Prepazine 15 Dec 17

PREPAZINE BANGKOK INTERNATIONAL PREPARATORY & SECONDARY SCHOOL (BANGKOK PREP)

BANGKOKPREP | BKKPREP.AC.TH

ISSUE 47 | FRIDAY 15 DECEMBER 2017

Happy Holidays From everyone at Bangkok Prep

INSIDE:

Pages 4 - 7 Winter Fair and Bulldog Bash Page 9 Students in Focus Page 10 Letter from the Acting Head of Primary

Page 22 Letter from the Head of Secondary Page 23 Secondary Sports Day Page 28 Year 7 Poetry Slam

WHOLE SCHOOL NEWS

Important Events 15th Dec: Last day of Term 1 18th Dec 2017 - 03rd Jan 2018: School Holidays 21st Dec 2017 - 01st Jan 2018: School Closed 04th Jan 2018: Term 2 starts

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WHOLE SCHOOL NEWS

Winter Fair at Primary Campus The stage was set and Santa was present‌our Winter Fair finally arrived on Sunday at our Primary Campus on Sukhumvit 53.

The Bangkok Prep community all gathered (1388 people in total) at Winter Fair to celebrate the season of joy and festivity in the heart of Sukhumvit! A fun and entertaining day was had with Santa, a prize draw Raffle, shopping, delicious food and refreshments, as well as performances on the stage from our talented students.

Ho, ho, ho...

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WHOLE SCHOOL NEWS

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WHOLE SCHOOL NEWS

Bulldog Bash Swimming Competition Over the weekend, our Olympic-sized swimming pool at our newly built campus, hosted the Bulldog Bash - the first ever Team Effort Elite Swimming Competition for top tier International Schools in Bangkok, with over 300 elite swimmers competing.

The Bulldog trophy was a big hit with the swimmers.

Congratulations to everyone that took part and for putting on such an amazing display of competitive swimming.

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WHOLE SCHOOL NEWS

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WHOLE SCHOOL NEWS

Tennis Court on Secondary Campus T77 Officially Open Our brand new tennis court on Secondary Campus T77 is now officially open. License Holder Khun Patrada took the first serve on the court. Our After School Activities partner, Spin & Slice Tennis School, were also on hand to coach students and help them to ace their game in preparation for future competitions.

Middle Leadership Professional Development In line with Bangkok Prep’s Vision Statement to ‘provide an outstanding learning community’, the first in-house professional development for Middle Leaders took place recently. The session was presented by members of our Widening Leadership Facilitators, who form part of a core team of Facilitators chosen to lead and present a series of workshops over the coming months. The session, attended by over 30 teachers from both campuses, is a reflection of the school’s investment in promoting leadership pathways for new and aspiring middle leaders.

Jayne Williams KS1 Co-ordinator

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PRIMARY NEWS

Students in Focus At Prepazine we are passionate about listening to and representing the student voice of Bangkok Prep. Our new regular feature ‘Students in Focus’ wants to hear from students that have something they would like to say about their school experience. If you, or someone you know, would like to feature in ‘Students in Focus’ please email: nling@bkkprep.ac.th.

This week we caught up with newly appointed Head Boy and Head Girl of Primary, Yumin and JL, to ask them about how they are finding their exciting new role so far.

How does it feel to the first Head Boy and Head Girl of the Primary School?

JL: It feels amazing to be Primary Head Boy as you can stand up and lead other students and be confident.

Yumin: Since we are the first head boy and girl of Primary, it’s all a new experience to us and the rest of the Primary students, and as we have been voted in we will do a good job.

Can you tell us a little bit about what your roles will be?

JL: To be a role model to the other students in Primary.

Y: To do lots of work with the Student Council, listening to the students and making improvements at school by letting the school know about changes that students would like to see.

What skills do you think an effective Head Boy and Head Girl need to be effective in their role?

JL: To be able to speak confidently in public and to be helpful and approachable to the other students.

Are you looking forward to working with Mr Owen at school events?

Both: Yes. He is a really nice person and he is easy to talk to and works well with all of the students How do you hope to make a difference in the life of the Primary School? What will you do to make the school better for your fellow students and their families?

Y: I was thinking about making a suggestion box for the students to write down their suggestions on paper and help improve the school.

JL: We would then take these suggestions to the Student Council meeting and discuss what the students would like with them, and then see what we could do to help.

What changes students told you that they would like to see so far?

Y: Lots of students have said they would like new water cups to be at the water fountains.

JL: Students have said they would like to see changes to the lunch menu.

Are you both looking forward to starting at Secondary? What are you looking forward to the most?

Both: Yes, it looks amazing there.

JL: The facilities are bigger and state of the art, I really liked the auditorium and look forward to performing on the stage when I start school there.

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PRIMARY NEWS

Letter from the Acting Head of Primary Dear all, Our new teachers settled in right away and have a done a fantastic job in doing so. Our returning staff have been magnificent with ensuring the smooth running from last year to this year. All staff here at Bangkok Prep Primary are a credit to our essential, privileged and rewarding profession. All our new families have now settled in as our new ‘Settling in Report’ will have explained.

Everyone has managed the change incredibly well. Some have obviously moved schools, left their homes and moved countries.

Others just moved schools from in and around Bangkok and Thailand. Our reputation just gets better and better! Never the less, change is difficult to manage and sometimes hard to accept.

However, change is good, but only if it benefits those the change is actually for.

Our new style of ‘Settling in Report’ is an excellent example of change. We have changed to this format as it is simply better for our children in many ways. In particular, staff have been more able to focus on their actual teaching, planning, preparation and marking for our children, rather than writing endless report comments regarding children’s progress, late at night, on a relentless, daily basis, for weeks.

The ‘Settling in Report’ informs parents of all the essential things they need to know at this stage of the academic year. If parents need to know more, they can always make an appointment with the relevant teacher concerned. As you are aware, parents can book an appointment with any teacher at a mutually convenient time. Parents do not have to wait for Parent Evenings or termly reports. As usual parents will be receiving an ‘End of Year Report’ where they will see full, in depth written comments, attainment and effort grades from every teacher. The ‘End of Year Report’ is more informative, but, more importantly, it provides a comprehensive analysis of learning, after the teaching is complete for the year.

I would like to initially inform you of some other changes coming up in Primary. These include Parent Forums with The Head of Primary! That’s me! Each Year Group’s parents will be invited by Ms Pupei to have coffee and an opportunity to discuss what goes on in a particular Year Group. I will begin with Year 6. However, I must warn everyone that these are not just to raise or discuss any concerns and are not a ‘complaints’ forum.

Everyone who attends must also discuss what is fantastic about Primary, why they chose the school, and why they remain. They must also discuss how well their children are doing and how happy their children are. Usually, if parents are not happy with the school, and especially if their children are not happy, parents will have already had a meeting with their

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Change is good!

What a term it has been!

A term I am very proud of, as are our teaching staff!” class teacher or had a meeting with me. Should any concerns be raised during a Parent Forum that need action, they automatically create an Action Plan for The Head of Primary!

Another change coming up will be the introduction of ‘Pupil Forums’ where the same rules apply. Children in each Year Group will have the opportunity to discuss the school with the Head of Primary!

Another change coming up will be with a new Parent Evening booking system. Like the ‘Settling in Report’ this term, we will have an online booking system for the convenience of all parents.

This will be where parents can easily book their own convenient appointment with any teacher. This will particularly help parents with more than one child. Some parents have four (yes, four) children at Bangkok Prep and this will enable them to have a convenient and productive parent consultation with any of their children’s teachers.

The changes I have seen this term have all been for the best. I am very proud of our teachers and our children. My particular favourites are the appointments of our first Head Boy and Head Girl, the breaking of so many school records and the teamwork that I have seen from the teaching staff here at Bangkok Prep Primary. I have loved the School Council’s ‘postal service’ this year and was touched by how many teachers and parents helped out with the

PRIMARY NEWS

with the recent ‘Sunday Fun Day’ held for those less fortunate.

Another highlight for me is how happy the children have been and how happy they are to say ‘Good morning Mr Owen, how are you?’

Finally, the support staff here at Bangkok Prep have been amazing this term. You would not believe what needed clearing up after our first ever Winter Fair. Over a thousand people came and went throughout the afternoon. However, what they left behind needed clearing up! Our wonderful support staff cleared it all up by Monday morning. Other support staff spent hours organising the whole event for our children to enjoy. Also, I must mention our Teaching Assistants here at Prep! They are the best I have ever seen. Their commitment to our children and staff is immense!

I would like to stop here (because I have run out of room) except to say I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year! Please make sure you enjoy every minute of every day of your Christmas break together, and hope you look forward to another amazing year at Bangkok Prep!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Brad Owen Acting Head of Primary

Primary Recycled Christmas Decorations Students across Primary have been busy creating a richly diverse range of Christmas decorations from recycled materials. The Primary Eco Team met this week and voted on the winners for each Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. Congratulations to Zoe in 1NJ and Francis in 3MC, who were worthy and popular winners. Well done to all those who took part and produced some truly amazing decorations with ‘junk’ materials.

David Cooke Primary Eco Team

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PRIMARY NEWS

KJ on ice...

Year 4 student Khowjow took part and won an award in a recent ice-skating competition. Khowjow came 2nd place in the Pre-Alpha Programme Level 1 8-year-old category.

Khowjow showed wonderful grace and control throughout the competition. It is clear to see that she is a multi-talented young girl. Well done KJ! MJ Parent

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PRIMARY NEWS

Year 6 House Inaugural Netball (Boys and Girls) Tournament Well done to our Year 6 students who played in our first ever Netball house tournament on Friday 8th December.

Each house played their girls team on court, followed immediately by their boys team who contributed to their teams final score.

The final results for the tournament were:

1st Place - Tigers 2nd Place - Lions 3rd Place - Bears 4th Place - Elephants Joanne North Head of Primary PE

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PRIMARY NEWS

KS1 House Competition - Relay Races Well done to our Year 2 students on Monday and Year 1 students on Tuesday for their energy and enthusiasm during their first House competition during PE lesson this week. This competition wraps up the first term of our ABC unit (Agility, Balance and Control).

Each house worked together to complete as many turns in a variety of relay races as possible as time allowed.

Races included: running around Santa’s hat; balancing the ring on their head; keeping the ball between their knees; ice cream balance; working with a partner to keep the ball between them; and more.

Runs were counted and scores were tallied, and our final results were: Joanne North Head of Primary PE

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PRIMARY NEWS

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PRIMARY NEWS

Years 3 & 4 House Basketball Competition Our Year 3 students passed, dribbled and shot their way to success during their house basketball tournament on Monday.

Results from the Year 3 house basketball tournament are below:

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PRIMARY NEWS Our Year 4 students had their games on Thursday and were a delight to watch. The skill improvements that these students have made since the start of the year is more than impressive.

Results from the Year 4 house basketball tournament are below:

Joanne North Head of Primary PE

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PRIMARY NEWS

Year 5 House Netball (Boys and Girls) Tournament Another first this week for our Y5 students who played their Netball house tournament on Thursday 14th December. Both girls and boys from their house contributed to the final score.

Joanne North Head of Primary PE

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The final results for the tournament were:

1st Place - Elephants &Lions 2nd Place - Bears 3rd Place - Tigers

PRIMARY NEWS

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PRIMARY NEWS

‘Forgetful Santa’ Reception Christmas Production With preparations for Christmas in full swing at Bangkok Prep and following a highly successful Year 6 production, excitement was mounting for the performance of ‘Forgetful Santa’ by Reception last week.

Throughout the term the students have been busy learning songs and practising narrating their lines to tell the story of Santa, continually forgetting to do something important during the run up to Christmas Day. Did he forget the crackers, the turkey for Christmas dinner, the Christmas tree or something else?

Ms Catherine Frisbee was instrumental in supporting the children, to learn the long list of songs during our music lessons. Some of the children’s favourites were ‘Forgetful Santa’, ‘Christmas Cracker’ and ‘Christmas Play’. The actions to accompany the songs came from a mixture of some of the British Sign Language gestures we use within class and other suggestions from the children to help act out the lyrics.

The dance routines were practised with a little hesitation to begin with, but with Ms Jacqueline’s and Ms Melissa’s enthusiasm they were soon being performed independently and confidently, like true stars. th

The dress-rehearsal on Thursday 7 December to Years 1-4 produced many enthusiastic performances to a full auditorium @53, which contained many of the children’s older siblings.

Several students made a point of coming up to me later in the day to say how much they had enjoyed the performance and how impressed they were with the singing. Staff members were equally complimentary and were highly impressed with how independent the Reception children were during the performance.

Such positive accolades for some of the youngest children in our school.

As with all performances, the one that really matters is when the auditorium is packed full of proud parents. They are eager to see how the songs that have been practised, at home and in the car, all fitted together and to finally discover what did Santa forget!

On Friday 8th December, the Reception children performed to a full house made up of parents, relatives and Year 5 and 6. They sang all of their songs clearly and with gusto; danced confidently and with precision; delighting and making both their parents and teachers extremely proud.

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During the closing scenes it was revealed that Santa had forgotten Mrs Claus’ present, the most important gift on his list.

After a rousing finale, the children enjoyed photos both on stage and in the Early Years garden. Families joined their children for refreshments and it was wonderful to share the happiness and excitement generated from the performance with everyone.

A number of parents remarked on how impressed and surprised they were with the confidence of their child, standing up on stage in front of an audience and dancing enthusiastically. Mr Owen was astounded by the amount of work that the children had put into learning all of the songs and was also very complimentary about the amazing costumes, provided by our hugely supportive parents. Khun Patrada also expressed how much she had enjoyed the performance and we were honoured to welcome Khun Patrada and her family to our show.

The Reception team would like to thank all of the Reception parents for their support in supplying the wonderful costumes for the performance, as well as their encouraging smiles and words throughout these initial months. This truly was a magical moment to end our first term and one that we will not forget!

Vicki Pearmain Early Years Co-ordinator

PRIMARY NEWS

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SECONDARY NEWS

Letter from the Head of Secondary Dear Students, Parents and Colleagues, It is hard to believe that we made our new home here at T77 less than 15 weeks ago. As a community we have embraced the new campus and are really enjoying all the new facilities. The latest of which was the long jump pit, that was used in Wednesday’s high energy Sports Day. This was won by Ursus, although the big treat for students was Surus winning the Teachers’ Relay! I think many teachers were a little sore the next day. Our Sports Day also gives the opportunity for our House Captains and leaders to develop their skills by managing their teams and realise that people don’t always do what you ask them too. FoBP continued to offer great support by providing ice creams for all students and staff at the end of the day. This was a welcome round-off after the sun and heat of the day. The event was very well organised by our PE Faculty who also managed to ensure the rainstorms started after the event!

We continue to improve in every way and are embedding the school’s new vision wherever we can. Next year is especially important as we will be celebrating our 15th Anniversary. We are not quite as famous as Tesla who started in the same year, but we certainly have a similar aim for excellence. We will have a celebration event sometime in Term Three and hope you will be able to attend.

Term One accounts for 40% of our year so it is no surprise that students and staff are looking tired and I am sure they will enjoy the holiday period. We have packed in a huge amount so far and I am looking forward to even greater things next year. Please note that Term Two will start as Week A on Thursday 4th January at 08:00am.

Finally, I would like to wish you all a happy holiday and safe travels wherever you may be.

Season’s greetings!

Nigel Wilsonlock Head of Secondary

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SECONDARY NEWS

Secondary Sports Day sees more records broken on home turf!

On Wednesday the Secondary Sports Day took place at our new campus, making use of the excellent sports facilities we have at our disposal.

It was a hot and action-packed day. One of the highlights was seeing so many students taking part in the track opener - the 1500m! Over 30 students in each year group gave it their all to gain extra bonus points for their houses.

It was also fantastic to see so many new students win medals, especially in the Senior ‘B’ category events. Plenty more records were broken and the updated edition of the official records will be released in January.

Participation was excellent; all students played their part in contributing to each house’s success. The overall winners on the day were URSUS - congratulations to them and to ALL competitors.

The results from the day will help to inform team selection for the upcoming BISAC Athletics competition in Term 2.

Alison Cantrill Teacher of Physical Education

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SECONDARY NEWS

Drama Department Launch Rehearsals T-shirts for Examination Groups We’ve got some wonderful new T-shirts to help support all our Drama and Theatre examination classes at Bangkok Prep. Drama students are required to perform psychically demanding and energetic plays and these T-shirts will help every student to express their characters and feel comfortable in rehearsals. Many people often ask why Drama T-shirts are often black. We wear black (usually it’s black and plain) because as an actor we often take on different roles. Black is a very neutral colour and it creates a sort of blank slate where the perception of your character (both yours and the audience’s) is not affected by your clothing. Special thanks to the Communications & Development department for collaborating on this design.

“I really feel part of the Drama team and am proud to be taking a creative subject for my IGCSE’s” Nafisa Singhsachathet, Year 11 Claire Hullock Drama Teacher

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SECONDARY NEWS

BISAC U15 Badminton - Bkk Prep V TCIS

Bangkok Prep has a tradition of taking part in the one off TISAC Badminton Tournaments in Term 3. This year though, we are offering more Badminton to the students as we continue to increase the sporting opportunities for our students. The first game of the season took place this week against BISAC school TCIS. As an unknown entity Bkk Prep went into the games tentatively.

The girls came through all the single games undefeated with strong performances from Kirti, Sharna and Pear. The girls’ doubles battled valiantly, but both narrowly lost out (Jyanie/Yena & Natt/Svara). However, overall the girls won 3 - 2. The boys’ singles all had close games but lost out in all three (Perth, Moke, Kaow Pun). But the double teams performed very strongly and pulled two games back (Dean/Agrim, Austin/Raghav) Overall the boys narrowly lost 2 - 3. Great first game for the U15’s and these games are great preparation for tournaments later in the year Benjamin Cantrill Whole School PE - Faculty Leader

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SECONDARY NEWS

Christmas Celebration for Asylum Access On Thursday 14th December the children from the Asylum Access Refugee community prepared a Christmas musical performance to thank our Sixth Form students for their support of the Bangkok refugee community.

Sara Wilsonlock Head of Sixth Form

Work Experience or internship places needed for Year 12 students Dear Parents and Guardians, Bangkok Prep Sixth Form are hoping to set up a 2 to 6 week work experience placement or internship for Year 12 students, beginning in June 2018.

If you run a business or work in a company that could offer a real life experience of work, or think you would like a free intern for a few weeks next summer holiday, please get in touch and I can send you more details.

It would be a good asset for your business and a great way for our students to get a taste of real work life!

Please email me for more details if you are interested eosullivan@bkkprep.ac.th Elizabeth O’Sullivan Head of Year 13

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SECONDARY NEWS

U15 Girls Basketball Update

The U15 basketball girls had a shaky start to the season by just missing a few baskets to TIS, but improved massively in the second game against them. This year’s season has been a rough one due to a number of injuries but our bulldogs have all worked their socks off in every game and never given up. We ended our season with a victory against SIS that our girls definitely deserved.

The girls display excellent team working skills, resilience and most importantly have a good laugh with each other. Next year we hope to compete with BISAC schools and become an even stronger team than we are now. I’m very proud to be the captain of such talented basketball players and will hope to play with them in the future.

Chalie Potter Student

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SECONDARY NEWS

Year 7 Poetry Slam!

Since half-term Year 7 have been learning all about Poetry in their English lessons. As well as submitting poems to our annual Bangkok Prep Poetry Anthology, Year 7 have also tested their skills writing and performing ‘Slam Poetry’.

Slam Poetry is a style of poetry that is spoken and performed on stage, rather than simply read out. It has links back to the ancient Greek civilisation who used much poetry in their plays and to the troubadours of medieval Europe who travelled the country performing long narrative poems for entertainment.

Recently, Slam Poetry has gained in popularity again with many theatres and restaurants hosting competitions or ‘open mic’ poetry nights for budding poets. The skill of Slam Poetry is in using poetic devices, such as repetition, alliteration and similes to create a poem which comments on modern day issues and problems in an entertaining way.

On Monday 11th Dec, Year 7 students took to the stage in the auditorium to compete in a poetry slam competition. Competitors performed in small groups or alone and used movement and some drama, as well as great poetic skill, to showcase poems on topics as diverse as superheroes, bullying, betrayal, basketball and Christmas feelings.

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The Year 13 English Literature A-Level class came along to watch and help judge the proceedings and they were impressed by the level of skill and confidence on show.

Well done to all our performers - it was wonderful to watch every student engage in poetry with such bravery and determination.

Runners up Bani and Jessi, Arth and William and Filippo all performed great poems - but special congratulations must go to Gurdev, Soham, Tanay and Brando for a powerful performance and a well-deserved win!

The English Faculty

SECONDARY NEWS

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