Volume 23 Issue 16

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

Patana

NEWS

Friday11th December 2020

Volume 23 Issue 16

www.patana.ac.th

2020: LIVING WITH THE PANDEMIC Mr Mills’ Final Blog for 2020

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Also in this issue...

SEACSTA Programming Results/Earth Heroes in Year 6/PMCG Beach Clean-up 11/12/2020

Bangkok Patana School News

Bangkok Patana is a not-for-profit IB World School accredited by CIS

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2020: Living with the Pandemic Greetings Everyone,

As we head towards the final school days of Term 1, I thought it would be an opportune time to reflect on what has been an incredibly challenging and emotional 2020 for all of us.

I recently hosted the Thailand FOBISIA member school heads and we Zoomed with other heads based all around Asia. What became abundantly clear to all of us Thailand heads very quickly was we were much better off than many other countries in Asia in terms of being able to operate our schools this term pretty much as normal. Several schools had only been able to open their doors for less than two months for the whole calendar year.

When I think back to June when all the likely Term 1 scenarios were spinning around in my head, the 90/10 model was a best-case scenario and has successfully been implemented for the whole of Term 1 2020. Sure, some of the sports students have missed not flying to Singapore to play UWC but Sports and ECAs have all been running smoothly and there have been lots of sporting competitions taking place within Thailand. Yes, the Christmas assembly will be missed, but the reality is we have done incredibly well sustaining a high quality academic programme where students have been able to socialize and engage with their peers while the COVID-19 pandemic refuses to dissipate at this place and time. The students have done an exemplary job of keeping their masks on and the whole Patana community realises that we must adhere to the 3 Ws for the time being to make sure our school doors remain open.

Remember the Three Ws! Wash Your Hands

Wear a Mask

Watch your Distance

Activities During the Pandemic The Secondary Residential Visits all went off smoothly and it was again a relief that these even took place during the pandemic. The Year 13 Completion Week gave students quality time to focus on key task completions as they head towards completing their IB studies. The Year 11 trial exams have gone smoothly and feedback on the new exam chairs and tables have been really positive.

The carpeted flooring in the Conference Centre has also helped a great deal in terms of sound absorption. The Primary 3-Way Conferences all went incredibly smoothly and it always makes me feel so proud seeing students lead out and share their learning journeys with their parents with such passion and belief.

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International Day I was so delighted that the International Day plans went so smoothly even with all the COVID-19 restrictions. The PTG and our parent community really stepped up and the international cuisine offerings were as amazing as usual.

The students really made a big effort with their international attire and the whole day was a huge celebration of our school’s cultural diversity.

The Impact of COVID-19 Outside the School While Bangkok Patana School has been operating pretty much as normal, I am cognisant to the fact that there has been a great deal of economic hardship around the world and just outside our school doors in the local community. Tourism and hospitality sectors have been impacted massively as have small businesses and any business that relies on regular visitors to the Kingdom. I recently attended an ISAT meeting with over 160 Thailand heads in attendance. We had a spokesman present from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who shared a very powerful statistic with us all. In 2019, 58 million tourists visited the Kingdom of Thailand. Since March 2020, a grand total of 200,000 people have entered the country! Hopefully, the vaccine announcements will help a great deal into moving the world back in the right direction and schools will no longer have to go into regular lockdowns.

I am so incredibly proud of our Bangkok Patana students who have proven to me that even during the most adverse conditions, they are adaptable and have successful coping strategies to continue to learn and reach their full potential.

Wishing you all a safe and joyful festive season here in the wonderful Kingdom of Thailand.

Matt Mills Head of School

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Introducing Ploy!

Alexander (Coke) Smith, Environmental Science Coordinator

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angkok Patana School is very pleased to introduce Building. She is there to make our students’ learning our greater community, Pimchanok “Ploy” Nopra- experiences the best possible. She has already worked pun, our new Outdoor Spaces Technician. with many Year groups and has shown her abilities to work with teachers as well as our students very well. We Ploy comes to our faculty very well prepared from are very fortunate!

Mahidol University, where she graduated with honours with a Masters of Environmental & Water Resources Email Ploy at pino@ Engineering. She’s done extensive research on water patana.ac.th. To make quality focusing on E. coli treatment in waste water a booking at the ODC, treatment plants. She has participated and led seminars simply reserve on Firefly. in conferences in Japan, Australia and Thailand. She is Please help us welcome very well qualified and we are very fortunate to have her Khun Ploy to our Bangkok on our team in the Science Faculty of Bangkok Patana Patana family!

School.

Ploy’s role is to make sure our outdoor learning features are well cared for and to make sure our instructors have dependable and qualified assistance when using our outdoor learning spaces, which include, the Outdoor Classroom, the Community Garden, and the Rooftop Learning Space located on the roof of our Science

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SEACSTA Programming Patrik Holm, 12D

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he South East Asia Computer Science Teachers As- a runner-up and they were awarded a team prize of THB sociation (SEACSTA) held a programming competi- 1,600 along with certificates displaying their outstanding tion. A group of Senior students helped to host this within achievement. the school as part of their CAS project. The programming The winning entries at Bangkok Patana School were: competition was based on creating a game surrounding the theme of ‘contamination’. The students who entered the Key Stage 3 competition were separated into different Key Stage and • First place: Vinzenz (Vinzent) Grunbuhel, Razam each planned their games accordingly. Their final games Sherwani, Sunu Chang and Piradon (Keane) were judged by the organisers. By taking part in the school Prasertsintanah competition, students had the opportunity to gain experience in learning to programme, learning about game • Runner-up: Yunxia (Richard) Xu and Chaiyanat design as well as the ability to demonstrate their skills and (Win) Kuptivej potential.

Key Stage 4 The winners were decided using the following grading • No winning entries criteria: • Graphics

Key Stage 5

• Sound Track

• First place: Dominic Chia

• Coding Elegance

• Runner-up: Patrick Ledoit

The organisers were very impressed to see the incredible skills and potential of the participants. The students entries Students tailored their works to fit the criteria to maximise have been submitted to SEACSTA and the final judging results. Each developed a range of games, from 8-bit point of participants within South East Asia will be completed and click to first person shooters, they were all notably shortly. impressive. One winner was selected per Key Stage, with • Storyline / Content

The 2021/22 academic calendar is out!

2021/22 CALENDAR

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Bangkok Patana School News

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Year 6 Meet Earth Heroes Carly Peart, Leader of Learning and Curriculum Year 6

HOW CAN HUMANS MAKE SMALL CHANGES TO HELP THEIR LOCAL ENVIRONMENT?

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hat has been the big question Year 6 students have been striving to answer this term as part of our unit of learning ‘Back to Nature’. We are all hugely aware of the issues our planet currently faces, so instead we wanted to focus on what small positive changes people are already making and therefore, what small changes could we make?

planned what they wanted to find out, the students then asked different questions, such as: What impact do you anticipate this will have in the future? What inspired you to start doing this? How can we support you?

On Thursday, Kirsty Magson from New Heaven Conservation Programme spoke to all of Year 6 about what they are doing to protect the coral reefs on Koh Tao. Then on Friday, we had a plethora of speakers: Yindii, Zero Waste, Barefood Bangkok, Siam Leaf, Warm Heart Foundation, Maddy Hopper, Nourish and Oklin, all working in different ways to support our environment.

All representatives spoke passionately about what they’re doing and what inspired them. Having previously

• A story for younger children with a sustainable message

Now, the focus is to take this information and put it to meaningful use. How are we going to respond to our big question: How can humans make small changes to help Lily Dyu’s book Earth Heroes was then the inspiration for their local environment? us to promote our own ‘Earth Heroes’ here within Thailand.

We have a whole host of responses currently being Last week, we had the opportunity to hear from a wide developed.

Here are just a few: range of people who represent different organisations and businesses who are working to promote sustainability and • A presentation for adults conservation within Thailand. We felt it was important to • A short film promoting positive actions contextualise the issue and make it relevant to our students.

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• A letter to the government asking them to consider new ways of promoting sustainability in Thailand

Bangkok Patana School News

“The greatest threat to our planet, is the belief that someone else will save it.”

Robert Swan OBE

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One Small Change Can Make a Big Difference

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arine biologist Kirsty Magson talked with students in Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 about her experiences working in reef conservation in Koh Tao. She sat down with Patana News to talk about her journey to this important job.

they want to learn more – we get some who do it as part of their uni studies, others want to do something different and then we also get people who are passionate about marine life and want to give back somehow.”

MARINE PLASTICS AND SEA LIFE “I talked with Bangkok Patana students about why coral reefs are important, sea turtles, marine plastics and what they can do, and the dos and don’ts when you go snorkelling. The students really seem to enjoy it, this is my first time talking to (students) – I’ve never taught such young “We teach scuba divers and snorkelers about the marine students and on such a large scale. There have been lots environment; we want to make sure they know a little bit of great questions including what is the most endangered about the marine life that lives there. We are providing animal I’ve seen, what is my favourite animal and where people with the knowledge and understanding so they does plastic go? FYI, the octopus!” can help protect the environment.”

“Living in Bangkok is so different from the islands, people “I wanted to be a marine biologist for as long as I could remember, when I graduated I was looking for jobs so came to Koh Tao for an internship and was offered a job after five months at New Heaven Reef Conservation in Koh Tao.“

DON’T TOUCH THIS, DON’T TOUCH THAT “People touch coral, they take shells, they try to ride sea turtles and whale sharks. We explain to people why this is bad and why they shouldn’t do it. With so many people in the water, if people see someone doing something, they will copy it. You don’t know the damage that you are causing to the animal with pathogens and bacteria.

Animals can become used to people and that can cause problems, such as fish feeding or animals that come too close to people. Touching or picking up the corals can kill them or damage the reef. The reef is the eco-system – damage to the coral will cause damage to the entire eco-system.”

“We accept volunteers for a one-day course up to a six month internship. There is a 4-week programme that includes learning about reefs, sea turtles, sharks, we cover 23 different topics. A lecture in the morning and then the knowledge that they will use in the afternoon. We only take certified advanced divers, and these dives can last quite a long time. They come specifically for the course,

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don’t realise the rubbish that washes up on shore. I know the impact of rubbish in the sea, but it is good for the students to see the reasoning behind not using plastics.

I’ve dived at 25m and seen plastics, the amount of plastics that goes into the oceans is immense. I like to compare it to something they know. Eight million tons of plastic goes into the ocean every year – that is one billion elephants or 822,000 Eiffel Towers – this comparison helps them to really visualise it. I don’t try to sugar coat the problem with the children because if they don’t see the issues they can’t understand why.”

ONE SMALL THING IS ALL IT TAKES “People get overwhelmed when they are told ‘don’t do this, don’t do that’, but if every person makes one change it can have a big impact. That one person’s impact will get others to see what you are doing and follow. Changing one thing to start and then slowly implement changes.

Stopping everything all at once is not a feasible option for everyone. That one small thing that you do can make a big difference.”

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Patana Marine Conservation Group Sees the Impact of Plastics First-hand Tea Lonnback, 12C and Lalida Sirarojanakul, 12Z

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“I really liked the trip and it was a great n a busy Friday afternoon after school, a keen experience to participate with the first group of Bangkok Patana students, passionate diving trip with school (for me). The about diving and saving our oceans, took off to Rayong diving was great and I learnt a lot about for a busy weekend of scientific studies and diving. As we marine life during the night meeting after arrived at the resort, Dr Rahul Mehrotra (the scientific sudinner. Overall I loved it!” - Lancelot pervisor for the weekend) and his team at ATMEC (Aow Wallin, Year 7 Thai Marine Ecology Centre) greeted us with a briefing of marine biology and what we would be doing during the After exploring the island, the students came back onto weekend. The presentation included interesting impacts, the boat for lunch. The first group then went for their first facts and causes of marine litter such as poorly managed landfill sites which can blow up due to the build-up of toxic dive while the second group went for a beach clean-up on Koh Mun Nai. The first dive consisted of exploring gas such as methane. the bay where we would collect data the next day and After a nutritious breakfast, divers of all ages hopped on making sure our surroundings were not disturbed. the bus towards the pier excited for the day ahead. We “As the newest diver on the trip, it was then headed to the research centre on Koh Mun Nai, an very exciting to experience diving with island off the coast of Rayong. Arriving at the island, we other experienced divers. The trip itself split into two groups and explored the facilities on Koh was very eye opening and I encourage Mun Nai. The first group walked through the bird reservoir everyone to become a diver to explore with one of the members of the ATMEC team; Nancy, who the world underneath the water”- Lalida explained what the island meant to the birds migrating to Sirarojanakul, Year 12 the tropics during winter. The second group started off by visiting the turtle sanctuary that the Year 7’s had recently While the divers were busy diving away, the other group visited during their Residentials. The turtle sanctuary rescues of students were collecting trash that had been washed up injured turtles and puts them in captivity to rehabilitate on the beaches of the island. The scientists were looking them and at a later stage, set them free into the ocean. for specific items washed on the shore such as plastic Seeing turtles in real life and not on a screen was really bottles, straws, shoes, toothbrushes and plastic cups to try mesmerizing considering they are becoming endangered and eliminate them at the source. Furthermore, we were due to the amount of plastic and trash being irresponsibly also asked to separate the bottle caps from the plastic disposed into the ocean bottles as they would then be used by an organisation that would turn the caps into vases. This organisation is 8

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Precious Plastics and has recycled a lot of plastic and made them into a variety of useful household items. This has helped with giving plastic a second chance at life. The first group collected four baskets totalling 37.2 kilograms of plastic which included six straws, 14 individual shoes, five toothbrushes and 62 plastic bottles. When the groups swapped activities, it was a competition to see which group collected the most trash. The second group collected 38.2 kilograms of plastic which included 147 plastic bottles, 32 individual shoes, three toothbrushes and nine plastic cups.

Together the groups collected a whopping 75.4 kilograms of trash. This was really disappointing considering this was only one beach, on one island, in one country which makes us put into perspective the impact of single use plastics on the environment.

they are so interesting”- Tosca Pauze, Year 12

After a tiring first day, the group woke up ready for a full day of diving after a delicious breakfast. On the boat, the group was split into smaller groups of age for the dives that would take place throughout the day. The first dive took place in the bay from the day before where we explored the cinder blocks placed on the seabed to host corals and other local marine life. After lunch, we headed to the nearby island of Koh Mun Klang. On our third dive, Dr Rahul set a 50m measuring tape on the seafloor which was used for the purpose of counting the different types of marine life on the allocated area of the seabed. We counted four giant clams (apparently there were 20!) and no Barrel Sponges. Barrel Sponges can filter up to Moreover, it is worth mentioning that the beach was still thousands of litres of water per day which makes the ocean very dirty and could’ve done with a whole day of clean water cleaner. Counting these different species of marine up. In the evening we had a presentation from Dr Rahul life allows us to observe the trends in marine ecology and where we learnt about the different types of symbiotic how it is changing throughout the years. It was also to relationships that exist between sea creatures and also show how the seafloor has a variety of different species about how certain creatures are important to filter the living on it which proved to us how important it is to protect seawater. This was our briefing to tell us what we would this area. be looking for on our dives the next day.

We’d like to thank the team at ATMEC and Dive Ventures “I loved the trip because I had so much for hosting us this weekend and we hope to work with fun time with my friends and I loved them again in the future. Thank you everyone for a great learning about turtles and corals because weekend!

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Bangkok Patana School News

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BISAC and SEASAC Updates Cindy Adair, Cross Campus Assistant Principal Sports and ECAs BISAC UPDATE Bangkok Patana is a member of the Bangkok International School Athletic Conference. This league gives us the opportunity to compete against other large international schools across a range of sports and age groups right here in Bangkok. Like all organisations, BISAC is grappling with the impact COVID-19 has had on our lives.

Some key information for students and parents regarding Season 2 can be found below:

of each tournament will be determined by the number of schools involved and in many cases they will be round robins. Whilst this is a departure from our usual system we still anticipate some high quality games and are grateful to be one of the few countries around the world taking part in competitive school sport right now.

As this newsletter goes to print BISAC is not yet allowing visiting parents to spectate at it’s events. This will be reviewed by the BISAC Heads again after 11th January.

• Varsity BISAC tournaments will take place on Saturday 23rd January.

SEASAC UPDATE Whilst overseas events are not possible right now, the • Under 11 – Junior Varsity tournaments will take place SEASAC and IASAS Schools in Bangkok are collaborating on Saturday 30th January or Sunday 31st January. to ensure our Varsity teams have meaningful end of season • Bangkok Patana is hosting: Varsity Boys’ Rugby, tournaments to attend. These events will take place from Varsity Girls’ Basketball (co-hosting with ASB), Friday 29th January – Sunday 30th January.

Junior Varsity Rugby and Touch, Under 11 Football • Tennis Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Bangkok Festival and possibly Under 15 Girls’ Badminton.

Patana School.

This year there is no weekly league, all fixtures are • Basketball Friday, Saturday and Sunday at NIST friendlies (this gives all members schools more flexibility (Fri/Sat) and ISB (Sun). during these changeable times). As there is no league there • Rugby and Touch Friday and Sunday at ISB. will be no Cup and Plate divisions for the season ending tournaments. Instead there will be two randomly drawn These tournaments will feature the five SEASAC schools competitions known as “Khrungthep” and “Bangkok” for in Thailand as well as ISB and other invited schools. all sports with six or more teams taking part. The format

Patana Golfers Compete in Faldo Series Tournament Yizhen (Tina)Kong, 12T

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ast weekend, four Bangkok Patana golfers competed in the Faldo Series, a 3-day international tournament held at Hua Hin. We gained a lot of experience playing in the tough and windy conditions.

Individually, Yizhen (Tina) Kong (Year 12) won Under 16 Girls net and came 4th in gross; Xiaowen (Lisa) Zhang (Year 7) came 9th in Under 16. Joaquin Hemedes (Year 7) came 13th in Under 11 Boys, and Yan Yan (Year 8) came 9th in Under13. As a team, the Girls came 3rd overall.

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Thailand 3x3 Tournament Basketball Successes UNDER 15 BOYS’ CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS Carina Lim, Bangkok Patana Parent

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wo students from Bangkok Patana were part of the Under 15 Boys’ Championship winning team at the Thailand 3x3 Basketball Champsionship Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s Cup. This prestigious nationwide event had almost 200 teams registered over three days. Year 10 student Nathan (Nat) Lertpisitkul and Patson (Patrick) Jivavattanasak, Year 11, saw their team win 10 straight intense

matches over two days that brought them to the finals. The final match was a nail-biting one as they were on par with the opponent team 15-15 until the very last two seconds before the referee’s whistle went off. Their team beat the famous team Bangkok Christian College by a mere one point. The boys’ hard work and perseverance paid off and earned them the gold trophy.

UNDER 12 CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS Chupit Chutitum, Bangkok Patana parent

Year 8 student Rylan Gulkin and his team the “Siam skilled teammates brought the Siam Raptors to win the Raptors” took home the Under 12 Championship at the championship.

Thailand 3x3 Basketball tournament, Princess Maha With strong determination and excellent team spirit, the Chakri Sirindhorn’s Cup 2020 Siam Raptors fought ferociously from their first game, all Throughout the tournament Rylan consistently the way to their victory in the finals. demonstrated his very strong basketball and leadership skills which together with a fantastic effort from his highly

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Gymnastics for Foundation Stage Gemma Price, Physical Development Specialist: Foundation Stage

BANGKOK PATANA EARLY YEARS GYM Our Bangkok Patana Early Years Gym has now opened and we will be continuing to grow this wonderful space in the coming months. Here our younger children work to build their core strength and overall physical development through using the gymnastic equipment. I teach our students how to use the bars and rings for swinging, we practice forward, egg and pencil rolls on the wedges, and the children learn a range of jumps along with safe landing techniques.

scissors to cut pasta, and holding a pencil to write letters or make marks. We want the children to be able to use these fine motor tools with great control, and through engaging in fine motor activities the children are able to achieve this.

HEALTH AND SELF CARE Within this area we teach students how they can be safe when using equipment, and how to store equipment safely.

We look at healthy eating and what a balanced diet looks like, and we talk about the importance of exercise and how our bodies feel after movement. Self-help skills are Physical Development is a prime area within the Early also a main focus with the children having ample time and Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). This prime area is divided opportunity to learn how to put on their socks and shoes, into Early Learning Goals and for Physical Development wash and dry their hands and use the toilet independently. these are: Educational research tells us that young children learn Moving and Handling- Gross and Fine Motor Skills best through play. Physical Development lessons here at Gross motor skills require whole body movement and Patana are very much play based with a clear purpose involve the large muscles in the body to perform everyday in mind. functions. Examples include running, jumping on a Looking at class data I can see specifically which trampoline, rolling on a mat, crawling through tunnels and skills each class needs to focus on, and which skills climbing over frames and ladders. Gross Motor skills also include eye-hand coordination skills which are needed for individual students need to focus on. I create engaging and challenging lessons where children have a wealth of kicking a football, or catching a ball. opportunities in front of them to practice these key physical Fine motor skills involve the use of small muscles in the skills. hands. Examples of fine motor activities include using 12

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STUDENTS SPEAK Radiotrophic Fungi Sarisa Techasukij, 10L

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f the six kingdoms in the domain of the Eukaryotes, radiation syndrome, fungi may be one of the least studied of all. despite having only been inside for a The title of the largest organism in the world belongs to a short period of time. form of fungi. Fungi are the reason terrestrial animals and (3) In 2005, it was land plants are even able to exist (1). From bioluminescent estimated that of the hyphae to hallucination-inducing psilocybin mushrooms, 60,000 citizens of fungi are far from uninteresting. And perhaps the Chernobyl - mostly most noteworthy of this fascinating kingdom is that of involved in recovery radiotrophic fungi. and cleanup work Radiotrophic fungi are a type of fungi that appear to use who were exposed radiosynthesis to survive. Melanin contained in the fungi to high doses of radiation, 4000 would eventually die converts gamma radiation (a form of electromagnetic, from cancer. Another study from the same year showed that indirectly ionizing radiation formed by the decay of atomic almost 20 years after the incident, one of the most affected nuclei) into chemical energy to support their growth; this regions in Ukraine still appeared to have a higher rate of process is analogous to photosynthesis. (2) They were birth defects (4). Under normal conditions, any creature first discovered after the Chernobyl incident, after a black living as near to Chernobyl as the radiotrophic fungi fungus had colonized the walls of the damaged reactor currently live would suffer severely from radiation poisoning 4, and in the reactor’s largely radioactive cooling pool before an agonizingly painful death. Ionizing radiation released from atoms in the form of electromagnetic waves water. or particles have the ability to completely remove electrons To give an idea of how radioactive that is, here are some from other atoms and molecules. (5) They can weaken up examples: Chernobyl’s suicide squad - three men who or even break DNA altogether, either damaging cells until volunteered to swim through heavily radioactive water to they are killed or causing them to mutate.(6) Finish this drain millions of gallons underneath a molten reactor core article here on Scientia.

- came out immediately displaying symptoms of acute

ECA Christmas Pause

All regular Block 2 ECAs will pause for one week to allow our community to attend various holiday celebrations both on and off campus. If your child is a bus user they will be moved onto a 2.30 pm bus.

Selection and Year-long Y3+ ECAs and Season 2 Under 13 through Varsity competitive sports will continue during the week.

Block 2 resumes again on the first day of school in Term 2.

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ARTS COUNCIL Exploring Self Through Theatre Henry Brosnahan 13K s part of the IB Theatre course, we have been in the process of creating our Solo Performances, which were showcased this week after two months of preparation. It has been an enriching experience to have been on the journey of creating a solo piece, because I have learnt so much about my chosen practitioner, Tatsumi Hijikata, and his theatre: Butoh. It is a type of theatre that has its own unique challenges and theories which have helped me grow as a theatre-maker.

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Butoh is an incredibly spiritual form of theatre, and this idea is something I have not yet explored much in my studies. Theatre has always been about portraying the emotions of a human character or expressing a political or social message, but Butoh pushed the bounds of what theatre meant to me. The essence of Butoh is about physically transforming into imagery that the performer has in their mind; instead of imitating someone else, the performer must use these images to express their true self, free from the constraints of ‘socialisation and modernisation’. This is an idea which heavily influenced

the content of the piece itself, as I aimed to convey the relationship between man and nature, especially how people have come to neglect the natural world.

Being able to explore not only a topic, but a theatre form which I chose myself has been so exciting. It has broadened my understanding of theatre and allowed me to understand the diverse ways in which people view the world and express their ideas through the arts.

Art and Theatre Combined

Maddie Dewse, 13F y chosen practitioner for my Theatre solo, Robert makes it one of the most thrilling and liberating art forms Wilson, has introduced a space in which thoughts to learn; theatre itself is subjective, expressive, daring and considered alien to this world can be transposed to their wondrous - for this, I am forever grateful to have found it. righteous place - the stage. He combines the visual with the performing arts in an attempt to create a visual feast for his audience. As someone who takes both Higher Level Art and Theatre, I have found myself influenced by his ability to utilise and combine both subjects so they flourish artistically as one. In this sense, I intended to use both my artistic and performative skills to voice an underlying meaning without the need for sound. From this I have been given the opportunity to strengthen both my comfortability and spontaneity within this subject. This piece of work has indeed exaggerated my love for theatre, despite the challenging aspect of maintaining an element of originality in spite of influence.

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As I am near to finalising my piece, I have learnt how there is no limit to the realm of theatre, and that is what

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CAT CORNER Introduction to Breast Cancer by CanCure CanCure CAT Club

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lthough October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, women should be aware year round.

Breast Cancer is the rapid ’out of control’ growth of tissues in the breast. It starts off as a single abnormal cell that grows into a mass or sheet of cells called a tumour. A tumour can be cancerous or benign. Breast cancer spreads when the cancer grows into adjacent organs or other parts of the body or when breast cancer cells move to other parts of the body through the blood vessels. This development is called metastasis.

STRUCTURE OF A BREAST Before learning about breast cancer, we should know the features about the breast itself. The breast is made up of different tissue, ranging from very fatty tissue to very dense tissue. Within each of these tissues there is a network of lobes. Each lobe is made up of tiny, tube-like structures called lobules that contain milk glands, which produce milk. Tiny ducts(lactiferous) connect the glands, lobules, and lobes, carrying milk from the lobes to the nipple. The nipple is located in the middle of the areola, which is the darker area that surrounds the nipple.

TYPES OF BREAST CANCER Breast cancer can be invasive or non-invasive. Invasive breast cancer is cancer that spreads into all of the surrounding tissues and/or distant organs. Non-invasive breast cancer does not go beyond the milk ducts or lobules in the breast. Most breast cancers start in the ducts or lobules and are either sectioned into two types called ductal carcinoma or lobular carcinoma: • Ductal carcinoma. These cancers start in the cells lining the milk ducts and make up the majority of breast cancers.

• Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). This is a non-invasive cancer that is located only in the duct and has not spread outside the duct.

• Invasive ductal carcinoma. This is cancer that has spread outside of the duct.

• Invasive lobular carcinoma. This is cancer that started in the lobules and has spread outside of the lobules.

Sources: www.cancer.org

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#171: Twelve Documentaries to Watch with your Family I

t’s the festive season so instead of the 12 days of Christmas, I’ve taken liberties and borrowed from this post by physician and filmmaker Delaney Ruston.

You will need to decide which of these film suggestions aligns with your child’s age, interest and maturity level.

As Delaney mentions, consider taking a couple of nights to watch a whole documentary together. Suggest to your kids, especially documentary-hesitant kids, that you only watch half of it to start with, or even less.

The 12 are linked below but go to Delaney’s post to read a description about them first before you go and look for them in Netflix or other services you subscribe to. Also, look at some of the others recommended in the comments section on the same post.

Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken Stop At Nothing: The Lance Armstrong Story Knock Down The House Crip Camp Magnus Bobby Fischer Against the World Screenagers Movies (x2) Dance Dreams: Hot Chocolate Nutcracker My Octopus Teacher Pump Surfwise

Have a wonderful break; see you in the new year.

Brian Taylor Assistant Principal, Campus Curriculum Technology Integration

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the m o r f t es The lat

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UNI COUNSELORS’ CORNER In the Spotlight...

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

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he Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is a highly ranked university known for its cutting edge education and research. Ranked 56th in the Times Higher Education World Rankings, this university, estab-lished in 1991, is commonly regarded as one of the fastest growing universities in the world. HKUST has four main academic schools, offering programmes in Science, Humanities and Social Science along with its highly ranked Engineering and Business and Management schools.

Small classes, with 21 students per staff and a very international student base, 30 percent of students are international, give this Hong Kong based university a global feel. Located in Clearwater Bay, the university is easily accessible from the main part of Hong Kong. It’s modern architecture occupies 60 hectares in the New Territories but is serviced by a metro network. Many notable businesspeople and entrepreneurs have graduated from the university’s Business and Management school including Chan Yik Hei and Frank Wang, founder and CEO of the Shenzhen based techonolgy business DJI, the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial drones.

University Visits UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE

COUNTRY

LOCATION

Trent University

Canada

University of Bristol

UK

Trinity College Dublin

Ireland

2nd Floor Senior Studies 2nd Floor Senior Studies 2nd Floor Senior Studies

DATE

TIME

1.12.2020

2.30 pm

21.1.2021

12.30 pm

26.1.2021

2.30 pm

REDUCE TRAFFIC CONGESTION To reduce congestion on the road and in the school please use the new parking lot on Soi 35. Parents/drivers in Nursery and Foundation Stage may come on the campus at 1.30pm while other parents/drivers can come on the campus at 2.00pm.

Please enter on Soi 35 and exit on Soi 37.

Open from 6.30am to 4.30pm Monday through Friday. A blue Patana parking sticker is required to enter. If you need one please email reception@patana.ac.th.

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ALUMNI CORNER Life After Patana Grad’19 Visits

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tudents from Grad’19 visited Bangkok Patana recently, looking back to their experiences here and how it shaped their university life.

is similar to uni experience. Suyash added, “Although I found uni hard, I would have found it a lot harder if I hadn’t done my IB.”

Suyash Kothari, Rhea Poonevala, Zahra Poonevala, Charisse Tan and Dena Rana talked about how what they learned at Bangkok Patana prepared them for university, recounted their first few months at university before COVID hit and their post-lockdown plans.

They also stressed the need for doing the IB, with Rhea Poonvela pointing out doing the IB and the scores you achieve are very important if you plan to go to university in the UK. The students in the US said that their IB scores helped in being accepted in the US as well, even though it isn’t a US standard, the universities there like to see a standardised certification in applications.

Charisse Tan: “People didn’t think it was that serious in the US in February – things were getting cancelled in Thailand and we didn’t realise it was going to be a big thing. UCLA announced an extended spring break and then said we were coming back in person. However, finally in the second week of March they announced to students to go home but we might have to come back.

I came back from the US in mid-March and I was in quarantine – UCLA finished the quarter online. During the summer I took an internship with Harper’s Bazaar and I did some online courses like coding.”

Suyash Kothari: “I had to do a presentation for one of my classes at uni and put so much effort in it – and everyone else had presentations full of text while mine was like my TOK where I had no script. Doing the IB set the standards so high for me to be able to present.”

Zahra Poonvela: “Transitioning from the structure at Bangkok Patana to university – for me it was my first time in the US before I went to UC Berkeley – all the opinions I had gotten beforehand were different from my own Suyash Kothari: “We had to pack up all our stuff to go experience. I found I could look at my options and find my home really quickly. Some of us managed to get stuff in own way. You start to enjoy your own freedom once you storage or leave it with friends. No one was expecting it know how to do it, they do have the resources if you need would have to be there for more than a few months.” help. I tried a lot of little things to see what I wanted to do.”

THE IB The students agreed that it must have been difficult for Grad’20 to have their results based on a predicted grade, having worked so hard for two years, they pointed out how anti-climactic that must have been. One pointed out that the exam gives students a chance to get their grades up so if you don’t do as well in your coursework you can make up for it in your exams.

Suyash said of his experiences at Brown: “I already knew people from Bangok Patana at Brown. It was good to have a community there that would help me out and show me the way. Then you meet people who are connected tangentially. At my first week this girl walks up to me and asked, “Did you go to Bangkok Patana School?” I realised I had met this girl at the ski trip in Switzerland a few years ago!”

The Bangkok Patana family extends far beyond the Another matter that they all agreed upon was that the walls of the school, they found, running into alumni who frequency of the deadlines IB made it much easier to get used to it a university - the way the IB is structured helps were happy to lend a helping hand in their adjustment to you get used to that. Taking many classes in different areas university life.

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Desert Island Discs With Lola Narloch, Year 2 Teacher

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his column follows in the style of the famed BBC podcast which features a celebrity every week – here we feature our own Bangkok Patana celebrities! What eight songs, one luxury item and one book would you take with you if you were stuck on a desert island?

Today Lola Narloch, Year 2 teacher, is stuck on a desert island.

MS NARLOCH, IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND WHAT EIGHT PIECES OF MUSIC WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? Guiding Light - Mumford and Songs Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival Learn to Fly - Foo Fighters Breathless - The Corrs Dreams - The Cranberries September - Earth, Wind and Fire Crocodile Rock - Elton John

Listen to Ms Narloch’s playlist here

The Kids Aren’t Alright - Fall Out Boy PICK ONE LUXURY ITEM YOU WOULD WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU. THIS ITEM MUST BE INANIMATE AND OF NO USE IN ESCAPING THE ISLAND OR ALLOWING COMMUNICATION FROM OUTSIDE. A well-stocked trunk of snacks!!

WHICH ONE BOOK WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling Catch the real Desert Island Discs on BBC. Now that you are stuck at home, what are you listening to? Have a list of your own? Let us know! Contact SHKN with your favourites.

Contribute your article for publication in the magazine and in the Patana News! scientia@patana.ac.th

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Are You Ready for Christmas Spirit Day? A

s there won’t be our famed Christmas Assembly on the final day of term this year due to COVID-9 restrictions there will be a non-uniform Christmas Spirit Day. This will be a non-donation day.

Students, get out your Christmas jumper, winter woollies or just wear red and green in the spirit of the holidays. Here’s hoping the weather stays kind to us that day!

The canteens will be serving some Christmas themed food that day and if you keep your eyes peeled you just might see Santa with a mask on!

School Shop Closed Over Holidays The School Shop will be closed from 21st December 2020 through 4th January 2021. It will reopen on 5th January 2021.

The Post Office will be closed from 20th December 2020 through 7th January 2021. It will reopen on 8th January, 2021.

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email supanut@thesiamsociety.org for information or resesrvations 11/12/2020

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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 Tai, Bangna, Bangkok 10260 THAILAND Tel: +66 (0) 2785 2200 Fax: +66 (0) 2785 2399 www.patana.ac.th Email: reception@patana.ac.th 28

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