High School: A great Book Week!

Thank you to everyone who participated for such a fun and varied Book Week. It was lovely to see the Great St Andrews Community celebrating events like Book Week again and so enthusiastic about it all! Below are some summaries and photos of each event.

The Library quizzes in the Library for each Year Group were a real hit and the students did really well to show off their knowledge of books and all things reading. Mr James led a really fun session and the students very much enjoyed being back in the Library after an extended hiatus due to covid regulations. Mr James and I are hoping that this is the springboard for our students to partake in a larger, region-wide Literature quiz coming up very soon!

As well as this, some of our students enjoyed an English lesson in the Library where they dropped everything and read! It has been such a long time since we have been able to do this and the students and teachers appreciated the opportunity to relax with a good book. It was so silent in the Library during these lessons that you could have heard a pin drop. The sound of a love of reading…

On Tuesday last week, a group of Year 9 students travelled to the Primary School to work with Year 6 students on their Poetry Slam compositions. From the moment that we arrived at the Primary School, it was immediately obvious that our Year 9 students were thrilled to be back in their old haunt. The excitement at seeing their teachers from Key Stage 2 was palpable. More importantly, however, they did a fantastic job of helping our Year 6 students to work on their poetry writing and performances. The Year 6 students were able to take this feedback on board and get themselves ready for Friday’s competition. The rapport between the older and younger students was gratifying to see.

As well as this, Year 3 and Year 8 worked virtually together on presentations about their favourite books. The Year 3 students impressed the Year 8 students with how articulate and passionate they were when discussing their reading and their favourite characters and writers. We all enjoyed a rare opportunity to focus purely on how much we love to read.

Wow! What an impressive array of costumes we saw last Friday! The engagement and effort by students and staff alike was outstanding. What is always lovely about Costume Day is that we hear students and staff talking about books around the school. The costume itself, whilst often impressive, is really just an opening for our community to discuss books. And that is what Book Week is all about really. Hearing students talk about why they love to read is equally as inspiring as hearing teachers discuss books that have changed their lives. Energizing.

Even more impressive than the costumes, however, were the competitors from this year’s Poetry Slam. The competition was fierce. Each student performed at their absolute best and the poems themselves were beautifully written and powerfully performed. The winner and rounders-up from Year 7 were: Kiara (7a) in first place; Shane (7e) a very close second; and Pramita (7b) also impressing in third place. For Year 6, Isik wowed us with her wonderful poem about climate change to win first place, and the competition for second was so fierce that we couldn’t choose between KhaoPun, Jensen, and Maya. Well done to all of the competitors for the best Poetry Slam competition that we have had yet and we look forward to welcoming such skilled writers from Year 6 when they compete again as Year 7s next year.
 

In the St Andrews community, Book Week consists of a series of activities dedicated to encouraging reading through the school. “Book Week is a celebration of books,” says Mr James, the school librarian. “It is important to remind people of the importance and benefits of reading”. The English Department and the Library worked together to create a variety of events that took place both in the library and throughout the school, including activities such as year level book quizzes, a book cover art competition, and a poetry slam competition. 

Many students at St Andrews looked forward to the results of Miss Karen's Book Cover Art Competition. "The judges had a difficult time choosing the winners," Miss Karen explained, "since every piece of artwork submitted was excellent." This year’s winners were Anvir from 8d, Lisa, also from 8d and Ploy from 9a. The winners were announced and their artwork displayed on High School Notices. “I wanted to turn children’s classic book favourites into something an adult would also want to pick up and read,” said Anvir, who entered the book painting competition because he enjoys reading and art, two of his favourite pastime activities. ‘Little Red Riding Hood’, a childhood favourite, inspired his artwork. Lisa’s artwork showed a scene from the fantasy novel ‘KiKi Delivery Service’. Of her piece, Lisa stated, “I like drawing and I wanted people to know about this book. It’s a very good story.” Ploy, whose artwork was inspired by the original creators of the manga Jujitsu Kaizen, said, “I’m really grateful that I got to be chosen as one of the winners and I'm really happy”.

The Poetry Slam took place at the culmination of Book Week. Students from Year 6 and 7 were encouraged to submit their poetry, with the winners being chosen to perform their poems aloud in front of their Year Groups. This year’s winners were Kiara and Isik. Kiara loves writing and performing poetry, saying that doing so has taught her, “how important it is to do what you love and be yourself.” She used her poem to speak out against bullying and promote kindness in the school community. Kiara also talked about how much she loved being able to get creative with costumes during book week. Her outfit was inspired by Wednesday Addams from ‘The Addams Family’. Isik, who was dressed as Violet Beauregarde from ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, added that “Book Week is a time for showing your creativity.” Like Kiara, Isik revealed how performing poetry taught her how to be confident and believe in herself. Her poem is about global warming and is a call-to-action for people to be more mindful of the environment. “My family inspired me,” she said. “I want kids and grandkids and I want them to have a good life in this world.” Both poems were beautifully written and showed the extent of both students' creativity and passion for writing. 

Despite Covid restrictions, this year's Book Week was once again a great success. When asked to reflect on the experience of co-ordinating the week-long event, Head of English Mr Eoin identified his two objectives for the week: to help build relationships between the students at the High School and the students at the Primary School, in addition to providing the students with an opportunity to share and celebrate their love of reading and literature. Mr Eoin hopes that Book Week will encourage students to read more. On the benefits of reading, Mr Eoin observed, “Teenagers lead busy lives but reading can have a multitude of benefits: it provides us a time to decompress and to relax; it broadens our understanding of the world around us and the human condition; it enriches our learning in other areas. Narratives shape our learning and enjoying them is vital, and it has long-term benefits for the memory and mental health!” 

Next year’s Book Week has been set a high standard to follow. Mr Eoin is hopeful that next year all of the Covid restrictions will have been lifted and that the school can host even larger events where even more of the students can attend. “Senior Studies students will take a lead in some of the events and the sessions that we run here at the High School as well as at the Primary School,” he added. The event will be “Always bigger, better, bookier...”

We can’t wait to see what's in store for St Andrews Book Week 2023!
 

Sports Fixtures Update

As well as all of the Book Week activities, last week was a very busy week for sports fixtures, with 28 different teams playing fixtures last week.

International Women's Day

On Tuesday 8th March, we will be celebrating International Women's Day in the High School. It will be a non-uniform day, with students and staff encouraged to wear purple, white or green. 

Students and staff will also be asked to make donations, with the raised money being donated to The Hub, a subsidiary of Chatline Thailand that offers support to children.

International Women's Day is a day to celebrate women’s rights and the remarkable advances achieved by women throughout history and across nations, but it is also a day to reflect on the state of gender equality and to highlight many challenges still faced by women and young girls.

International Women's Day is also about all humanity. With domestic violence often going unnoticed and unreported, children, through no fault of their own, suffer as a consequence of domestic violence in the home. The Hub is an organisation that offers support to toddlers and children under 18 who are suffering from domestic violence and abandonment. The centre offers different services and solutions for children, offering a child hotline for children to call and speak about their problems. If needed, they are offered emergency food, shelter and medicine. Additional support, such as occupational training, is also offered to help older teenagers to become independent.

The Hub has been involved in many projects to help these children in the past, and the House Leaders would like to encourage everyone to donate at least 50 baht. All donations will be transferred to The Hub to help provide financial support for their future projects.

As well as the non-uniform day, there will be a variety of events taking place on the day.

The International Women’s Day Team