PIS Bulletin (PRIM Issue 1)

It is an enormous privilege to follow Ms Bay’s legacy and succeed her as CEO Her vision and dedication to providing Lao students with quality education is recognised and respected throughout the community. I am delighted to share that not only will we retain her support as the Chair to the school Board but also as a passionate Founder of PIS.

Being a part of the PIS community from its humble beginning as a PIS alumna and now a part of the management team, I have witnessed the ongoing development over the past 20 years and the journey does not stop there…

This year we are highly committed to further enhance our school standards through actively working towards COBIS accreditation due in October 2023. Obtaining a badge is only one aspect of accreditation, the quality of the process in seeking improvement feedback is just as important as the outcome if not more so

To pass the inspection, we must meet rigorous standards in areas such as safeguarding, student welfare, governance, learning and teaching, etc. Excelling in these critical areas enables our school to access quality assurance which will significantly benefit our school community as a whole.

Now that I became a mother myself. I share with our Founder a strong passion to bring PIS to the highest possible standards by leading our school team through COBIS accreditation and retain our membership at FOBISIA

My vision is to provide a nurturing and a happy school environment where children feel safe to express themselves and become thebest thattheycan be!

Table of Contents

Interested in volunteering?

We are excited to announce that we will soon be starting a Parent Volunteer Programme across all 3 campuses of PIS This is an opportunity for parents and teachers to become a bigger part of the wider Panyathip community. There will be regular meetings that our volunteers can join to give input on topics that involves the school, community events and other important discussions Panyathip realizes that without our parents, we wouldn't be here. We appreciate and value any ideas that can better develop our school.

Safeguarding

PIS is committed to providing a Safe and Caring learning Environment for our students Therefore, a half term newsletter that shares important information and advice with parents and caregivers has been established because safeguarding and child protection are such crucial issues for our children and young people Our PIS Child Safeguarding Team hopes that we can all work together to keep students safe at home, at school, and in the wider community. Safeguarding relates to many areas of life at PIS including students's physical health and safety, mental health issues, attendance,

internet safety, substance abuse, bullying, the risks of radicalization, child sexual exploitation, neglect, domestic violence, relationships education, and many more. To ensure that all of our staff are well equipped with knowledge and skills to respond to the aforementioned risks safely, the child safeguarding team organised an annual training session across three campuses at the beginning of this academic year. PIS team members that have direct student contact including teachers, teaching assistants and administration team all attended an online training provided by Educare, the UK’s leading provider of essential duty of care and safeguarding training. Basic Child Safeguarding and Child protection awareness training was also delivered to Lao supporting staff by the Group Safeguarding Lead.

The PIS Safeguarding Team have been trained to an advanced level on all aspects of safeguarding The team is available to any student, parent or school staff member to discuss and report any safeguarding concerns.

Our Safe Guarding Team Members:

Group and Secondary Designated Safeguarding Lead: T.Nicky ketsada.soysouvanh@pislao.com

Primary Designated Safeguarding Lead: T.Jacob jacob.harris@pislao.com

Early Years Designated Safeguarding Lead: T.Merng merng@k.pislao.com

Years

Teacher Daniel Smith Head of Early Years Campus

Welcome to all of the returning children, new children and your families to our wonderful Early Years campus.

It really is our pleasure to have you back and hearing the sound of happy, excited and engaged children again We have enjoyed the first few weeks settling in and getting to know each other, focusing on classroom routines, expectations and behaviours.

The children have settled really well into school life and are making some great relationships with their peers and teachers

We have seen some wonderful examples of play, taking turns, and working collaboratively together.

The children have really valued each other's ideas and opinions, it has been truly amazing to get to know, observe and play alongside them

Here on our Early Years Campus, we see and understand the value of play and encourage all the children, staff, parents and families to get involved in playing with your children at any opportunity that you can. It is so simple and the children really value your involvement and engagement in their fun You will find that they will open up and tell you much more about their school day and learning opportunities, especially if you also ask guiding open ended questions such as “Today was fun because?” or “What was the funniest/saddest/most memorable thing that happened today?” Remember, open ended questions can have a whole range of answers and are different to closed questions which can only be answered in one way, such as “ yes ” or “ no ” .

With Covid regulations slowly relaxing and the world starting to return to what was once considered normal, we must make sure that we are preparing our children in both keeping themselves and others safe from infection and potential harm, but also preparing them for a world where masks, hand sanitising, anxiety and lack of interaction between families and friends are no longer normal. In my opinion, our youngest children have suffered the most as they have known nothing other than the current situation This has meant that they have missed out on play dates, visits to the park, sleepovers with Grandparents, and many other occasions and events when they would learn and practise the essential skills that we learn from our interactions with others, often without even thinking about them Due to this we will be concentrating all year on ensuring that the children have many opportunities to develop in all areas of the EYFS curriculum but with a particular focus on their ‘Personal, Social and Emotional development’ as well as their ‘Physical development’

We have a number of exciting and fun filled events coming up and we look forward to seeing you on campus in the very near future.

Teacher Dan Head of Early Years

Years

The quiet before the storm

We are so lucky and happy to have our amazing outdoor play area where children can engage in all areas of the curriculum from physical development, communication and language and even numeracy and literacy.

Play

Learning key skills of cooperation, language and communication, and Maths through experiential play of measure.

Expressive art and design in the outdoor environment.

We love to investigate the use of different materials and media at every opportunity. There is never a wrong time or place to engage in some art.

Fine Motor Development

Alongside the large gross motor skills development, fine motor control is also a vital skill for almost every aspect of our learning as we progress through school. Through experimenting with ‘Ooblek’, constructing with ‘Duplo’ or simply practising mark making with a pencil, pen or paintbrush, we are constantly developing our fine motor skills, hand strength and control required to write, cut, shape and manipulate materials.

While still developing the children’s fine motor control, this activity, which the children have loved, also helps us assess if a child can colour match, talk about patterns and explain their ideas.

Flag raising

It has been great to be able to start our flag raising ceremony once again. Our Panyathip Pillars of Respect, Citizenship, Caring and Responsibility are supported by this weekly activity.

Gross Motor (Physical) Development

As mentioned earlier, many of our children’s physical development has suffered due to the restrictions of the Covid 19 pandemic and it is part of our responsibility to ensure that this is addressed as quickly as possible. We are achieving this by providing a broad variety of opportunities for all of our students from Nursery through to Reception during adult led and child initiated learning opportunities. These include weekly adult led Yoga sessions, adult led PE classes alongside chances to explore and develop their own skills on our climbing and play equipment.

Circle time

Circle Time is an opportunity for each of the children to develop their Communication and Language skills. They learn to listen, think and speak with care, considering others opinions and that their opinion is also valued, even if it differs from the opinion of others.

Early Years

Maths in action

We are constantly learning through a mix of both adult led and independent learning tasks. Here we see maths in art, learning about shape and how they are found in our environment and also a child independently investigating measures using water and two

containers. We value play so highly and see it as our role to ask open ended questions to discover what children already know and to open up new lines of thinking to learn more. What question would you ask with one of these children if you wanted to find out what they know already?

The emotional wellbeing of our children is so important and the children are always able to discuss how they feel, why they feel this way and how they can be supported to feel better if need be.

Friends are vital to all of us and what better way to show you care than by making your very own ‘Friendship Bracelet’

International Early Years Curriculum

In our International Early Years Curriculum (IEYC) we have been experimenting with liquids and ideas such as mixing. We have conducted experiments that involve the capillary action of water and colour mixing as well as whether oil and water mix and how to make water float. It has been very exciting and interesting to hear the children’s predictions, observations and hypotheses. Are there any simple experiments you can conduct at home? Please share any photos or information with your class teachers if you decide to do this. We would love to discuss the results.

Star child of the week

Weekly assembly is a great opportunity for us to gather as a whole school community and share our exciting learning experiences with each other. It also provides us the opportunity to share which children have earnt the ‘Star Child’ award for that week. These are the children that have consistently expressed our Panyathip Pillars of ‘Respect, Trustworthiness, Citizenship, Caring, Responsibility and Fairness’ through all that they do. A big congratulations to those that have already achieved this award, and a target to set for those that are still waiting for their opportunity. We know that each and every one of you is a ‘Star Child’

School trips are back!

The Reception Classes are planning to go to Funderland (@Parkson Shopping Centre) for their entry point into the 'My Toy Shop' unit on 18th November between 9.00 and 11.30am. This will be a great opportunity for us to experience the excitement of taking a trip out of school, learn in a different environment and start our new learning journey with a BANG! All arrangements have been made including which staff we will be taking to support, a risk assessment of the site and transport. I understand that some parents may worry or be concerned about this happening, but I ask you not to be. It is perfectly usual for us to have regular school outings during term time in EY's but due to COVID, these opportunities have not been available.

More trips will be planned throughout the year in EY and we will keep you up to date with these.

If you know of any amazing visits or trips that are age appropriate for our children in EY, please contact your child's class teacher or myself with more information.

DATES TO REMEMBER

24 and 25 th October 3 5pm Parent Teacher Conferences (PTC)

Will be taking place on the early years campus.

Please ensure your child is collected promptly to enable the teachers to concentrate on attending these vital meetings. A booking form will be emailed out soon.

Please make sure you book in a slot as soon as possible to avoid the disappointment of not being able to attend.

7 / 8 / 9 th November STEM week

An exciting opportunity to engage in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths across the whole school. On the 9th, we will be opening our doors to parents to see and investigate the amazing learning we have been taking part in.

9 / 10 th December Winter Wonderland

Any trips planned for next ¼?

Teacher Diane Williams Head of Primary Campus

I can hardly believe we are in October already, it has been wonderful to have all students back on campus so wonderful learning can take place.

Already students are starting to make good progress in their learning, and hopefully the Parent Teacher Conferences gave you a good snapshot of where your child is and what are their next steps. At PIS Primary we have been looking closely at the curriculum to ensure that it meets the needs of our students and that all learning goals from the English National curriculum are referred to.

As well as the academic progress of all students, at PIS Primary we will also be developing the Health and Well Being of our students, to ensure that they are ready and equipped to learn. Finally, we will be ensuring this term that whenever possible students will be aware of International Mindedness values understanding, respecting and valuing different cultures, embracing diversity and knowing that having different perspectives has a great deal to offer in our learning journeys.

Primary Achievements

Term 1 August - October 2022

Google Classroom

On the Primary Campus both Teachers and Parents were involved with Google classroom training, which was led by Mr Kumar our

IT director. This is to ensure that there is a clear digital communication tool from Early Years to Primary, then to Secondary School for all students

Learning Showcases - Class Assemblies

Firstly, I would like to thank parents and guardians for attending your child’s class assemblies. Our primary students really appreciate your support when sharing their learning, they feel valued when they share their thoughts and learning to the whole school community

ECA’s - Extra Curricular Activities

At PIS Primary we have been so delighted and excited to resume our ECA’s Extracurricular

activities are an essential element of a student's overall development. It also helps students to socialise, understand one another, and work as a team. Extracurricular activities can assist pupils’ bond with one another and relieve stress. Extracurricular activities not only help students discover their skills and shortcomings, but they also help them find something they like doing outside of school.

Phonics Programme

In Year 1 and 2 classes we have launched a new phonics programme that is approved by the DFE English National Curriculum. PIS Primary are working closely with PIS Early Years to ensure that there is good progression with phonics learning that begins at the foundation stage in Reception classes.

Yr 6 Residential Information session

On Monday 26th September, we had our first Yr 6 residential meeting in two years. We are delighted to restart our residentials and trips programme at PIS Primary school

Again thank you to parents and guardians who attended and for your excellent questions. The Yr 6 trip will take place on Wednesday 9th to Friday 11th November 2022.

Parent Teacher Conferences

Hopefully, you will agree that the parent teacher conference was a great opportunity to: share academic data and ability, based on classroom observations and recent reflective assessments. But most importantly it was a valuable experience to discuss how your child was settling into their new classes. Our PIS Primary team would like to thank all parents and guardians for supporting this valuable school communication event

Teachers Day

During our last week before the Lao Boat Racing Holiday was Lao Teacher’s Day Celebration. Our day started with an

assembly that shared the story of National Teacher’s Day being a day that encourages people across the country to recall the historic event that took place 105 years ago when Mr Kham, who had graduated from a pedagogical school, was recognized as the first Lao teacher.

At PIS we recognise today that Teachers hold a special place in our lives They don't only teach us but make us a better person.

On Wednesday, November 2nd 2022 we will be holding a meeting to discuss PIS Primary Curriculum , we will also be launching a new Reading Online Reading scheme, so please join us to know more. Reading is Essential and serves as a basic building block for learning, regardless of the school subject, be it language arts or even maths. In daily life, the need to read things such as street signs or prescriptions proves reading is also an important life skill

STEM Week Open Day

Week

On Monday 7th November Year 6 will have an Exit Point sharing their STEM projects and on Thursday 10th November PIS Primary school will have an open day to share students' learning STEM projects provide unique opportunities for students to practise critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration, among other skills Like other parts of primary intended to give students future learning. Students sharing their projects and guardians.

Secondary

Teacher Zayne Essop Head of Secondary Campus

Dear Parents and Guardians,

It gives me great pleasure to contribute to this term’s newsletter as the Headteacher of Panyathip International Secondary School. I have thoroughly enjoyed the first half term and feel privileged to be working with such a wonderful school team. I would like to extend a very warm welcome to all our new students and families who have started this term at Panyathip.

The term has started with a ‘bang’ with our Year 7 students quickly finding their feet as they settled into life in Secondary School. It was brilliant seeing our younger students come into school with lots of energy and ready to experience excellent learning opportunities. It was wonderful to welcome parents to our Orientation Day and share our vision for our school for this new academic year. There is a constant need to keep improving at PIS and we want our students and parents to join us on this journey of ‘Getting Better’.

As a school community, we have spent the first few weeks of this term reinforcing the expectations and behaviours necessary to ensure we are providing the best possible opportunities for students to learn and enjoy their studies.

The start of September saw our Student Council Election Process begin We knew that by creating a student council, we were given students opportunities to have a voice, to be part of the school community and be involved in aspects of decision making What we wanted to ensure was that our students had opportunities to develop their leadership skills, for them to be able to collaborate and communicate with their peers and provide a platform where they could also move our school forward

We discussed the need to involve more students in the council and to create sub committees within the student body that helped move our school and students experiences forward.

As a school we are focussed on improving every day, getting better each day. We want our students to be part of this journey and want them to know they are valued in our community

Congratulations to all the newly elected and appointed members of the Secondary Student council. We are very proud of you. As you begin this next stage of your learning journey, rest assured that we will continue to offer support and advice to ensure you settle into your new roles at our school

We have lots to look forward to next term with our STEM Week and Secondary Open House fast approaching We have made changes to our reporting structure this term to ensure you receive up to date, regular feedback about your child’s progress.

Finally, as we head towards the next half term, it is timely that as a school community we take a moment to reflect on our values and behaviours that create a positive learning culture at Panyathip International School where we expect all students to achieve their best as a learner and as a person. Central to what drives our culture is our values for learning and community. Thank you, parents, for your continued support over the past few months. You are a wonderful community, and I am very proud to be the Headteacher. Over the past few weeks, I have received many messages from parents giving thanks to our dedicated staff for all their hard work to ensure our students are safe and well educated. I would like to acknowledge the wonderful work of our staff this term, firstly, in adjusting in such a flexible and professional way to the changes that have taken place this term year and, secondly, for their ongoing commitment to the learning and wellbeing of our students.

Please refer to the calendar of events listed below to see what great things are happening at Panyathip Secondary School over the next few months. We look forward to seeing you at future events.

Mr Zayne Head of Secondary

Secondary

Careers Education and Guidance

At Panyathip International Secondary School, we believe that a well structured and highly effective programme of Careers and Education Guidance will play a key role in contributing to how our school prepares its young people for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life.

By working in partnership with external agencies, we will provide accurate and focused careers information, advice and guidance tailored to individual needs to enable young people to make informed choices about their future career routes.

Our key aim is to ensure that we take an 11 16 approach to our provision of Careers and Education Guidance. Students begin to develop a real understanding of careers and work related information that develops their sense of inquiry not only about careers and higher/further education but also an awareness of how the skills developed in school are applicable and integral ingredients in the modern workplace.

Overarching aims for Careers Programme is to: Contribute to strategies for raisingachievement, especially by increasing motivation; Provide emphasis on the relevanceofnumeracy andliteracy as fundamental components of everyday employment in the 21st Century. Encourage students to become reflective learners who are self aware of their strengths, skills and attributes and how these link to career and life planning;

Support inclusion, challenge stereotyping and promote equalityofopportunity; Encourage participation in continuedlearning, including higher education;

Develop enterpriseandemployabilityskills in line with our Science and Enterprise specialism; Make clear to students how their behaviour, attendanceandlearningskills are inherently linked to their careers prospects and future prosperity.

STELLA STUDY ABROAD FAIR Australia (Year 11,12, and 13)

This gave students the opportunity to meet University representatives from different Universities in Australia and discuss their Career Pathways, requirements and scholarships.

UniGuide

• American Center Volunteering Opportunities Fair (Year 11,12 &13)

•The students learnt the importance of Volunteering and the opportunities available in Laos.

•Examples; Peer to Peer Services, Community Club

•It is Open Every Saturday from 9am 3pm

VISITING THE AMERICAN CENTER Education Fair

The American Center Vientiane, located in downtown Vientiane

Provides Lao youth and emerging leaders a safe space for learning, exploring, conversation, and discovery

Its activities focus on Educational themes ranging from English language classes, library exhibits, discussion forums, workshops, and civic education training. https://la.usembassy.gov/education culture/act/

UNI GUIDE

Alumni Speaking to Year 13 Students

● Last Year graduates currently doing Internship at Panyathip

● Iris, Sola & Earn (Graduated June 2022)

● Informed the current year 13 students the importance of appreciating and working hard in their final year of High school

● Make use of the current University Guidance & Careers Counsellor because they never had that opportunity

● Importance of Volunteer work, student council, sports and taking their academics seriously to help with University applications and scholarships

UNIVERSITY IN THE SOUTH 24th September 2022

• 7 universities from 7 countries were live

• Students learnt about what to do in each grade throughout high school to prepare for their university studies and application process.

• Students and parents will had the opportunity to personally interact with admission officers from these institutions

• Students and Parents got more information about the admission process, application, scholarships, internships, etc https://southeastasia.webifairs.com/

CAT TESTING FOR YEARS 7 to 10

While many tests focus on a child’s attainment in core subjects, CAT Testing is designed to give schools a much broader, more

rounded view of each student, their potential and how they learn Results help teachers decide about the pace of learning that is right for a student and whether additional support or challenge is needed. Most assessment looks at how a student is doing now The exciting dimension of CAT is that it aims to look at how well a student could be doing in the future. An interactive, online assessment which students typically find fun to complete, it explores their ability across four different 'batteries'.

The CAT assessment helps identify pupils’ developed abilities and likely academic potential. The CAT is not about knowledge recall and requires no preparation, offering all students the same opportunity to show their underlying ability. This year, Year 7 to 10 sat the CAT Tests which allowed our school to look at a variety of ways we can support our students and their learning. We look forward to working with your child to support them in their educational journey

Carol Smith University Guidance & Careers Counsellor Year 13 Homeroom Teacher Head of PSHE

Secondary

Pastoral Care

We make the safety and happiness of your child, our main priority. We have been working hard to create a harmonious environment where students and teachers smile and greet each other around the school; where all achievements are celebrated and all students know that every member of staff is here to support and nurture them

We have raised the expectations of behaviour and work; re zoned the school to create Departmental areas and introduced a new Homeroom schedule We have also reduced mobile phone usage, so that students now spend quality time together at meal times and break times, chatting, playing card games and football.

CLIMATE FOR LEARNING

● We have introduced a new Climate for Learning (our Behaviour Policy) which details our expectations for student behaviour and our reward/sanction procedures

● Our Policy rewards students for their good behaviour consistently working hard, being brave and asking questions in class, being polite and helpful etc. These students’ achievements are celebrated in assembly on Friday

● The policy also clearly sets out the sanctions for poor behaviour (lateness, lack of equipment, disruption or lack of effort in class, not following instructions). If any students are not coming up to our high expectations, we follow a process of restorative conversations, detention and ultimately the student might go on a Weekly Report Card. This Report Card tracks their behaviour across the day and is monitored by T Alvir and T Hattie

TIME KEEPING

Our expectations start with the importance of time keeping. Students need to arrive promptly at school in the mornings 8 15am on Monday for our Flag Raising ceremony and by 8.25am on Tuesday Friday. It is important that students have a calm and organised start to the day, and being late for school disrupts their learning and the learning of others. Please can all parents ensure that their children arrive on time in the mornings and bring all the required school equipment with them.

UNIFORM

Students are expected to take pride in their appearance and to wear the correct items of uniform. PE kit may only be worn on PE days. Only discrete jewellery and hair ties are allowed and may need to be removed during PE.

MOBILE PHONES

Students are now only allowed to use mobile phones before 8.25am and during the 3.05 3.30pm break time, or if authorised by a teacher If you need to contact your child during the day, please phone the Admin Office.

PSHE AND HOMEROOM SESSIONS

We have introduced a new programme of Personal, Social and Health Education Students receive one timetabled lesson per week where issues such as healthy friendships, goal setting, mental health and bullying are discussed. These concepts are then followed up during Homeroom sessions and students create presentations to be shown during Friday assemblies.

We really value the support of all parents and if you have any questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact me

Miss Hattie Milton Deputy Headteacher Secondary

Student Council Elections

This year ’ s Secondary Student Council has never been bigger and more inclusive We have completely redesigned its structure in order to allow more students to partake as well as provide clearer functions.

Sub councils for Eco, Charity, Events, Wellbeing and Community were added on top of the Main

Officers overseeing the whole council All classes from Year 7 to Year 11 elected their own representatives as well to be members of each of the sub councils

All in all, this new student council structure resulted in a massive increase in the number of members from 21 the last several years to now 89 members of the 2022 2023 Secondary Student Council

Another notable difference this year was the election process itself. Having been unable to conduct a proper election the last couple of years due to the pandemic, we have made it a real big deal and ensured that students understood the democratic process and the significance of choosing their own representatives and leaders.

Students who were interested in being part of the student council this year had to submit an application which were then reviewed and vetted by the academic staff Successful applications were declared official candidates who then proceeded to campaign for themselves and their teams. Candidates campaigned through various means including posting campaign materials in school, creating a video message for everyone to see as well as in person conversations with the student voters

Election day was on the 16th of September and our entire secondary community, both students and teachers, exercised their privilege to cast their votes to choose their next representatives and leaders.

Congratulations to all the elected and appointed members of the 2022 2023 Secondary Student Council and we look forward to all the amazing ideas, events and projects you will be working on this academic year.

Secondary

Teaching and Learning

At the start of the academic year T Zayne spoke to students and staff about the importance of getting better by 1% every day and that these marginal gains will collectively make a huge difference in the long term With this in mind, we have been working hard at supporting our teachers to ensure the standards of teaching and learning are consistently high but getting better all the time, in order to provide our students with a high quality learning experience where they really can become the best that they can be

We have led two CPD (Continued Professional Development) sessions for staff so far and have more planned for next half term

Our first session highlighted the importance of assessment for learning something that should be present in every lesson whereby the teacher assesses the progress of their students whether through a short quiz, questioning, a consolidation exercise or regular progress checks throughout the course of the lesson. Staff discussed the importance of assessment, for both the student and teacher and looked at a variety of examples that they could try out in their lesson (if they’re not already!) Our CPD sessions coming up over the next half term will include topics such as effective marking and feedback and creative teaching techniques both of which are topics that have been personalised to suit the professional needs of our teachers.

As always, the learning, achievement and progress of our students is at the forefront of what we do at PIS and our staff Teaching and Learning programme guarantees this is always a priority.

Best wishes T Callie

Flag Raising Ceremony

It is very important that we start our week right. This is why every Monday morning before the start of the first period, we come

together as a school for the Flag Raising Ceremony and singing of the Lao National Anthem. Such activity holds a huge significance in terms of celebrating and honouring Lao National Pride.

This is immediately followed by the singing of the PIS Spirit Hymn, led by various classes or the student council, which is aimed at developing a strong school pride amongst our students

Announcements for the week are then given by T. Zayne Essop, Head of Secondary School as well as other members of the faculty and staff as needed.

Secondary International Day of Sign Language

ICT and ART

Hands of Hope Education Center for the Hearing Impaired held the very first Sign Language Contest in Lao on the 23rd of September 2022 in line with the International Day of Sign Languages. Panyathip International School fully supported this wonderful initiative through sponsorship as well as through volunteer service.

The officers of our Community and Charity Councils volunteered assistance during the event where they had the opportunity to work with deaf children as well as have a deeper look and understanding of the plight of deaf people in Laos.

Statistically speaking, there are apparently about 80,000 deaf people in the country and due to the limited number of institutions catering to their educational needs, only about 2,000 have access and are therefore able to communicate to people around them.

Hands of Hope and all of their volunteers sincerely hope that through events like this, the general public could provide much needed voice for the voiceless

Rest assured that our Councils for Charity and Community will continue to support in various ways, projects and initiatives such as this and others

There has been a wonderful learning environment in the ICT lab with lots of exciting and engaging learning in this first half term The Key Stage 4 and 5 students have started their advanced studies in producing web authoring, statistical models and performing advanced data analytics. It is going to be a great success later when working on their data handling skills in order to gain lots of experience on complex scientific calculations.

Year 7 students are currently working on ‘still life’ drawings Students need to use their observational skills in order to recreate drawings in a balanced composition that portray realism Year 8 students are currently working on 2 point perspective architectural drawings Students need to use the perspective views to recreate existing Villas in Hollywood and Los Angeles in America. For these drawings learners are using the horizontal line moving left and right on the vanishing points. Teachers and students are encouraged to experiment more and put together more new insightful ideas to have a fantastic journey towards this academic year

Secondary

Global Perspectives

Cambridge International Education describes Global Perspectives as a unique, transformational subject that helps students develop transferable skills such as critical thinking

and collaboration, as well as provide students with an understanding of global issues that are at the core of the world in which they live Global Perspectives was a new introduction to our KS4 and KS5 curriculum this academic year and I am pleased to share a brief update on what we have done so far.

Both year groups (Year 10 and Year 12/13) started the course preparing for Component 3 which is the Team Project. This is an exciting collaborative assessment whereby students work in small groups to tackle a local issue with a solution based approach. In preparation for this, students have begun to discover different global issues. Year 10 students started with Human Rights, specifically exploring the right to an education and why this is so important Students showed off their creativity skills in a song writing task! We then moved on to look at disease and health where students developed new healthcare systems, wrote proposals for governors of countries giving advice on how to improve healthcare in their country and produced campaign videos to help students in contrasting countries with prevalent health issues. Year 12 and 13 students started their first global issue with Tourism and looked at things such as indigenous tourism, the advantages of tourism but also the disadvantages, too

Through mediums such as articles and TED Talks, students gained a broader overview of tourism in various countries as well as issues relating to tourism in Laos and Vientiane itself. Presentations and group projects are an important aspect of this course to get them ready for Component 3 and it has been great to see the students grow in confidence each time they come to the front to share their work with peers. We have recently started our second topic which is Medical Ethics and will later go on to look at Wealth Distribution and Food Ethics

If you would like to know more about the Global Perspectives course we offer here at PIS, please get in touch with T. Callie on caroline essop@pislao com

Science

The science classrooms have been a hive of activity this term. Key stage 3 students have been learning about the body demonstrating their learning by making models of joints and the respiratory system Other classes have been exploring how plants grow and completed experiments testing leaves for starch. In key stage 4 and 5 classes, the students have been working hard to gain a keen grasp of cells, enzymes and forces

Both teachers and students have thoroughly enjoyed opportunities to use new lab equipment and test scientific theories. The students can be very proud of the progress

they have made in both their experimental skills and scientific knowledge. It has been a great start to the year!

Physical Education

For the past few weeks, PE teachers in our primary and secondary schools have been running sports team try outs for our school Primary Football (u12), Junior Basketball (u15) and Senior Volleyball (u19) teams

We are proud to announce that we have six teams entering the VSSA competition this season, with boys and girls’ teams in each age group This is more than any other school in the Vientiane School Sports Association (VSSA)

We are proud of our students' passion for sports and their competitive nature and would like to take this opportunity to wish the players and coaches all the best for the upcoming season, which will begin the week of the 26th of September

Win or lose, it will be a great learning experience for all involved Go Panthers!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Week beginning November 2 nd Year 11, 12, and 13 reports

Week beginning November 7 th – Year 11, 12, and 13 Parents Evening

Week beginning November 7 th STEM Week

November 11 th Secondary Open House and STEM Fair

Week beginning November 21 st GL Assessments

November 25 th Secondary Concert

December 1 st – Year 8 and 10 Reports

December 7 th Year 8 and 10 Parents Evening

December 7 th and 13 th Sports Day

Week beginning December 12 th Spirit Week

December 14 th Last Day of Term

Become The Best That You Can Be