This week, we welcomed Year 6 into High School to get to know the teachers and explore the campus. Also, excitingly for Year 11 and 13 students, it's Mock Exam Week! Finally, with AQI over 100 at times last week, we thought it would be useful to remind you of our Air Quality Policy.
It was great to welcome four Year 6 Classes to the High School this morning, for the first of two Year 6 Transition Days this week.
6H, 6M, 6R and 6S had Technology, Science and Geography lessons before lunch, and then a short meeting with either Ms Georgia or Mr Paul - our two Heads of Year 7.
As I said when I spoke to the students, this is the first of a number of different events that will take place between now and the end of Term 3. Students, and their parents, often feel a mixture of excitement and nervousness about the move to the High School, and we hope that these events will make them all feel both more excited and less nervous.
We look forward to welcoming 6A, 6G and 6K tomorrow, and to all the other events planned for the future…
It was also a very exciting day for Year 11 and 13 students, who had their first day of Mock Exams today.
I know that the students have all been working very hard in preparation for these Mock Exams, which will provide invaluable information, for the students, and their teachers and parents, of their strengths and areas that need more focus between now and the May/June exams.
As you can see from the Calendar below, Year 11 and 13 students will receive their Exam Reports on Friday 11th February before Year 11/13 Parent/Student/Teacher Meetings the week after half term.
The AQI was over 100 at times last week, and is expected to be again this week - the graphic above is from yesterday’s Bangkok Post - so I thought that it would be useful to remind you all of our Air Quality Policy.
We monitor the AQI at all times, with 12 AirVisual air monitoring devices, inside and outside, across Primary and the High School. You can see data from our public AirVisual device both on the Air Visual website, which updates every hour, and live on the Moodle homepage.
For the last two years we have also had over 100 Mi Air Purifier Pros in classrooms around the High School, as well as ERV (Energy Recovery Ventilator) systems bringing fresh air into all of our non-classroom spaces, including the Library, Shared Areas, Sports Hall and Theatre. Our data from our AirVisuals over the last few weeks show that these have been very effective in lowering the levels of PM 2.5 and CO2 within our buildings, ensuring that students and teachers are breathing clean air whatever the AQI is outside.
At break and lunchtimes, it is important to remember that High School students always have access to Shared Areas and the Sports Hall during breaks and lunchtimes, so any High School students who are unusually sensitive to air pollution have plenty of options.
The staggered start to Term 2, and the current COVID situation in Thailand, mean that we are still working on this term’s High School Calendar, especially on Sports events, but the main, and sooner, events are shown below.
Please remember that all the school's live Google Calendars can be seen via Moodle.
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!
