Spotlight on Primary
St. Andrews International School Green Valley
April 2018
Wishing you a Safe and Happy Songkran Each time I write this newsletter I wonder at the amount of effort, work, experiences, opportunities and fun our students at St. Andrews have! This second half of this term has been no exception. Each year group has demonstrated that they are truly PYP learners, showing all the Learner Profile attributes and Attitudes through Learning Journeys, assemblies as well as in their daily work and play. A few weeks ago, we had our Parent Teacher conferences which was a wonderful opportunity for the teachers to share the progress of our students and work with parents to support our children. We’ve also had our Vocabulary Book Day parade which was a great success, with many students now using the words they saw in their every day work; we had our Early Years and Primary Sports Days and Swim Galas; the Year 5s have been involved in promoting the Solar Buddy initiative; and of course, our Year 6s celebrated their learning with the PYP Exhibition. Our students have also shown what balanced learners they are and have excelled in the Tournament of Minds competition, our Little Lunchtime Music concert and the St Andrews Schools Drama Festival. Not only that we’ve had Henry Evans, an explorer and author, plus a musician Andrew Gleadhill come in to work with our students. Thank you to everyone who was part of these special events. Enjoy reading this edition of Spotlight on Primary and thank you for your continued support. Michelle Taylor
Progress in Primary At St. Andrews we are committed to ensuring that all of our students make progress in all areas. Teachers have regular pupil progress meetings where they discuss and document which students may need further support or challenge in certain areas as well as the students who may need to work harder and require further motivation to reach their potential. Teachers then discuss targets for improvement with students and these targets are reviewed regularly. Below are those students who have made outstanding progress in a particular subject or area and have undoubtedly worked exceptionally hard to achieve this. Well done!
Coco - Nursery
Ping Ping - KG
Prem - Rec
Benjamin—Year 1 Nelly - Year 2
Coco has made fantastic progress with her English language development and is now communicating in English in class. Fantastic effort Coco.
Ping Ping has flourished at St Andrews and has developed her selfconfidence. She is now communicating with her friends and during class inputs. Well done!
Prem has made excellent progress this half term and follows routines, listens carefully and is a great team player. Brilliant progress Prem!
Benjamin is now able to blend and sound out words in his reading and writing. He is now reading with more confidence and in a louder voice.
Nelly has made fantastic progress in her reading and writing and is trying so hard to improve. Well done Nelly.
Alex - Year 3
Thom – Year 4
Bert - Year 5
Joselyn - Year 6
Alex has made progress in all areas as a result of his hard work and commitment to improve. Well done for always trying your best Alex!
Thom has made incredible progress this year working hard to improve his handwriting , the amount he writes, the quality of his writing and his mindset!
Bert has made excellent progress in his maths reasoning improving from 43% in term 1 to 78% in term 2. Brilliant work Bert!
Joselyn has made fantastic progress with her writing and has been working hard to improve in all areas. Fantastic effort Joselyn.
Amazing Attainment in Primary Many of our students excel in a particular area and we would like to recognise their talent, but also the hard work that goes into ensuring that they continue to improve in these areas and challenge themselves. Below are some of our students who are achieving high results and work very hard to achieve this.
Punk - Nursery
Win – KG
Lookwha - R
Liva – Year 1
Plagrim - Year 2
Punk has settled well into Nursery and is no longer getting upset when his parents leave. Well done Punk!
Win can now recognize all the numerals to ten and count with 1:1 correspondents
Lookwha is now beginning to write in sentences and adding two numbers with in 12. Fantastic work Loowha.
Liva has moved from PM2 to PM7 in reading with excellent comprehension. Well done, Liva!
Plagrim achieved 88% in her latest Maths arithmetic assessment, well above year 2 expectations. Excellent result Plagrim!
Tifenn – Year 3
Austin – Year 4
Pan Nam – Year 5
Noah - Year 6
Tiffen is now working above expectations for her reading and is now a ‘Rainbow reader!’
Austin’s work is really improving due to his positive mindset and ‘ can do’ attitude. He is now trying to tackle the maths challenge and his work on building and researching the Matterhorn is excellent. Well done Austin!
Pan Nam is now attaining year 5 standard in Maths after lots of hard work and effort. Well done Pan Nam!
Noah for achieving 96% in his Lamda exam. The highest result in the primary school. Well done Noah!!
Fantastic work Tiffen!
PYP Year 6 Exhibition 2018 The Year 6 Exhibition is an important part of the PYP for all students. In their final year of the PYP, students take part in a collaborative, transdisciplinary inquiry process. Students investigate, inquire into and solve problems to make a change and make the world a better place. It offers students a platform to show they are responsible and independent learners. This year our Central Idea was “Small Steps to Global Goals.” The students were in groups for one of the UN Global Goals and wrote their own Lines of Inquiry. The night started with a wonderful whole year presentation which showed how confident and wellrounded our students really are. Our families and friends then had the opportunity to roam around each of the groups’ stands. It was an absolute pleasure to hear the conversations between the students and their guests. They truly showed their passion and knowledge of their Global Goal.
Exciting Events in Primary This term our students have already had the opportunity to participate in so many exciting events. The planning and effort our teachers, students and parents put in to make these such a success really shows what a fantastic community we have at St. Andrews GV.
Book Day Vocabulary Parade This year we held the first ever Green Valley Word Parade. Why did we choose to change from a character to a word this year? Well, words are one of the main ways that we communicate with each other. We start off in Nursery with just a few words and go all the way through to IB where we are writing 4,000 word essays. The words we use matter. When we are writing, our words communicate our ideas and by choosing words that interest the reader we bring our writing to life. The range of fantastic costumes and vocabulary that was on show for the parade this morning was superb. We definitely have set ourselves a challenge to beat for next year! A big thanks to the parents, staff and students for taking part so completely in this new idea.
Little Lunchtime Concert The "Little Lunchtime Concert" was organised to celebrate the opening of the two new music practice rooms and showcase some of the many activities which now take place in these rooms everyday. Our talented students from across the school showed fantastic teamwork in organising and rehearsing their performances. Their enthusiasm and confidence was appreciated by the audience of parents, students and teachers who stayed throughout lunchtime to enjoy both the music and the food provided by the PTG, including the celebratory cake for everyone to enjoy!
Visiting Musician Andy Gledhill Andy Gledhill, a professional musician and percussionist, inspired our students this week as part of our 'Percussion Day'. Andy has been performing around the world for most of his life and has played on world renowned stages as part of orchestras and bands, as well as 'on the road' as part of his travels in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. He now focuses on teaching traditional world music techniques, with particular emphasis on cultural contexts and authentic playing styles. Throughout the day he ran percussion sessions for age groups from Year 1 to Year 13, teaching them drumming techniques from Japan, South America and Africa. It was fantastic to hear the drum beats echoing around our brand new Black Box Theatre!
Henry Evans Antarctic Explorer
Green Valley was honoured to welcome Antarctic explorer and presenter Henry Evans. Henry came into school to talk with Primary students about global warming, climate change and how we as individuals can counteract that. Henry also spoke at length about his time on the Antarctic continent and the difficulties he had during his 120 mile trek.
Challenging our Students This term, we participated in a FOBISIA online ‘Word Mania’ challenge where children compete against other schools all around the world to build words. Congratulations to the following students for topping our SAGV school leaderboard: 1. Phoebe 1NS 2. Gabriella 3MC
3. Kin 1JM
Word Mania
4. Tora 3MC 5. Emma 4MG
At Green Valley we encourage children to develop their creative and hands-on construction skills. In Primary our children have been designing and building Skimboards! To finish them off, dedication was needed as the ‘Skimboard’ activity group gave up a Saturday to come into school to begin the delicate process of applying layers of fiberglass to the underside of their boards. The process requires adding layer upon layer of fiberglass sheeting with epoxy resin, meaning it is a long process that required plenty of patience. Mr. Ben briefed them on how to handle fibreglass safely, which included wearing gloves, eye protection and a face mask. As you can see from the pictures the skimboards are looking fantastic – hopefully they will get to test them out soon.
Skimboard Activity Group
Tournament of Minds (TOM) This year we entered three Primary teams into the Tournament of Minds competition. All the teams have worked incredibly hard throughout the term and made us very proud on the day. It was an added bonus that our Language & Literature and Social Science groups gained Honours, alongside St Andrews Sathorn who won one of the overall Primary challenges. A big thank you to the students for their effort and enthusiasm, as well as Ms. Nicci, Ms. Emma and Ms. Mirna for working with them during Activities as well as giving up their free time to support.
SASS Drama Festival During 2018s SASS Drama Festival On Saturday, the spotlight was on St. Andrews and all of our creative, talented and ambitious students. Green Valley was one of four St. Andrews schools to attend, amounting to over 80 students present on the day. The day consisted of the students devising a play in a day ‘The School of Rock’, which was then performed as a 30 minute long production at the end of the day. The students were commended for: their outstanding flexibility when working with students of different ages and from different schools; their outstanding creativity and confidence; and their unbeatable thirst for fun. Thank you to Miss Nikki, Miss Ginny, Miss Sarah and Miss Nicci for accompanying the students and a special big thanks to Carole at St Andrews 107 for organising such a successful day.
Community Service Action @GV As part of their Unit of Inquiry on Energy, the Year 5s are taking part in the Solar Buddy Initiative. This is the persuasive letter the Year 5s wrote to ask for your help: Dear Parents/Guardians Solar Buddies is an initiative where people buy and make a solar powered light and then donate it to a child living in energy poverty. Many children living in energy poverty do not have as many chances as we do. Children are forced to use kerosene lamps, in order to see to do their homework. These are a fire hazard, but also damage their health due to the fumes they emit. The solar powered light we will make and give to them provides not only the opportunity to have light to do their homework but also help light up their lives, keeping vulnerable young people safe in the dark. There are benefits for your child as well. They will be developing the Caring Learner Profile and will become more knowledgeable about electricity by helping to build the solar powered units. Year 5 students will also assist students across the Primary School to put together the solar powered lights. We will create a short film of the day and post it on our Facebook page to show our action. Yours faithfully, Year 5
Y5 Solar Buddy Project
What do we need from you? If your child would like to take part in the ‘Light Up Learning’ day on Wednesday 16th May, simply fill our the slip that was given out to all students and return it to the class teacher. The kit costs 550 THB but this can be paid nearer the time. We realise that this is quite a lot of money, but to the child that receives the gift of light, this present will be priceless. We also encourage students, where possible, to raise the money themselves - perhaps by doing extra chores at home. If you have any questions, please see Miss Nikki or Mrs. Mullan in Year 5.
Fantastic Field trips in the Primary School
Year 3
Year 3 went on an educational visit to Thai Polo. We learnt how to take care of horses including how a blacksmith makes their shoes and how they care for them if they are injured. The Polo players showed us the equipment that is necessary for playing the sport safely.
Thai Polo Trip As part of their unit on sport
In week 3, Year 4 went on a residential trip to study landforms in the beautiful Khao Chamao National Park. The students particularly enjoyed swimming in the waterfalls. On the second day a highlight was visiting the amazing underground world of the Khao Wong caves. The children also prepared and cooked their meals while they were away – Mmm ‌. porridge! Ms. G and Mr. Ben wished we could have stayed two nights. We were truly amazed at how independent, responsible and safe the kids were. It was an incredibly enjoyable experience. Thanks also to Mr. Cox and Khun Aye for their help.
Year 4 Residential: Khao Chameo As part of their unit on how humans impact our world
Primary Sports Days Early Years There was plenty of fun, excitement and laughter at the Early Years Sport Day, where the children were able to show off the skills they have learnt in PE this year. The highlights were the sprint races at the end, with lots of cheering from the sidelines. The event culminated with the parents and teachers race, much to the delight of the children.
Years 1 & 2 The Year 1 and 2 Sports Day was another funpacked event. Again the children demonstrated some impressive PE skills and they thrived on the competitive elements of the morning with some tough, neck and neck races during the sprinting events as they dashed towards the finish line.
Primary Sports Days Years 3 - 6 The Year 3-6 Sports Day kicked off with our Island Communities leaping into action in the sprint program. This year the track events featured so many exciting races in all age groups. Field events were also extremely competitive among students, with some events proving too close to call. At the end of the day there must be a winner and after a tense day with the four Island Communities separated by just 100 points, it was Samet who came out the victors. It was great to see students taking part and striving to perform their very best.
Parent help and support @GV At St. Andrews we are very lucky to have parents who are willing to give up their time to help in the Primary School. The way that our parents help include: listening to children read, helping with a primary activity, helping in the library and buying all the ingredients every week for our cooking activities. Below are our upcoming PYP Units of Inquiry. We are looking for parents and/or community members who may be able to help support these units by sharing their expertise. Even if your child isn’t in the year group, if you think you could offer something, please let us know! You can either talk to the class teachers direct or speak to Rachel Mustovic, our PYP Coordinator (email: rmustovic@standrews-schools.com).
Year Nursery
Central Idea I learn about my world through shape, colour and numbers
Kindergarten & Stories from around the world help us to learn. Reception Year 1
We have a responsibility to the sea and sea creatures.
Year 2
Electricity is used in various ways and affects our lives.
Year 3
Inventions can improve the way we live
Year 4
The interactions between human body systems contribute to health and survival.
Year 5
Ancient civilisations still have an impact on our lives today.
Year 6
Exploration leads to discovery and a new awareness of the world.
Information for Parents We now have several different ways of keeping parents updated with our latest news and events:
Firefly Online Learning Platform This not only provides parents with curriculum and general school information but also has Class Pages with weekly updates and news.
Facebook Follow us /StAndrewsGV
Twitter Follow us @primarygv
LINE Stay in touch by joining GV School News or GV Parent Sport
Upcoming Events April 3
Early Years Swim Gala
April 3
Years 1 - 2 Swim Gala
April 4
Years 3 - 6 Swim Gala
April 5
Whole School Songkran Celebration
April 5
LAST DAY OF TERM 2
April 23
FIRST DAY OF TERM 3
April 25
King’s Day—Dutch Celebration
April 26 - 28
Primary Invitational Games
April 27
Early Years Trip to Harbor Mall
May 3
Year 5 Trip to the Ancient City
May 8
Year 1 Trip to the Turtle Sanctuary Sattahip
May 8
Year 4 Trip to the Bangkok Pattaya Hospital
May 9 -13
Primary FOBISIA Games Phuket
May 10
Year 2 Trip to the BLCP Power Plant
May 16
Primary “Light Up Learning” Activity
May 17
Early Years “Wheels Day”
May 21
Y5 - 6 French Trip to the Pullman Hotel
May 22
Y1 Trip to Nam Rin Beach “Clean Up Day”
May 24
Early Years Trip to Post Office
May 24
School Poetry Slam
May 28
Year 2 Learning Journey
May 29
Visaka Bucha Day - PUBLIC HOLIDAY