High School: A Million Dreams

This week, we reflect on Embracing Differences Week, a lovely celebration of inclusiveness at St Andrews, captured in the beautiful A Million Dreams Sign-a-long video. Also, we celebrate our Thainess and Songkran, as well as saying goodbye and good luck to Year 11 and Year 13 students - the traditional end of Term 2 activities that we will be sharing together in school for the first time in three years.

We have (almost) made it...

Just over two years ago, on Tuesday 17th March, we moved onto what was then called Home Learning for the first time, two weeks before the end of Term 2. We returned to school thirteen weeks later, for the last week and a half of Term 3.

Just under one year ago, on Tuesday 6th April, we moved onto the VSE for the last three days of Term 2. We did not return to school until more than six months later.

Last week's Embracing Differences Week was a lovely celebration of inclusiveness at St Andrews, captured in the beautiful A Million Dreams Sign-a-long video.

After celebrating our global community during our International Day earlier in the term, today and tomorrow we celebrate our Thainess and Songkran, as well as saying goodbye and good luck to Year 11 and Year 13 students - the traditional end of Term 2 activities that we will be sharing together in school for the first time in three years.

When I speak to Year 11 and Year 13 students tomorrow, I will both congratulate them on their hard work throughout their (I)GCSE and IBDP courses and remind them how fortunate they are, compared to the two previous Year 11’s and Year 13’s, to have the opportunity to fully demonstrate everything that they have learned in their final exams, which begin in three weeks’ time. 

OFQUAL (the UK Government’s Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation), CIE (Cambridge International Examinations) and the IB have all announced that exams will not be cancelled this year and, despite the challenges of the last two years, we are expecting both Year Groups to achieve excellent sets of exam results.
 

We know, however, that COVID could still disrupt (I)GCSE and IBDP exams for a small number of students, and Ms Sasha and Mr Will have emailed Year 11 and 13 students and their parents more details of both the procedures that we will have in place to ensure that as many students as possible can take their exams, and what will happen if a small number of students have to miss an exam for COVID related reasons.

Thank you all for your understanding and support throughout the term as we have worked together to keep our community safe and healthy. We will continue to work with you in Term 3 to review and reduce the numbers of students not in school at any time and the time that students are not in school.

I would also like to thank all the High School teachers for all their hard work this term - for covering for absent colleagues, for coping with lists of students on the VSE that changed daily and for all the additional work involved in preparing portfolios for Year 11 and 13 students at the same time as preparing the students for the (I)GCSE and IBDP exams discussed above.

Tomorrow will be another real celebration of our great St Andrews community, and I hope that you all have a safe, relaxing, and enjoyable Songkran holiday.

University Update

Below is the updated infographic showing the number, and range, of university offers and acceptances received by Year 13 students. Depending on the country and university, offers are given out at different times and with various application deadlines, we therefore expect this list to continue to grow significantly over the coming weeks and months.

This week, we highlight Wow and congratulate her on receiving a range of great university offers.

Wow received offers from some of the top universities in both the UK and Thailand.

UK

• University of Bristol - Biology

• University of Leeds - Biological Sciences, Biotechnology with Enterprise

Thailand

• Chulalongkorn University - Bachelor of Science in Applied Chemistry (BSAC)

• The Joint Medical Programme – Srinakharinwirot University and the University of Nottingham, UK)

Wow plans to pursue the Joint Medical Programme between Srinakharinwirot University in Thailand and the University of Nottingham in the UK. This is a unique opportunity and offer that spans across two countries. 

“Personally, being able to make a difference in someone’s life in a positive way is extremely fulfilling for me. I am also passionate about helping others and those in need. Having the chance to do this everyday would definitely be rewarding, therefore pursuing a degree in Medicine is the perfect option for me.”

As part of this course, students take part in a 6-month preparatory course at Srinakharinwirot University before departing for preclinical studies at the University of Nottingham for 2.5 years. During their time in Nottingham, students study alongside their peers in the undergraduate medicine course and are expected to complete an honours year project in order to receive a Bachelor of Medical Science (Hons) from the University of Nottingham.  Learn more about this fantastic course here.

Congratulations Wow!

High School Calendar

Please remember that all the school's live Google Calendars can be seen via Moodle.