title decider, the boys couldn’t quite match that performance, going down 51:42 to ISB in a tight contest. The team will head back to training and aim to come out on top at Battle of Bangkok next week.

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Tennis Triumphs Coach Ball, Assistant Head Tennis Coach BMAC Varsity Tennis Last Saturday the Boys’ and Girls’ Varsity Tennis Teams took part in the first-ever Bangkok Metropolitan Athletic Conference (BMAC) event. Both teams played against ISB and NIST with the Boys’ Team defeating NIST easily 5:0 and also defeating ISB 3:2 in a very entertaining match. The Girls’ Team was a much closer affair that ended in a threeway tie. The girls beat ISB 3:2 and lost to NIST 1:4. Thanks to our parent supporters for coming along and cheering for the team. We are looking forward to the rest of the season being just as successful!

Junior Varsity Tennis Junior Varsity singles at ISB, results as follows: 1) Boys’ Champion A Draw – Tuna; 2) Runner-Up – Teema; 3) Semi-Finalist – Pete; 4) Girls’ Semi-Finalist A Draw– Asama; 5) Girls’ Champion B Draw – Rinka. Well done to all Bangkok Patana players and congratulations to all the medalists.

Varsity Singles Varsity singles saw the Boys’ Team play at Bangkok Patana whilst the Girls’ Team traveled across town to ISB. A total of 12 girls and 7 boys competed in either the A or B Draw. Results as follows: 1) Girls Champion - Pin - this was a fantastic achievement with Pin winning all four of her matches in straight sets; 2) Semi-Finalist A Draw – Aim; 3) Semi-Finalist B Draw - Asama and Tatiana; 4) Boys Runner-Up - Mark - a brave effort from Mark to reach the final in his last singles competition at Bangkok Patana; 5) Runner-Up B Draw – Andrew; 6) Semi-Finalist B Draw - Al.

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Transport Corner D

ue to the end of ECA Block 2, the Transport team will revise all bus schedules again this weekend. This means that your child’s bus might be changed. To make sure your child knows his/her bus numbers before Monday 7th February; please check your child’s new bus schedule on Parents’ Gateway on Sunday 6th February from 6.00 pm onward.

We’d appreciate if you can talk to and prepare your child in advance.

For students who are in Year long and Selective ECAs, which will continue next week, the buses will be scheduled for 4.30 pm only.

For more information, please contact the Transport Office at 02-785-2470 or transport@patana.ac.th

REMINDERS: •Please remember to make any changes to your child’s transport before 11.00 am daily. More notice is preferred if possible.

•Transport will not call parents or ring doorbells in the morning if a student does not come to the bus.

Please ensure your child is ready when the bus arrives.

•Secondary students are expected to get to their buses on time in the afternoon. Please do not delay the bus’s departure; the bus will not wait for them if they show up late.

•If your child has a home game during any ECA Block, you will need to arrange your own transport for your children to return home.

PATANA POETRY COMPETITION The wilderness is more important now than ever.

Can you write a poem that celebrates the earth’s rich and diverse wild places?

Your entry does not have to be autobiographical, and the persona could be anything from a human, to an animal to a tree or a nation! It is the quality of the poetry that counts.

THE WINNER GETS THEIR NAME ENGRAVED ON A SHIELD AND THE 2022 TROPHY. 1ST, 2ND AND 3RD PLACE WINNERS ALL RECEIVE BOOK TOKENS. NOTE: THE COMPETITION IS ONLY OPEN FOR STUDENTS IN YEARS 7 - 13

SEND ALL POEMS TO KASL@PATANA.AC.TH DEADLINE: 16TH MARCH

WHAT’S NEW IN THE LIBRARIES

Early Years’ Library

Fiction Non-Fiction Comic Books & Oversized Books

Primary Library Secondary Library

Fiction Non-Fiction

Fiction Non-Fiction Graphic Novels Senior Fiction

Want to recommend a book for our library?

Check out our new recommendation form!

All Library and magazine subscriptions listed here

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PMCG: Invasive Species and Modification CAT/CAS CORNER

Sonia Commissaris, 13C and Nicholas Howe, 13M

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long the range of the coastal seas to below thousands of feet in the depths of the oceans, aquatic invasive species can be found. When an invasive species enters a new ecosystem, it can cause harm and potentially lead to the extinction of other aquatic species, plants and corals as it will disrupt the ecosystem. Furthermore, when an invasive species population increases, underwater environments and habitats can be altered. The native species can potentially be negatively affected directly as the new species will either pose competition or serve as predators to the native species.

The invasive species can also indirectly affect the native species negatively through spreading new diseases and pathogens - this causes the native species to become more vulnerable.

This mostly applies to animals as most have two versions of a gene with a 50-50 chance of it being inherited by the animal’s offspring. The chances of the offspring inheriting the altered genetic element increases due to gene drives.

One way to get rid of invasive species in an area is to use a genetic modification known as Gene drive - a type technology that can help to eliminate the invasive species population. Once a genetic alteration that could impede an invasive species ability to reproduce has been found, the alteration will be inserted in the genome of the species to stop them from being able to reproduce rapidly.

Other risks with the technology include the possibility that the invasive species being targeted could interbreed with native species - if this happens, it will mean that the altered gene would be transferred to the offspring of the native species. There is also a chance that the altered gene could unexpectedly change when introduced to a population and create unwanted results.

Ecosystems can be restored as the gene drive modification can possibly decrease the population of invasive species on a local level as they would not be able to rapidly reproduce. However, there are some current disadvantages to this technology as the gene drives can only be applied to species that sexually reproduce, along with the fact that the technology tests have only been restricted to labs and were used mostly against mosquitos. It has not been applied to natural populations yet, therefore, we have no way of knowing how effective it will How do you decrease the population of inva- be when used in wild populations, or whether the sive species? technology could backfire.

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Coral and the Ecosystem Torres Chou, 6T

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hile diving on Thursday 2st October with researchers from the Aow Thai Marine Ecology Center (ATMEC) and my father, I witnessed an intriguing phenomenon in the Gulf of Thailand that scientists believe only happens once a year. The head of ATMEC, Dr Rahul Mehrotra, used previous studies of coral biodiversity to successfully estimate the time of what ATMEC calls ‘daytime broadcast coral spawning’, which is an exceptionally rare type of coral spawning.

live in the ocean. The world is unstable enough already.

Let corals make it stable now.

Corals are beautiful, as everyone knows. However, each year, corals are dying of coral bleaching. Coral bleaching is serious, because if all of the corals die, lots of living animals may be wiped out. The process of coral bleaching goes like this: We throw trash away carelessly, pollute the air and cause global warming, then the zooxanthellae – algae that give the corals their colour – start to create harmful chemicals, and get kicked out of the corals, turning the corals white as if they were bleached. This causes the corals to die in that place where they were bleached. Marine life that rely on coral reefs reduce as this happens, as the marine life become homeless and get eaten by predators, which then greatly affects our food chain. Furthermore, tourists won’t pay companies to see bleached corals anymore so people’s income will also be decreased. This situation goes on and on, polluting the water, and corals dying out. Eventually, all of the corals will become extinct, and the world has a chance of coming to an end.

It was caused by us. We are the people who started it.

Now we have to end it.

Coral ‘spawning’ is where corals use sperm to fertilise their eggs. Most spawning happens at night, when many different species of corals release their sperm and eggs into the water and the eggs get fertilised outside of the corals. That type of spawning is known as ‘broadcast spawning’. However, what we saw was also ‘broadcast spawning’, but it happened during the daytime instead of night. Coral spawning happening during daytime is very rare, and we are now one of the two or three groups of people to have seen this in all of Southeast Asia. This case is very strange and contrasts with most cases of spawning, which happens at night.

Nobody understands yet why sometimes corals spawn during the day. Dr. Rahul also said that baby corals have greater advantages than their parents, such as a Coral bleaching is quite problematic to the world, higher chance of surviving and the possibility of being but coral spawning may help us. In due time, corals stronger than their parents. might keep spawning which can help the environment To me, coral spawning is extremely important for the by protecting shores, serving as homes and making inecosystem of the world. There are many benefits of cor- come for companies that rely on them, and the world als, including protecting shorelines, helping humans to could become stable again. If this process keeps hapmake a living, and serving as homes for animals that live pening, the world might get better and healthier. there. Without corals, the ecosystem would become What I saw was a huge privilege, and I am really unstable, and the population of many living animals, including humans, would fall. The income for companies grateful for that experience. This has made me interwould decrease, and lots of marine life could become ested in the ocean even more. Coral spawning is very extinct, including undiscovered living organisms that rare and important for the environment, and I hope I get to learn more about it someday.

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WASTELESS WEEK 7TH - 11TH FEBRUARY 2022

Less Meat Monday Terminal Tuesday Well-Being Wednesday Turn it off Thursday Finish it Friday

DO YOUR PART IN SAVING THE PLANET.

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PMCG: What is the Black Sea? CAT/CAS CORNER

Tea Lonnback, 13C

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s it borders between Europe and Asia, the Black Sea is a body of water distributing its shoreline to many countries, such as Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and Romania. The maximum depth of this sea is of around 2,000 meters and is known for its anoxic water (a lack of oxygen in the water). Not only this, the Black Sea is known to be the largest body of water with a meromictic basin, which means that the top and the bottom layer of the water don’t intermix.

Before being given the name “The Black Sea”, the vast sea was named the “inhospitable sea” by ancient Greeks who would attempt to cross it but would more often fail due to its torturous weather and hostile tribes who inhabited its shores. After a few centuries the name was changed by sailors to the name we all know today: the Black Sea. As sailors would cross the sea, horrible weather would cause trouble throughout their journey and the sailors would not be able to see the bottom, hence naming it a color which connotes darkness and fear.

Is the Black Sea Dying?

Before the times of the Soviet Union, the Black Sea was a thriving fishing industry, with people arriving from all over to catch the creatures that the sea offered.

When the Soviet Union came to power, chemical fertilizers from agriculture and nearby industries dumped their chemical waste into the Black Sea which caused it to become a pond of garbage, oil and other unhygienic waste.

Due to this malicious treatment, its population of marine life drastically decreased causing the shoreline of the ex-Soviet States to create the Black Sea Commission (BSC). While the sea began to recover for a while, political differences caused the BSC to break up meaning that the protection of the Black Sea was no longer being handled, hence causing the environmental degradation of the sea to continue.

Is the Dead Sea DYING? ≈

At a rate of 1 metre per year, the dead sea is reciding, leaving massive sinkholes in place of the pristine-blue waters.

Environmental damage due to mineral extraction and the diversion of water coming into the dead sea are to blame.

Climate Change amplifies this issue.

Over 10m

deep, the sinkholes turn the tourism complex into a ghost town.

49.9 Celcius

The high-temperatures (from climate change) only accelerate the evaporation of the dead sea.

1 Billion

Cubic metres of water is lost by the dead sea annually. Due to chemical companies extracting minerals and the river Jordan being diverted for human use.

Inevitable for at least 100 years

The decline has been predicted to continue for a century before the water-loss makes the salt concentration high enough to make the rate of evaporation manageable.

By: Mark Chan Citations: DeadSea.com. (2017). Is the Dead Sea drying up? [online] Available at: https://deadsea.com/articles-tips/interesting-facts/dead-sea-drying-bringdead-sea-back-life/ [Accessed 30 Nov. 2021].

Gounon, C. (2021). Sinkholes on receding Dead Sea shore mark “nature’s revenge.” [online] phys.org. Available at: https://phys.org/news/2021-10sinkholes-receding-dead-sea-shore.html [Accessed 30 Nov. 2021].

What do you think about this environmental injustice?

Is it fair to limit the possibility of the Black Sea returning back to normal?

Or do you think the countries on the shoreline have the responsibility of taking care of the sea?

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SCIENTIA: The Evolution of Birds Utkarsh Bagaria, 10S

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irds. They are present everywhere. I am sure that if you look up at the sky, or outside your window, you will most certainly see one of these avian creatures. But have you ever wondered where they came from? Yes, you might know that modern humans evolved from apes or that dogs are the descendant of wolves. But how did birds evolve powered flight? That is what we will find out.

First of all, what is a bird? They fall in the class Aves and their notable characteristics are the presence of feathers on their body, that their young hatch from eggs and that most of them can fly. There are over 9,000 species of birds throughout the world, inhabiting all seven continents and seas. This begs the question, however, where did they all come from?

Archaeopteryx lithographica. Never heard of it?

Maybe you might have heard of Tyrannosaurus Rex or the Velociraptor; its movie-star relatives. This metazoic bird is the earliest known fossil and it provided evidence that supported Darwin’s theory, a few years after the publishing of the Origin of Species. Complete skeletons depict it as being quite different from their modern counterparts: they possessed a long tail, no beak, numerous small teeth and clawed hands. However, few specimens revealed that it had a brilliant plumage of feathers. Although it was initially used for thermoregulation and mating, mutations likely changed its shape to become more aerodynamic.

It is possible that the Archaeopteryx might have been glissant, as it had wings that were large enough for short bursts of flight. Subsequent discoveries of new fossils such as Deinonychus antirrhopus and Microraptor zhaoianus had shocking similarities with the bird. While the Archaeopteryx had weak feather rachides, the Microraptor had long feathers and with an additional set of vaned feathers, it would have glided down in a ‘bi-plane-like’ manner.

These discoveries eventually lead to the hypothesis that birds and dinosaurs are closely related. Further analysis of the wings and feathers revealed that it had limited aerodynamic capability, which could be the basis for the current-day powered flight.

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So how the modern birds fly? When flapping their wings, birds use a system of downstrokes and upstrokes to propel themselves. The main muscles that they use are the pectorals, the human chest muscles. In humans, their function is to pull objects toward the front of the body, however, on birds while the pectoralis major has a similar function, the pectoralis minor is used to abduct the wings towards the back of the body. This is due to the tendon supracoracoideus attaching unusually to the sternum and clavicle, which allows for the range of motion. While this musculoskeletal configuration wasn’t present in the archaeopteryx neither is there evidence yet in any other mezazoic fossils, it is crucial for flapping flight. It should be noted that flapping is not the only form of flight-locomotion that modern birds utilise.

There is a lot of debate about how the locomotion of powered flight came to be, it likely originated from the primitive wings of the Mezazoic birds. Their initial use might have been solely for mating purposes; fending of rivals and attracting potential mates but with mutations gradually becoming more aerodynamic and powerful.

Currently, there are 3 main ideas. The first is that metazoic birds would glide down from trees to escape from predators. The second is that they would flap their wings in an attempt to make them run faster, with overtime the efficiency increasing until it could provide enough lift.

The third is that they would use it to assist with climbing trees. Research with bird chicks has shown that they are able to ascend steep inclines. The chicks do not enjoy being on the ground, so researchers would put logs at different inclines so that the chicks would be able to get to the ‘high ground’. The chicks were able to climb up an incline as steep as 85º, the use of slow-motion cameras gave the researchers insight into how they achieved this feat: they would flap their wings, with the same up-stroke and down-stroke that birds use to ascend. This led to the 3rd possibility, however, the anatomy of birds such as the Confuciusornis had no adaptations to climb, so a likely outcome is that a co-evolution of these different forms occurred, with the anatomy of each species contributing to the evolution of flight.

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NEWS FROM PTG

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Patana Participates!

Achievements from Our Community:

Have a story to share? Send your information & photos to stml@patana.ac.th

Svari (Teya) Tejacharoenanan, 7W Svari recently performed piano at a formal Press Conference launching the COVID-19 Vaccine for children ages 5-11 years at the Queen Sirikit National Institute of Child Health.

Weka Bhanubandh, 10K Weka has just won the 14th Euromarina Optimist Trophy Torrevieja (in Torrevieja, Spain), one of the most famous regattas with over 400 sailors from 27 countries!

Edward Smith, 11T; Freddy Minchin, 8S; Frank Myers, 7D; Nico Lovegrove, 7M

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he Thai National BMX racing series began this past weekend in Chainat province. This five-round series is fiercely contested across all age categories and the riders with most points at the end of the season in May can call themselves Thai National Champion for their age category.

During the first lockdown, when Bangkok Patana was on CSL and there were no ECAs for the students to enjoy, Rod suggested to a few of the kids (and a few dads too!) in his ‘bubble’ that he’d teach a few skills to anyone who could get hold of a BMX bike. Fast forward to today and after a year of having fun at BMX riding spots around Thailand, three of Nico’s friends have just finished their first race. Edward, Freddy and Frank all got in the gate last Saturday and put everything they’ve been learning over the past year to the test. There were no trophies for them this weekend, as BMX racers typically start honing their skills from 6 years old, so the boys have got some catching up to do. That said, they raced their three heats brilliantly and used each one to learn what it’s like to be in one of the most intense forms of bike sport.

Bangkok Patana’s Rod Fountain, teacher of History, raced BMX when he was younger and remembers race weekends with great fondness: the nerves, the excitement, the weekends away with friends and family and all the drama of racing seven other people, elbow to elbow, at full speed towards the jumps and around the banked turns. Wondering if his son, Nico, might have the same enthusiasm for it, Rod took him to a race he had entered at the end of 2020 and got Nico’s thumbs-up. They then began racing in the 2021 season before COVID put an If you want to join Rod and the team on this wild ride, end to it after only two rounds. he’s set up a Facebook page that follows all their exploits: https://www.facebook.com/pedalsreadygo/

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Wildlife Spotting with Coke Wild Side of Pattaya Alexander Coke Smith IV, Secondary Environmental Sciences Leader

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veryone who has spent any time in Thailand knows that Pattaya is one of Thailand’s most “wild” areas for nightlife and partying! But how many know that very near Pattaya central there are several areas where one can see some of Thailand’s rarest and most spectacular wildlife?

This last weekend, the Smith family spent time at two such “wild” locations that I will highlight below.

Wat Tham Prathun, about 15 kms east of Pattaya Nua, is situated in a substantial forest complex that maintains a productive waterhole that attracts birds of dozens of species as well as a few mammals.

With so much urban sprawl and development in the immediate area, this forest island is a very important refugium for numerous species of birds and mammals and other fauna.

that we find four species of primates living in such close And during this winter migratory season, one can find proximity to others that occupy basically the same niche. some real gems there. This last weekend we were very Along with the Pigtailed and Crab-eating Macaques, fortunate to see White-throated Rock Thrush, Blyth’s Par- one can find one of Thailand’s rarest and most critically adise Flycatcher and other rare and common species. endangered species – Germain’s Langur! Once wideThis is also an area where one can see species that are ly distributed in the lowland forests of central Thailand, usually found much further east and are rather rare in Germain’s Langur are now limited to a few very remote and isolated green patches of forest in southeastern Thailand such as the Cambodian Striped Squirrel.

Thailand. Sai Kaew is perhaps the best place to attempt The other location that we spent time viewing wildlife a view of this awesome primate. was Sai Kaew Beach, a bit further south in Sattahip.

Sai Kaew is a wonderful beach that is very scenic and Coke Smith is our Environmental Science Leader and clean and well worth a visit even without knowing it is a is an avid wildlife watcher and photographer. Feel free very unique area ecologically. Protected by the Naval to contact Coke (cosm@patana.ac.th) if you have any Base, the nature of the area is home to FOUR primate questions at all about how to visit these locations. species – five if you include humans! It’s not that often

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#208: 5 in 5 for Friday For the past several weeks we’ve been sharing five top tips in five minutes with colleagues. I thought it would be a good to share them with parents also. So, here is the first of my Friday 5 in 5 for Parents below.

Do leave a comment with your own tips or anything you would like me to talk more about.

Have a terrific weekend.

Brian Taylor Assistant Principal, Campus Curriculum Technology Integration 0:00 1) Are you using the Firefly Parents app?

2:44 2) Magic mouse by long-pressing the space bar on your phone 3:19 3) Switch to video by long-pressing the camer icon on your phone 3:48 4) USB A plastic bit (should be facing downwards (not upwards!)

4:37 5) Which side is the petrol gauge on?

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Desert Island Discs With Vallary Lokre, Cross Campus Head Dance Coach

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his column follows in the style of the famed BBC podcast which features a celebrity every week – here we feature our own Bangkok Patana celebrities! What eight songs, one luxury item and one book would you take with you if you were stuck on a desert island?

Today Cross Campus Head Dance Coach, Vallary Lokre, is stuck on a desert island.

MS VALLARY LOKRE, IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND WHAT EIGHT PIECES OF MUSIC WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? Tadow - Masego & FKJ

Chances - Kaytranada & Shay Lia

Mango - Kamauu ft. Adeline

Special Affair - The Internet

Coffin - Jessie Reyez & Eminem

Toronto - Snoh Aalegra

Best Part - Daniel Caesar ft. H.E.R.

Coastin’ - Victoria Monet Click to listen to Ms Vallary Lokre’s playlist

PICK ONE LUXURY ITEM YOU WOULD WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU. THIS ITEM MUST BE INANIMATE AND OF NO USE IN ESCAPING THE ISLAND OR ALLOWING COMMUNICATION FROM OUTSIDE. Portable Music System WHICH ONE BOOK WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? Women Don’t Owe You Pretty by Florence Given Catch the real Desert Island Discs on BBC. Now that you are stuck at home, what are you listening to? Have a list of your own? Let us know! Contact STML with your favourites.

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COMMUNITY

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COMMUNITY CY-2022-038

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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 Tai, 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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