Patana News Volume 20 Issue 21 by Bangkok Patana School

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 16th February 2018

Volume 20 Issue 21

www.patana.ac.th

The Monthly Blog From Head of School, Mr Mills

Page 2

Also in this issue

2017/18

Triumph Motorcycles Factory Visit 16/02/2018

/ Guest Speaker: Tasaneeya Ratwong

Bangkok Patana School News

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

Recruitment Update It has been a very successful recruitment season and almost all of our teacher vacancies have now been filled for the 2018/19 academic year. Once again, the quality of teacher candidates in London was of a very high standard indeed and it was wonderful to observe such an intrinsic desire of candidates really wanting to join the Bangkok Patana community.

Alumni Event, London While in London recruiting, the principals and I hosted the annual Bangkok Patana Alumni event at a pub in Kensington. We had close to 80 attendees ranging from students who have recently graduated to a student who went to Bangkok Patana in 1984! We also had some ex teachers attend and it’s amazing how the Patana family continues to flourish and share cherished stories that are ingrained in who we are.

Important People in the Bangkok Patana Family A selection of very important people in our school organisation who you may not know that well but their impact on the school is enormous. This month we interviewed Cheryl Rego our Development, Alumni and Marketing Manager. Cheryl was born in Mumbai, India, and went to school in Mumbai and Brampton, Ontario, Canada. She studied for a Bachelor of Journalism at Carleton University, Canada. Cheryl is married to Marc Broadbent who works in agriculture. They have three wonderful boys and two of them are Bangkok Patana graduates: Andrew, 20, is in his second year of Engineering at the University of Waterloo and Jonathan, 19, is in his first year of Microbiology/Computer Science at McGill University, both in Canada. Their youngest son Matt is in Year 8. Cheryl was a business journalist for some years and then moved into public relations and marketing. She loves reading, listening to music of many genres and loves to travel to out-ofthe-way places. Her top achievement at Bangkok Patana so far was the 60th anniversary celebrations, including the Tiger Parade and the 60th anniversary Jazz and Blues party. Everyone in our community seemed to enjoy and value the celebrations.

ISTA Reflections I was incredibly proud of how the Bangkok Patana community came together to invite students from overseas into their homes and how students were incredible ambassadors for the school in terms of creativity and leadership at the recent International Schools Theatre Association (ISTA) Festival. This year’s theme was to explore Thai Culture, in particular, the Thai people’s belief in ghosts and spirits. Artists from Isaan and Bangkok performed at the opening ceremony and local venues like the Erawan Museum were visited giving participants an amazing springboard of stimuli to bounce off. The final sharing of ideas was presented in the new Dance Studios which also highlighted the wonderful facilities we have at our school to help showcase the student’s learning. A magical weekend that will be remembered by the students for a long time.

Nita Dewse, Curriculum Co-ordinator Drama Celebrating SEASAC Champs! Our Bangkok Patana Tennis Girls started well winning the first four matches 5-0 at the recent SEASAC Tennis championship in Singapore. The fifth match in the group was against UWC Dover who had defeated us last year, we were 2-1 down after the singles 2

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and then Rhea landed awkwardly in the doubles, which at the time was close. She was forced to retire and play no further part in the event and although Clara and Prae won, we lost 2-3. Our last group game was against NIST and I re-jigged the doubles pairs and although a few matches were close, we won 4-1 to set up a semi-final with NIST. The semi-final was a much closer affair but the girls realised without Rhea they all had to take on additional responsibility and we managed to survive and book a place in the final. The final was different in that all five matches started at the same time making it hard to coach on court and keep track of who was doing what. Zahra had a good win against a girl who had beaten her the day before but both doubles lost tight matches leaving us 1-2 down. Moniqa soon made it 2-2 leaving Balloon on court with the whole of our fate in her hands! She trailed the whole way but there was never more than one game behind so it was just a case of fighting hard and hoping the chances came. At 7-7 we played a tiebreak and Balloon kept her nerve, did the simple things well and romped home 7-1. Seven wins for the girls in the last eight years, what an impressive result!

Dan Ahl, Head Tennis Coach Long Term Staff Member I am delighted to announce that Jackie Houghton has been appointed Head of Secondary at St. Andrews 107 starting in August 2018. Jackie has had an incredible career at Bangkok Patana School starting as a Secondary Science/ Biology teacher way back in 1992. She has been a learning support teacher, secondary Assistant Principal for pastoral as well as her current Cross Campus Assistant Principal Professional Learning position. We are all thrilled that Jackie has gained a promotion but we will miss her a great deal. Her current Cross Campus Assistant Principal Continued Professional Learning position has been advertised and interviews have already taken place. We all wish Jackie all the very best for her future and thank her for her amazing, dedicated service to our school.

Fun Day Special thanks to Vanasobhin Kasemsri na Ayudhaya (Khun Vana) and Apollo Chansrichawla, our fabulous, fantastic Fun Day Coordinators who took on the challenge for the second year in a row! There has been a team of over 20 parents involved in the organisation of Fun Day this year and in addition fabulous support from the Marketing and Buildings and Grounds Departments. However, Vana Kasemsri Na Ayudhaya and Apollo Chansrichawla are the main Fun Day Coordinators and have done an amazing job of the overall organisation of this event. We had over 1,000 attendees by 11:00am as we celebrated our incredible school community. The new funky tent around the performance area were superb and the sound quality was excellent. Special thanks also to Melissa Golden our PTG Chair for her amazing support. I can’t wait for my 11th Fun Day next year!

Great Educational Article to Share A very reflective and well-written account of a Mother’s experience having a child bullied which includes loads of first hand advice for parents. Click here to read the article. Have a wonderful weekend, only one more week until half-term break! Best wishes Matt Mills Head of School

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Bangkok Patana School News

Design and Technology: Triumph Motorcycles Factory Visit

Richard Smith, Head of Faculty Design and Technology

n Tuesday 13th February, we took a group of 19 IB Design and Technology (DT) students to the Triumph Motorcycles Factory in Chonburi. On arrival, we were greeted by an entourage of smiling receptionists and met by Dave Thomas, the Engineering Director who took us into a conference room where we listened to a presentation on the history of Triumph Motorcycles with a particular focus on the era from 1983 to the present day. During this time, owner John Bloor and his team built Triumph motorcycles back from insolvency to a world leading prestigious British motorcycle brand and in 2002 Triumph opened the first of its three factories in Thailand. In a second presentation, we looked at the manufacturing capability of the three factories (3, 4 and 5).

ing of the bikes as they came off the assembly line. Our students were certainly impressed by the scale of manufacturing and the complex production systems in place at Triumph. Students saw examples of Lean Manufacturing, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Just in Timeâ&#x20AC;?, Mass Customisation, Kaizen philosophy and Quality Control to mention just a few. Industrial visits have many benefits for our students such as to seeing a manufacturing plant first hand, observing the latest manufacturing technologies, looking at current production engineering systems and philosophies in practice. An industrial visit enables students hear from and question engineers and manufacturing management.

We have no doubt that our students were truly inspired by what they saw at Triumph and will be more able to conWe were then taken on a tour of Factory 5 in two groups, textualise this aspect of theory that they have been studywhere we saw high pressure die-casting and machining ing and be better prepared for their exams and IA Design facilities, quality control, assembly, and rolling road test- Project work.

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We put an emphasis on commercial manufacturing in our curriculum in Design and Technology and offer a module in Year 9 where students batch produce a product in teams and study production engineering, lean manufacturing and Kaisen Philosophy in preparation for their learning at IB. We are now very pleased to be able to put the Triumph Factory visit in the school academic calendar for next year and look forward to working with Triumph in the future. We would like to thank the following people who helped to make our visit such a success and an invaluable learning experience for all: Carl Smith â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Managing Director Dave Thomas - Engineer Director Mark Pirie â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Factory 5 Quality Manager Phatchara Supinrach - HR Section Manager

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Bangkok Patana School News

CATs Corner Tania Leyland, Youth Club and Community Services Coordinator FUN DAY... Fun Day 2018 was excellent once again. Here are some thoughts form the student Community Action Teams: “Hand2Heart were busy spreading our message to our community. We fulfilled our goal of raising awareness for HIV/AIDS by creating a banner with hand prints from members of the Bangkok Patana community and those visiting as well. The hand-print poster is part of our long-standing tradition, which represents the unity, hope and support we have for all those suffering from HIV/AIDS around the world and for those we directly support.” “Amnesty was proud to have a stall at the annual Fun Day event on Saturday 10th February. The issues we focused on this year included capital punishment, inequality and freedom of speech. This year we had people trapped in stocks whilst visitors threw wet sponges at them. The purpose of this activity was to raise awareness of the value of fundamental human rights. In addition, we had the dunk tank available to symbolise capital punishment and the nature of injustice around the world” “PAWS were very busy at Fun Day with a lot of children lining up to ‘free the animals’ from the cages! We believe that we were able to educate and raise awareness, of the issue of illegal animal trading with the children who came to play our game.” “Our Interact Fun Day Art Auction was a great success! We raised over 17,000 THB which is over triple the amount from the previous year!” “Habitat for Humanity ran an interactive house building activity aimed at Primary students, to raise awareness of our cause. The activity was very popular and attracted many young children who came and played with the giant building blocks. We also received some donations from parents and students. A particular highlight was a visit from the CEO of Habitat Thailand, who donated 1000 THB as well!” Student volunteers spent the day entertaining children from the Mercy Centre who once again had a fantastic time. We also hosted young people from Camillian Home who spent the day with Project Star. Exhausting but so much fun, fun, fun! The Playing 4 Change band entertained the crowds with their renditions of songs from the Playing 4 Change album and even had some of the crowd singing along. A massive thank you to all students for volunteering and to all parents and children for supporting our teams! IN OTHER NEWS... Following two very successful Key Stage 3 dances, the Patana Junior Delegates donated 24,000 THB to the Central CAT fund.

Bangkok Patana School News

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#82 Parent’s Guides to Games

f you’re like me and sort of missed out on the computer game explosion then I think you’ll find this site useful. What I really like is that you can quickly navigate to useful ‘How To’ guides on setting up the parental controls on the various types of platform. All the latest games are there and its appealing design makes it a great site to explore together with your children – encouraging dialogue on the suitability of games for their age group. Try the Game Finder to help narrow down your search. Direct links http://www.everybodyplays. co.uk/parents-guide-to-games http://www.everybodyplays. co.uk/game-finder/ Have a great weekend, Brian Taylor Assistant Principal, Cross Campus Curriculum Technology Integrator

Click here for the Canteen Menu 16/02/2018

Bangkok Patana School News

he t m o r f st The late

PTG

Click here to join the PTG Facebook page

ur sense of community was alive and well at this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s PTG Fun Day. Fabulous food and drink options, fun games and activities for the children, great prizes, shopping bargains and fantastic entertainment were enjoyed by over 3,200 people on Saturday! After many weeks of planning, the sky cleared and the sun shone, it was an amazing day. Many members of our school community came together to make this yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Fun Day the success it was. The support from our very generous parent sponsors, Fun Day team leaders and parent, teacher and student volunteers was outstanding and truly appreciated. Vana and Apollo, our PTG Fun Day Coordinators, made organising such a huge event look easy and were an absolute pleasure to work with. Thank you both. Special thanks must also be given to: Khun Boz, our Stage Manager Khun Pym, our Entertainment Coordinator Mayaan, organised Fun Day Promotion Khun Nita, our SEC and CAT Club Coordinator Khun Koi and Pook, our Lucky Dip Coordinators Joe, our Drinks Coordinator Anthony and Joy at the Fun Day Entrance Khun Amy and Helen, our Kids Activities Coordinators Gudrun, Tanida and Naifah, our Tea Room Organisers Janine, our Tiger Shop Manager Khun Aorm and Ladwan, our Vendor Support team Khun Duang and Khun Ying from the School Shop Khun Ying and Nok, for coordinating the kids stage shows Khun Tai, Took, Toey, Mod, Cherrie, Phee and Pik, who helped coordinate the Vendors Meeting Also, on behalf of the PTG, we would like to extend our sincere thanks to the Building and Grounds, and Marketing and Communications Departments for their continual support of Fun Day. Until next year! Click here to see the Fun Day Facebook album

Melissa Golden PTG Chairperson

Bangkok Patana School News

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Bangkok Patana School News

Guest Speaker: Tasaneeya Ratwong Riti Soonthornsingh, Secondary Thai Coordinator

Key Stage 4 Thai students recently enjoyed a visit from Tasaneeya Ratwong (Khun Poon) who enjoys a varied career as a TV host, journalist for The Nation, blogger, freelance MC, and product presenter. She is also a musical stage actress and has been in the media and entertainment business since she graduated.

he presentation from Khun Poon gave the opportunity for Thai students from Year 10 and 11 to gain an insight into the media and entertainment business. The event was hosted by Pin and Win from Year 10 and the presentation created by Prim, Licha, and Fai from Year 10 not only added colour to the talk, but also showed Khun Poon our appreciation.

what went wrong in society. It can monitor misbehaviour and ensure that they are treated in the right way. It was a great learning opportunity for the students and also helped to prepare them as global citizens especially in terms of how they should interact with the media in this globalised world.

Khun Poon shared her experiences of the entertainment business, telling the students that the key to success is to be yourself. She started her career as a news reader but found that it didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t fit with her character. Eventually, she found that being involved in more entertaining content was better suited to her. Khun Poon shared a lot of useful tips for our students as media consumers who are now facing a lot of challenges in this new era of media and entertainment business. She talked to the students about the changes of the internet allowing more freedom for people to make contact to the world through social media. She also reflected the importance of a media person in STUDENT REFLECTIONS: society whose responsibility is to ensure that the public is Win, Year 10 - I have learnt many new things about the well informed of the most up to date and verified informa- environment of Thailand, and how we should deal with it. In tion. Khun Poon also explained how the media plays an Thailand, there is a lot of discrimination in our society. We important role in keeping a nation moving and reports on 10

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need to have connections in order for us to reach the top of this society. Pee Poon learned this from experience when she was discriminated against because of her skin colour and her lack of knowledge and connection with people in the industry. That is why she advised that no matter who it is, we should always have manners and say hello.

useful content on there but one bad decision can completely change your life. We should be careful about what we do online and keep track of our digital footprint.

Licha, Year 10 - We had a chance to interview Khun Tasaneeya Ratwong, which I thought was very impressive and a beneficial experience for us. Getting to hear her Tasha, Year 10 - From this interview, I have learnt many knowledge, advice and opinions helped us to understand new things about the dangers of the media, and how it can the ideas of adapting in modern society. We learnt about manipulate us into believing something if we aren’t careful. the importance and dangers of social media and how we What the media tells us is just the tip of the iceberg with should always think before we act upon something. We

“From this interview, I have learnt many new things about the dangers of the media, and how it can manipulate us into believing something if we aren’t careful.”

also learnt that we shouldn’t be too gullible and should always judge the news on the internet before believing it as nowadays people post false rumours online.

Fresh, Year 11 - One thing I learned is the importance of individuality. Khun Poon said that her flamboyant personality has led to her new-found success even though many may say she should be more formal in presenting herself. We learnt that by staying true to ourselves, we will be reTasha, Year 10 warded in ways we cannot imagine. Another topic she much more news that we are unaware of. Consequently, presented to us was the obstacle she faced when aspiring we should learn to make our own decisions of what to be- to work in the entertainment industry, which was her dark lieve and what not to believe, based on our own judge- skin tone. Many TV channels turned her down because she ments, as the media can be very dangerous and can lead did not match the stereotypes that other Thai girls considus astray if we are not careful. ered “beautiful”. She taught us about the power of diversity Benny, Year 10 – Khun Poon introduced many exciting and interculturalism, and we learnt to be more respectful to points but one that I found the most interesting was the dis- everyone of different nationalities, religions, sexualities and cussion about secrets behind the media. In particular, the ages; her talk inspired us to be better global citizens. television industry, with many, if not most celebrities not alPrin, Year 10 - I learnt that the media pros and cons, ways being the person you see behind the camera. It is best that the media is scarier than we assume and that we illustrated with an old saying, “Not everyone is who you should think before we post something online because it think they are”. Subsequently, I have learnt not to believe will stay with us forever. Moreover, we should not believe all information from other people and not be “gullible”, es- everything the media tells us, but should choose what to pecially with sources you may not necessarily know that believe and what not to believe. For example, news about well. celebrities who can’t tell the whole truth all the time since it Tharit, Year 10 - The present media is one of the greatest and scariest inventions of all time. You can find all sorts of

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could have a negative effect on their careers. Also that we shouldn’t spread stories that might not be true.

Bangkok Patana School News

Superb Performances!

@THE US COLLEGE TENNIS TOUR

14 OF OUR TIGER ATHLETES, RANGING FROM UNDER 11 - UNDER 19, PARTICIPATED IN A COMPETITIVE TENNIS TOURNAMENT HELD AT BANGKOK PATANA THIS PAST WEEKEND. WITH TWO DAYS OF MATCHES, AS WELL AS COMPETITORS FROM OTHER SCHOOLS ALL OVER BANGKOK, OUR TIGERS PULLED OUT SOME FANTASTIC RESULTS.

Balloon won the Under 19 category, Clara won the Under 15 category, and Andrew placed second in the Under 11s!

UPCOMING EVENTS

PRIMARY RECORD BREAKERS SATURDAY 17 FEBRUARY 7:30-12:00 @ PRIMARY BACK FIELD TH

SEASON 3 TEAM PHOTOS UNDER 13/15: TUESDAY 20TH FEB JUNIOR VARSITY/ VARSITY: WEDNESDAY 21ST FEBRUARY

KEEP UP

W I T H T H E AC T I O N . . .

@BPS_ATHLETICS _COUNCIL

@BPSSPORTS

TIGER SPORTS TEAMS

LUNCHTIME @ SECONDARY FRONT FIELD

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CHANCES & CHANGES

08 MARCH 18

TICKETS ARE FREE OF CHARGE WITH LIMITED SPACE. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED PLEASE CONTACT JADESADA SCHNEIDER: - JASC19@PATANA.AC.TH -

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Bangkok Patana School News

Communications T

here are a number of channels that we use to get information to our community and would encourage you to familiarise yourself with each:

• • • • •

Patana Life, daily Patana News, weekly Facebook Instagram Twitter

We would like to remind you that if there is a need for immediate communication to the community, we will post information on the front of the website in place of the Patana News link, on the school Facebook page and via email to all parents, students and staff. Therefore it is important that your contact details are up to date, please click here to check. Please note that you can’t change details online but must either complete and email the form to admissions@patana.ac.th or complete a hard copy and return to the Admissions team. This is to make sure the address is formatted correctly and that all necessary departments are notified. Thank you for your support.

BY: Bangkok Patana School WHEN: 19th February at 4:30pm WHERE: Rosamund Stuetzel Theatre

ET M YO O U N R D S AY EA H TS ER F E! O R

Click here to watch the Screenagers trailer!

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Please feel free to follow your child and their class around the Sports Day stations and cheer them on in all of the exciting activities that they will encounter.

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Bangkok Patana School News

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Bangkok Patana School News