St Andrews Dusit Newsletter May Issue

Upcoming Events

June

 3rd HM Queen Birthday

 5th Visakha Bucha Day ( No School )

 14th KS2 Production Dress Rehearsal

 16th KS2 Production

 21st Year 6 Graduation Day

 23rd End of Term 3

 26th summer camp started

Message from the Head of School

Dear Dusit Community,

As I read this month’s newsletter, I am struck by the many ways that our Dusit values are being shown across the school.

Firstly, our Year 2 and 3 students displayed remarkable DETERMINATION during the Y2 staycation at school and Y3 camping trip at our Green Valley campus where they bravely slept away from their parents.

Additionally, we celebrated Art Week and our annual Art Auction, raising a staggering 138,000THB for the Paintbrush Foundation in Bangkok's Khlong Toei slums. With just 6,000THB, thanks to our community's support, we will be able to send 20 children to school next year. This achievement is a testament to our UNDERSTANDING and compassion for those in need.

Our students have also demonstrated SUCCESS, INDEPENDENCE and TEAMWORK both inside and outside the classrooms. From academic accomplishments to victories in sports events, swimming galas, and friendly TISAC matches, our students have made us proud.

I hope you enjoy reading this month’s newsletter as much as I did!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Nursery

It’s Term 3 and the children have all made such an incredible start to their final term of the academic year. This term we had lots of new faces join us in the Nursery and we couldn’t be happier with how well they have settled, how familiar they have become with our routines and how they are starting to develop relationships with other children and their familiar adults in the setting. This term we are exploring the theme of growing. We began our exploration by looking at different types of seeds and what we do with them. After reading some stories on plants and seeds, the children expressed an interest in planting seeds in soil and watering them to see what happens. Within a few days we began to notice white roots burying down into the soil, and thin green stems appearing above the soil. Each day we gave our seeds a little more water and left them in the sun. Within a few more days the children became very excited that leaves started to appear. Lots of children had fun exploring different types of seeds, and became seed detectives, finding seeds everywhere; in our tuff spot activities, outside in the EY playground, and even in our watermelon and dragon fruit at snack times!

Nursery

Moving on from plants and seeds we have begun to look at different types of fruit and vegetables and their seeds. We’ve been exploring tasty treats such as; lychees and their big seed inside, cucumbers and their little seeds which we can eat, tomatoes and their seeds, oranges and lemons and their small but hard seeds and dragon fruit and their many tiny black seeds. Alongside this the children have been mark making by printing the fruit and vegetables onto paper after dipping them into paint and balancing using the scales and adding in objects until the scales are balanced. We can’t wait to see where our learning and exploration takes us next.

Kindergarten

Wow, we can’t believe it is term three already. At the start of term three we participated in the whole school Art week event and did a deep dive into the world of Kandinsky and his world of shapes. We investigated how we can create shapes using various mediums and explored the shapes in the environment around us. Then we participated in the EY Superhero sports day. We finally got to dress up as the Superheroes we truly are and practise our Superhero movements under the guidance of our Superhero PE team. We rode Batman's bat mobiles, threw hammers like Thor, balanced like Wonder Woman, put out fires with Aquaman, climbed the spider webs like Spiderman and ran as fast as The Flash.

Kindergarten

Our term three and final theme for the year is ‘People who help us’. We started our learning by doing a walk around the school and visiting some of the people who help us at St Andrews Dusit. We visited Ms Caroline’s office, Nurse Noolek’s room and the security guard who is helping us to enter school safely every morning. We also learnt about the different jobs our parents have and guessed their jobs by looking at photos from their ‘offices’. Each week we will learn about a different community job and after a democratic vote in each class we transformed our role play areas into the Jellyfish hospital, Seahorse post office and Starfish police station.

Reception

Reception has been having an absolute SPLASH this term with our learning!

We have been digging deep into our fairy tale unit and have been demonstrating a lot of new skills through a lot of exciting provision activities. We’ve been using our cognitive skills to build a new house for poor old Jack and the Beanstalk, building bridges for the 3 Billy Goats Gruff, and designing a new quilt for the Princess and her Pea!

While we are exploring our new stories, we are also story mapping which helps us better understand story sequence, characters and plot. We have a lot of fun by retelling the stories, by creating our own story maps and using our small world characters or puppets at the felt board.

Reception

As the end of the school year nears, we are beginning to get ready for our transition to Year One. When reflecting on our year in our Jigsaw assembly, we were impressed with how much we have grown physically, emotionally and mentally. While we know goodbyes will be bitter sweet, we are excited to see what Year One will bring.

Although the countdown to the end of reception has begun, we will soak up the last of our time together to continue to learn, explore and grow!

Year 1

This term in Year 1, we have begun to really draw together the skills we have been building on over the year so far. We are now becoming more independent and enthusiastic in our learning and are tackling more and more complex learning objectives.

This term in maths we have been learning about arrays and have been using cubes and objects to physically see how this works. We have progressed to drawing out the arrays and learnt that we can work out repeated addition to show this in a number sentence. This skill will help us to get to the next step within multiplication.

In art lessons we have been following the work of some influential artists; from Yayoi Kusama who covered everything in dots to creating sculptures out of clay and paper.

Year 1

In our English lessons we have been using our creativity to create our very own comic strip, focusing on the next journey that Traction man is going on. We have turned our imaginative ideas into persuasive scripts for our very own commercials and adverts! We definitely have a strong bunch of actors and actresses in Year 1!

In PSHE we have been concentrating on relationships, in particular the relationships we have with our families, friends and teachers: how important these are and how to nurture these relationships.

We had many fantastic extra curricular activities as well, our trip to the toy museum, art week, sports day, which we all have fully enjoyed.

We are definitely getting the hang of being independent learners. Not long left until we are all Year 2 pupils! How time flies when you’re having fun!

Year 2

Year 2’s work has been truly out of this world this term. Our topic of Space has given us opportunities to explore our artistic sides. We created space themed art pieces using watercolour paints and oil pastels. We used blending, blotting and streaking painting techniques to create distant galaxies, twinkling stars and colourful planets.

In science we have been learning about seeds. We learnt different ways plants disperse their seeds and why this is important. We investigated what seeds need to grow into plants by growing kidney beans in bags and cress seeds in eggshells. Did you know that not all seeds need soil to grow? Hydroponics is a method of growing plants in water.

Year 2

Year 3

Adventure Awaits!

Term 3 has been a whirlwind so far and there’s still much more to come. We started the term with Art Week which concluded with a fantastic auction that raised a huge amount of money for such a great cause. Then, came Sports Day and the Swimming Gala and that was only in the first 4 weeks of term!

This term in English, we have started reading an adventure novel called 'Charlie Small - Gorilla City'. In this story, a boy called Charlie, accidentally finds himself in a tropical forest with no way home. We began by learning our class text map and we’ve been revising all our language skills such as: powerful verbs and adjectives, in preparation for writing our own chapter, where Charlie will find himself face to face with a wild beast. We can't wait to read their last story of the year and see the children apply all the skills they have learnt so far in Year 3.

Year 3

We have also been creating Jungle art work inspired by Henri Rousseau where we used layering and collage to create a tiger hidden in the Jungle.

We are all now very excited for our own upcoming adventure at Green Valley for our Year 3 Residential. The children will gain so much from this trip and it will be a fantastic opportunity to connect with nature and get an understanding of how Charlie Small must have had to learn so many survival skills whilst he was alone in the jungle. Like Charlie, the children will learn to light fires, build shelters and navigate the terrain. However, they will have each other to lean on and work as a team.

Bring it on!

Year 4

We are excited to share the achievements of our Year 4 students. They have made impressive progress, shown personal growth, and displayed a passion for learning.

In English, students explored the story of Edward Tulane, developing their storytelling skills through first-person narratives. Using techniques like descriptive sentences and similes, they crafted engaging tales that immersed readers in the characters' experiences.

In Mathematics, our mathematicians tackled decimals and money-related problems, as well as mastered digital and analogue clocks. They applied their time-telling skills to solve complex problems, demonstrating their understanding of real-world applications.

Year 4

In Science, students delved into the impact of human activity on the environment. They engaged in discussions about deforestation, pollution, and global warming, discovering ways to mitigate these issues through sustainable practices.

During our topic lessons, students honed their navigation skills and learned to read maps with confidence. Their sense of adventure and curiosity were evident throughout these lessons.

Sports Day showcased our students' athleticism and sportsmanship, while Art Week allowed them to explore famous artists' styles and produce stunning artworks. The art auction was a tremendous success, with generous bids supporting charitable causes.

Here's to another month of growth, discovery, and enthusiasm!

Year 5

This month we have conducted science experiments on separation techniques and we explored different ways to extract materials from mixtures. We had a lot of fun discussing which techniques were most efficient and why and how this can be applied to the real world for instance in terms of separating metal from everyday rubbish.

We have also started and finished several units of maths including shape and position and direction. We are now moving onto our second decimals unit which we are excited to get stuck into! In English we have been writing our own adventure stories and have been focusing on how to create suspense, add in more details and understand our character motives more. We have been looking at how our characters would speak and utilised our Year 5 language features to our best abilities.

Year 5

Year 5

We also began our music work in ICT - we have been looking at what a chord is and how this can help enhance the sounds we make. We are going to be delving more into how music is made and how we can make our own style! We are so proud of our sporting achievements this month also - from TISAC tournaments to going to 107 for a day of teamwork. We swam in the swimming gala and had a sports day. We never stop in Year 5! As we edge towards Year 6 we are excited for the year ahead whilst also looking back on our year so far, so proud of the work we have done.

Year 6

Survival is the name of the game in the Year 6 Eagles classroom this month! We are learning all about evolution and survival of the fittest throughout our learning. In English, we are reading the book Skellig by David Almond about a strange creature found in a garage that is unlike anything ever seen before. We used these ideas to write a range of fiction and also learn how to write an autobiography.

Year 6

This connected to our art lessons where we have been creating a range of beautiful pieces based on birds, just like the characters in Skellig. We made sketches of feathers, detailed drawings of birds, and clay prints of feathers. This has linked to our science unit on evolution and inheritance where we have been learning about the evolutionary pioneers of Darwin, Anning and Wallace who helped us understand natural selection and how living things have changed over time.

KS1 and KS2 Swimming Gala

We are delighted to announce the successful completion of our KS1 and KS2 Swimming Gala. The event was filled with excitement and showcased the incredible swimming talents of our young students. They demonstrated their skills and determination as they competed in various swimming strokes and relay races. The atmosphere was electric, with cheers and encouragement from teachers, parents, and fellow students. We are immensely proud of all participants for their hard work and sportsmanship. Special congratulations to the medal winners and record breakers who achieved remarkable feats in the pool. The Swimming Gala was a true celebration of our students' dedication to swimming and their commitment to personal growth. Well done to all!

KS1 and KS2 Swimming Gala

Art Auction

Art Auction

Super stars of the week