After last week’s CAS (Creativity, Activity and Service) Reflections from Beatrice (Sr), a number of things that happened on Wednesday last week coincidentally fit very well into these categories...
On Wednesday last week we were informed that Subin, Susan, Opal and Runn (Year 10) had won the International and Independent Schools Category of this year’s Design Ventura competition, run by the Design Museum in London. The Design Ventura competition challenges students to design a new product for the Design Museum shop, an opportunity for students to develop their design thinking and creativity.
Their product, Dino Plant, is an origami set of the iconic Loch Ness monster, made of recycled seed paper. You can see more about it in their pitch video.
We asked the students to reflect on what they have learned from the Design Ventura process:
Susan:
The design process for Design Ventura started during the VSE), so it wasn't smooth sailing from the start. As we got to know each other better, thought, we assigned roles for each person and this helped each of us to express our ideas and highlight our strong points, but it also showed us our areas of improvement.
As we progressed we entered the manufacturing process which was when we had to make prototypes of our idea. We were faced with more and more issues, so there were always areas to improve on. However, the team was becoming more passionate about the product, and so we never gave up! In the end the manufacturing process was my favourite and it helped us develop better communication and teamwork skills.
Though it may be difficult at times I would still fully recommend students to participate in Design Ventura! Overall, the process was both very rewarding and extremely fun. We now have a lot of fun memories together of us trying our best to make the best product of our abilities.
Opal:
The beginning of our Design Ventura was the most difficult, but as we progressed, we were rewarded with numerous enjoyable moments. The manufacturing process, which involves the experiments conducted to produce the best-manufactured product we could create, was my favourite part. It was a lot of fun since we got to try out new equipment that we had never used before. Because there are always things to improve and develop, this project encouraged us to use our imagination and invention to create and design our ideas. Furthermore, it developed teamwork and communication skills among the group as a whole. To conclude, this was a challenging project to take on but it was possible to get through them as a group. I would really recommend other students participate in Design Ventura to gain more experience and have fun.
Runn:
I really enjoyed getting to know other people's ideas and collaborating as a group. Overall, it was a challenging experience, but I am glad that I had a chance to use my delegation skills, which led to the group’s success. This project was, and will be, a memorable encounter. Getting through all the problems and finding solutions that would work for everyone is something I really enjoyed. I hope STA continues doing this project with the younger generation.
There was also plenty of creativity on display at this afternoon’s Finale Performance of this year’s High School Production: Broadway Mashup.
It is five weeks since the first performance, and the cast and crew should be congratulated on such a wonderful performance. It was great to be in the Theatre with the live audience this afternoon.
Also last Wednesday, five St Andrews students played in the first-ever fixture for the Bangkok Schools Representative Rugby Squad, against Vajiravudh College, one of the best rugby schools in Thailand.
The Bangkok Schools Representative Rugby Squad is an elite squad of Under 17 players selected for their rugby ability from a range of International Schools across Bangkok.
And finally, at the same time as those students were playing rugby, another group of students, from our Bangkok Community Help Foundation Activity, were working with the Bangkok Community Help Foundation to help pack freshly cooked meals into boxes and distribute them to the homeless of Bangkok around Democracy Monument.
Not only were the meals given, but there were also a little nice, encouraging message written in a little star for the homeless written by students in many year groups. We hoped that the messages would cheer up the homeless people and they would be glad to read the lovely messages! After the preparation for the hot meals was completed, the students and the BCHF team set off to various locations near the Democracy Monument of Thailand where there are a lot of homeless people living. Despite a sudden downpour of rain, we were able to hand out all of the food! We hope that we were able to bring some comfort to the homeless people by providing some delicious meals to enjoy!
Lastly, we would like to thank everyone for their cooperation in donating dried foods for the BCHF to also donate to the homeless people! Your contributions are very much appreciated.”
Grace (7g) and the BCHF Activity students
We are now into the last full week of the school year. The end of year events begin this week with our High School Sports Celebrations taking place tomorrow and then, next week, each Year Group will celebrate their achievements this year together in the Atrium in our annual Awards Assemblies.
The Awards Assemblies are going to be a great celebration of the year, celebrating students' attainment and progress and their contributions to the Arts and our Great St Andrews Community. They are our first live Awards Assemblies since 2019, and also the first time that we have had whole Year Groups together for a long time.
Each Year Group’s Awards Assembly will be live-streamed, with Heads of Year emailing parents with details later this week.
Next Thursday, students will end the year with their Tutor Groups during P3 (10:30-11:30), with this time including the announcement of the final House Point totals, the winners of the House Music Competition and students receiving their Yearbooks - there is a sneak preview of the cover above.
Lunch will then be available to all students from 11:30 until 12:00, when School Buses will leave.
This week we would also like to congratulate Jiya for her offers from a number of top universities in the United Kingdom to study Economics and Politics.
"Economics has always been one of the subjects I look forward to the most, and with the combination of Politics, I think it gives me the perfect balance of qualitative and quantitative studies, and what better way to do it than the heart of London!"
United Kingdom
City, University of London - International Political Economy
The University of Warwick - Economics, Politics and International Studies
University of Bath - Economics and Politics (Sandwich Placement)
King's College London - Political Economy
Jiya plans to accept the offer from King’s College London, one of the UK’s best universities!
Please remember that all the school's live Google Calendars can be seen via Moodle.
Mr Roo
Head of High School
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!
