Patana News Volume 20 Issue 20

Our mission is to ensure that students of different nationalities grow to their full potential as independent learners in a caring British international community.

NEWS Patana

Friday 9th February 2018

www.patana.ac.th

Volume 20 Issue 20

Brave New Worlds?

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Also in this issue CATs Corner 09/02/2018

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SEASAC Tennis in Singapore

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2017/18

Air Quality

Bangkok Patana School News

Bangkok Patana is a not-for-profit IB World School, accredited by CIS, NEASC and ONESQA

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Brave New Worlds?

Antonius Berghuis, Key Stage 3 Senior Teacher - Curriculum and Assessment

175 students, 16 teachers, four-and-a-half school days, nine full working hours, four islands, 28 groups of students, 36 distinct tasks…so what is this large-scale collaborative learning experience all about?

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reating a nation is complicated stuff.

Creating a nation which complies with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals is even more complicated.

Creating a nation where everyone is happy is downright “mission impossible”. Nevertheless, these were the main challenges we put in front of our Year 8 students for this year’s Year 8 Connections Project.

175 students, 16 teachers, fourand-a-half school days, nine full working hours, four islands, 28 groups of students, 36 distinct tasks…so what is this large-scale collaborative learning experience all about?

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Within each island nation, students divide into seven main role groups (including a government group), each with a different brief.

After that, the students organise and manage themselves to complete their tasks; there is – intentionally – a minimum of adult intervention and guidance. Students must research which industries/assets would be best to develop on their island, and justify their decisions. They need to respond to the various consequences of their decisions – particularly when these decisions negatively impact on sustainable development goals and the happiness of the population. They need to find a way to ensure things get done, and people get on with each other as positively and productively as possible.

Learning to Learn is a subject which is taught in Year 7 only. It is aimed at developing a range of what are often referred to as “21st Century” skills and values – collaboration, communication, risk-taking, creativity, resourcefulness, and so on. While Learning to Learn does not continue into Year 8 as a discrete subject, the Connections Project is an extension of this course, and aims to promote and reinforce the goals of the Year 7 Learning to Learn lessons.

It was certainly not a straightforward learning experience, and there were certainly times when it was frustrating as well as rewarding. However, on Wednesday 31st January, students were very excited (and very nervous) to have the opportunity to share their learning with both their own parents and the parents of their peers. As parents and students will agree, the celebration morning was a great success, and we are already looking forward to doing it all again next year!

Essentially, the Year 8 Connections Project involves all Year 8 students coming off timetable for a total of four-and-a-half days. Students are divided into four groups and each group is given an island to call “home” (each island is geographically different). They are presented with the challenge of creating a successful island nation – with sustainable development as the main success criteria.

“My advice is to take everything into consideration before completing important decisions e.g. jobs, people, money, environment etc.” – Akita Islander

Bangkok Patana School News

STUDENT REFLECTIONS:

“That to be a sustainable country, it’s not just about the money but it is also about the happiness of everyone and being eco-friendly.” – Akita Islander “I learnt that I can sometimes be slightly overbearing on my teammates. I think 09/02/2018

“Collaboration is important when you’re working I need to improve on giving others more space to be themselves and not be as rigid and saying together, but finding a way to get that they have to “use my method” to complete a everyone focused and on task was difficult.” – Iceberge task.” – Akita Islander “I thought that I wouldn’t be able to act like a leader but, in Islander Connections, I found out that I CAN act as a leader.” – L’ile de Joie Islander

“I learnt that even the smallest decisions, that “It was difficult because I was mostly working with peo- don’t seem like anple that I didn’t know, who were from different classes ything, can change and didn’t know my character. That was why when my the world significantideas seemed a bit ambitious, it wasn’t taken very well ly either negatively or and seemed ‘weird’. However, I personally love a chal- positively.” - Jaimanju lenge and embraced these difficulties and as a result Islander “I learnt that of this, stepped back more and produced a beautiful display that combined everyone’s ideas and effort.” everything won’t go your way and you have to find solu– L’ile de Joie Islander “Cooperation and collaborating went really well with my tions.” – Jaimanju islander group because everyone listened, pitched creative ideas “I think in terms of collaband worked well together even though we did not really oration skills I can communicate with my teamknow each other at first.” – L’ile de Joie Islander “I have realised that it is quite hard to rule a mates very well and country because there will always be people that we worked together smoothly. I think I need are criticising you.” – Iceberge Islander to improve my public “That it’s really easy to slip off the tight-rope of sus- speaking skills because tainable development, just by one small move- I am too shy to stand in ment, and that small movement makes huge impact.” front of everybody and – Iceberge Islander give my opinions.”

– Jaimanju islander 09/02/2018

Bangkok Patana School News

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Air Quality at Bangkok Patana School W

e are currently at a time of the year, where we annually see poorer air quality in Bangkok as we transition from cooler temperatures into the hottest season. Whilst our campus is at an advantage being on the outskirts of the city, we regularly monitor pollution levels using information provided by the Air Quality and Noise Management Bureau of the Thai government. We are fortunate to have a monitoring station quite close to us on Sukhumvit Road at Bangna BTS station, so the readings are specific to our location. The Air Quality Index (AQI) readings taken in Bangna are typically lower than those from central Bangkok. Additionally, we recently compared readings on our campus to those from the Bangna monitoring station and the AQI readings at school were 33% lower.

PROCEDURES DURING THE HIGH-RISK SEASON FOR AIR POLLUTION: • As a school under a licence from the Ministry of Education, we use the data provided from an official Thai government site.

• The Health and Safety Office at school checks the information daily from the Air Quality and Noise Management Bureau that measures pollution: http://air4thai.pcd.go.th/web/station.php?station=05t • The Health and Safety Office communicates to the Head of School if the AQI reading moves above 100. When this happens, adequate steps are taken to safeguard vulnerable members of the community in line with the table below. If the AQI reading is at 151 or over, all activities will take place inside.

• We are subject to regular environmental inspections at school for both outdoor and indoor areas.

These inspections confirm that our campus environmental conditions are healthy for our community.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your respective school principal.

Click here for the Canteen Menu 4

Bangkok Patana School News

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SEASAC Tennis in Singapore Daniel Ahl, Head Tennis Coach

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1 seed singles on court to decide which school would be champions.

The match ebbed and flowed and although never ahead in the match Balloon was never more than a game beWith both semi-finals starting at hind so tension for the spectators and 6:00pm the teams rallied themselves supporting teams was unbelievable.

With the match reaching 7-7 in this for one final push and although things Day 1 was rain affected but the were not all straightforward, we safely first to eight contest, a tie break had to be played to decide the game and boys won their first three group match- negotiated passage to both finals. es whilst the girls won their first two to Finals day saw both teams compet- Balloon kept it simple and ran away leave us in a good position. Day 2 ing against UWC Dover. The Boys’ with it winning 7-1 to win the chamsaw the boys continue where they had team fought hard the whole way but pionship and claim back the SEASAC started and three more group wins se- were beaten by a better team on the crown. cured the top spot and a slightly eas- day, with Donald in his sixth and last As Head Coach, I have watched ier semi-final albeit against a school SEASAC final winning our solitary hundreds of matches in my 11 years whose number one player is ranked point leaving us 1-4 overall and silver at Bangkok Patana but this was far 500 in the Under 18 world rankings medallists. and away the most dramatic concluand who Donald had beaten in the The girls’ match was again another sion and for a man with a resting heart group match! epic final similar to last years where rate of 50 and a heart rate of 175 The girls, after a comfortable first we had narrowly lost 6-8 in the de- after physical exercise, for my heart win, then played last year’s winners ciding match. This time the girls were rate to reach 154 nearing the end of UWC Dover. The match was very determined to get over the line. Zahra the match shows what state I was in! It evenly balanced until Rhea landed and Moniqa had impressive singles was a fantastic weekend both on and awkwardly and badly twisted her wins and although both our doubles off court and the team camaraderie is knee which she had also dislocated at pairs fought hard both were beaten amazing.

SEASAC Football forcing her to retire leaving Balloon playing the number he Varsity Tennis teams travelled to Singapore last weekend to compete in the SEASAC Tennis Championships. Both Boys’ and Girls’ teams were in a confident mood after winning both the BISAC league and cup events but also realised this was another step up in standard.

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mid-match and sadly play no further part in the tournament. The girls were narrowly defeated 2-3 leaving us second in the group and facing a semi-final with arch city rivals NIST.

Bangkok Patana School News

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CATs Corner Henry Phang, Year 12

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eeing the happiness on the children’s faces at the Place of Grace this week reminded all of us how fortunate and privileged we are here at Bangkok Patana School. We at RISE, have recently held our two campaign days on the 30th and 31st January and were extremely satisfied with the success of the event.

On day one of the campaign, we organised two main activities which students were able to participate in whilst also learning more about RISE’s objectives. One of the activities was an exciting game where students threw rubber balls at a collection of cans containing facts about what RISE does, statistics regarding disadvantaged individuals and how we as students can help. This activity ties in much more closely with raising awareness and advocating compared to our other activity, which had a much more direct contribution in providing enjoyment and laughter to the children at the Place of Grace. The other main activity, which also had a brilliant outcome, was getting students to decorate cupcakes using piping bags of frosting, the adding sprinkles and other toppings. The theme of the decorations was ‘happiness’. The finished cupcakes were then delivered to the children attending Place of Grace at the end of the school day. The look of pure joy and jubilation on the children’s faces was truly heart-warming.

We were delighted to see so many students wanting to participate in these activities, as well as signing up to be members of RISE in order to help organise future events. What enables us to have such successful events isn’t just the collaboration and teamwork of the members, isn’t just the advanced planning and organised board members; because whilst all those elements are vital, the most important part of this club is the dedication of its members.

We are incredibly grateful for all the support that the students have offered and the participation and enthusiasm for providing happiness for others. We can only hope that all future RISE events will be as successful as this one!

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Bangkok Patana School News

09/02/2018

#81 Privacy Tips for iPhone Texting and Instagram Settings You’ll Want to Change

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very Saturday morning I get an email from the friendly bunch at CNET. The email often contains useful tech-related tips and keeps me up-to-date with what is happening in the technology ecosystem. Since the majority of us use our mobile devices for texting and Instagram, I thought I’d share a couple of useful videos from CNET related to those two features. Some of the highlights include how to block/filter texts from people you do not know, automatically delete old texts and hiding offensive comments in Instagram.

Direct links https://www.cnet.com/how-to/5-privacy-tips-for-iphone-texting/ https://www.cnet.com/videos/instagram-settings-to-change-right-away/ A reminder for the show times for Screenagers at Bangkok Patana School Theatre: 4:30pm Wednesday 14th February and 4:30 pm Monday 19th February. Sign up here!

Have a cool and refreshing weekend, Brian Taylor Assistant Principal, Cross Campus Curriculum Technology Integrator

New In at the Library Early Years Library

Primary Library

Secondary Library

Fiction

Fiction

Fiction

Non-Fiction

Non-Fiction

Senior Fiction

Chapter Books and Comic Books

Graphic Novels

Non-Fiction

Teachers’ Collection

DID YOU KNOW THAT WE ALSO SUBSCRIBE TO THESE MAGAZINES? If you would like to recommend a book for the library to buy, click here.

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Bangkok Patana School News

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he t m o r f st The late

PTG

Click here to join the PTG Facebook page SA V

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AT S

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BY: Bangkok Patana School WHEN: 14th and 19th February at 4:30pm WHERE: Rosamund Stuetzel Theatre Click here to watch the trailer!

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Bangkok Patana School News

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Bangkok Patana School News

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Congratulations to all athletes!

IT WAS A BUSY WEEKEND FOR OUR BANGKOK PATANA ATHLETES

VARSITY SEASAC RESULTS

WITH SEASAC AND BISAC TAKING PLACE!

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SEASAC RUNNERS UP

SEASAC CHAMPIONS

SEASAC RUNNERS UP

SEASAC RUNNERS UP

SEASAC 4TH PLACE

SEASAC 5TH PLACE

Bangkok Patana School News

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BISAC RESULTS JUNIOR VARSITY BOYS’ BASKETBALL 2ND JUNIOR VARSITY GIRLS’ BASKETBALL 2ND JUNIOR VARSITY BOYS’ RUGBY 1ST JUNIOR VARSITY GIRLS’ TOUCH 3RD UNDER 15 BOYS’ BADMINTON 7TH UNDER 15 GIRLS’ BADMINTON 5TH UNDER 13 BOYS’ BADMINTON 4TH UNDER 13 GIRLS’ BADMINTON 5TH UNDER 15 BOYS’ FOOTBALL 4TH UNDER 15 GIRLS’ FOOTBALL 3RD UNDER 13 BOYS’ FOOTBALL 2ND UNDER 13 GIRL’S FOOTBALL 1ST UNDER 11 BOYS’ FOOTBALL 4TH UNDER 11 GIRLS’ FOOTBALL 2ND

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Bangkok Patana School News

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THIS DAY THISFUN FUNDAY PLEASE PLEASEBRING BRING YOUR OWN: OWN: YOUR NON-DISPOSABLE WATER BOTTLE AIRTIGHT CONTAINER- FOR FOOD YOU MIGHT WANT TO EAT OR TAKE AWAY NON-DISPOSABLE BAGS

BUT DON'T BUY ANYTHING NEW FOR THIS EVENT YOU CAN GET BIODEGRADABLE PLATES AT THE SEC STALL

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Bangkok Patana School News

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Lockdown and Fire Drill Procedure Bangkok Patana School takes the safety of our school community very seriously. We have a management team that meet and discuss many different crisis scenarios and we have processes and procedures in place for these. We have strong links with the local police and the various embassies who alert us to any security concerns and also visit our school to review our existing procedures and provide advice on security measures.

One of the areas that we practise regularly throughout the year is the Fire Evacuation and Lockdown procedures. In Term 1 and 2, we have ‘announced’ and ‘unannounced’ drills. This enables our community to practise reacting appropriately in the event of an alarm sounding on the school campus.

PLEASE READ THE INFORMATION BELOW CAREFULLY SO YOU ARE AWARE OF OUR PROCEDURES SHOULD YOU BE ON CAMPUS WHEN AN ALARM SOUNDS. WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE ON THE SCHOOL CAMPUS WHEN AN ALARM SOUNDS? Lockdown Alarm If you are on campus and hear the ‘lockdown’ alarm (similar to a siren), please follow instructions from nearby staff. If you are not in a building, please enter the nearest building and follow instructions from staff. In a lockdown, you should be out of sight until you hear three clear whistles from the security team or are instructed that it is all clear from a security guard or member of staff. You will not be allowed to enter or exit the campus during a lockdown.

Fire Alarm If you are on the school campus and hear a fire alarm please act immediately and follow the Evacuation Route sign to the nearest assembly point, (see example).

Please make sure that you report to the Zone Fire Point Person who will be wearing an emergency jacket and have radio communication. They will be located in the middle of the zone area and will take your name and tell you where you need to stand. There are seven zones – green, yellow, blue, white, red, purple and orange. Look for these signs when you are next in school to familiarise yourself with the evacuation routes.

If you are outside the school grounds during a Fire Evacuation please note that you will not be allowed entry into school until the all clear has been given. Please follow instructions from our Security team.

WHAT DOES THE FLASHING RED LIGHT MEAN? If you see a flashing red light on the wall or ceiling it means that an alarm has been activated somewhere in school.

When the light is just flashing you do not need to do anything or leave the building but be on alert to listen for an audible alarm which will let you know what to do next. The activated alarm will be checked by the guards and if necessary the fire alarm or lock down alarm will then sound for you to respond to as normal. So you only need to respond if you hear the actual siren or if a guard or senior member of staff gives you instructions to follow. If it is a false alarm the flashing red light will stop shortly without any alarms sounding.

WHEN WILL THE ALARMS SOUND? Luckily anytime you may have heard the alarm it has been a drill only. We hold announced and unannounced Fire and Lockdown Drills throughout the year and these procedures are for the safety and protection of all students, staff and visitors. If you are on the school campus during the alarm sounding please help to set a good example to all students by responding quickly, remaining quiet during this time and following instructions from Senior Staff.

Many thanks for your cooperation.

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Bangkok Patana School News

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Bangkok Patana School News

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Click here to see the Art and Hotel Catalogue

RISE

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Bangkok Patana School News

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For daily updates, snapshots and news on life at school you can find us here...

643 Lasalle Road (Sukhumvit 105) Bangna, Bangkok 10260. THAILAND Tel: +66 (0) 2785 2200 Fax: +66 (0) 2785 2399 www.patana.ac.th Email: reception@patana.ac.th 16

Bangkok Patana School News

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