Patana
NEWS
Bangkok Patana is an IB World School, accredited by CIS and NEASC
The Head of School’s Letter ’m delighted to welcome you all back to the 2015/16 academic year! A very special welcome to the new students starting Bangkok Patana School this year, we are thrilled that you are joining the Bangkok Patana community. We also have 36 new teaching staff joining us this week and they have already completed a week’s induction with Jackie Houghton and her team. I hope all of the new faces at Bangkok Patana have a very enjoyable and worthwhile academic year ahead. I am starting my eighth year as Head of School and 32nd year in Education and I’m looking forward to another busy Bangkok Patana year ahead of us. It is really an honour to lead such an amazing school. Bangkok Patana School is a supportive learning community, which challenges our students to achieve personal excellence and to develop as confident, caring, life-long learners positively engaged in our world. The school year has started very smoothly and I have observed lots of smiling/relaxed students and teachers. We have just over 255 new stu-
dents starting Bangkok Patana School this year with a grand total of 2,250 students, which is about what we predicted for the start of the academic year. We have 60 different cultures representing our student body, which I think is a wonderful opportunity to share and value diversity. As with every school and especially large schools like Bangkok Patana, an enormous amount of summer work has taken place while you have been on summer holidays. This year’s summer projects include; A completely new, amazing, purpose-built Secondary Science Centre covering five levels plus a roof top learning/viewing area A new English floor replacing the old Science lab floor which includes an extra high, English train station themed, shared area A new purpose-built Secondary Leaning Support area including office and classrooms on the 2nd floor
New Computing Faculty Office and classrooms on the first floor A new extended student lounge including a second snack bar An extended Noodle Bar Island, which includes serving rotations on both sides New Reprographics and Purchasing Offices plus a new Staff Room for six day staff A new student cooking room New flooring in the Year 3/4 shared areas A new Science Lab in the Year 3/4 Building A new Science Lab in the Year 5/6 Building A new DT Lab in the Year 5/6 Building 50m Pool total refurbishment including new tiles, shaded areas and stadium enlargement New shaded areas at the 25m Pool Six new mini tennis courts directly behind the Sports Hall
Most of our external examination results from last year have now been confirmed and once again our students have done us proud. Here is a brief update from our IB Coordinator Andrew Roff. ...continued on page 3
Continued from page 2… “The International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma results of our Graduating Class of 2015 have been our finest ever in many important respects. As a nonselective school we are extremely proud to report a pass rate of 96% and average point score for students passing the IB Diploma of 35 out of a possible 45 points. Set into context this compares extremely well with the world average pass rate of 79% and points score of 30, which changes very little year on year. Completing the rigorous and challenging course of study we set our students in Senior Studies is achievement in itself, and we congratulate all of our graduates from the Class of 2015 who managed this. Special mention should go to a number of students, who achieved significantly higher grades than their (I)GCSE results predicted, demonstrating a huge level of development (and effort) over the last two years. Julia Hubo and Takayuki Miyauchi both achieved seven points higher in their final diploma score than was predicted by the ALIS model that we use, Karim Chen and Napas Udomsak six points and Layla deWaegh, Philip Griggs, Marquie Leelatham, Marina Teres, Melina Thompson and Anna Yoshimoto five points. We must also recognise our very highest achievers, of which Helena Martin, Marquie Leelatham, Ivan Jayapurna, Kristie Chow (43
points), Julia Hubo, Tita Kanchanapas, Napas Udomsak (44 points) and Melaney Chen (45 points) are at the top. This is an outstanding accomplishment given that annually only about 1% of all IB candidates achieve higher than 43 points. Indeed Melaney can count herself amongst the top 200 IB candidates worldwide with a perfect score.”
For many of our 2015 Graduates, the nail biting summer wait for a firm offer of a university place is now over. Here is a brief update from our Head of Careers and Universities, Andrew Haughton.
“For our Year 13s the long awaited IB results day arrived on 6th July with the vast majority of students securing their first choice university. The United Kingdom remained the most popular country destination with over 45 students having already confirmed their places. An impressive number of students received unconditional offers from Russell Group institutions which represents 24 leading UK universities committed to maintaining the very best research, teaching and learning experience and unrivalled links with business and public sector.
Since 2011, the United States has become an increasingly attractive destination for our students and this year we expect over 40 students to enrol there, our highest number ever. Australia, Canada and Thailand are also popular country destinations. As in previous years, we have plenty of students heading to top institutions around the world including Brown, Chulalongkorn, Cornell, Dartmouth, Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, London School of Economics, Rhode Island School of Design, Stanford, UCL, Yale, Edinburgh, University of British Columbia and many, many more. The three most popular courses were again Business, Engineering and Economics. A substantial number of students chose courses related to International Relations, Law and the Sciences and we saw an increase in the number of students opting for the Liberal Arts track, even within the UK. Three students have secured places to study Medicine in the United Kingdom, an impressive feat considering only 7% of places are available to international students. Congratulations to all our IB graduates of 2015. We wish them the very best in their transition to the next exciting chapter in their lives. A comprehensive list of all student courses and university destinations will be listed in the Student Achievement book, which will be published later in Term 1.” ...continued on page 4
Continued from page 3... Andrew Haughton goes on to explain more about the school’s Work Experience Programme. “Our Year 11 Work Experience programme, now in its fourth year, enjoyed continued success with over 130 students escaping their (I)GCSE exam desks to gain a small taste of the world of work. The Careers team had the chance to visit them in their new environments where we observed them as they performed tasks as varied as testing Mercedes Benz engines, writing arti-
Chopsticks Noodle Bar will open a new serving point next week. This will mean that students can be served from three areas: two queues at the front side (current location) and one serving point from the back (new). This will help to reduce the waiting time for our students and staff who want to enjoy the yummy and popular noodles prepared daily by our staff.
cles for Big Chilli magazine and flying in a cockpit at Nok Air. Preparation for work experience began as early as January, with students drafting resumes and letters of motivation. In May, students were able to view and sign up for job vacancies advertised on the Careers’ Firefly Page. They had to be quick though - We had 55 students submit applications within the first five minutes and 75 applications within the first half hour; welcome to the real world! Law, Design/ Architecture, Marketing and Journalism/Publishing were extremely popular this year and these positions filled up the fastest. We are hugely grateful to all those organisations who generously supported our invaluable programme. These included: Accor Hotels, Baker and Mackenzie, The Beaumont Partnership, Blumental, Richter and Sumet, Bumrungrad, Centara Hotels, Chulalongkorn University, DLA Piper, Go Pomelo, Hotel Muse, Indigo Pearl, Lawton Asia, Lifestyle and Travel Magazine,
Noodle price is 50 THB per bowl.
MedConsult Clinic, Nok Air, Oils ‘R Us, Powertech, S and A Architects, SSAB Motors, Samitivej Hospital, Santhaya and Associates, The Big Chilli, The Nation, The Village, Y and R, and more. Thank you to parents who helped with a number of these opportunities. We welcome your support to identify additional options for the coming year.“
...continued on page 5
The calendar for this academic year is available on the front of the school website or click here to view it.
Click here for the Canteen Menu
Continued from page 4… Subject
Clare Sharp our Primary Principal has just completed her review of last years’ Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 academic targets and we are all delighted with the improvements across the board; here is an update from her. “The Primary School has been focusing on enabling children to become assessment capable learners through tools such as success criteria, assessment grids and giving appropriate and timely feedback. The result of this focus has clearly translated into practice and is evident in our end of Key Stage results. Below is a summary of the children’s success. Subject
Level 2C and above 98%
Level 3
Reading
Below Level 2 2%
Writing
7%
93%
9%
Mathematics
>1%
99%
22%
Level 4 and above 99%
Level 5
Level 6
Reading
Below Level 3 >1%
82%
1%
Writing
3%
97%
36%
2%
Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar
6%
94%
75%
13%
Level 7
1%
Mathe>1% 99% 61% 23% matics NB: The expectation for a child at the end of Year 6 is 4B
As
26%
NB: The expectation for a child at the end of Year 2 is 2B
Within these levels, I can confirm that every child has made the expected progress, with the majority making more than the expected progress throughout Year 2 and have exceeded the targets set by the school for this Year group.
with Key Stage 1, within these levels I can confirm that every child has made the expected progress with the majority making more than the expected progress throughout Year 6 and have exceeded the targets set by the school for this Year group. We are extremely proud of the students within these Year groups and throughout the school, and I would like to commend the teachers who have supported, challenged and extended the learners in the Primary School in 2014/15.” ...continued on page 6
By Genevieve Ahl, Services Manager Bangkok Patana School advises all parents to ensure that they have suitable personal accident insurance for their children whilst taking part in all school activities. To find out more details about the School Insurance Cover please click here. This information is also available on the Parents' Gateway.
Continued from page 5... Brian Taylor our Cross-Campus Assistant Principal, (Curriculum Technology Integrator), who supports ICT learning throughout the school is passionate about technology and always had a high level use of technology incorporated in his science lessons prior to being appointed to this senior leadership position. From time to time I have asked Brian to share some wise thoughts on ICT related topics that I will incorporate in my Patana News articles, as it is imperative that technology has a strategic role in supporting learning. In schools of the future the face of technology will be developing at a rapid pace and I can see the day when technology is the number one focus to engage and support student learning. “In my last email to colleagues and students at the end of Term 3, I wished them a ‘mindful tech holiday’. I’ve blogged and presented on mindfulness on several occasions but what does it actually mean? Jon Kabat-Zinn, in his book Wherever You Go, There You Are, defines mindfulness as “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally” and Ellen Langer, in her book Mindfulness, describes the benefits of this concept, such as “greater control, richer options, to transcend limits” in our thinking and our lives, versus the negative effects of mindlessness which include poor decision making and being more susceptible to our biases. Over the summer I took my family to North Wales for a week, hoping to separate from the digital tools for a ‘tech sabbatical’. However, we often found ourselves reaching out for the technology in order to perform basic tasks: Where is this restaurant? What time does this park open? How much does this boat trip
cost? We could have found this information out the ‘analogue’ way by looking at a map or making a telephone call, but it seems as though our default option nowadays is to reach for the tech first. On the flight back to Bangkok, I watched a fascinating episode of Crowd Control by behaviour change expert Dan Pink. In this episode Dan sets up a restaurant in which diners are docked points every time they reach for their mobile phone. Other diners can see the points of each table and a healthy competition ensues. It’s not necessarily the game that’s powerful but the comments that are made by the diners when he interviews them afterwards. Many expressed how their conversations with their friends and family were richer and more thought provoking. Is this a lesson we should all be taking pointers
Photo source: http:// www.digitaltrends.com/fitness-apparel -reviews/spire-activity-tracker-review/
from? How often do we go to a restaurant and see those around us absorbed by their mobile devices? Are we guilty of the same behaviour? Wearable mobile technology will be (or already is) the next big thing. No doubt there will be a lot of our students bringing an Apple watch or similar device into our learning spaces this year. We are starting to see activity trackers entering the mindfulness sphere appear on the market. Take the Spire for example, a wearable device that can reportedly tell us if we are tense, calm, focused or active. It will be fascinating to follow how these technologies inte-
grate into our day-to-day interactions and our learning environment. Following my experience over the summer, I’ve bought an old fashioned diary to jot thoughts and snippets from conversations. I’ve made a conscious decision to ask more people to give me a call or arrange faceto-face meetings rather than send emails. It’s not that I’m trying to deprive myself of digital connectedness, just simply aiming to get the balance right, to make the physical connections with those around me more meaningful, more mindful. It’s through this type of lens that we are also looking at learning in our school. Technology is a tool, an increasingly powerful learning tool when utilised effectively. In any organic institution based primarily on relationships we should always be mindful of their impact: are they making a positive impact on learning? Are they making a positive impact on the relationships we have with those around us and a positive impact on our environment, our ecosystem, our community? The answers to these questions will form part of the Digital Citizenship section of the 2015/16 Whole School Development Plan, including the focus on Child Safeguarding. We are looking forward to sharing more details on this increasingly critical aspect of learning over the course of the year. Please subscribe to the Patana Digital Citizenship blog to keep up-todate with Digital Citizenship news and resources for Students, Parents and Staff.” Next week we will share an update of the Year 11 (I)GCSE exam results , which have just been released. I’m looking forward to sharing another year’s learning journey with you all! Have an enjoyable weekend. Matt Mills, Head of School
What? - A 9.0 km, 5.0 km, 3.0km (NEW!) and 1.3 km Fun Run for all the family with all proceeds going to our charities: Habitat for Humanity, Interact Club and Smile Club. When? - Sunday 27th September 2015, from 7.00am Where? - The beautiful and traffic-free Ancient Siam Park, Samut Prakarn. Registration opens Monday 1st September, watch this space for more details…………… If you are interested in establishing a partnership as a sponsor for this event please email Genevieve Ahl, geah@patana.ac.th for more details.
By Andrew Tatam, Leader of Learning, Physical Education Parents and students will now be aware that our Extra-curricular Activities (ECA) calendar has changed with four blocks of ECA, replacing the previous 3-Term schedule. This change will effect timings for our 2016 FOBISIA Team selection process, bringing things forward in the calendar. The format for the Games will remain the same as last year, which means that we will be selecting ten boys and ten girls from Year 5 and ten boys and ten girls from Year 6 giving us a team of 40 students. Competitors will compete in all four sports of swimming, athletics, teeball and football across three days of competition. For those parents and students new to Bangkok Patana or those parents who have children who may just have shown an interest in the FOBISIA Friendly Games, I hope that the following information will help in any decision making. The Primary FOBISIA (Federation of British International Schools in Asia) Friendly Games is a sporting festival and competition for British International Schools across Asia. We select teams to represent Years 5 and 6 and Bangkok Patana is in Group A1 with other large schools from the region: Tanglin Trust, Singapore; Dulwich College, Beijing; Shrewsbury International School, Bangkok; Alice Smith and Garden International Schools from Malaysia. The Games will take place between Wednesday 25th and Friday 27th May and will be hosted by Bangkok Patana, making it a very special year indeed.
Selection is based on a number of criteria including the overall balance
of the team being selected, the children’s performances during ECAs and various timed or measured events held during the selection process. This is an extensive time commitment and attending all of the ECAs does not guarantee selection. This year we will make an initial selection cut after Block 2 and a final selection after Block 3, which should allow those students not selected, time to make alternative ECA selections of their choice. Please also note that the FOBISIA squad selection is final. If children wish to be available for selection they must meet the following ECA criteria from Block 2. Please note that there may be ex-
tended ECAs or fixtures for FOBISIA trialists and eventual team members when school transport may not be available. Parents will need to make alternative arrangements should this situation arise.
Monday: Athletics ECA (optional but recommended in preparation for Record Breakers on Sunday 7th February which all those who continuing with the selection process must attend unless a very good reason can be provided) – Parental sign up required. Tuesday: Tee-Ball ECA (compulsory) – Automatic sign up when signing up as a FOBISIA trialist.
Wednesday: Non TigerShark FOBISIA Swimming ECA for children who are not already Tiger Shark swimmers – Parental sign up required. This is optional, but all children have to attend at least one of the two time trial galas during Block 2 and 3. Thursday: Appropriate age group Football ECA (compulsory). If your child is involved in the Year 5/6 Aladdin Jr. rehearsals on a Thursday in Block 2 please contact me directly. – Automatic sign up when signing up as a FOBISIA trialist. If your child fully understands the level of commitment expected, and would like to try out, you need to sign them up for the relevant Year group Girls’ or Boys’ FOBISIA Games option on the ECA sign up for Block 2 which begins on Monday 9th November.
If invited to continue trying out for our 2016 FOBISIA team after Block 2, your child must attend Monday, Tuesday and Thursday ECAs, plus a Wednesday Swimming ECA for any non-Tiger Shark swimmers in Block 3. If finally selected after Block 3 your child will need to continue with their Block 3 ECAs into Block 4. If you have any questions regarding this years’ FOBISIA Games please do contact me at antt@patana.ac.th We certainly feel that all students benefit from the process of trying out across the four sports whether they make the final team or not so I would encourage your child to give it a go! Good luck to all of those Year 5 and 6 risk takers out there who are willing to take up the FOBISIA challenge for 2016!
By Genevieve Ahl, Services Manager
Try Outs for Season 1 take place from Monday 24th to Thursday 27th August. Click here for a list of teams and the try out schedule. All try outs run from 2.30pm until 4.30pm. If you are already a transport user AND signed up for try outs on the ECA registration system before noon on Friday 21st August, then your bus home will be booked. If not, please make alternate arrangements for transportation home.
The Transport team would like to welcome new users to the service and to Bangkok Patana School. We would also like to extend a warm welcome back to our returning customers. We hope everyone has had a smooth start to the school year. The Transport Corner is a weekly article giving quick bullet point reminders to users of the school Transport Service. We advise all transport users and parents to read this section weekly. Whilst we do try to limit changes to your child's bus route and/or pick up time, please note that occasionally we may need to make amendments. The reasons for this may include; the bus is not arriving at school on time, new students move into or out of your area, students join the Transport service later into the term, students move from temporary accommodation. You will be notified in advance if there is a need to adjust your child's bus number or pick up time only. There may be many changes within the first few weeks for some buses/routes. Season 1 sports try outs for Secondary students will take place Monday – Thursday next week. If you signed up to the Season 1
Noodles
50 THB
Smoothie (Secondary/Primary)
60 / 45 THB
Secondary Canteen (Buffet Lunch)
90 THB
Primary Canteen (Buffet Lunch)
70 THB
Snack Bar items
10 – 60 THB
The prices are effective from 1st August 2015.
sports trials via the ECA page your childs bus will be changed to 4.30pm on the days of the trials. Please ensure that you cancel your child's afternoon bus in advance if they will not be using the bus after trials. This will avoid the buses waiting unnecessarily for students and inconveniencing other bus users. If you have not signed up for trials and wish to attend, please contact Transport to change bus time. Note: There are limited 4.30pm buses available next week for those attending sports trials. Please check to see if we have a route and seating available for your child by contact transport@patana.ac.th in advance. You may need to be prepared to make alternative arrangements home if your child is attending a sports trial and a seat and/or route is not available. Please ensure your children are ready in the morning at the scheduled pick up time. The bus will wait a maximum of three minutes and then leave. The bus will not call you to see where you are nor ring your doorbell. Please help to avoid delays and inconvenience to other bus users by being on time. Note: this three minutes should not be used on a daily basis. Please inform Transport if a fellow bus user is regularly late for their pick up time. The Transport Service's direct dial phone number is 02 785 2470 The office is staffed from 6.00am 6.00pm Monday to Friday. Transport can also be contacted by emailing transport@patana.ac.th.
By Sineenat (Oil) Khongyoo, Nutritionist Have you seen the location of the new Secondary Smoothie / Snack Bar? You will find it in the ground floor of the new Science Building near the Secondary Library and Noodle Bar. You can order your smoothies, buy ice creams and snacks from this area. Also new is the 2 new smoothies on the smoothie menu! These were popular requests from students last year and therefore it has been decided that they should be permanently on the menu. These smoothies are delicious and nutritious with the main ingredient being the tasty and wonderful mango. Mango is high in vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B and other vitamins. Vitamin A and vitamin C are antioxidants and vitamin A may help your vision whilst vitamin C can help your immune system. Vitamin B may help your brain function and is often identified as a food that can help to prevent heart disease.
The new smoothies are: Mango Delight - Mango delight is made with mango and honey. This recipe is not too sweet as it only uses a small amount of honey, which is a natural sweetener. There are 180 kcal in one glass of Mango Delight. It is high in vitamin A (60% of daily recommend intake), vitamin C (80% of daily recommended intake) and high folic acid (20% of daily recommended intake). Banango Breezer - Banango Breezer is made with banana, mango and yoghurt. This tasty recipe is not too sweet. There are 145 kcal in one glass. No sweeteners are added, the fruit and yoghurt give natural sweetness. Yoghurt contains probiotics, that can help your digestive tract and your immune system. Banango Breezer has high vitamin A (50 % of daily recommended intake), vitamin C (65% of daily recommend intake) and high folic acid (23% of daily recommended in
take). The cost per smoothie from the Secondary Smoothie Bar is 60 THB. We hope you will try and enjoy the two new smoothies on offer as well as continue to enjoy some of our regular smoothie recipes. Reference: http://nutritiondata.self.com/
BSL Registration and regular season games take place at the Sports Complex, Bangkok Patana School We also offer a competitive inter-league games
Visit www.bslclub.com for age group timings, to register and for more information.
The weekly canteen menu is available here. Please check the calendar on the Parents’ Gateway, Student pages and Staff Centre for up-to-date information on school events. Visit www.patana.ac.th and click on the relevant icon to log in