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1 - 15 September 2017
www.pattayatoday.net
Youth Focus
GIS enjoys IGCSE success again
by Mark Beales Photo by Ritche Guisona
Garden International School (GIS) students have been celebrating their spectacular IGCSE results. Following the May 2017 examination session, students were delighted to come away with a string of excellent grades. In total, students had a 83.5 per cent pass rate. And even more impressively, 88 per cent of students gained 5 or more passes at IGCSE. A pass is considered to be a grade ‘C’ or higher. In the UK in 2016, 67 per cent of students achieved grades A*-C for their GCSEs. Among the star students were Aakheel and Kanokrak (Pop), who both gained 10 passes, including 7 at A or A*. Also celebrating was Erica, who achieved 9 passes, including 7 at A*/A, while Mara was awarded 8 passes, including 6 A*s and two As. Peeraya (Kam) gained 9 passes, 5 of which were A* and 3 As. The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is run by Cambridge University and is the world's leading examination for 16-year-olds. GIS is the most established IGCSE centre in the region. The
school's results are regularly far above the global average. In addition, several Year 10 students took IGCSE Mathematics a year early, and all passed, while some Year 9 students took IGCSE English as a Second Language (ESL) – and also enjoyed a 100 per cent success rate. One IGCSE Mathematics student scored an incredible 99 per cent in his examination. Mark Beales, deputy head of Secondary, officer, said: "These amazing results show the dedication of both our talented students and our teachers. The IGCSE is a major examination and we are very proud that GIS has again shown its results are well above average. "To have so many subjects achieve 100 per cent pass rates is remarkable. We are also delighted that so many of these students have stayed and have now started the IB Diploma Programme.” For more on GIS, visit www.gardenrayong. com. Mark Beales is assistant head of Secondary at Garden International School.
Singapore International School of Bangkok partners with Yamaha Music School
Singapore International School of Bangkok (SISB) announces partnership with Yamaha Music School (Yamaha) with a launch ceremony held at Siam Music Yamaha Co., Ltd on August 22. SISB and Yamaha aim to provide quality music enrichment lessons to the students and communities of SISB. Kelvin Koh, chief executive officer, SISB Group and chairman of the School Governing Board (Pracha Uthit), Masaya Furuta, vice president of Siam Music Yamaha Co., Ltd, Dr. Perawat Chookhiatti, managing director of Siam Music Yamaha Co., Ltd and Sangchai Maeteatanakul, general manager of Music Academy and Educational Market,
Siam Music Yamaha Co., Ltd presided over the ceremony with the management teams of SISB and Yamaha Music School to sign the collaborative agreement. Yamaha will be offering group music lessons for children aged 2 to 5 years old for its junior courses, including its world-renowned Apple Course, Music Wonderland, Junior Music Course (JMC) and the Junior Step Fundamental Course (JSFC) for children aged 5 to 6 years old. Lessons for students up to the secondary level are also provided, including piano, guitar, violin and voice lessons. The classes will take place at the SISB Creative Arts and Media Centre in SISB Pracha Uthit campus and are open
for SISB students and the public. Besides quality music enrichment classes, SISB also provide an extensive range of sports and creative academies. In line with the commitment to providing students with a holistic learning environment, SISB hopes that through harnessing the school’s effective resources and facilities, they are able to provide varied education opportunities to learners of diverse communities and age groups. “In the next 15 years we envision ourselves to be a world-class school of choice with a holistic environment for our students to experience a unique learning journey, and prepare them with diverse skills and abilities to become
Summer School at MIS
by Matthew Bolton
What are the sounds that signal the arrival of summer? Here in Thailand it’s the pitterpatter of the first raindrops, marking a welcome relief from the oppressive heat that builds up in the weeks following Songkran. Back in the U.K., ironically, it also tends to be the sound of rainfall, only there it marks the annual disappointment of another summer failing to turn up. Here at MIS however, the arrival of summer is marked by a different sound: The sound of laughter and activity echoing round an otherwise empty campus as our summer school programme begins. This year our summer school programme has been a particularly busy one for us with four different classes, ranging from the two Early Years classes that entertain our youngest students, to a new, more academicallyfocused, Middle School class for those students preparing to enter Year 10 and begin their IGCSE courses. In between these, there is our Primary class for children between six and 11 years old. Each year the summer school organisers produce an over-arching theme for the programme and this year they came up with the wide-ranging and highly adaptable idea of “Health and Well-being”. When I caught up with the Early Years teachers, one hot and clammy afternoon roughly world leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, athletes and performers” said Kelvin Koh. For more information on courses offered by SISB, visit https://www.sisb.ac.th/ or call 02 158 9191. More details on programmes offered by Yamaha at SISB is also available at https://th.yamaha. com/en/education or by contacting Yamaha at 098 824 8833, LINE: YamahaSISB or Facebook: YamahaSISB.
half-way through the fourweek programme, they shared with me some of the activities that had been inspired by this Health and Well-being theme. These included promoting healthy eating by making salads and smoothies; developing emotional intelligence through creating ‘food faces’ to express different emotions and keeping physically fit with sports, games and swimming. Perhaps the most challenging of the summer school classes is the Primary class as it has to accommodate the widest age-range in the programme. I discussed these challenges with the Primary class teacher, Mr. Mike, who is one of the Year 5 homeroom teachers at MIS. I began by asking him what his philosophy was towards summer school. Did he approach it as, essentially, an academic programme, or more along the lines of an activity-based summer camp? Mr. Mike acknowledged that achieving the right balance between these two ideas was one of the main challenges as some of the parents wanted more academics, some more activities. Mr. Mike’s solution was to devote most of the mornings to classroom work, mainly English and Mathematics, whilst the afternoons and some late morning slots were given over to sports and other theme-related activities. Most of all, however, Mr, Mike said that he wanted the students to have fun, even during the
classroom lessons. As for meeting the needs of such a disparate group of students, Mr. Mike said that the key was finding activities that everyone could access at their level. As an example, he talked me through a project where the class made stethoscopes out of toilet rolls, bits of rubber tubing, and various other plastic items. He taught the students how to use these to monitor their heart rates. The children then did a series of exercises that gradually increased in intensity and kept a record of their heart rate after each exertion. The stethoscope project strikes me as being a really good example of how a welldesigned activity can tick a lot of the summer school boxes. Academically, it covers science, design and technology, and P.E. However, it is also fun! The children can all manage the stethoscope-making task and enjoy the various physical challenges involved. Many of our students really benefit from the summer school programme as it is their only opportunity to keep using their English language skills throughout the long summer break. However, I would hope that we can also make it an occasion where they can have fun, make new friends and enjoy something of a holiday, even if it does happen to be raining. Matthew Bolton is Year 2 Teacher and deputy principal of Primary at Mooltripakdee International School