Our opening plan has been submitted as we look forward to a safety inspection of our facilities. In advance of opening the school to the children, we will share with all parents the safety measures in place and provide answers to many of your frequently asked questions. Find out the latest student vaccination opportunities and how students will safely enter St Andrews when our facilities open. Finally, through our Health App, we request your help in completing the 'Vaccine status'.
Last Friday, our school submitted its opening plan to OPEC, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) Communicable Diseases Committee. After they have reviewed our capacity to meet all of the guidelines and requirements for day schools like St Andrews to open, they will schedule an inspection of our facilities before and most likely after our presumptive opening date to ensure that we have successfully implemented the planned maximum safety zones on campus.
When we are given permission to physically open, the Virtual School Experience will remain in place so those families who wish to continue with their children learning at home can do so. In advance of opening the school to the children, we will share with all parents the safety measures that will be in place and provide answers to many of the frequently asked questions which many parents must have. We will then be asking families about their intentions once our campus reopens - whether they will send their children back to learn in school with all the extensive safety measures in place, or if they would prefer to continue learning in the VSE. This information will play an integral role in drawing up the accommodations necessary to benefit both children on school grounds and through the VSE.
One important aspect of the opening plan is the screening of everyone for COVID-19 before they come to school. Our staff have started to be fully screened this week using Antigen Test Kits (ATK). There were no positive cases and everyone was able to activate their school ID cards so they could swipe through the school entry system, which logs who enters and what time each person arrives.
In our plan, since Bangkok is a dark red zone, students and teachers would have to be screened every Monday and Wednesday using ATK. Packages of ATK are available at all Boots and 7-11s, as well as at most pharmacies. There are many quality brands available in Thailand. The school purchased Panbio kits, produced by the Korean company Abbott Labs, for our staff, and this brand is available at most Boots locations. We are currently working with a well-known pharmacy chain to explore the possibility of making test kits available for our community to purchase. We will keep you informed if and when we have more information.
Therefore, when we get permission to open, students and staff will need to test themselves for COVID 19 infection prior to arriving on campus on Mondays and Wednesdays. This means that tests should be performed from 6 pm on Sunday through to Monday morning and 6 pm on Tuesday through to Wednesday morning.
Parents should date the negative ATK result with a felt tip pen before photographing it. These need to be saved by parents as evidence that their children have a negative result should it ever be required by the MoPH for tracking and tracing procedures.
Parents then need to access the new Health App within Moodle where they would register the result by clicking on a negative test icon for each of their children. This would activate all swipe cards (Y1+) and bag tags (Foundation Stage) thereby allowing them entry into school when they arrive later that day. At present, all children from Year 4 through to Year 13 have swipe cards, and this will now be expanded so that children from Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 will be given swipe cards, and children in Foundation Stage will receive a bag tag. We will distribute swipe cards and bag tags prior to the reopening of the campus. More information on this collection process will be shared with parents shortly. If a student is not tested and parents do not activate their swipe card then, unfortunately, the student will not be able to enter school and will have to return home.
In this way, the school will create a COVID safe zone inside our facilities where mask-wearing and the extensive use of social distancing will ensure that everyone will learn in a safe and secure environment.
One important aspect of the opening plan is the screening of everyone for COVID-19 before they come to school. Our staff have started to be fully screened this week using Antigen Test Kits (ATK). There were no positive cases and everyone was able to activate their school ID cards so they could swipe through the school entry system, which logs who enters and what time each person arrives.
In our plan, since Bangkok is a dark red zone, students and staff would have to be screened every Monday and Wednesday using ATK. Packages of ATK are available at all Boots and 7-11s, as well as at most pharmacies. There are many quality brands available in Thailand. The school purchased Panbio kits, produced by the Korean company Abbott Labs, for our staff, and this brand is available at most Boots locations. We are currently working with a well-known pharmacy chain to explore the possibility of making test kits available for our community to purchase. We will keep you informed if and when we have more information.
Therefore, when we get permission to open, students and staff will need to test themselves for COVID 19 infection prior to arriving on campus on Mondays and Wednesdays. This means that tests should be performed from 6 pm on Sunday through to Monday morning and 6 pm on Tuesday through to Wednesday morning.
Parents should date the negative ATK result with a felt tip pen before photographing it. These need to be saved by parents as evidence that their children have a negative result should it ever be required by the MoPH for tracking and tracing procedures.
Parents then need to access the new Health App within Moodle where they would register the result by clicking on a negative test icon for each of their children. This would activate all swipe cards (Y1+) and bag tags (Foundation Stage) thereby allowing them entry into school when they arrive later that day. At present, most children from Year 4 through to Year 13 have swipe cards, and this will now be expanded so that children from Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 will be given swipe cards, and children in Foundation Stage will receive a bag tag. We will distribute swipe cards (including any new students) and bag tags prior to the reopening of the campus. More information on this collection process will be shared with parents shortly. If a student is not tested and parents do not activate their swipe card then, unfortunately, the student will not be able to enter school and will have to return home.
In this way, the school will create a COVID safe zone inside our facilities where mask-wearing and the extensive use of social distancing will ensure that everyone will learn in a safe and secure environment.
Last week our school signed up for a student vaccination opportunity to receive the Sinopharm vaccine with Chulabhorn Royal Hospital. This vaccine is being offered to young people aged 10 to 18 years old (the student’s date of birth must be before 31 October 2011 to be eligible). Following a review of the information regarding this vaccine opportunity, it is part of a research project by the University. Please consult with your doctor if you require additional advice about this vaccine.
If your child is age appropriate and you are interested in this opportunity, we are seeking your immediate consent using the Health App within Moodle. In order to give consent, you will need to be signed into a parent Moodle account and let us know the following within the app:
If your child meets the age eligible criteria and you have consented to “all age-eligible vaccination opportunities” or specifically for Sinopharm, we will submit your child’s name to Chulabhorn Royal Hospital.
Recently the government announced that it would allow vaccinations of 12 to 18 year old students with the Pfizer vaccine. As you know, we submitted all age-eligible student names where parents have shown they would be interested in receiving a Pfizer vaccination. We are working directly with MedPark Hospital, Samitivej Hospital, Bumrungrad Hospital as well as with the Office of Private Education Commission (OPEC). We are still waiting for a confirmation from all of these channels and will update you as soon as a date is confirmed. However, you may be contacted directly from the hospital so please monitor your inbox and sms messages.
As part of the guidelines to reopening our campus, we will need to have updated vaccine status information for all of our students, staff, and parents. We request your help in completing all of the vaccination information within the ‘Vaccine status’ tab for children and parents. If your child hasn’t received a Covid vaccine, please be sure to also complete the consent section of the ‘Vaccine status’ tab. We will use this information to include or exclude your child from any future vaccination opportunities.
There will be more information about how parents will use the Health App in the coming days. Feel free to familiarise yourself with health.standrews.ac.th if you’re interested in seeing what’s coming soon.
In the near future, a temporary school uniform shop will be set up in the Sports Hall at the Primary School, so that parents who wish to buy new uniforms for their children can do so in a large, safe environment. For added convenience, both Primary and High School uniforms will be in stock at this shop.
Primary School parents with children in FS1 to Year 4 will also be able to collect their swipe cards (Y1 to Y6) or entry bag tokens (FS1-FS3) to ensure that everyone across the school will be able to swipe into our entry system upon arriving on campus each school day.
Similar to when the school last opened after a lockdown, High School students will have a staggered entrance to school each morning with Year Groups given the following time intervals in which to arrive:
All students and teachers will have their masks, temperatures and Moodle ATK status immediately checked when they arrive at school. Any student or teacher arriving at school without having a negative ATK registered will not be permitted to enter the school premises.
Any students and teachers with a temperature of 37.3°C will have their temperature retaken after a short period. If their temperature remains over 37.3°C then their parents will be contacted to collect them. These temperature/mask checks will also happen before any student gets on a school bus.
No parents will be allowed on-site during Phase 1 of reopening unless they have a planned meeting with a member of staff.
Foundation Stage students will be given an RFID Key Fob prior to their first day back to put on their bags, and this can be used to swipe in and out of the school entrance each day. More information on the key fob distribution process will be shared in a separate email.
Each day, Foundation Stage parents will tap in with their parent card and with the blue key fob for their child. They will then proceed to the Foundation Stage classrooms to hand over their children to their Teachers or teacher assistant.
Year 1 and Year 2 children will use the main school entrance, meeting school staff just after they have swiped into school. The school staff will take these children to their area of school for the start of their day.
At our Primary Campus, we shall set up an additional entrance for Year 3 to 6 through the Blue Hardcourt area where there will be swipe card facilities to allow children to easily pass into school.
There will be strict monitoring of all students in school through seating plans and the staggering of activities, including entrance and exit and lunchtimes so that children will be able to be tracked throughout their day at school. Everyone on campus will be required to wear a mask and remain physically distanced. Appropriate hand washing facilities and sanitiser gel are available at stations throughout the school.
For parents with enquiries, please contact support@standrews.ac.th. You can also call the Primary School directly at +66 2 381-2387-8 or the High School at +66 2 056-9555.
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.
Senior student at St Andrews Bangkok, Pun (Year 13), devises an innovative solution for effective waste management. Recently, he completed an ambitious project: an AI-powered waste sorting system. After much research and testing, he got the system to work and put the model to use in one of our rooms at school!
Physics students from St Andrews Bangkok made quite an impression at the Beamline for Schools (BL4S) competition and won the Best Outreach Award for their brilliant work. BL4S is a prestigious global physics contest organised by CERN (the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Geneva, Switzerland) and DESY (the German Electron Synchrotron in Hamburg, Germany), inviting High School students worldwide to propose detailed experiments to be conducted at a particle accelerator beamline. While our students did not win the main prize of conducting their experiment in Geneva, they still stood out and were recognised from an entry of over 400 teams.
