Spotlight on Secondary November 2018

Spotlight on Secondary Spotlight on Secondary

St. Andrews International School Green Valley

November 2018

Tournament of Minds finalists in Australia!

Tournament of the Minds Final Success!

Congratulations to Munin Y11, Chogoon Y10, Victor Y9 and Chin Y9 for their participation in the World Finals of the Tournament of the Minds (ToM) competition. After successfully winning the Thailand ToM competition, this team of gifted students flew to Darwin, Australia for 4 days of competition and culture.

On the day of the competition, the teams started with a three hour challenge involving designing a pulley system to transport a team across a ravine plus a spontaneous challenge to create a human sculpture to embody spirit of TOM. Our team were last to present and got so much support from the other STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) participants. Our team used humour, physics and creativity to produce a really entertaining presentation. Afterwards we were overcome by how many other teams came up and said how much they enjoyed the St Andrews GV performance.

And guess what? (drum roll…….) We were awarded the Spirit of Tournament Award at the closing ceremony. The Spirit of Tournament is awarded to the team who: 

demonstrate tolerance, co-operation and fair play



abide by the rules of the program and are self-disciplined in their problem solving



respect the views and opinions of all team members



Respond positively to overcome obstacles encountered during the challenge timeline.

We received a standing ovation and were blown away by how many people came up to say how much our team deserved it. After the ceremony, as we made the short walk back to our hotel we felt famous- we kept receiving shouts of “Congratulations Thailand you were awesome!”

We were made to feel so welcome in the Northern Territory and it was a valuable experience bringing our own unique spirit of Thailand to TOM and receiving Aussie hospitality in return. A super achievement from St Andrews GV TOMsters, congratulations on being super ambassadors for your school and country! Thanks too to Ms Kinsella for organizing the trip for the team and working with them in both the Thailand and Australian competitions.

Eva is Top in Thailand for Dutch!

We are delighted to announce that Eva has won the Outstanding Cambridge Learner Award for Cambridge IGCSE Dutch. This ‘High Achievement’ is awarded to learners who achieve the highest standard marks in the country (Thailand) in particular subjects. Eva will be attending the awards ceremony on 28th November at Harrow International School Bangkok. Congratulations to Eva on her outstanding achievement, and its even more impressive that she took this exam when she was still in Year 9!

Wai Kru Day Ceremony The “Wai Kru" ceremony is one where students recognise and appreciate that teachers play a very important role in their learning and the growth. During the ceremony, students present the teachers with four types of flowers that represent ideal characteristics of students such as intelligence, perseverance, ability to learn, discipline, respect and humility. This years ceremony was held on Thursday October 4. As well as the photos below, you can click on this YouTube link to experience what happened during the ceremony: Wai Kru Day Video

International Day Celebrations What a wonderful day International Day was again this year! On Friday October 19 the whole school community came together to celebrate our cultural diversity in the Parade of Nations; international day activities; a delicious lunch and some wonderful assembly performances. In all 35 countries were represented, with each country teaching us something about their unique heritage.

International Day Celebrations

Large Delegation Experiences MUN On Sunday October 7, we had 14 well-prepared and enthusiastic delegates take part in the 26th Bangkok Model United Nations (MUN) conference at NIST. Our delegates delivered position papers and worked on resolutions, negotiating with delegates from other top international schools. Kim represented Germany and worked on her resolution about the right to life; she's submitted her proposal with the delegates of Kenya and Australia. Ice represented Poland, working on a resolution to mitigate violence in conflict areas, together with the delegates of South Korea, Panama and Ecuador. Well done to all of our delegates - we hope your debates were challenging and fruitful, and that your resolutions were all passed successfully.

Learner Profile Awards Recently the Learner Profile attribute we were focusing on was 'Communicator', and the winner of this Learner Profile Award was Paul in Year 7. Paul's first language is French. He has made outstanding effort, and fantastic progress, over the past few weeks, since joining St Andrews, to communicate effectively in English. He was nominated by his English teacher, Mr Minty and by his Music teacher, Mr Ramsay.

Congratulations Paul!

Careers Education On Tuesday 6th November we were pleased to welcome the following group of universities to the school. Hawaii Pacific University and Kent State University (USA), Waterford Institute of Technology (Ireland) Blue Mountains School of Hospitality (Australia), Roches Glions (Switzerland), Thammasat University (Thailand) and Royal Thimpu University (Bhutan).

Students in Years 11-13 enjoyed a talk by Professor Austin Coffey from Waterford University on Future Careers in STEAM followed by a mini universities fair in the canteen. It was a successful afternoon and the Universities are committed to returning next year with a larger group of admissions colleagues.

On Saturday 10th November 21 students and 2 staff made their way up to the OSC careers Expo at Siam Paragon Bangkok. Students from years 10 to 13 spent two hours at the Expo, visiting a range of University stands and having invaluable discussions with admissions officers in their particular area of interest. Students came away really pleased with the visit and the information gleaned. Staff were able to gain contacts for future visits to Green Valley. All arrangements ran perfectly to plan and a successful visit was had by all.

Mr. Teen Thailand Congratulations to Clayton in year 10 who was recently crowned the winner of Mister Teen Thailand! Previously in the Bangkok round of Mr Teen Thailand in early October, he won the Best Catwalk, Judges Pick and Mr Teen Thailand Bangkok. This meant he was through to the national finals and there he was then crowned the overall winner of Mister Teen Thailand 2018. He was also again awarded the Best catwalk and Judges pick award. This meant he won 3 out of 5 categories in the competition!

Chin in Year 9 also entered the competition and came second overall. A great result for Chin and a 1 - 2 result for St Andrews GV!

St Andrews School Fair The School Fair was once again a very fun and successful community event. The Year 12 students took the lead as the main organisers but each tutor group in the secondary school played their part by organizing their own Game Booths.

We would like to thank all the families who donated Raffle Prizes and all the vendors who set up stalls for the day. By the end of the Fair we had raised just over 80,000B for the charities which we support. A fantastic effort!

Click on the link below to find out who donated and won the Raffle Prizes! https://vle.standrews-schools.com/newsletter/ spotlight-on-secondary

St Andrews School Fair Photo Booth

Operation Smile Seven of our Year 12 students along with Ms. Harcourt and Mr Gilbert travelled to take part in the latest Operation Smile Medical Mission and also to visit the local CDTC School.

Our school visit helped to contribute to additional operations for children as well as donating essential supplies for the local school. Thank you to all the members of our school community who made generous donations that helped improve the lives of many of the local children.

Loy Krathong Celebrations Green Valley students, parents and teachers celebrated Loy Kratong with a whole day dedicated to Thai Culture. Our friends from Thai Thani Arts and Cultural Village ran workshops throughout the day, focusing on Thai crafts and cuisine. Students painted umbrellas, created garlands, learnt about different herbs and spices, made kratongs, played Thai games and tasted Thai desserts. A huge thank you to our Thai department for organizing such a wonderful celebration of all things Thai!

Year 8 Science Year 8 students have been learning about different elements in the periodic table. On November 17 the students had their chance to show off their knowledge about their favourite element in the annual periodic fashion parade!

Island Community Charities As a school we are always trying to do our best to help others who are not as lucky as we are. In an effort to make a sustained difference over a period of time, each of our Island Communities have decided to adopt a local charity or school to help. This is a joint project involving both primary and secondary school students.

The groups that we have decided to help are: 

The local Baan Chaak Maak School (Chang)



The Hand to Hand Foundation (Samet)



Breaking Barriers (Samui)



Baan Kru Boonchu School for children with special learning needs (Phuket).

Island Community Leaders have been busy planning the best ways to help these groups. We will be able to get more information to you soon on how you can get involved.

IGCSE and IB Art Trip On November 20th Year 10, 12 and 13 art students from St. Andrews IS Green Valley visited exhibitions of contemporary art celebrating Bangkok’s first Art Biennale (BAB) themed Beyond Bliss. Bangkok Arts and Culture Centre is an important part of the Bangkok wide celebration of the arts.

We were lucky to see some excellent two and threedimensional work and a range of contemporary artworks by Thai and international artists. We were particularly lucky to see a key piece of performance art called A Possible Island.

A short visit, but well worth it! Mrs Sue Castle (Art Teacher)

Artist in Residence During the month of September, we were very lucky to have an artist working with our art students at St Andrews, Green Valley. Elsie Evans can usually be found making art in her Bangkok studio or her art retreat in Rayong. It was great to have her teaching students in our school and here are some of the results from Year 8 students who made colour studies in the style of Hundertwasser.

Recently one of our past students, Bella Hickox, has been volunteering in the art room. As a recent IB Visual Arts graduate, she is well qualified to help all students to achieve their best. Mrs Sue Castle (Art Teacher)

SCAD Visits GV On Friday November 16th we welcomed Danny Li and Christina from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) .

Danny is the assistant director of recruitment from SCAD and Christina is a fashion tutor. They talked to art students from Years 10-13 about SCAD, art college courses and application processes. Christina delivered some interesting fashion workshops with art students in Years 11 and 13. We are lucky to have great relationships with some of the best colleges and universities in the world. To find out more about SCAD ask Mrs. Castle or Mrs. Gilbert or go to: https://www.scad.edu/

Teachers are learners too!

Once again, this year your teachers have been meeting after school in groups called Learning Communities. They are doing research and sharing their knowledge. They want to find out how students learn most effectively and how they can support our students to be even more successful.

After you go home, teachers are working hard to make our school even better!

Lit Quiz Competition On Thursday the 17th October, 12 students from years 6, 7 and 8 went to Bangkok Patana school to represent Green Valley in the first ever Thailand Kid’s Lit Quiz. The Lit quiz is a world wide competition held each year where teams compete to answer questions based on Children’s literature. The standard was exceptionally high and the three teams from Green Valley fared well in a highly competitive environment with one team winning the round entitled ‘teenagers’- all about teenage characters in novels. They each won a 300 baht voucher (to be spent on books, obviously…)

Our most successful team made it through to the grand final. They held the lead for the first two rounds before finally being beaten at the final hurdle, eventually finishing a very respectful third overall. Each team member took home a trophy and a medal. The quiz master challenged the students to read 52 books before next year’s competition, where hopefully we can finish one or two places higher!

IB Information Meeting On Wednesday October 10 we held a very well attended IB information session for parents and students. There was an overview of the IB courses from the Head of Secondary and the IB Coordinator, some personal accounts of the IB course from the Student Leadership team and a chance to discuss course options with teachers on a oneto-one basis.

HandleBards Shakespeare Visit to GV Shakespeare plays can often be considered as stuffy and boring… the HandleBards would disagree! The madcap cycling theatre company staged workshops for Year 5 – 11 students full of fun and games in which they taught rehearsal techniques for making Shakespeare playful, vibrant and accessible to everyone. The HandleBards have visited over 120 schools across the world, performing to 36,000 students, running workshops everywhere they go.

They are the world’s first cycling theatre company - a troupe of cycling actors who carry all the set, props and costume needed to perform extremely energetic, charmingly chaotic and environmentally sustainable Shakespeare plays across the globe!

Oliver Twist: The Musical Another first at St Andrews with a full scale musical complete with our very own orchestra and the cast of Oliver Twist looked fabulous in their costumes and make up. The show was a great success with three packed performances and even a standing ovation on the second night. The quality of the acting, singing and musical accompaniment was amazing and we are very, very proud of all our performers and musicians - you were spectacular! A huge thank you to all of the staff who worked backstage, the marketing department and all the parents who helped with lines.

Year 7 Trip to Chiang Rai From October 9 - 12, Year 7 students travelled to the Maekok River Outdoor Education Centre in Chiang Rai province to spend some time taking part in different outdoor education experiences. As well as rock climbing, hiking, bush craft skills and archery, the students participated in team building games, improved their team work and also practised their cooking skills. A great time was had by all!

Swimming Gala Our secondary students were lighting up the pool in the Secondary Island Community Swimming Gala. Everybody competing gave 100% effort but there can only be one winner which was SAMUI!

Phuket Football Tournament Success From November 22 - 25 five of our Panthers football teams went to Phuket for the Phuket 7's Football Tournament. The BISP Sevens, is the largest schools football tournament in Asia - every year there are more than 145 teams from over 40 different international schools, that’s 1500 competitors from 10 different countries!

Our teams did exceptionally well against much, much bigger schools with the U9 girls team winning their competition, the U15 Boys team came third and the Over 15 girls team won the Plate final. Overall a very impressive effort. Congratulations to the players, coaches and the parents who went along to support!

Oceanman Open Water Swim Ella and Hannah Mustovic who both competed in the U15 2km Oceanman Open Water swimming event in Krabi.

Ella won the female category with Hannah 2nd. I think you will agree, an impressive performance! Rachel Mustovic

Looking Ahead To access the 2018—2019 Calendar click here: Calendar 2018-19 To check all Upcoming School Dates please click on this link: School Dates Upcoming Events: October and November 11 - 13

FOBISIA Swimming Championships in Bangkok

14 - 18

Mock Exam Week for Year 11 and Year 13 students

Sat 19

One Day One Goal Football Tournament

Wed 23

Exceptional Learners Workshops at Brighton College

Parent Workshop from 1440: on Balancing Screentime’

23 - 25

Annual School Photos

Wed 12

Carols By Candlelight (evening)

Sat 26

Pattaya Bike Day

Fri 14

Last Day of Term 1

Thurs 31

Science Fair

December Tues 4

Y10 - 13 Mandarin trip to Pattaya

Wed 5

Public Holiday in honour of H.M. King Rama IX’s Birthday

Wed 5

Sinterklass Celebration at the Dutch Embassy in Bangkok (0900 - 1200)

Fri 7

January

February

Mon 7

First Day of Term 2

Fri 1

Thurs 10

Bilingualism Workshop for Dutch Parents (1440)

Year 11 and Year 13 Mock Exam Report Cards sent home

5-8

Year 8 Trip to Koh Chang