His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun, accepted the invitation from the government to ascend the throne and was formally proclaimed the new monarch of Thailand, the 10th King of Chakri Dynasty. The coronation ceremony, however, may take place until after the cremation of the new monarch’s father, His Majesty the late King Bhumibol.
His Majesty Maha Vajiralongkorn was the designated heir since 1972 in accordance with the 1924 royal law. He is the second among the four children and the only son of His Majesty King Bhumibol and Her Majesty Queen Sirikit. He graduated from the Royal Military College, Duntroon, in Canberra, Australia. His Majesty King Vajiralongkorn will exercise his royal power as a constitutional monarch to sign legislation, hear oaths from newly appointed civil servants and represent Thailand as head of state.
Throughout the 70 years of his reign, His Majesty the late King showed his great love, compassion and kindness towards his subjects through working with tireless devotion for the betterment of his subjects’ livelihood. The working monarch was so much loved and highly revered by the Thai people.
In our loving memory of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej, various types of school activities were carried out this week at St. Andrews International School Bangkok as a tribute to the beloved Thai king. As appeared in the School newsletter last week, students, parents and staff are warmly invited to observe the School exhibition reflecting our fond memory of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej and to view the photos displaying moments from his childhood, his great talents in music and sports, his hard work on sustainable development projects until the day of his passing. The exhibition will be in front of the School office until 15th December.
On Tuesday 6th and Wednesday 7th December, students and Thai teachers will organise fundraising activities for charity at two locations - in front of the drama studio and the school library. All the money raised for charity will contribute to the construction fund of the School for the Blind and Multiple Disabilities Children on Ramindra Road in Bangkok.
The details of the charitable activities are listed on the chart below.
|
Times |
Tuesday 6th |
Wednesday 7th |
|
9:45-10:00 |
(10– 50 baht) |
(10 – 50 baht) |
|
12:15-12:45 |
(10 – 50 baht) |
N/A |
|
12:45-1:15 |
(10 – 50 baht) |
(10 – 50 baht) |
|
2:30 onwards |
(10 – 50 baht) |
(10 – 50 baht) |
On Thursday 8th representative students, Thai teachers and staff will join the mindfulness study trip at Sathira Dhammasathan Center in Banghkok, they will have an opportunity to practise activities and loving kindness meditation taught by Buddhist nuns in a peaceful garden of the center. The School will offer a vegetarian lunch meal to the nuns, students and staff. On the way returning to the School, the students and staff will stop by at the School for the blind and multiple disabilities children and give them the charity fund raised on the previous days.
Following our Year 11 students sitting their external IGCSE/GCSE examinations in May and June, and the award of their grades in August, the examination boards review the results and offer prizes to students who have performed at the highest levels. The awards celebration was held last week.
Congratulations to Arparat Kanacharoen (Mimie) who received the awards for being Top in Thailand in IGCSE Biology, Chemistry and Physics and Top in the World in IGCSE Development Studies…. What a great achievement!
It is hard to believe we only have seven days of school to go. These final few days of the term are very busy with the Christmas productions in Early Years and Key Stage 1 not to be missed and our Christmas fair and music concerts on Thursday 15th December - the day before we finish. Our final Friday will start with two assemblies - the first for High School followed by one for our Primary children - which will celebrate all the things that have happened this term. We will finish at Lunchtime with buses leaving at 1.00 pm.
The building changes daily with the work of the construction team. The old rooftop swimming pool has now virtually been removed, and they are starting to build the supporting columns for the new roof which will cover our large double basketball court gymnasium. This campus has been visited by groups of High School staff to look at the sample classroom that has been set up to represent what the teaching spaces will look like. This has caused lots of discussion, so that all the details are right before they completely renovate the building, ready for us to move into these teaching areas. These areas should be finished by mid-February, when the practical building holding the science laboratories, art and technology workshops will be installed. It is certainly good to see the rapid changes taking place in line with the timeline for completion. It will be really good to see what this campus looks like in the New Year.
Our teachers who are coming to the ends of their current contracts have been faced with difficult decisions as they approach the end of this term. There will again be a low turnover of staff which is very pleasing, with less than 10% deciding to leave us. Along with the new teaching positions we have to fill we have started our recruitment campaign and have been very impressed with all the candidates that have so far applied. Some positions have already been offered and accepted, and before Christmas and for the month of January we will be very busy recruiting all the necessary staff that will join us next academic year in August.
