06/2006/20 GardenGardenGarden InternationalInternationalInternationalInternational SchoolSchoolSchoolSchool February Eastern Seaboard, Ban Chang
06/2006/20 GardenGarden InternationalInternational SchoolSchool February Eastern Seaboard, Ban Chang Extreme Reading
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T h e o f f i c i a l c a m p u s n e w s l e t t e r o f G a r d e n Eastern Seaboard, Ban Chang I n t e r n a t i o n a l S c h o o l , E a s t e r n S e a b o a r d Whole School Open Day - 4th March 2020 - POSTPONED Secondary Sports - 6th March 2020 Well-being - 16th - 20th March 2020 Art Exhibition - 18th - 20th March 2020 Mufti Day International Day of Happiness - 20th March Lamda - 23rd - 27th March 2020
Secondary Senior Recital - 19th March 2020 Secondary Grade Cards Issued - 23rd March 2020
Primary Y2 Sports Day - 27th March 2020
By Mrs Dinah Hawtree
Dear GIS Community
February has been a particularly difficult month, with the ever-present threat of the corona virus, and as a school and community we have had to make some very difficult decisions during this time. Thank you to everyone for your understand- ing and support, and I am sure you will join me in hoping that this virus will soon be contained and that school life can return to normal. Although quite a number of activities were cancelled or postponed, there has still been a lot going on at school, as you will see later in this newsletter. Congratulations to all the students and staff who have been involved with any of the wonderful events and activities over the last month.
I am delighted to now be able to present to you the new Heads of Primary and Secondary, who will be supporting your new Principal, David Figes, in leading the school from August 2020. Together, they present a highly experienced and talented team, and I am both pleased and relieved to be leaving GIS in such capable hands.
New Head of Primary: Mrs Katherine Wharton
After spending a number of years travelling around America and Australia, Katherine returned to University in the UK for the second time to study for her Bachelors in Education (Primary). She went on to teach in Buckinghamshire and Somerset for six years before moving to Brunei with her family. There, she worked for the Ministry of Education teaching English as a Second Language as well as being part of a team writing the new Curriculum for English for Primary Students. She also worked to train local teachers in the new curriculum as well as holding work- shops and training sessions for all teachers. After 3 1/2 years, they moved to Nanjing, China where she took the post of Year 4 teacher and then Head of Primary, a post she has held for the past 5 years. She had enjoyed an amazing five years, working with a group of talented and dedicated teachers and educators and she has been lucky enough to work with a team that has the same philosophy as her. First and foremost, as a teacher, she believes every child has a right to an education that allows them to be the best that they can be. However, alongside that she believes we all have a responsibility to make the very best of the education we are given. Katherine believes
that a teacher is morally obligated to enter the classroom with only the highest of expectations for each and every one of his/her students.
Katherine will be moving to Ban Chang with her husband, Simon, an experienced EAL and SEN teacher, as well as her daughter Delilah, who will be joining Year 7. Their son Harry will be visiting them on his Gap Year travels as he finishes his A levels this summer.
Katherine and her family are all very much looking forward to this new chapter in their lives, and joining Garden International School is something they are all very excited about. They love Thailand and are looking forward to finding out more about the culture, and meeting and working with the staff and families at GIS. Katherine is particularly looking forward to working with the Primary team to further develop curriculum and assessment, building upon the excellent work that has already taken place, and helping drive GIS forward as a truly outstanding International school.
New Head of Secondary: Mrs Jackie Houghton
Jackie was born and educated in the United Kingdom. She holds a B.Ed (Hons) in Biology and Educational Studies from Liverpool University as well as a PGCE (Merit) Educational Studies International from Oxford Brookes University. She is a highly regarded educator with over 26 years’ experience in senior leadership positions at two of Thailand’s out- standing international schools.
Jackie initially focussed on science and learning support positions and then developed her interest in student and staff wellbeing through key leadership roles which included Assistant Principal Student Welfare and Assistant Principal Professional Learning at Bangkok Patana School. She is currently working at St Andrews International School Bangkok as the Head of the Secondary School.
She is an instructional leader who values child-centred education, where students are given the opportunity to learn from first- hand experience. She believes that students learn most effectively in an environment which develops high self-esteem and self- confidence. Successful learning happens when students, teachers and parents work together and share expectations and goals.
Jackie is excited about joining GIS as she feels that her own values are reflected in the School’s mission and vision. Jackie visited Garden when it first opened in 1994 and during her recent visit was very impressed with its positive growth and development. It is clear to her that GIS is thriving and providing excellent opportunities for its students. She particularly enjoyed being shown around the campus by the student leaders who were extremely proud of their school.
Jackie enjoys keeping fit through cycling, running, swimming and playing badminton. She is a keen member of a book club and loves travelling and exploring new places and cultures. She has three grown up children who were born and educated in Thai- land and completed their degrees in the United Kingdom. Although currently living in the UK, they enjoy coming home to Thailand and are excited about the prospect of visiting her and GIS when they next come to the Kingdom.
I am sure that you are all looking forward to meeting David, Katherine, Jackie and all the new staff (details of whom I will pub- lish in the April newsletter) at our welcome evening in August.
In the meantime, please look out for further updates on changes to our calendar due to coronavirus, and to other communica- tions regarding this issue. I hope very much that, by the time our next newsletter comes out, just before Songkran, we are able to look positively towards a more ‘normal’ term 3.
Kindest regards
Mrs Dinah Hawtree
Long standing service award
This month's long service awards were presented by our Principal, Mrs Hawtree to teaching assistants, Khun Nik and Khun Tim, who have served 15 and 10 years respectively.
The lorax
The Junior Production of "The Lorax" has been rescheduled to The lorax Thursday 2 April at 7pm. Tickets will be available in the front office from this week. It's going to be a fantastic show so make sure to get your tickets and support our key stage 2 and 3 per- Thursday formers. Please email Ms Jenn at [email protected] or Mr Ken at [email protected] if you have any questions. April 02 at 7pm in the
GIS Main Hall.
Dear Parents and Carers, Whilst the air quality and Covid-19 may have prevented a lot of out- door learning opportunities this month, there has still been plenty going on in school.
Picture Frame Project Every student in Foundation and Primary has been working on designing and creating their own picture frame which will hold a pic- ture of themselves. As you can imagine, there are a variety of ways that the students and teachers have found of making the frames. Many of the students have also decorated these frames in a way that shows their unique personality!
Inter-class learning Socialising and learning to work as part of a team is an important part of the GIS curriculum. The students get the chance to do this within their classes, between classes (especially house events, clubs and Wednesday afternoon activities) and sometimes between Primary and Secondary. Recently, some Secondary students wrote stories aimed at Primary – aged students. The stories were researched and targeted at the inter- ests and literacy level of the students who thoroughly enjoyed them. Improving the writing skills of the Secondary students and the read- ing skills of the Primary children is a win-win situation!
Nursery classes visited the big bee farm in Pattaya!
When we first got to the bee farm, Khun Pam gave us a tour and we looked at man-made bee hives. We also saw the Bee Queen and the entire Worker Bees around her. Then, we got to see the smallest bees in the world they were really tiny and they come from Thailand! We also went into the museum and learned many new things about bees, like how they make honey and what a bee looks like when it is growing inside a cell. We then came to know about the benefits of honey, we got to drink some honey water. There was also a shop where we could buy honey products and souvenirs. We bought some honey for tasting and bought Maya the Bee keychains. The trip was a lot of fun and educational at the same time.
ROCKS ROCK
The Year 4 Students had a great time looking for and identify- ing different rock samples found on Phala Beach. They found all kinds of sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks. The students also had time to make some interesting pieces of art using the natural materials that they found on the beach.
Heading North
In our new unit, Heading North, Year 1 has been learning about Northern climates and cultures, comparing and contrasting them to our lives here in Thailand. The Inukshuk is something traditionally used by the Inuit people of Canada, and is now synonymous with a friendly greeting. We had a special guest come in to help us learn to work with clay and build our own Inukshuks in our new Maker Room!
Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs)))
After a 3-week Primary project, the students shared their learning about SDGs. In this project each year group learned at their own pace and level but the focus was particularly on Renewable Energy. This is linked to SDG 7 (Clean and Safe Energy) and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production).
Year 1 and 2 worked together to learn about how wind energy can be used to spin pinwheels and wind turbines to make energy. Year 3 and 4 learned about how hydroelectric dams use the energy of moving water to produce electricity. They worked in teams to make mini water wheels that could be used as turbines. Year 5 and 6 also made water wheels in teams. They took a scien- tific approach to investigating more environmentally-friendly ways of heating food and cooling rooms. GIS students are passionate about helping the environment and are developing the attitudes, knowledge and skills to change the future for the better!
U9 boys Football success
Recently, the U9 and U11 boys teams played St Andrews at home. The U9 team boys were a small team but they worked hard creating many opportunities and listening to their coaches enabling them to continue on with their success from 1 day 1 goal winning the game 7-0. Both U11 boys teams played well and fought hard games.
Well done to all players and coaches!
U13 FOBISIA Games
From 23-27 February the PE department took 15 students to the U13 FOBISIA Games in Phuket. It was a really exciting few days and the students displayed excellent teamwork, perseverance, and sportsmanship. The students trained hard in the months leading up to the games and this paid off with the following results.
Day 1
The day started with a very competitive Swimming gala. The competition was immense but our students rose above it with all students achieving at least one medal. After lunch the students were then taken to the athletics stadium where they competed in a range of track and field activities. Once again the competi- tion was tough and we medalled in many events. Many of the students were able to beat their personal bests.
Day 2
After a very long day on day 1, it was time for the girls to play football and the boys basketball. The girls fought hard in every game and won all of their group matches. They were then placed in the final where it was a nail biting game. The final whistle blew on 0-0 so the game went into overtime. After another 10 minutes battling hard in overtime the score was still the same and the team ended up going to penalties. GIS came out on top after a very tough penalty shootout.
For the boys, day 2 was a challenge. They were a team of four so other schools loaned them a few players to enable us to participate. The games were tough and with a small team there was very little time to rest but they worked hard and made improvements in each games.
Day 3
After 2 days of intense competition we were in our final day. The girls basketball team fought hard winning all of their group stage games and in the final they dug deep to win a very exciting game. The boys football was a hot and hard day. After finishing the group stages with a draw in the final game, they were in the 3rd/4th play off. Both teams played well and in extra time GIS were able to secure the much needed goal taking the team to victory and securing their 3rd place trophy.
U13 FOBISIA Games Our final results are below
1st place Girls Basketball
1st place Girls Football
2nd place Overall Swimming
3rd place Boys Football Well Done A huge thank you to the PE department, the coaches and parents for their support over the last few months.
to all
involved.
BIG CHALLENGE IN CHESS AWAITS
IN STOCKHOLM , SWEDEN
Since the last update in October a lot has happened in the chess career of Bambi and Poleon. In the December term break they played the Thailand Team Championship. In the previous year Poleon had captained his U18 team to victory in the youth catego- Bambi playing against the top seated player ry but this time they were looking for an even more challenging on board one goal and teamed up with 2 senior players to compete in the adult category. Despite being the youngest Poleon maintained the cap- tain role. Ranked only 16th at the start, Poleon's and Bambi's team finished 7th and both students got 6 out of 9 points for their team – double of what the adult team members achieved.
Right after the event the next big challenge was waiting for them in Stockholm, Sweden, where they played in the Rilton Cup, one of the top Open tournaments in the world. Both played well above their level, gaining valuable Elo Points, used in the world ranking Playing the Team Championship against of chess players. Poleon even managed to win prize money for his the top-seated team category The February break saw the annual Thailand Chess Champion- ship. As 2020 is an Olympic year for chess, the championship also served as qualifier for the Chess Olympiad in Moscow in August and therefore all the strong players in Thailand participated - in total about 150. As already in the previous year, Bambi and Poleon did not want to compete in their respective age groups but show the adults, what determined kids can achieve. Poleon was once again the youngest participant by far, so finishing 18th place among the adults was a great achievement. However Bambi man- aged to even top that result by reaching an outstanding 7th place (before tie-break joint 5th and in performance rating even 2nd) in Bambi getting 7th place medal in the the women’s section, winning prize money and becoming Thailand Women Championship 2nd reserve player for the adult Thailand National Team going to the Olympiad.
Poleon playing Thailand's number 2 player February is a short month and to add to that we have had our half term break and a teacher training day. We have had to reduce many of our normal extra curricular activities with local schools as we prepare for the possibility of coronavirus arriving in the region. We are still fortunate that FOBISIA trips went ahead for Sports to Phuket where the under 13 boys and girls have done fantastically in all sports. We also have a Drama FOBISIA event in Bangkok which is always popular. The Drama event provides some fantastic workshops and experiences for our students. As I write this we are in the middle of International Week where through a mixture of special lessons, lunchtime events such as live@lunch and our Big Art afternoon we are celebrating our international values, which at a time such as now is especially important to celebrate the positives.
FOBISIA Drama Festival 2020
FOBISIA Drama Festival 2020, hosted by Regents Bangkok, was a huge success! Over the course of the three day event, the students took part in several workshops focused on different theatre traditions from around the world. From the Italian tradition of Commedia Dell'arte to the British Tradi- tion of Pantomime to the Thai tradition of Khan puppetry; the students were able to broaden their practical and theo- retical understanding of Theatre. This all culminated in a final performance showcasing all they had learned. A big thank you to everyone involved and we look forward to next year's festival!
Greetings to the entire GIS community,
By Vedant and Galatee
Greetings to the entire GIS community,
Although this month has undeniably gone at a calmer pace than some previous months, it has still been jam packed with a myriad of Thank you interesting and varied events. The month was punctuated by the spread of COVID-19 which unfortunately caused the rescheduling of our GISMUN III conference, a project both of us were heavily involved in. However, we believe that our school has adapted well to the situation and kept the student body safe with its precautions. and have Projects and trips across the school have taken place this month. Firstly, GIS celebrated Valentine’s Day in style with students and teachers receiving chocolates, candy and roses. We would like to give a huge thanks to the IB1 team who spearheaded this project and made it such a success (Chloe, Pete, Alyza, Annabelle). Another a great Day! major IB1 project this month has been international week for the students and the annual international day event. The event was unfortunately cancelled due to COVID-19 which was disheartening but the effort put in by Alyza and Tanya was commendable.
Lower down the school, students went on FOBISIA trips to Phuket (U13 - sports) and Bangkok (U15- drama). We hope they made life- long memories and developed new skills on these trips!
Sports day is also just around the corner and we’ve already had an enthusiastic period of signing up- where the students took risks and put themselves down to participate in challenging activities. Sports day is a highlight of the year and we can’t wait to experience the day and see who wins (we’re hoping it’s Gecko!).
Finally, LAMDA exam preparation is also in full swing with students from secondary and upper primary preparing hard to take these exams. We wish all of these students the best of luck with their exams!
We’d like to end by thanking you for taking the time to read this piece! Have a great day!