8/2/2021
DUSIT NEWS
June 2021
8/2/2021
Upcoming Events
25th June Term 3 ends
18th August Term 1 Start* ( 2021/2022 )
20th August ECA Open House*
23th—24th August ECA Register*
30th August ECA Start*
Message from the Head of School Dear St. Andrews Dusit Community, This academic year will certainly go down in the pages of history! We started the academic year in school and were fortunate enough to enjoy some school events together such as class assemblies, parent coffee mornings, parent workshops, Christmas Nativities, Sing-A-Longs and even a visit from Father Christmas! Wave 3 of COVID meant that we moved our learning online and the way we taught and how students learnt changed overnight.
Despite moving online, our school community knew that being together, albeit virtually, was crucial to our children’s wellbeing and success. Students overcame this challenge with the help of their teachers and families and have learnt to adapt to a new way of learning, showing amazing resilience, perseverance, and dedication along the way. We accepted that our world had changed but, as a community, we did not let this stop us; we *Please note that we will review worked together and developed new skills the government guidance to ensure that our children continued to regarding social distancing, thrive.
COVID-19 and watch to see if there are any spikes in local A case transmissions .
HUGE thank you to all of our staff, students and of course parents and the best of luck to our Year 6 Graduates. Do come back and see us!
Caroline Ratcliffe
8/2/2021
Year 6 Graduation
8/2/2021
Creating a Safer Culture: Dusit’s tips on Well-being during the holidays The summer holidays are fast approaching, and the break is a great time to think about well-being for the whole family, especially in these unprecedented times of Covid 19. Follow our top Be-Well tips and let us know how you’ll be relaxing this summer.
Sleep
A lack of sleep can affect emotional health and mood in all of us. If we have not slept properly, it is likely that we will feel more irritable with ourselves and those around us. Now, more than ever, we should think about why and how sleep plays such a critical part in improving our health.
Regularity and routine are key in preparing you and your children for restful and adequate sleep. This includes getting dressed for bed and for the day.
Put away tablets, laptops or mobile phones in the bedroom in the hour before bed.
Avoid sleeping in late or taking naps during the day to prevent disrupting your natural sleep cycle.
Try to focus on one or two things for which you feel grateful for or positive about before bed.
Consider practising mindfulness. This is a scientifically-proven meditation technique that can help to combat stress. A simple minute of mindful breathing is a good way to start each day. There are some great free apps and websites that can help get you started and provide some guidance for beginners.
8/2/2021
Creating a Safer Culture: Dusit’s tips on well-being during the holidays
Diet Nutrition is a very important part of our wellbeing. Developing children and young people require adequate nutrition to fuel crucial brain development alongside their daily energy needs.
Eat the rainbow for a wide range of health benefits. Different colours in fruits
and vegetables have different health properties, which are really good for your brain, helping with concentration and memory.
Eat with others at the table when/if you can. Research shows that when you sit around a table and eat with others, you're more mindful of what you're eating which helps your child try new foods.
Cook as a family, this encourages children to try new foods.
8/2/2021
Creating a Safer Culture: Dusit’s tips on well-being during the holidays Exercise Look for ways to stay active individually and as a family.
If your children have interests in active hobbies, do your best to keep encouraging them over the break from school.
Be a role model and take time for your own active hobbies. Some examples: a walk, trips to the park, daily exercise routines, sports, the list is endless!
Connecting ‘The first step towards building stronger connections with others is to build a stronger connection with oneself. Solitude helps us to do that by allowing us to check in with our own feelings and thoughts’ Dr. Hazel Harrison
Connect with each other by switching off! Online learning has increased screen time for the whole family. During the summer try and limit screen time, get outside and do something fun together!
8/2/2021
Creating a Safer Culture: Dusit’s tips on well-being during the holidays
Doing A great way to start your holidays is to create a family bucket list. This will give you focus for the long break from school. It will also allow you to discuss your interests as a family.
Brainstorm together and agree on your top priorities.
Remember, don't over commit and keep the list short and achievable.
Make sure the list is visible so that it can be something you come back to and discuss throughout the summer. Some examples: learning an instrument,
cooking, reading, writing short stories or photography, the list is endless!
8/2/2021
Creating a Safer Culture: Dusit’s tips on Well-being during the holidays Giving Give the gift of time. You can have family or friends discussion time; where you can share your experiences, worries and celebrate successes and the good things that have happened. The summer break can be the perfect time to work on ensuring that home is an environment where discussion is encouraged. Other News: In our last newsletter, we discussed online gaming and some of you may have attended the online event on Gaming Addiction at 107 a few weeks ago. If you were unable to attend, here is the recording and powerpoint: Recording of Gaming Addiction event Gaming Addiction powerpoint If you have any questions on the topic, please feel free to drop Stephanie an email, she is happy to answer them and provide support as best possible. If you have any feedback on how you feel the workshop could have been improved, do not hesitate to let me know. Stephenie Telado - stelado@standrews-schools.com If you would like more information on online safety or the wellbeing of your child, please do talk to your class teacher, Miss Sonal or Mr. Simon
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Safeguarding team
Miss Sonal –Safeguarding and Wellbeing Lead ing Lead
Mr. Simon – Deputy Safeguarding and Wellbe-
8/2/2021
Nursery This year, Nursery have been on so many exciting and memorable adventures. We’ve explored lots of different kinds of animals, both on land and underwater. We’ve learnt about minibeasts and insects, and even been on our own bug hunts. The children have trained as superheroes, and explored different heroes within our community, like doctors and nurses, firemen and women and the police, all of whom keep us safe. The children have learnt about recycling and the impact this has on our planet, as well as blasting off into space, and they have even travelled back in time to explore dinosaurs.
8/2/2021
Nursery The biggest adventure Nursery have been on is their own journey of self-discovery. They have developed so many fantastic skills that lay the foundations as they begin to build upon their knowledge as they get older. The children have developed such incredible relationships with one another and made so many knew friends who they have been able to share this incredible first year in Nursery with. Through songs, dancing, stories, activities and lots of imagination and laughter, the children in Nursery have grown and developed so much, and the entire team is so proud of all of their accomplishments. Well done, Nursery, and thank you for such a wonderful year. Your teachers are sad to see you go, but so happy to see you grow.
8/2/2021
Kindergarten What a fantastic year we have had in KG! It has been a pleasure to watch the children grow and develop. They have made great relationships with each other and their teachers, and have become very confident in communicating, problem solving and working together as a team! Through exploring projects such as Our Community, Woodland Creatures, People who help us and Superheroes, the children have become confident young Explorers, Creators and Investigators.
8/2/2021
Kindergarten During online learning, the children have stayed focused and engaged with amazing Art and Science projects. We have seen some great space stations, explosive experiments and creative paintings. They have learnt new skills such as letter sounds, counting objects and their cutting and drawing abilities are now exceptional! We would like to thank you and your families for supporting us and
making sure your children could continue to learn during this unprecedented time. With such great confidence and maturity, the children are ready for their transition to Reception to continue their learning journey and engage in new experiences. Thank you KG for being amazing this year. We will miss you and we wish you all the best!
8/2/2021
Kindergarten
8/2/2021
Reception What a wonderful year it has been in Reception! We are thrilled with the all the progress that has been made this year and have enjoyed exploring a wide variety of topics with the children. For these last few weeks, we have been diving ‘under the sea’ to explore the world of sea animals. Beginning with the many wonders of the seashore, we have gone on to share our own personal adventures at the beach, a favourite pastime of so many of our families. We have been reading and writing about some interesting and also exotic sea animals,
incorporating fiction and non-fiction stories and songs; mathematics
and science too. In the area of art and design, we created beautiful crayon resist ocean scenes for Art Week, along with other Reception –wide artistic endeavors. Their literacy and maths skills have been moving along ‘swimmingly’ and I think we can proudly say that our children are ready for the upcoming challenges and
adventures of Year 1.
8/2/2021
Reception We would like to thank all of our amazing parents for supporting their children in our online learning this term. We know it is not the ideal teaching platform for younger children, but together we have made it work! Your children have risen to the challenge and continue to produce outstanding pieces of work. They have demonstrated to us their expert communication and language skills and confidence by actively participating in our daily Zoom lessons and our 1-1 sessions too. Congratulations, Reception!
8/2/2021
Reception
8/2/2021
Year 1 For the final month in Year 1 the children have continued to strive to do their best. They have learnt all about toys and researched how they have changed over time. Children spoke to their parents and grandparents to find out what they used to play with when they were younger and then used their research to place toys on a timeline. We also thought about where toys have come from around the world and how they might vary. In English we had lots of fun reading Naughty Bus and thinking of our own adventure for the cheeky toy in the story.
8/2/2021
Year 1 Time has flown and despite being online for the end of the year, we have made some fantastic memories together and made it through with a combination of determination and positivity. We are so proud to have watched the Year 1 children grow so much this year and see how much they have achieved. Well done to everyone for making it to the end of the Year. We wish you all the best in
Year 2!
8/2/2021
Year 2 What a beautiful journey we have had together this year through all the laughter, learning, hard-work and uncertainty! One thing we can say with absolute certainty is that our Year 2 cohort have developed such incredible resilience through it all. We are so proud of each and
every child for all they have accomplished this year. The reflection we have heard over the past week of how proud they have been of all the work they have produced has been incredibly admirable, as it shows our cubs understand the road to success is paved with hard work and determination. With this mentality there is nothing they cannot achieve!
8/2/2021
Year 2 Congratulations to all of the bear cubs who now make their way on to Year 3. It has been a pleasure to teach you and we wish you the best of luck moving forward!
8/2/2021
Year 3 We are coming to the end of Year 3! What a wonderful journey we have been on! Year 3
children have grown so much this year and blown Ms. Georgia and
Mr. Simon away!
For our final newsletter, we have decided to focus on the amazing work the
children have completed during Science Week and Art Week. We have adapted a lot of lessons to have a science theme or an art theme and we have enjoyed watching the children get creative and show their scientific knowledge!
8/2/2021
Year 3 We made natural face masks from fruits and plates and parcels out of leaves, we erupted volcanoes, created our own animals, recycled plastic bottles into art, built 3D shapes and we made some arty instructions, too! The children have truly amazed Ms. Georgia and Mr. Simon this year and they have shown they are ready for Year 4. We would like to thank you for all of your support this year. We would not have been able to do this without your continued support. The children have shown resilience during online learning and we really hope you all have a wonderful summer break. Good luck Hornbills and Geckos, we will miss you!
8/2/2021
Year 4 As we reach the end of Year 4 and take some time to reflect, the dedication and resilience shown by all of the children has been an absolute inspiration to us all! We are so proud of the progress they have made and look forward to seeing this journey continue! Talking of which - we have been on such an amazing adventure with Edward
Tulane, as he has transformed from one character to another, travelled the world and learnt all about life and love. He really has seen and been through so much since we met him at the start of the story!
8/2/2021
Year 4 In order for us to really take this journey with Edward, we brought compassion to the forefront and put ourselves in his shoes, acting in role as Edward. Whilst discussing and immersing ourselves in the emotional roller-coaster of his ‘Miraculous Journey’, we created an emotions graph and some artwork to fully see things from his perspective.
So now, as we come to the end of this academic year, we’re all eager to find out how this story will end!
8/2/2021
Year 5 What an amazing journey Year 5 Gibbons have been on this year! It has been a real pleasure to guide this class through such an important part of their childhood and I could not be more proud of the way they have developed and grown. We’ve created art, written stories, challenged our mathematical thinking and
explored the wonders of science this year but the class has, more than anything else, focused on how they can take control of their own learning. It has been wonderful to watch every member of the class grow in resilience, determination and independence as they challenge themselves and push what they are capable of.
8/2/2021
Year 6 This month in Year 6 we draw to a close on our time at Dusit. This fills us with excitement as we look towards our bright futures but also has helped us understand how much Dusit means to us and just what we have learnt here. We have spent this month talking about our time here, what we have achieved, what we are most proud of and how our friendships will last into the future.
We have had several exciting transition events and have been preparing ourselves for secondary school. Our tasks have ranged from introducing ourselves as learners to our new teachers, to preparing our future work stations ensuring that these bring out the best in us. We have been looking at adults we know and how they can help us, how we have values and attributes that are worthwhile in any friendship and also how we can offer these to one another for support.
8/2/2021
Year 6 This month we have continued to thrive in our maths and science learning, pushing ourselves forward in order to both impress and excel in our secondary life. We have also been cooking, challenging ourselves to budget and to explore different foods around us, preparing ourselves for our adult lives.
This year has been such an amazing one and we could not be prouder of each other. We have made so much progress, not only academically, but also in terms of trusting and believing in ourselves. I could not have asked for a more wonderful class.
8/2/2021
Art Last weeks have been guided by the Eco Art topic. Pupils have painted landscapes using pointillism techniques like the artists George Seurat or Paul Signac. We also had an activity where they had to collect and recycle around their place to create their own tapestry using the weaving techniques. To prepare for the Art Week and our online exhibition, pupils have learnt how to design a gallery on Google Slides by adding background, frames, easel and more.
8/2/2021
Art During the Art week we have seen 3 different artists linked to Environmental Art such as Andy Goldsworthy, Vincent Van Gogh and Giuseppe Arcimboldo. Those artists have used nature as inspiration, to create Land Art sculptures made from natural elements, to represent landscapes using their own vision and emotions given by nature. In order to draw attention to the beauty of nature as well as to
prevent the protection of the environment.
8/2/2021
Art One of the Art Week activities Pupils had to complete was to give a second life to an object. Recycle, decorate and reuse something that can be useful. I have seen a wide range of creations made from recycled plastic, cardboard, box, bottle, and more. They have shown great reflection and creativity to fabricate pencil cases, flower pots, vases, boxes and gave meaning to their decoration. (Maybe add the link of the exhibition book here) This year in Art classes have been really rich: drawing, painting, modeling, creating, designing in many different ways, techniques, and surfaces. Pupils have always shown interest in learning about new artists and made plenty of progress with their Art skills.
8/2/2021
EAL Our EAL team has been working and supporting the students during online learning. In Reception, we have been learning about birthdays and animals. The children practised saying the sentences to tell how old they are and how old they will be next year. We thought carefully about the things that we need at a birthday
party. We also learned to draw our favourite birthday cake. Our next topic was about animals. The children brought along their favourite animal toys and talked about the physical features of their favourite animals. At the end of our session, we played ‘Spot the difference’, the children were amazing at this!
8/2/2021
EAL Year 1 students have been working extremely hard to improve their spoken English over the last few weeks and are making really great progress. We have been learning about parts of sentences such as adjectives and where to place the words in the correct order in the sentence. We have also been learning about different verbs and playing fun games like Simon Says. During our work on prepositions, we brought along a small toy and put it in different places to help us to remember the different words. We have also been doing daily phonics session to help us to understand the different sounds and how we make them in English
8/2/2021
EAL In Year 3, we have been working on writing a journal. The children talked about an event, they described how the event made them feel. We learned new powerful vocabulary to describe our feelings. To write about an event, children described what they could see, hear and smell. During Science week, we did a volcano experiment for the children to write about a real event in their journal. In Art week, children created a set of instructions for making a ‘nonsense sandwich’. They were incredibly creative with the ingredients for their sandwich!
Year 5 have been doing all things SPAG related with a particular focus on tenses. We have been choosing the correct verb agreement for different sentences so that it make sense. Students have also been thinking about how to change different verbs form past present and future tenses in different sentences.
recent challenge was learning all about the progressive tenses.
A
8/2/2021
French: During French lessons, pupils were very invested in our Food topic activities. We have learnt a lot of food and drink vocabulary and could say if it’s sweet or salty. They have practiced talking about their favorite food and expressing their taste by using like and dislike verbs. They also started to use the quantity words to give more details about how they like to eat their food. We have learnt some recipe instructions pupils have used it to create their own recipe.
8/2/2021
French: This week, French learners were able to talk about meals including French breakfasts but also from other countries. It has been so lovely to see all the pupils progress this year in french class. They can be proud of what they have accomplished. They have shown a lot of independence and determination in their learning.
8/2/2021
Mandarin In Mandarin lessons there has been lots of excellent work taking place throughout the whole school. In Year 1, the children have been practicing making self-introductions and Year 2 have been learning to describe their clothes. In Year 3, the children have used the vocabulary they have learnt to design meals and menus. Year 4 have been learning lots of information on many cities in China such as Beijing, Shanghai and Hongkong and were truly fascinated to learn of the culture and tourist attractions in each of them Finally, Year 5 and Year 6 are learning about writing the words we learned in Hanzi and how to order a sentence on measurement.
8/2/2021
Author Visit Year 5 and Year 6 Year 5 and 6 had the wonderful opportunity this month to meet with the author of many wonderful books including Boy in the Tower and Fly Me Home, Polly Ho-Yen.
Over two the online sessions, Polly Ho-Yen introduced us to how she uses everyday events and real life to inspire her writing and challenged our pupils to see the extraordinary where others see the ordinary. She also talked to pupils about how she edits her work and gets it ready for publishing. We learnt so much about the determination needed to complete a full novel but how, by consistently working on a project over many weeks, we can all achieve wonderful things!
8/2/2021
Author Visit Year 5 and Year 6 During one of our calls, Polly asked our pupils to “Give yourself the kindness to see where your ideas are going.” Sometimes great ideas take a long time to emerge, sometimes they take time to shape and sometimes we have to try more than once before we stumble upon something truly brilliant. What a wonderful message to walk away with!
8/2/2021
Science Week Competition 2021 The power of nature! The theme of nature was chosen to give the children the chance to explore how incredible the world around us is and I have been blown away by the response from all of you at home! With online learning and COVID life, we have become more disconnected than ever from the world around us. However, the children have been exploring a wide range of ways the world is amazing and now have found out more secrets from the natural world. The children have explored plants growing in different conditions, plants transpiring, plants absorbing water, using plants to camouflage and how much carbon plants suck back into the ground! It has not all been about plants though, you have also had work on: tornadoes, magnets, animal species, evolution, bubble making, stars in the night sky and elephant toothpaste!
8/2/2021
Science Week Competition 2021 The power of nature! I want to take a moment to mention the incredible work Key Stage 1 did about the power of the sun. The children have shown how the sun can be damaging if we are not protected and how its energy can be harnessed to heat water or cook our food! I expect to hear about the Key Stage 1 children cooking food for the whole school using their own solar powered BBQs! A special mention to our winners: Early Years – Sean (multiple plant experiments and a solar cooker) Key Stage 1 – Looknang (many different experiments covering a range of topics) Key Stage 2 – Gwen (carbon sequestration of a garden patch)
Please see more photos of children work here