Foundation Stage & Key Stage 1: Ready, Set, Bake!

It was lovely this morning, walking around and chatting to all of the children as they settled down to work.

It was particularly nice to come across Mrs Meg and some of her FS2 children in the Cooking Room, washing their hands, putting on their aprons and preparing to make their own batch of cookies. There was some great language being developed during that activity, with lots of new vocabulary being introduced.

I hope the cookies were as delicious as they smelled!

Communication @ STA

Good communication is vital to ensure that the school runs smoothly and that we maintain a healthy relationship between school and our families. We pride ourselves on being an open door school but recognise that in these challenging times we live in this may not always be in a face to face format. The following table clarifies the lines of communication available to you as parents.

Email

Email is probably the most common form of communication used. Class, year group, phase and whole school information will often be relayed to parents in this way. While email is a quick and easy way to converse with teachers, it is essential to bear the following in mind:

• Teachers will always endeavour to reply at the earliest opportunity; however, there are various limitations which mean that an immediate response should not be expected.
• Generally, we apply a 24-hour reply expectation.
• Emails sent during the school day may not be read until after the children have gone home, so for anything urgent, it is best to contact the school office by phone.
• Teachers will often seek consultation with colleagues before replying to more sensitive emails, which may take longer for you to receive a reply. In this case, the teacher would send an initial acknowledgement of receipt of the email before sending a carefully composed, full reply later.
• Please note that email filters can be inconsistent. Some school emails may be accidentally delivered to Spam Folders or hidden under the “Promotions” tab of your Gmail inbox. It is recommended that you add all @standrews.ac.th email addresses to your contacts list to ensure messages land in your inbox.

Late Arrival in the Morning

We have noticed that the number of children arriving late has been growing over the last week or so. We completely understand that traffic from other schools, local roadworks and the Bangkok weather can sometimes make it very difficult to arrive at school on time. Below is a description of how the ‘Late Process’ works.

The school day starts at 7.45 am, which is when the bell is rung for line up. Each day begins with a 15-minute session with the class teacher. This includes doing the register, but also provides a chance to catch up with the children’s news and prepare them for the day ahead.

Students who arrive at the guard's checkpoint from 7.50 am will be given a late card. They then need to go to the table in front of the office to be registered by one of the staff there. They will be marked as late in Moodle and are given a green slip to take to their class teacher. This lets the class teacher know that the register has been updated.

The reason for this is that it takes children some time to get from the gate to their class, so we need this small buffer to help us ensure that our registers are all accurate before the start of the first lesson.

International Day Preparations - Parent-Led Performances

A reminder that if your country group is interested in taking part in the community assemblies during the Wednesday and Thursday of International Week, please contact Mr Geoff at geoff.ma@standrews.ac.th as soon as possible. Let him know what the performance will be, how long it will be and which children will be involved.