Head's Lines: Get the most out of our Juilliard & MIT STEAM curriculum Find out about the countless opportunities our students have through NAE…There was a TISAC heads meeting discussing how to stay safe from Covid-19 in international schools, and we have listened to our parents making changes to next year’s academic calendar holidays.

Find out about the countless opportunities our students have through NAE…There was a TISAC heads meeting discussing how to stay safe from Covid-19 in international schools, and we have listened to our parents making changes to next year’s academic calendar holidays.

Unique Opportunities through NAE

Being a part of the Nord Anglia Education (NAE) family of 73 schools spread throughout the world grants our students and teachers some unique experiences and insights. NAE has established some wonderful collaborations with remarkable leading-edge organisations offering educational opportunities and connections at the highest level. Our students are immersed in an enhanced STEAM curriculum developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) exclusively for NAE schools. Through the Global Campus our young leaders of tomorrow are granted an open forum where they can exchange ideas, participate in competitions, and cooperate in projects with their peers from NAE schools across the globe. Another significant area where STA students come together to work on projects both within our school and in the global community is through UNICEF and its Sustainable Development Goals, where they find ways to achieve a more equitable, just and sustainable world.

Finally, through NAE our school community has a fantastic opportunity to work with the Juilliard School which offers life-changing interactions in the world of the creative and performing arts. In fact, next week from Tuesday 23rd to Thursday 25th March, our Music and Dance teachers will 'virtually' welcome back Juilliard Curriculum specialists for what proves to be an amazing series of student and staff workshops. Students both young and old will explore artistic concepts beyond the familiar boundaries of rehearsal and performance, and in the process, further their understanding of these art forms.

Music Curriculum Specialist, Brian Drye, will be conducting exclusive workshops centred around 'Emotive Performance in Music' to the High School Orchestra, the Primary Band, Year 5 Brass, High School Jazz Band, High School Sax Ensemble and Year 10 Music GCSE students. In Dance, our curriculum specialist Hilary Easton will be holding a masterclass for the Dance team and delivering live Tap Dance and Flamenco sessions to KS3 students.

I am also looking forward to meeting with Brian and Hiliary for a feedback session on our students’ participation and progress at the end of the week.

TISAC Heads Meeting

Last Thursday evening 15 Heads of School from the TISAC group of international schools met together to discuss the problems we face managing our respective institutions at this time. Every school management team has been working very carefully within the MoPH and MOE’s guidelines to keep everyone healthy and safe from COVID-19 infection. Social distancing and mask-wearing are the norm in all schools, and everyone coming onto school campuses have their temperatures taken before being allowed to enter. As with our school, parents’ access to campus facilities around the country are limited, but exceptions are allowed for those gatherings that can be undertaken safely with minimal risk of infection. It was agreed that we will restart school sport competitions and fixtures provided that all necessary health procedures are in place. All the Heads hoped that the Songkran holiday will not bring any rise in the COVID infection, and that during Term 3, more activities in music, dance, drama and art can be held with parents being able to attend.

Decisions for the next academic year
Thank you to those families who have already let their teachers and the school know what their intentions are with regard to next academic year. We appreciate that this may be difficult for some families to know clearly at this time. Nevertheless, it would be greatly appreciated if every family could complete this questionnaire, even answering “maybe” where any uncertainty may exist, so that we can use this information to plan accordingly for next academic year.

Calendar 2021-22 Change
I know everyone has been following the global pandemic news closely. We all hope that the vaccine roll out across the world will finally bring this crisis to an end. However, travel restrictions remain in place, making it difficult and expensive for us to plan holiday visits back to our home countries. With the vaccination programme in Thailand not yet underway, we know that many people are debating whether returning to their home country is even going to be a viable option at all this year.

In response to comments from parents and staff, we have re-examined our school calendar for next academic year. By reorganising a bunch of single-day holidays on the calendar, we have been able to allow for a four week holiday at the end of Term 1, the Christmas holiday, which would give families a second, longer opportunity to return to their home country to be with their families. Hopefully, by December the global vaccination programme will be much further on and travel restrictions will be eased. Rearranging these holidays in the calendar ensures such that no teaching time would be lost. Parents can click here to review this revised Academic Calendar 2021-22 which has Term 1 set to finish on Friday 10th December 2021, and has Term 2 scheduled to start on Monday 10th January 2022.

Please click here to see upcoming dates and holidays in the updated school calendar for the current 2020-2021 academic year. The most important changes to be aware of here is that Tuesday 6th April will now be a school holiday instead of Wednesday, 26th May (Visakha Bucha Day).

For parents with enquiries, please contact support@standrews.ac.th. Or call the Primary School at +66 2 381-2387-8 or the High School at +66 2 056-9555.