The Termly Magazine of Bangkok Patana School Bangkok Patana Magazine
Bangkok Patana
Magazine
Issue 46 Term 3, June 2015
Secondary
Primary
Cross Campus
Bridging the Gap Between Art and Design and Technology
Reaping the Rewards of Reading
Season 3 Sports Round Up TERM 2/2015
Bangkok Patana School is an IB World School, accredited by CIS and NEASC
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SECONDARY
CONTENTS
Issue 46, Term 3, June 2015
6 SECONDARY 6 Graduation Class of 2015 8 Introducing Star Days 10 Bridging the Gap Between Art and Design and Technology 12 Year 7 and 8 Connexions
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24 Front Cover Artwork George Hudson, 1M
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PRIMARY 18 Instilling Compassion and Understanding: Primary Community Action Teams 20 Reaping the Rewards of Reading 22 Drama in the Primary School CROSS CAMPUS 16 Dance Extravagaza 24 Alumni Profile: Shaifali Thakker, Class of 2014 26 Term 3 Alumni Visits 28 Season 3 Sports Round Up
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Bangkok Patana Magazine
FOREWARD
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o another year has passed and we prepare to wave goodbye to a fresh batch of graduates, off to discover the world. This made me reflect on my own journey after school and a series of events that led me to where I am today, which I am happy to say is a job that I enjoy and am extremely passionate about. I had always enjoyed school and emerged from Year 13 (Form 7 in my case) with decent grades and an offer to study Health Sciences (Medicine) at Otago University in New Zealand. My own careers education in high school was quite limited (not the excellent department you have access to here) and had consisted of an online quiz and a brief chat with the school counsellor, which went along the lines of “You’re smart – you should do Law or Medicine” and so I had duly complied by applying for both with something less than enthusiasm. Post graduation, I embarked on the ubiquitous right-of-passage for all graduates down-under –“Schoolies Week”, a week long party with my fellow graduates on either Australia’s Gold Coast or Bali, Indonesia. My poor parents had obligingly agreed and my boarding pass to Bali was burning a hole in my pocket as was my shiny new ID that said I was 18 – it wasn’t even fake! On my way to the departure gate with friends I stopped off at the book shop to buy something to read on the plane. I was drawn to a book called Smart Sport – little did I know this book would change my life in some very powerful ways. Each chapter had been penned by an expert in their field and one chapter in particular about “Recovery
for Athletes” caught my eye. Not because of the interesting content (although it was good stuff) but because the pen portrait of the writer, a lady called Dr Angela Calder included a list of her qualifications, one being a Bachelor of Applied Science in Sports Coaching. I knew immediately that was what I wanted to do! The compulsion was so strong that I headed to the nearest pay phone (pre-mobile phone days!) in the terminal, called my Dad and asked him to phone the University of Canberra in Australia and request a prospectus for me. He must have thought I’d already had one too many celebratory drinks! To his credit and a reflection of my amazing parent’s unfailing support, when I returned from Bali, there on my bed was a University of Canberra prospectus and another boarding pass. My Dad had traded in some air miles and booked us both a plane ticket to Canberra the following week to meet with the course convener and see if they would accept a late application. The rest as they say is history… I met with the course convener and was blown
643 Lasalle Road (Sukhumvit 105) Bangna, Bangkok 10260, Thailand Tel: +66 (0) 2785 2200 Fax: +66 (0) 2785 2399 Email: reception@patana.ac.th www.patana.ac.th
Editor: Cheryl Rego Tel: +66 (0) 2785 2200 Email: chre@patana.ac.th Advertisement: Finn Balslev Tel: +66 (0) 2943 7166-8 Email: finn@scandmedia.com
away by his passion for Sports Science and Coaching. I was accepted into the course and that February, instead of packing for Otago University to study something I was only moderately interested in, I followed my passion and headed to the University of Canberra in association with the Australian Institute of Sport and studied a four year degree in Applied Science and Sports Coaching. Some things are just meant to be. The story came full circle when I learned that my lecturer at University Mark Sayers, was the partner of Angie Calder, the renowned recovery expert. In the second year of my course, I shared a flat with a group of avid Cross Country skiers and when we had a spare room available my friend said she knew someone looking… Katie Calder (a National level Cross Country skier) and yes you guessed it… Angie Calder’s daughter! I did eventually meet Angie in person and worked with her at the Australian Institute of Sport running recovery sessions for visiting teams. She and her partner Mark Sayers (my Biomechanics professor who now works with the New Zealand All Blacks) are still mentors of mine and we exchange the odd email and catch up. So it is my honour to wish all our new graduates and soon to be alumni all the best. In sharing the story above I hope to tell you that if you follow your heart, you can’t go wrong. I’ve been very lucky to have fabulous support from my family and friends but also a little luck and help from a stranger or two along the way too. Good luck until we meet again! – Cindy Adair-Bolakoso, Head Swim Coach
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Bangkok Patana Magazine is the termly publication of Bangkok Patana School published three times per year and distributed to 2,000 members of the School community. Reproduction of articles, artwork and illustrations by written permission only.
TERM 2/2015
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SECONDARY
INTRODUCING STAR DAYS Antonius Berghuis
Senior Teacher – Key Stage 3 Curriculum and Assessment
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t the front of our school a large sign serves as a constant reminder that Bangkok Patana School is dedicated to providing a nurturing and challenging environment wherein all students can “grow to their full potential as independent learners”. It is an aspiration towards which we all – students, teachers, and parents - work in partnership. STAR (Student Target and Reflection) Day is a reflection cycle which runs throughout a school term, and which aims to support student engagement with the academic and personal feedback included in their most recent report. In this way, we hope to encourage and support students to take more responsibility for their own learning through independently setting and achieving long term goals. 8
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So, how does the process work? Essentially, having reflected on their previous report, each student chooses three goals (two academic, and one based on the IB Learner Profile Attributes) to which they are willing to commit. Next, they draft an action plan (next steps), and then share these intentions with their tutor, their parents and the relevant subject teachers. During the remainder of the term, tutors and subject teachers remind and encourage students to be mindful of these long term commitments, and to ensure that their “next steps” are, indeed, being taken. At the end of the cycle, there is a strong element of accountability; tutors and subject teachers reflect on the process with each student: “To what extent did you meet your goals?”
Fundamental to the STAR Day process is the concept of the “reflective learner” and the belief that quality reflective practice is intrinsic to being an authentically “independent learner”. Independent learners understand the strategies they can employ to learn. They are able to track and monitor their own progress, and assess their progress against specific criteria. Independent learners can construct appropriate learning goals for themselves, and implement action plans which will enable them to achieve those goals. The reflective practice supported by the STAR Day cycle can play a key role in the acquisition and development of these skills as students continue to develop as the independent learners Bangkok Patana strives to nurture.
SECONDARY
BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN ART AND DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY Aishwarya Bagaria, 11J
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aving just completed an IGCSE in Art and Design and an IGCSE in Design and Technology (DT) with a concentration in Graphic Products, I have realised the two subjects are complimentary and distinct at the same time. In both subjects, the main coursework revolves around one topic, but the approach to each subject is different. In Art, I had the freedom to express my creativity through the use of different media and compositions, whereas in DT, the coursework requirements compelled me to structure my ideas in a linear way. Both subjects, however, mandated me to show the process of development to reach the final product, which in turn has allowed me to recognise the merits of the distinct approaches. In my first Art coursework, I had to paint “water,”, which is not as easy as you might imagine. I used unconventional media, such as fabric and glass paint and added movement to my piece using a palette knife. This tool has now become 10
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one of my favourite instruments to paint with because it can create smooth, organic shapes and sharp, structured lines For my final Art exam, I chose the topic “changing time,” within which I explored a building’s changes from the beginning to the end of the construction stage.
Initially, I found this a challenging task, because my previous coursework had required me to use fluid and free brush strokes. However, in my final exam, the geometrical shape of the buildings restricted my drawing compositions. The biggest struggle was capturing every
Bangkok Patana Magazine
detail of the building and then expressing it in a creative way through the use of different media. Eventually I came to enjoy this struggle because I started using
materials I had never worked with before. The two-year IGCSE Art course taught me a valuable lesson—stepping outside my comfort zone and experimenting with
less familiar methods can lead to rewarding outcomes. For my DT coursework, I chose to create an architectural model. The brief required students to create a public building, so being an Art student (as well), I decided to create an Art gallery. In contrast to art, for the DT coursework I had to conduct structural research, because we had to take important considerations into account before designing a building. The DT coursework requirements were a lot more directed and divided into several clear sections to guide the project’s development. I personally found the predetermined structure extremely helpful, because I knew exactly what was demanded of me; whereas in Art although there are specific criteria, deciding what to create and how to present all my work was part of what I was assessed on. Similar to my experience in Art, I initially struggled to create a physical architectural model because my design was more complicated than I had expected. Fortunately, after numerous tries and modifications, I achieved a successful result. The other challenge I faced was ensuring the perfect dimensions in my technical drawings. Despite these struggles, I didn’t hold back from attempting a unique design inspired by paper-made structures. It was a long process, because I had to analyse preexisting designs, conduct a questionnaire and narrow down to my top three designs. Nevertheless, ultimately, I’m proud of the model I created, because it is a translation of my vision on paper into reality. Overall, I enjoyed studying both Art and DT. I developed useful techniques and more importantly, learned important lessons in both subjects. At first glance, both subjects may appear to be similar, perhaps even interchangeable, but their differences trump their similarities, which is why I will continue studying both subjects in IB. In the future, I hope to study something akin to “design communications” in which I can combine art and design with business. As part of this endeavour, I will be attending summer school at Pratt Institute in New York where I will immerse myself in a three-week intensive course to improve my technical and artistic skills and to experience the atmosphere of a design school. TERM 2/2015
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SECONDARY
YEAR 7 AND 8 CONNEXIONS Andrew Thain
Learning to Learn Coordinator
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he Learning to Learn curriculum in Term 3 provided exhilarating challenges for students in Years 7 and 8. Year 7 students found themselves embroiled in a ‘CSI’ styled murder mystery, whilst the Year 8 students were tasked with building islands. The Year 7 Connexions project was focused around the fictional death of Akito Watanabe, a prominent businessman, and involved the students finding, reviewing and evaluating evidence to bring a murderer to justice. However, it wasn’t as straight forward as it initially seemed. Many of the clues were red-herrings and time was tight meaning that students had to think and act fast. In Year 8, students had been put into groups and each group had entirely developed a fictional island. Every choice was made by students from what industries to invest in, to how to build relations with the other islands. Of course, every choice had consequences and some of the students found themselves dealing with problems of their own creation. Like the choice of laws leading to problems with the UN, 12
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or shrimp farming salinating the land, or education policies that draw anger from Amnesty International. The main idea behind these projects was to give students the opportunity to employ key transferrable skills such as decision-making, team work and independent learning. We wanted to develop IB profile
attributes and enable students to make connections between different areas of the curriculum. Furthermore, we wanted these skills not just applicable to the students’ life at school, but also for them to take beyond their years at Bangkok Patana. Both these projects required from the students enormous amounts of collaboration,
BANGKOK PATANA SCHOOL Class of 2015 Celebrates Global University Offers Graduating students have received 478 offers from over 200 selective universities and colleges:
Over one hundred offers were made by the following 31 institutions, listed in the top 50 of TheTimes Higher Education World University Rankings 2014-15:
USA: 218 UK: 210 Canada: 23 Thailand: 12 Switzerland: 4 The Netherlands: 3 Belgium: 2 Hong Kong: 2 Japan: 2 Singapore: 1 South Korea 1
Data correct as of 18/05/15. Southern hemisphere application process has not yet commenced
UK:
University of California, Berkeley
Imperial College London
University of California, Los Angeles
King’s College London
University of California, San Diego
London School of Economics and Political Science
University of California, Santa Barbara
University College London
University of Chicago
University of Cambridge
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Edinburgh
University of Michigan
USA:
University of Pennsylvania
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University of Texas at Austin
Carnegie Mellon University
University of Washington
Cornell University
Washington University in St Louis
Duke University
Yale University
Georgia Institute of Technology
Rest of the World:
Johns Hopkins University
McGill University, Canada
New York University
The University of Hong Kong, PRC
Northwestern University
University of British Columbia, Canada
Stanford University
University of Toronto, Canada To find out how our learning programmes and outstanding teaching staff can help your child fulfil their potential from 2 to 18 years of age, please contact us at admissions@patana.ac.th www.patana.ac.th +66 (0) 2785 2200 643 Lasalle Road, Bangna, Bangkok
Bangkok Patana School is an IB World School, accredited by CIS and NEASC
SECONDARY
communication, mediation and negotiation. These are key skills that are very difficult to highlight in a classroom; they need time and space to be developed and for students to truly understand them. The Year 7 project had an added aspect; it gave the students an opportunity to be actively Principled. Being Principled is one of the attributes of the International Baccalaureate’s (IB) Learner Profile. Many of the attributes, such as being a Risk-Taker
or an Inquirer are relatively simple to demonstrate within the confines of the school day. But how, within a Mathematics class or a Science lab, can a student show that they are truly Principled? Often, when quizzed, students comment on not doing something bad as being Principled, which is at most a superficial approach to the concept. At the start of the project, each group of Year 7s were given a character to find guilty – the teachers emphasised a fictional
SKILLS OF COMMUNICATION, RESEARCH, CREATIVITY, REASONING AND FORWARD PLANNING WERE ALL USED BY STUDENTS IN WORKING THROUGH THE ISSUES THAT HAD ARISEN. 14
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reason to paint the character in a negative way that prejudiced the students into thinking the character should be sent to gaol. As students investigated, they either paid more attention to evidence that supported their assumption of guilt or they encountered evidence suggested that their person of interest was innocent or that another character was more likely to have committed the crime. This gave the Year 7s the opportunity to be Principled. With Year 8 students, the Learning to Learn project had to build on skills developed the previous year, but we also wanted to stretch the students, forcing them to utilise skills they had been developing through the academic year. Each group might have spent a lot of thought and effort to develop their island. A student might have had to negotiate hard within the group to have their idea incorporated or they might have had to unwillingly compromise for the benefit of the group. Then, seemingly, without a thought for their work, the students might have been in the group that was informed their island had been made unhabitable by a volcano. A solution needed to be found, and quickly, if the people were to survive. The projects were not easy for the students – some of the challenges were enormously frustrating for them and they had to learn how to move beyond this frustration to a solution. Within the faux communities, we wanted to create confusion in a more accurate way. Skills of communication, research, creativity, reasoning and forward planning were all used by students in working through the issues that had arisen. How much have students learnt and remembered through these projects? If you ask a Year 9 student about their island project from Year 8 – they still remember it. Their recollections are accurate and detailed even though 18 months have passed. More importantly, after they have gone through this process and they are better at team work and independent learning. These students can handle a big project with a long term deadline – they can plan, they know what must be completed each week in order to meet the obligations of project completion, they know where they can work independently and where they require team work. With the Year 7 and 8 Connexions projects, we can see our students developing the learner’s capacity to create, to navigate and to operate.
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S ER C C OO SN S DCAARMY P U S
DANCE EXTRAVAGANZA
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PRIMARY
INSTILLING COMPASSION AND UNDERSTANDING: PRIMARY COMMUNITY ACTION TEAMS Clare Tomlinson
Primary CAT Coordinator
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yjama Day, Spellathons, Twin Day, Green Games, Write-a-thons and Bring and Buy sales are just some of the charity events that have taken place within the Primary School this year. The focus of all of these has been to raise funds to support specific charity projects. Children have also donated Secret Santa gifts and have filled shoe boxes with specific items such as toiletries, a tooth brush, drawing pens and small gifts for donation 18
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to children less fortunate than ours. All of these donations were gratefully received by specific charities and brought smiles to the faces of many children at Christmas. In addition to these Year group fundraising events, there are three main Primary School fundraising events that contribute to the school charity fund. These are Tiger Spirit Day, Book Week/Red Nose Day and the upcoming, super fun Busking Day. This year Tiger Spirit Day was a
‘rrroaring’ success with Key Stage 2 students planning, resourcing and delivering curriculum-related activities to share with the younger students across the school. This included Maths trails, QR code and treasure hunts. We raised 105,000 Baht to support organisations such as Mary’s Home for Children in Chang Mai. They were able to buy an irrigation system for the farm to grow nutritious food for the children and
Bangkok Patana Magazine
replace damaged fences around the farm to keep animals out and protect the children. Other money was used to support nutrition programmes for underprivileged children regionally. Book Week (which this year included Red Nose Day) had a number of exciting events from a visiting author, dress up as your favourite book character and a visit to the world of Harry Potter in the Secondary Library. This enjoyable event raised an amazing 70,000 Baht. Some of the money from this will be donated to Operation Smile to pay for cleft palate operations, whilst the rest will be kept in the school’s
fund until it is needed to support a natural disaster or emergencies in Thailand or surrounding countries. Sadly on 25th April, Nepal was hit by a horrific earthquake that caused injury and death to so many. Bangkok Patana responded quickly by making a donation of 100,000 Baht from the Primary and Secondary Schools combined to UNICEF and was able to buy 50 emergency relief packs that provided the basics for survival (this includes medical supplies, water purification, buckets, food and first aid kits) and to help through the immediate aftermath and the first few weeks. Further
monetary donations were sent a week later. In Term 3, students are already preparing their acts for the incredible Busking Day where there are numerous risk-taking performances consisting of singing, dancing, magic and a variety of other acts to entertain students, parents and teachers. Many of us have been saving coins and preparing for the delights on offer! Thank you for your generous contributions over the past 12 months to the charities. It is not just about collecting money but also about instilling compassion and understanding in our students from an early age. TERM 2/2015
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PRIMARY
REAPING THE REWARDS OF READING Sally Flint
Head of Libraries
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n March 2015 students at Bangkok Patana School took part in our ‘Book Week’ celebrations. This was a whole week of celebrating reading and completing literacy related activities. The week ended on a high note where we shared a Dress Up Day with our school’s Community Action Teams. The children were encouraged to dress up as a book character or a funny character to raise money for our school supported charities – we raised over 120,000 Baht – a great achievement. Highlights of the week included our wonderful interactive displays which powerfully showed the importance and significance of developing a love of reading. Our amazing Harry Potter displays and activities in the Secondary Library were hugely popular, and the inspired focus on Roger Hargreave’s Mr Men series in Key Stage 1 went down like a storm. In addition, our Readers’ Theatre Competition in Years 3 and 4 was tremendously successful with over forty teams entering – each one a winner for taking part. Throughout the week, visiting author Ian Billings worked with children in Key Stages 1, 2 and 3. Not only did he deliver delightful stories, he gave great ideas and tips about how to approach story writing and was a key presenter of one of our One Big Write workshops, where he focused on creating ideas for writing stories on the theme of ‘Journeys’. The One Big Write initiative was a new venture for Bangkok Patana and one that we hope to develop in 2017 when we next celebrate Patana Book Week. It is worth pausing to reflect on what a fabulous learning experience it was for our children. The experience, spearheaded by Catherine McClenaghan and me, was a great opportunity for our Year 5 and 6 children to become ‘real authors’ and a wonderful example of genuine collaborative learning. The Year 5 and 6 teachers delivered inspiring sessions on aspects of writing such as setting, story 20
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openings, how to use stimuli, structure and much more. They supported our children every step of the way, from delivering workshop sessions to supporting the children with the proofing and editing. David Whitaker did a fantastic job of investigating with the children how to illustrate books and two of our children’s art work was actually used as the inspiration for the final book covers which he produced. The student’s learning experience during the One Big Write project has been very rewarding and both they and their teachers are rightly very proud of their achievement. Their journey of drafting, writing, proofreading and editing their own stories was a huge success. These stories are not word perfect - that was never the intention - but
there is no doubt that the end product reflects great creativity, inspiration, and reflection on their part as well as a willingness to try something ambitious within a very short time frame. The One Big Write Project culminated in the creation of two books, published by Caboodle Publishing House in the UK. These are much in demand and has been made available for our children to buy and enjoy for generations to come. We are very proud of the part, we in the library, play in our school’s shared commitment to taking risks and have fun in developing and extending our children’s learning. A big thanks must go to our Senior Leaders who are always advocates for all things reading related.
Bangkok Patana Magazine
Excerpt from Journeys by Year 5, Caboodle Books, Steeton. 2015
House of the Test by Nicole Wismer, 5S She was lost, abandoned and stuck in the center of a dark, vast and duty forest. Her sweaty hands quivered violently as she gripped the small, bright, purple colored lamp. Kneeling down to the forest floor, she peered through the medium sized hole and heard an ear-splitting howl from within. Gulping apprehensively, she wondered what was in there. After thinking for a while, she told herself firmly, “I’m going in.” After what seemed like hours, Keira, flipping her chocolate brown, wavy hair to the side, landed on a concrete base. Glancing up to the now miniature hole, she wondered how far she was from normal ground. “Hang on,” she muttered. “Why is there a concrete floor? Shouldn’t it be a dirtbased floor?” Keira glanced around, and
found herself in a room! Looking for an exit, she scanned the room for a door. When she had finally found one, Keira darted towards it, but suddenly, she tripped over and fell flat on her face. That’s when it happened. The door slammed shut. Keira was surrounded by darkness. She couldn’t see a single thing, even her own body! Picking herself off the floor, Keira ran in every direction, trying to get out. COUGH, COUGH. She froze. “Who could have coughed? There’s no one here!” muttered Keira with a confused look on her face. “I coughed!” boomed out an unknown voice. “I did it to catch your attention! Now, you’re in the house of the unbeatable test. You’re to complete it, or else you’ll be stuck in this house forever!” “I’ll take it!”
she answered quickly, with the frightening thought of staying in the house still in her head. Two green colored doors suddenly appeared in front of Keira. “Pick a door,” growled the deep unknown voice. Keira shut her eyes and ambled towards one of the doors. Opening her eyes, all that she saw was a couple of ordinary bushes. Not ordinary bushes. Tall ones! Keira slowly realized that she was at the beginning of an immense phrase. “Ok Keira,” she whispered to herself. “It’s just a maze. Get through it!” Confidently, she walked in, but suddenly, she felt as if she was upside down and fell to the floor with a THUD. Feeling dizzy, she stood up, touched her forehead and sprinted on. The dizziness began to cease, but then, Keira saw an exit! She ran towards it, but soon realized that it was just an illusion. She was at a dead end. “Come on, when can I get out? Help me please!” she pleaded, dropping down to the floor to get on her knees. Seconds later after she had begged for help, a letter fluttered to the ground. Excitedly, Keira picked it up and read: Dear whoever is reading, I have been lost in this maze for months. You can’t get out unless you pass the test. I’ve tried, but I did not get the correct answer. I’m forever stuck in this maze. Don’t go looking for me, you might pass the test and get out. I’ve drawn a map of the maze; use it to help you get out! I now say goodbye… From-- Her heart pounded loudly when she had finished reading the letter. Her eyes watered, as she understood that this stranger was trying to help people get out of this mysterious maze. Turning the piece of paper over, Keira made out a faint drawing of a map. Following the directions, she scampered on. She turned a corner, finding herself in another dead end. Turning on her heel, Keira walked back to where she had been, but it was another dead end. For a copy of Journeys by Year 5 or Journeys by Year 6, please contact the Primary Library. TERM 2/2015
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DRAMA IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL Kate McClenaghan
Lead Teacher for Drama in the Primary School
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erm 1 this year saw the first Black Box production performance by Primary students. A committed group of 40 Year 6 children practised throughout the term to prepare for a performance of ‘Rising Sun, Rising Moon’ as part of their drama ECA (Extra-curricular Activities). This enactment of traditional tales from South America and Africa let the children experience using large puppets, masks, physical theatre and gave them the first opportunity to present a performance in the round. Term 1 also brought the arrival of a very naughty bus into Year 2! Inspired by a visit last year from Rebecca Bell, a primary drama specialist, the students were astounded by the antics of the bus who got into all sorts of mischief. The children took on different roles to deal with all the problems that the bus created and to investigate the many surprising things that happened. After Christmas, the New Year brought much excitement as we were lucky enough to have an Artist in Residence working within Year 1 for a whole week! Louise Clark, a specialist who has worked for years as a performer in children’s theatre and is an education associate for well-known theatre companies such as Manchester Library Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), joined Bangkok Patana School as part of the International Schools Theatre Association (ISTA) programme for Artists in Residence. She helped to launch the ‘Toys’ topic by leading sessions with interactive storytelling, immersing the students in the world of a Toy Maker’s workshop and investigating what happens at night when the toys come to life. During her visit she also ran training sessions on interactive storytelling and puppetry for staff. This has already been put to good use – Year 3 launched their unit on 22
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weather using the interactive story telling technique to allow the children to access the world of a ‘Snowy Adventure’, creating the noises of a snowy forest, investigating the
feelings of the characters and working in teams using their bodies to create monsters! Also in Term 2, a group of children from Years 3, 4 and 5 participated in
Bangkok Patana Magazine
a drama festival at St Andrews School in Sathorn. Working together in mixed groups with students from other schools, the children had a scene to prepare from
the Roald Dahl story ‘Matilda’. They had to select appropriate costumes, make their own props and improvise the dialogue for their part of the story. They also attended
a music session where they learnt a finale song together. The day culminated in a performance to family and friends, where all of the separate scenes were joined together to create the whole story. All students received a medal and certificate to congratulate them for participating and our very own Arnav Baliga in Year 5, won a trophy for being ‘Best Actor in a Supporting Role’! This year Bangkok Patana School also hosted a creative drama day for over 30 students from schools across Bangkok, this was led by Colin Brown and Kiri Grimwood. Students used drama to explore moral and ethical dilemmas based around building developments on a beautiful, unspoilt island. This was a brilliant day that was challenging, fun and very well received by all the participants. Year 5 have been donning the ‘mantle of the expert’ by exploring the Victorians and how life has changed from 1837 to now by using drama and role play, immersing the children into the idea of being Victorians with lots of investigative and research skills culminating in Victorian Day. World Book Week brought with it the opportunity for Year 5 and 6 to work collaboratively. Over two days the students participated in drama, art and writing workshops based around the theme of ‘Journeys’. This inspired and equipped them with skills to write and edit their very own stories, which you can read about on page 20. This has been another fantastic year for Drama in the Primary School – I wonder what exciting opportunities next year will bring?! TERM 2/2015
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ALUMNI PROFILE:
SHAIFALI THAKKER, CLASS OF 2014
Nationality: Indian Current Location: University of California, Berkeley Favourite memories of Bangkok Patana School: School noodles every Monday, Year 9 Japan Trip, adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood for our final GCSE Drama Performance, performing hip hop taught by Ms Lynn for the Dance Extravaganza, ISTA Drama Festival in Perth, Everest Base Camp 2012 trip, making Mrs Sentilhes’ leaving video and receiving her amazing sketch book of our journey as a class from Year 7 to Year 12, winning the Bangkok Economics Essay Competition, Senior week, Graduation What have you been doing since you left Bangkok Patana School? I am attending Berkeley University in California. I’ve played basketball on an intramural team every Sunday from 10.00pm-11.00pm, became involved in a service organisation called Footprintz 24
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supporting children in the Bay Area, performed in a one act comedic sketch as part of Theatre for Charity, which raised $2,000 dollars to combat domestic violence, became part of the scholarships department of the student government also known as ASUC, been learning a lot about American culture and history,
which I wasn’t previously exposed to and even created lesson plans to teach mathematics at a local elementary school called the Berkeley Arts Magnet. Yet everyday I’m still researching on what else I can get involved in because there are so many stimulating campus organisations that I want to experience
Bangkok Patana Magazine
and learn from. As for social experiences, I went for my very first American football game, had day trips to San Francisco, learned how to ballroom dance, celebrated Halloween in fraternity houses, watched an India versus Pakistan cricket match on a big screen, and most recently, went to San Diego with my friends for a much needed, perfect Spring Break. What would you like to be doing in 10 years’ time? In 10 years’ time I will have finished my undergraduate education as a double major in Economics and Media Studies, my MBA, and hopefully be working in an advertising firm. I would also like to be traveling around the world every year to meet my friends from all over and keep in touch. I also hope to be tutoring and getting involved in plays as part-time endeavors. Finally, in 10 years’ time I will probably be married with children so I look forward to being a great wife and mother just like my own mother. Is there anything that you experienced / learned at Bangkok Patana School that has helped you in your first year of university? I definitely learned how to juggle pressure at Bangkok Patana School. The IB is a real test and while the material learned helps, even more useful is your new found ability to manage your scarce time. Bangkok Patana also exposed me to people from a variety of backgrounds which significantly lessened my culture shock when I got to Berkeley. The international identity I picked up at school helped me adjust into my new life fairly easily, all I had to get used to was weird American spellings and the Californian ‘hella’ slang word. Lastly, I learned to put myself out there in terms of opportunities. Starting as quite a shy individual, I have really grown into someone who will make an effort to get to know people and lead group activities. This helped me in my first year of university because I was confident and made some amazing friends who I know will always be there for me.
What would you tell yourself in Year 13 if you could go back and give your younger self a piece of advice? I would tell myself to go to the gym and eat salads more regularly instead of binge-watching television with unhealthy food in my free time because it makes you feel so much better about yourself. I would also tell myself to calm down with all the studying. Someone needed to tell me that my IB and SAT scores were not the end of the world enough times for me to believe it. Colleges look at much more than just our grades, they look at the kind of person they want at their institution. Finally, I would tell myself to take more risks – start a club, apply for internships, try something completely new – because this is our time to experiment. TERM 2/2015
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TERM 3 ALUMNI VISITS
Calling All Members of the Class of 2005 The Class of 2005 10 Year Anniversary Exhibition and Reunion You are invited to the 10th anniversary of the Graduating Class of 2005 Reunion and Exhibition Opening Night Thursday 20th August 2015, 6.00pm onwards Bangkok Patana School, Exhibition Hall For more information, please contact: alumni@patana.ac.th
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SEASON 3 SPORTS ROUND UP Mike Balo
Cross Campus Assistant Principal, Sports and Extra-curricular Activities
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eason 3 was extremely busy with 36 teams performing and it included our very successful Sports Awards Dinner. It was a wonderful evening and it was lovely to host about 550 student athletes, parents and coaches. It was our largest ever Sports Awards Dinner and it was truly a memorable evening. Congratulations to all our award winners. Special mention goes to our Sports Boys and Girls of the Year: Senior Sports Boy of the Year Billy Scofield Senior Sports Girl of the Year Jasmine Olds Individual Sports Boy of the Year Leo Vithoontien Individual Sports Girl of the Year Emiri Vithoontien and Millie Ribeiro Junior Sports Boy of the Year Alex Lacrosse Juniot Sports Girl of the Year Moniqa Nielsen and Danielle Rotenberg Contribution to School Sport Helena Martin
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Bangkok Patana has had a fantastic year overall. We have had a very strong BISAC and FOBISIA results; we have won over 80 medals compared to 64 last year. We ran pre-season training in six sports and ran nine second teams, which has been a great start and has helped to increase participation massively. The participation rate
in organised sport has gone from 42% last year to 63% this year which is an amazing improvement. Bangkok Patana entered, for the first time, the ISF (International School Sport Federation) World Schools Tennis Championship in Doha, Qatar. We were the first school team to enter any of the ISF
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In Gymnastics, we had a fantastic BISAC event at NIST. Bangkok Patana won a team award in every level we entered, which was excellent. Overall Bangkok Patana won Level 2SR and Level 3 Girls and Level 2, 3, 4 Boys’ titles. In FOBISIA we won multiple team titles and lots of individual medals and awards. The Under 13 FOBISIA Games were held in Kuala Lumpur at Garden International School and we had another successful Games, returning to Bangkok with lots of medals and many happy children. Our results were:
tournaments from Thailand. Our Boys’ and Girls’ Tennis teams finished a respectable ninth place against some of the best school teams in the world. It was an amazing experience for our tennis players and coaches. We also had strong SEASAC performances in Season 3. Girls’ SEASAC Softball finished a strong third place overall and the Boys’ Softball team had good SEASAC, finishing fifth overall. In Badminton, the Boys’ team placed sixth and the Girls’ team was fifth overall. In SEASAC Gymnastics we won countless medals and two team championships. This was a tremendous finish for our programme. In SEASAC Swimming, our Boys’ team finished in fourth place and our Girls’ team finished in a very strong second place. In BISAC events, Bangkok Patana again produced some wonderful results. In BISAC Swimming we finished second overall. The Juniors took second place and the Seniors ascended to first place, which is great considering the strength of swimming in Bangkok. In other Season 3 BISAC sports, we won a total of 17 medals and seven of those were championships. We won Under 13 Girls’ Softball, Under 13 Boys’ Softball, Under 15 Boys’ Tennis, Under 15 and Under 19 Waterpolo and Under 11 Boys’ and Girls’ Tee-ball. We achieved medals in Under 13 Boys’ and Girls’ Volleyball, Under 15 Girls’ Tennis, Under 17 Boys’ and Girls’ Badminton, Under 17 Girls’ Softball, Under 19 Boys’ and Girls’ Softball and Under 19 Boys’ and Girls’ Badminton. This has been one of our best seasons this year. 30
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Athletics: Swimming: Basketball: Football:
Overall = 2nd Overall = 4th Girls = 2nd, Boys = 1st Girls = 1st, Boys = 5th
This year we entered the FOBISIA Sailing Championships hosted at Varuna Club in Pattaya. We sent our team led by Tom Vernon and Coach Jordan. Our team finished in third place and we finished fourth in the Opti Competition. It was good competition and we look forward to participating again next year.
Additionally, our year-long golf programme has grown into a force for the future. We had over 20 golfers commit to a year-long programme, where they regularly train at Thana City with golf professional Andrew Knott, working on their golf attitude, short game and course play. This year we competed in SEASAC Golf in Indonesia at Bintan Island, FOBISIA Golf in Pattaya and numerous local tournaments. Our Boys’ team finished fourth overall at SEASAC this year, which is awesome to report. In FOBISIA our Boys’ team finished in a very strong third place overall. Our very young team is poised to be a force in coming years. Another first for Bangkok Patana School was entering a Climbing team into BISAC Invitational events. Bangkok Patana hosted two tournaments and we entered one tournament at Harrow International School. We won medals in the Speed Climbing and Team events. It has been a great start for this team and we look forward to seeing more team participating in next year’s events. Congratulations to all our students, parents and coaches on another successful season and thank you for your dedicated support.