We celebrate Loy Krathong this Thursday at St Andrews International School Bangkok...Rescheduling our visiting author to next calendar year...Year 6 students get a ticket to Paradise and immerse themselves in Art...The final round of Word Mania is upon us...Find out what we’re doing to combat increasing air pollution in Bangkok...Christmas trees are appearing all around Primary School so it’s time to show some Christmas spirit.
Don’t forget that this Thursday we will be celebrating Loy Kratong in school. For those of you who are new to Thailand, Loy Krathong takes place on the evening of the full moon of the 12th month in the traditional Thai lunar calendar and is a celebration at the end of the rainy season paying thanks to the water goddess, Mae Kongkha (Mother of Waters). The krathongs which people make and float on the waterways of Thailand are offerings to her.
The day will begin with two special assemblies - one for Y1-3 starting at 8.30 a.m. and one for Y4-6 starting at 9.15 a.m. Parents are very welcome to come along. The children will then have the opportunity to make their own krathongs in class.
As mentioned, the children and staff will all come to school wearing traditional Thai costume. These costumes will be readily available from local markets - our nearest market is behind Pridi Banomyong Soi 2 - large supermarkets and specialist stores, such as Phahuratdotcom.
Unfortunately, due to a family illness, Jonathan has had to travel back to the UK and will be unable to visit us next week. However, we will be rescheduling his visit for early next calendar year. Don’t worry if you’ve already paid for or have ordered books they will still be coming. We will update you as soon as we have fixed a date.
Year 6 have been very busy over the last few weeks. As part of their work on fantasy stories, they visited Art in Paradise- an optical illusion gallery in the Esplanade mall in order to get inspiration for our fantasy stories that we are writing. We took our ipads with us so that we could take pictures and share them with everyone.
Here’s what some of the students had to say about their trip:
Year 6 also had a chance to empathise with the characters from the book they have been reading- The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe- who were evacuated from London during the height of World War Two. They were faced with the uncertainty of ‘saying goodbye’ to their families, being issued with a ticket and heading off to a mystery location in the safety of the countryside to be matched up with a new family. The students then experienced life as a code breaker with an activity based on the codebreakers of Bletchley Park who helped crack the Enigma Machine. The students had a fantastic, time traveling day which really helped them understand a bit more about life in war time.
We can also happily report that the Y6 students have raised just over 16,000 Baht for the Royal British Legion’s poppy appeal thanks to their efforts in selling poppies to the school community. Well done!
Congratulations to EVERY year group in Primary, as they have all made it to the final round of Word Mania. This is a super achievement, and the children should be very proud. When I have spoken to students and teachers about this competition, they have said how much fun it has been, which is great to hear. It should really be helping to improve the children's literacy skills too. The final round continues until Friday 23rd November, so please encourage your child to play Word Mania as much as possible. Let’s see where in the world we can finish.
For tips on how to help your child to get a higher score, as well as other fun spelling resources, please follow this link.
Many of you will be aware that the air pollution in Bangkok rose last week and, like us, have concerns about how this will impact the health and education of the children. Since the problems we had in the city last year we have added additional Filtrete 3M filter systems to all of the aircon units in school and have also installed 6 of our own air quality monitors across the campus in order to check hour-by-hour the exact pollution levels on our Primary site - which are often very different to the general averages from across the city.
When these levels are high we adapt our schedule for the day, maybe restricting younger students to inside areas, reducing play times, or having indoor play times on particularly bad days, changing PE venues or activities, cancelling swimming etc.
There was certainly a Christmassy feeling around the campus today as the Christmas trees have been put up over the weekend. Our giant tree in the Y6 Quad has been joined by a giant tree just in front of the office, as well as the smaller trees around the campus.
Now that the trees are in place and decorated, it’s time to think about the true spirit of Christmas- helping others. As always, in KS2 we will be collecting Christmas boxes for the children who are supported by the Bangkok Refugee Centre. These children often leave behind everything to escape war, persecution or extreme poverty. A small gift can make a big difference when you have nothing, so we ask everyone in our community to prepare a gift box, which will be delivered to the BRC in time for Christmas.
The boxes could include: small toys, toiletries, books, underwear, etc. When you have filled and wrapped your box, please make sure it is clearly labelled. The label should include who it’s for- boy or girl- and which age group the box is suitable for. Boxes can be left under the Christmas tree in the school office from Monday 26th November.
With the goal of providing meaningful help to the flood victims in the northern regions of Thailand, our entire community at St Andrews Bangkok came together to raise funds and donations for the affected families. In the span of a few short weeks, added to donations of food and clothing, we managed to raise an astounding total of 386,676.50 THB in donation funds. To all students, teachers, parents, and staff who participated in our efforts and contributed to this cause—thank you!
Last Friday, the STA Primary campus was transformed into a celebration of all things maths! The day was packed with engaging, hands-on activities across all year groups, making maths truly come alive for our students.
