Patana News Volume 23 Issue 22

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

Friday 19th February 2021

Volume 23 Issue 22

www.patana.ac.th

PREPARING FOR LIFE AFTER PATANA

By Lorna Conroy, Secondary Assistant Principal, Student Welfare

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Also in this issue...

Tigers’ Match Reports/Primary Record Breakers/Admiral’s Cup Win for Year 9 Sailor 19/02/2021

Bangkok Patana School News

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

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Preparing for Life After Patana

Lorna Conroy, Secondary Assistant Principal, Student Welfare n just six weeks, the students of Grad’21 will reach the learning these skills as part of the Tutorial Programme. It end of their time at school. They have spent the last 13 quickly became apparent that some students were much years (even more if you include Foundation Stage and more adept at these activities than others - and it wasn't Nursery) working towards this moment. They have grown always the ones we would have predicted! from the very young children they were when they began Mr Tim Jarrett, Head of Year 13, reflects on the their education, through their time as a young child in Key programme: Stage 1, into their pre-teen years, then onto life as a teenager and have now developed into the young adults they “Since Term 1, Year 13 have been on are today. an eight session rotation that focuses on life skills after Bangkok Patana. This Over the years they have acquired knowledge, learnt programme came about after receiving skills and developed their character strengths. We at feedback from the students on what Bangkok Patana hope we have fulfilled the school vision they would find most useful in Year 13. and mission: The response to these sessions from the students has been overwhelmingly Our mission: To ensure that students of different nationpositive and when I visit the different tutor alities grow to their full potential as independent learngroups it’s clear they love the sessions, ers in a caring British international community. particularly the variety and usefulness.

Our vision: We develop global citizens who shape So many members of Grad’21 had never their world through independence, empathy, creativity ironed or cooked before and the best and critical thinking. part of it was so many said they enjoyed Their involvement in CAS and CAT activities certainly it.” demonstrates growth as global citizens while at the Each activity was skillfully led by a member of the Tutor same time helping to develop their empathy skills. The recent individual drama performances and art exhibition Team, some of whom have been with these students for highlights their creativity skills and their learning in Theory seven years and have enjoyed supporting them as they of Knowledge lessons has developed their ability to think have grown. critically.

If we fast forward to a time (hopefully in the nearish fu-

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But do they know how to sew on a button? Or iron a shirt? How about preparing a nutritious meal on a student budget? If we want our graduating students to be fully independent, then it is these life skills which are equally as important as anything they learn in their subject lessons.

Over the past few weeks Year 13 students have been

ture) when your children have moved away, started university and are flourishing as independent adults, I hope that they will look back at these sessions with a feeling of pride as they sew the button back onto their shirts, cook for their new housemates or successfully wash their clothes without the colour running.

COOKING “Cooking a delicious macaroni cheese including making a white sauce from scratch to impress your future house mates at university and make sure you don’t starve.” Mrs McDonagh “For the cooking session we had to bring in our own ingredients in order to cook Mac and Cheese. Once in the kitchen we were told where everything was and how to use the equipment around us. We were then left to our own devices and although most of us managed to prepare a decent meal, there were still funny moments of people’s water boiling out over the pot.” Jack 2

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19/02/2021

SEWING “It was sew amazing! It left us in stitches. All students learnt how to extend the life of their clothing by sewing a button, mending hems and repairing holes.” Mrs De Guzman-Lauffer

WASHING CLOTHES “Divide to conquer, read label and engage brain, set the settings on the washing machine and now everyone can wash clothes.” Mr Mitcheson

“Some of us who were clearly a little less experienced spent most of the session just trying to thread the needle, while the people next to us had already managed to sew a small stuffed toy. We definitely didn't become experts in the session, but sewing is something that many people don't get taught and what we learned was really valuable for basic clothing repair.” Clara

“We learned how to read the different labels on clothes so that we knew the right method to wash and dry them. It was nice that our teacher personally filmed his attempts at learning how to wash clothes too.” Odele

MANAGING FINANCES “Personal finance for university, student bank accounts, budgeting at university, credit vs debit cards, credit scores, food shopping, reward cards and much more.” Mr Fieldhouse

IRONING “Ironing cuffs, collars, shirt front, dealing with buttons, how to put up an ironing board, learning what steam does, health and safety and putting the ironing board, bang!” Mr Thombs

“Learning about credit scores was fun because the class was able to bond over our complete ignorance of adult responsibilities; it made us laugh about how we still felt like complete children.’ Emma

“It seems simple, rolling the iron down a shirt. But we forget the cuff, the buttons and literally everything else that makes this complicated. We raced to see which half of the class can set up the iron board in the first place, it was fascinating to see how many of us are unable to do some“I found the budgeting section quite interesting, and it was thing so simple; and struggle with this. All it took was alinsightful to see how the different costs of university add up. most burning a shirt to begin getting the hang of it.” Divy I found the part of credit very useful, as I have never been exposed to it before.” Charlie

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Patana Tigers in Action!

Varsity Basketball Cindy Adair, Cross Campus Assistant Principal, Extra-curricular Activities and Sports

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ollowing the disappointment of Season 2 cancellations, our Varsity Basketball teams were keen to have one last match to test their skills and provide closure for their graduating Seniors. The boys hosted local rivals NIST and the girls hosted a Thai team, MPS. The games were tough and close encounters, with some outstanding individual and team play. It was great to see teachers and friends come out to support the games and cheer on the players both in person and online via the LIVE Feed on BPS Sports.

The eventual winners on the night were the Bangkok Patana Varsity Girls and the NIST Boys. The teams celebrated with pizza afterwards. A special mention to Aiko, Kunal, Aditya, Jerry and Chali our Year 13’s on a great (albeit short) season of Basketball.

Varsity Boys’ Match Report William Ahl, Team Captain

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he Varsity Boys’ Basketball match started with great enthusiasm. NIST took control of the first quarter by adopting a good strategy against our boys which saw them take the lead at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter we became more aggressive, determined and played good team defense narrowing the lead. The third quarter began with NIST leading by 18 points but we didn't give up and started knocking down shots bringing the NIST lead lower.

However, our Tigers just couldn't get past NIST who were standing tall and strong and ended up winning the match comfortably.

Overall, after not playing a match for a couple of months due to COVID-19, as team captain I believe we put in our all and just didn't get the result we were expecting. The shots did not drop for us today but it was great being back on court and working together as a team. Leading match scorers were William Ahl - 21 points, Norapat (Earth) Kornsri - 15 points and Michael Liptavat - 11 points.

Most of our players will be coming back next year ready for the challenge. Good luck to our graduating players Kunal, Adi, Chali and Jerry.

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Primary Record Breakers T

he annual Primary Record Breakers event was held last Saturday morning with students from Years 4, 5 and 6 competing in athletics. Year 4 took on the 60m dash and the 600m run while Years 5 and 6 also ran 800m. They also took part in six field event rotations; the long jump, high jump, standing triple, shot put, basketball throw, discus and javelin. Year 4 took part in the tee-ball

throw instead of the javelin but had fun watching the older kids take their turns throwing the javelin. The Primary Record Breakers gives our young athletes the chance to create their own personal bests as well as try to break some of our school records in the hopes that they will see their names on the list for years to come.

Strong Start to the Season for Softballers Rich Molloy, Cross Campus Head of Sport

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arsity Boys’ Softball started the season with a strong showing against NIST. Scoring 10-0, the boys showed they are ready for the new season!

The Girls’ Varsity team had a much tighter affair against NIST but took home the win by 8-7. Well done Softballers!

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From Village to Bangkok Patana

Reprinted from The Ide Times January newsletter

BATTLE OF HIGH STREET, IDE, IN BANGKOK, THAILAND Dan’s parents. Dan is Head of Tennis at Bangkok Patana School, while Olly is Head of PE at the same school. Small world.

As anticipated, the match was a very tight affair, both playing off the same handicap of nine. Dan claimed the first hole with a seven, while Olly could only score an eight. The scoring improved by both players from this point forward as Olly chased Dan’s lead. Plenty of good shots by both players, pars followed, thanks to the players formative years, honing skills at Northbrook Approach Course (formerly on Topsham Road).

With all still to play for on the final hole, Dan drove straighter, using the path to gain 20 yards, while Olly found a beautiful coppice on the left of the fairway. A lovely approach shot from Dan was not matched by Olly, who decided to attempt some forestry with his golf ball, which ended up behind him. Olly recovered, but not enough to beat a consistent Dan, who finished the match with a 2up win. 1 under handicap. Olly, +1. Dan continues in the cup, while Olly joins the plate. Continuing to represent the sporting prowess of Ide’ites, I would imagine both highly improbable situation took place on Friday Olly and Dan will win the respective competitions. NB. 22nd January at Subhapruek Golf Course, Bang- Bangkok Patana School has a third member of staff kok, Thailand. Daniel Ahl, 51, lived in Ide from 1988 un- who spent a large chunk of their Childhood in Ide. Ross til 1992 with his parents Wendy and Bill Ahl at 46 High Millcliffe, nee Sutcliffe, who lived at 7 The Hams, Ide. Street, was drawn in a titanic match-play encounter versus What a small world indeed.

Oliver Blundell, 38, 33 High Street, Ide, the residence of (Ide is a small village in northern Devon with a population Karen and Clive Edmunds-Brown. Olly grew up overlooking washing baskets full of tennis balls in the garden of of around 500 people.)

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Admiral’s Cup Win for Year 9 Sailor Koravic (Wikki) Bhanubandh Na Ayudhaya, Patana Parent

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ongratulations to Year 9 student Weka Bhanubandh on taking the Admiral’s Cup in Pattaya. The event is one of the oldest Optimist Dinghy Event in Thailand. His father also won this cup back in 1987. It is nice to see the names of both father and son on the same trophy. The Admiral’s Cup is the first ranking event of the year. With this win, Weka is stepping closer to his goal of going to the World Championships.

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Pataroma Provides Ethically Sourced Coffee Pim Wongswan, 12Z

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he Patana Coffee Project - Pataroma - is a student-led Social Enterprise formed in collaboration with RIS, ISB, KIS and NIST, who invited us to join them on their venture of selling premium quality, ethically sourced coffee beans. This project was born out of a desire to directly solve problems through a creative business perspective.

The unique aspect of our project is that our aim is not to make profit for ourselves, but to make profit that will be donated to an agricultural community called the Maeramit Community. This Community is situated in Omgoi, a remote region in northern Chiang Mai province, and is in need of financial support to aid and stimulate agricultural development. The coffee beans themselves are also Fair Trade, ensuring that the farmers receive a fair price for their commodity - currently, the average Thai coffee farmer makes a meagre annual income of approximately THB 18,000. By doing this, we will also promote the idea of equality amongst jobs as many farmers are not receiving the amount worth their work.

Senior Studies lounge. Everyday, consumers would be able to buy a wide range of beverages and baked goods (which changed daily). Although during the first day it was slightly hectic, after all the members learnt how to make the coffee and the requirements to fulfil when managing the stall, the event ran smoothly. The atmosphere in the cafe was festive with Christmas decorations and Christmas music playing constantly. All the members gladly participated in this event going out of their way to make sure the customer had the best experience of the cafe. It was a very successful event and we hope to do something similar in the future.

Currently, we are creating a video which will advertise our club. It will contain aesthetic shots of our coffee, members in action and interviews to provide an insight into our aims and values. We will use this video on our social media platforms and website to help promote our club.

Please stay tuned for this project.

You can purchase Pataroma coffee beans to take home We have had many projects including the cafe hosted at the PTG shop. at the end of Term 1. Pataroma had a pop-up cafe in the

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Bangkok Patana School News

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CAT/CAS CORNER

BPSMUN XXIV 2020

Kanlayarak (Fai) Tangkaravakoon and Manya Mittal, Secretaries-General of BPSMUN

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ast November, the annual BPSMUN conference was held and it was a pleasure to see everyone enthusiastically participate in the event. Although the conference was only one day, the Secretariat spent countless hours working behind the scenes to make the conference possible. We started preparing for the event in March but the COVID-19 global pandemic put a halt to our planning.

With the lockdown, our weekly meetings were no longer possible. So,we found times where the whole secretariat could connect online and continue planning. We completed our secretariat biographies, chose our topics and designed our certificates, despite the uncertainty that we faced.

high quality resolutions that were thoroughly debated.

We even had the chance to entertain a crisis resolution in DISEC. We gave out two very special awards to outstanding delegates who the conference would have not been the same without. Congratulations to Parima Summers and Arnav Balinga for winning best delegate! I truly hope that delegates were able to leave BPSMUN with a new friend, a new skill and most importantly, a memorable experience.

This MUN would not have been as delightful without the passionate delegates, amazing parliamentarians and Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions, we were chairs, and Mr. Brooks, who was incredibly supportive unable to invite other international schools as usual. throughout the entire process. Thank you!

However, we were still eager to make the event possible MUN is available all year, we would love to have those and decided to hold it for Bangkok Patana students. While interested join us! Model UN has shaped a large part changing our plans, we realised this new format could of my high school experience. It introduced me to global help expand the current BPS MUN community and began issues and encouraged me to improve myself in public advertising the conference to students who had no prior speaking, debating, researching, and organising events. experience to encourage a larger range of students to join Delegates learn how MUN works, practice making the MUN ECA. speeches and debating and ideate solutions to real world We made sure to choose committees and topics that problems. They take part in committees like the Human would allow beginners to actively engage in global issues Rights Council, Disarmament Committee, Historical that are prevalent in today’s society. In the Disarmament Committee, the United States Congress and many more! and International Security Committee (DISEC), we As our delegation, delegates can attend and compete in chose “the Question of Preventing Illegal Arms Trade”. conferences at school, in Thailand and overseas.

In the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Additionally, we are accepting applications for we chose “the Question of Privacy Rights in the Age of Technology”. We also picked countries that would push secretariat (board member) positions. The application is due in February and the election is scheduled for March. the delegates to be more involved in their committee.

The responsibilities of a secretariat includes: organising, Overall, the conference was a success. Delegates running and chairing the Monday ECA and a conference ideated creative and well-researched solutions to the a year (eg. BPSMUN, BKKMUN or SEASAC MUN). If global issues they were challenged with. We had several you’re interested please email kata21 and mamb21.

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Creating Job Opportunities for Youths Rie Aiyama, Tatiana Skory and Kamolnisa (Gao) Kamalanavin, 11L

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n 23rd and 24th January, three teams from Bangkok Patana School participated in the annual “Youths for SDGs” conference. Bringing together over 200 students from 15 international schools in Thailand, the event allows like-minded people to discuss global issues, raise awareness about the 17 SDG Goals, and come up with innovative solutions. Initially, the event was scheduled to take place at King Mongkut’s International Demonstration School, however, due to COVID-19 restrictions, students found themselves participating through a Zoom call instead.

gender and nationality. We also recognised the everincreasing value of online resources (approximately 75 percent of the Thai population had internet access in 2020) and thus found it befitting to create a website.

Currently, we plan for it to utilise tags that improve job matching compatibility; these may include interests, skills, wage range, qualifications and geographic location. We plan to publish our website in a couple of months’ time. In the future, we hope to create a downloadable application and build a larger community of partnered businesses and youths in Bangkok.

The event consisted of various activities: The SDGs Talk, The Breakout Session, and the infamous Case Challenge, in which teams prepare and present a solution in response to the theme chosen by the organising team. This year we were tasked to help reduce youth unemployment rates in Thailand, which had been magnified by the pandemic.

The question was ‘What can you do to help youths gain employment opportunities in order to have a better standard of living over a one year time horizon?’.

As of now, we have an instagram account (@jobtin. official) where we will post our journey throughout the year(s). If you’d like to support our project, please consider following us; we would very much appreciate it!

As the winners of the Case Challenge, our group RTG, received seed capital of THB 8,000 to start up our project: ‘Jobtin’.

Even though we joined as first-time participants, we think that the conference was an invaluable experience that provided important insights on the issues we tackle today.

Listening to students and educators of different backgrounds allowed us to better understand perspectives, be more aware of the problems that surround us and be inspired to make better decisions. We feel very grateful to have won and to be able to obtain such a rare opportunity to make a positive impact on our local community. Thank you to the Youths for SDGs team, Compass Education, UNDP, the judges, as well as our school for your continued support.

‘Jobtin’ is a job-matching and communication service similar to existing platforms such as LinkedIn and Tinder - that specifically caters to small businesses, individual employers and youths looking for work in Bangkok. We We are so excited for the new beginnings we can help wanted to address the prevalent inequalities faced by create with Jobtin! minorities, due to factors such as socio-economic class, 19/02/2021

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A Love of Aerial Art Thitida Leelapanyalert, Patana Parent

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rnicha (Ava) Voravutvityarak, Year 5, and her sister Thannicha (Ella), Year 3, spent their Christmas break working on their aerial art performances and wanted to share their love of aerial art with the Patana community.

They both started learning aerial art in August, 2020. Ava has been involved with rhythmic gymnastics since she was five and a half and before COVID regularly competed in international competitions across South East Asia.

Check out their performances!

More information here

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UNI COUNSELORS’ CORNER University Offers

St Andrews University, The University of Edinburgh, King’s College London, Loughborough University, University of Leeds and Maastricht University

Albane Théaud

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ongratulations to Albane on her offers from St Andrews University, The University of Edinburgh, King’s College London, Loughborough University, University of Leeds and Maastricht University. Albane hopes to attend Maastricht to study Chemistry.

“Although I received offers from prestigious UK universities such as St Andrews, Edinburgh, and King’s College London, I am hoping to attend Maastricht University in the Netherlands. The Maastricht Science Programme is a multidisciplinary science programme where students are allowed the freedom to build their own course by integrating any of the sciences together (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Liberal Arts and Sciences, etc.). The flexibility of the course is what really attracted me to Maastricht University. I also like the fact that it is a very international university located in a picturesque medieval city.”

to enjoy chemistry more as I found it more stimulating and intriguing than biology. When it came time to apply, I had “The main factor behind my choices for applications fallen in love with chemistry despite the difficulty I’ve had was the ranking of the universities in the particular field of with the subject.” chemistry. Because of COVID-19, I wanted to be prudent “During my year and a half at Bangkok Patana, I have and make safe choices, but after encouragement from my taken part in a few extra-curricular school activities. Firstly, parents and teachers, I decided to apply to St Andrews. I along with a few other students, I helped organise a play also wanted to look for Chemistry programmes in Europe, at a school for children with learning difficulties. I joined which is how I stumbled across Maastricht University.” several school committees such as the Prom committee, “I’ve always liked the sciences, so studying within the Gradbook committee, and the SSRC. I also joined the scientific field was never really much of a question for me. At Operation Smile, ThongBai Daycare, and Muay Thai the start of IB, I wanted to apply for Biology, not Chemistry. ECAs.” However, during the course of IB, I progressively began

Year 7 Science “Bake-off”

Joel Lodge, Secondary Science and Biology Teacher

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ear 7 investigated the pH scale in Science, creating a pH scale from just Hydrochloric Acid, Sodium Hydroxide and universal indicator.

The students were judged by teachers in a bake-off style.

The winners of 7R Aya Haviv Buck and Yeonjae Lee had a cracking display of the ranges of pH using only different volumes of the chemicals they were given.

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UNI COUNSELORS’ CORNER Online Tools to Research Unis Sally Jarrett, Careers and Universities Counsellor

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uring a series of recent tutorial sessions, Year 12s have been prompted to take five minutes to think about the image they are forming in their minds when they think about their ‘ideal university/college’. This is a great activity to stimulate thought and a good conversation to have as a family. We ask students to tell us what they envisage their campus looks like as they take an imaginary walk through the grounds. Students should consider the size of the student community they imagine themselves in.

Sometimes the ‘big city’ experience can be overwhelming for those who have not taken the time to consider it carefully. A smaller campus-based setting could be preferable.

• Germany here and here • Ireland • Japan • Netherlands • Thailand LOOKING TO THE US

FUN WITH GOOGLE EARTH After our students have begun to consider and articulate their ideas, we always enjoy introducing them to one of the easiest (and fun) university research tools to hand – Google Earth! Through a simple search, students can discover crucial information about campus location, size, and access to urban conveniences and rural spaces.

They can drop down to ground level and take a meander around the campus, getting a feel for the architecture and atmosphere and checking for practical matters, such as With something like 3,700 college options to choose proximity of student housing to classrooms, sports and from in the US, it is easy for a young person to feel utterly leisure facilities, access to major city centres and airports overwhelmed when it comes to researching options. for when it comes time to visit home.

The best starting point I can recommend is the College POSSIBLE STUDY DESTINATIONS Board’s ‘Big Future’ website here.

Zooming in further, students in Year 12 tend to have The Careers Link Counsellors teach students how to firmed up in their minds more of an idea about possible study destinations. These ‘entry point’ links to course make the most of the extensive filters within the website to research for an array of global destinations are popular narrow down the search. We urge students to think very carefully about the following factors in personalising their for Bangkok Patana students: research: • Australia • Admissions selectivity – and the likelihood of get• Canada ting in (most selective <25% admitted, very selective • Europe 25-50% admitted, somewhat selective 50-75% ad-

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mitted, less selective >75% admitted) • College size (small <2,000, medium 2,00015,000, large >15,000) • Location • Campus setting (rural, suburban, urban) • Majors • Cost of tuition – and this is an important one to consider filtering! We urge students and families to have a frank and open discussion about expenses over the four years of tuition.

From there, students should roll up their sleeves and dive in to exploring the wealth of information each university makes available on their own university course webpages - ready to make a highly informed and competitive application.

early course exploration in the UK is UCAS. Students can begin to explore courses and investigate the often very specific minimum entrance requirements published for each course.

We remind students to dig beneath the surface with their research and dive into specific university websites to compare course structure and content across institutions.

This is also where early thinking about campus environment and location is important. Students can generally study ‘Economics’ or ‘Engineering’ anywhere around the world…

It is the lifestyle and wider interests that a young person can immerse themselves in outside of their classes that will factor into their ability to thrive when they leave the bubble of Bangkok Patana, and home.

Having young people understand the importance of owning their journey and taking charge of their research SUBJECT FOCUSED DEGREE IN THE UK into future pathways will enable our students to become Those students who are looking towards a more subject a well informed and thoroughly prepared applicant, one focused degree tend to consider the UK. The ‘go to’ for who has made a truly great choice for their future learning.

In the Spotlight...

Williams College, USA

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his highly selective college is located in rural Massachusetts and has a student faculty ratio of only 7 to 1. Ranked first in the US News and World Report top national colleges every year since 2004, Williams has a total undergraduate enrollment around 2000 students.

Williams offers 36 majors in the Humanities, Arts, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences and has tutorial programmes modeled after Oxford and Cambridge. Notable alumni include nine Pulitzer Prize winners, including Louis Gluck who also won the Nobel in Literature in 2020. Supreme Court, 40 Rhodes Scholars, and numerous poliOther notable alumni include composer Stephen Sond- ticians, prime ministers, CEOs and more heim, director Elia Kazan, an Associate Justice of the US

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STUDENTS SPEAK

How do Nuclear Reactors Work?

Sarisa Techasukij, 10L

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uclear energy - all generated by the 440 nuclear reactors across 30 countries existing today - contributes to approximately 10% of all the world’s electricity.

[1] It provides a relatively environmentally friendly source of non-renewable power, but of course, not without its downsides. But how do they all work? What is the driving force behind the production of its electricity? What are the common issues?

HOW DOES IT WORK/NUCLEAR FISSION The electricity produced by nuclear reactors is driven by a simple reaction called nuclear fission. This refers to the process by which neutrons - upon contact and at the correct speed - split uranium or plutonium isotopes, thereby releasing heat and more high-energy neutrons. This heat is then converted into steam that is used to spin turbines for electricity. As for the neutrons released: there should be an average of 1 neutron produced per reaction (more or less in accordance with the reaction rate) though additional neutrons are sometimes released which go on to produce more reactions. [2]. The three usable fuels used in nuclear reactors are uranium, plutonium and thorium; The most commonly used material is uranium. [3]. However, only 0.7% of the actual fissile U-235 makes up the natural uranium. The rest consists of mainly isotope U-238 and very little of U-234. This is an issue, as the 0.7% of isotope U-235 found in natural uranium is not enough to power nuclear reactors. It has to be at a concentration of 2-5% to support any continuous nuclear chain reaction. So, how is this dealt with? The uranium is enriched. [4]

separation).

ENRICHMENT OF URANIUM Because natural uranium alone cannot act as a fuel, the percentage of U-235 has to be increased for it to be available for use. Commercial enriched uranium is called enriched uranium oxide. First, the natural uranium must be sent to a plant that produces uranium oxide - also known as “yellowcake” - and then combined with hydrogen fluoride and fluorine gas to form uranium hexafluoride. [5] The reason this is done is because uranium hexafluoride has properties that make it ideal for enrichment due to its volatility (it is able to change state easily without a great change in kinetic energy needed) [6]. From here, there are two enrichment processes to obtain enriched uranium oxide: gaseous diffusion and gas centrifugation. [7] Gaseous diffusion: this process forces uranium hexafluoride through semi-permeable membranes that separate the isotopes.

Based on Graham’s Law: the rate of effusion of a gas is inversely proportional to the square root of its molecular mass. The lighter particles would therefore pass the semipermeable membranes faster than the heavier ones.

Because, for some reason, I couldn’t find the ratio of effusion rate for U-235 and U-238 online, here are my calculations (which may be incorrect!): 1.006:1 (The rate of reaction for U-235 is faster, though by not that much).

Read the rest of the article on Scientia Magazine here.

NOTE: The size and weight of each isotope differs slightly, meaning that they can be separated if in the right conditions. (This ties in later with the methods of isotope

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ARTS COUNCIL Arts as a Method of Learning Claire Herslov, 9M ecently, I have been faced with the choice of picking subjects for (I)GCSE. I have always had a passion for the Arts from an early age. As a four year old, I viewed Bangkok Patana for the first time and immediately knew this is where I wanted to go to school. The Arts facilities were astonishing, ranging from the big theatre to the dance rooms, where I wanted to learn new routines. This instantly drew me to the Arts subjects and opportunities at Patana, as I had never seen anything like this.

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Over the years I have participated in numerous Artrelated activities and performances. Each subject helped me in its own way to discover my passions. Drama helped me build confidence and take on new challenges such as learning the skills of acting. Music was a way for me to learn an instrument and improve my singing ability. Art helped me learn new ways of expressing myself through drawing, painting and sculpting. All of these have assisted me in becoming who I am today.

GCSEs. This is a continuation of my belief in Arts as an important method of learning. I chose Drama because it is by far the subject I am most passionate to learn more about in hopes of someday becoming an actor. Graphic These Arts subjects are incredibly important in building Communications is also one of my choices being the use character through being exposed to learning through of art in real world situations. creativity. So 13-year-old me is continuing the dreams of I would encourage anyone who feels like they have 4-year-old-me, and as a result, I have chosen Drama and something to express, to try the Arts as it is a good way to Graphic Communications as two of my courses for the (I) help a person grow in the way it did for me.

Developing Drama Skills in (I)GCSE

Max Masson, 11M ecently, I have been preparing for my devised IGCSE drama performance. I was tasked to create a piece along with my classmates about the theme of power throughout history. We also had to follow the style of the famous theatre practitioner; Bertolt Brecht. Brecht was known for his political theatre and constant tension breaking performances. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to perform this piece to an audience due to COVID-19 . However, my peers and I got far into the devising process.

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was constant. However, in this piece it was constantly changing. For the first few lessons, I found this concept hard to undertake; after helpful feedback from my teachers and peers I continued to develop this skill.

Overall, I was proud of my progress in learning the style of Brecht’s theatre. I was highly disappointed that I was not able to perform this piece as I feel like it would have been a good experience. I also wanted to display the skills I had learnt from teachers to show my progress and acting I faced challenges while devising, for example, I found ability. I would highly recommend fellow drama students it difficult to break the tension in extreme moments. This to learn about this style of theatre as it can challenge you was because I had never worked on these skills before. I and develop skills you can use in future performances. had usually performed pieces where the theme and tone 19/02/2021

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177: CloudApp I

t is very rare for me to recommend an app after only using it for a couple of days. What I like about CloudApp is that is combines everything I normally use several apps for into one place.

What does it do?

In short, it performs three main functions: •

host images, GIFs, videos in the cloud

• take screenshots that you can crop and annotate • take a video that you can quickly trim and add annotations Not only can it do those things it has a nice web interface if you want to log into the website and use it.

It has apps for Mac and Windows and even iOS so you can have all your content available on whatever platform you use. There is even a Chrome Extension so it can work with Chromebooks. No Android app however.

There is a paid version, but I think the free version would be more than enough for most people which again, is rare.

My top tip is to show the floating icon so that you can quickly access the app, and to set a keyboard shortcut to launch the screenshot – I use the PrtSc button for this.

Have a wonderful half term.

Brian Taylor Assistant Principal, Cross Campus Curriculum Technology Integration

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Desert Island Discs With Carly Peart, Year 6 Leader of Learning and Curriculum

T

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 Carly Peart, Leader of Learning and Curriculum for Year 6 is stuck on a desert island.

MS PEART IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND WHAT EIGHT PIECES OF MUSIC WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? Someone Saved My Life Tonight - Elton John Say it Right - Nelly Furtado Smooth - Santana Mr Brightside - The Killers Amarantine - Enya All I need is a miracle - Mike and The Mechanics Shots - Imagine Dragons

Listen to Ms Peart’s playlist here

Just a Little More Love - David Guetta 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. My prescription sunglasses WHICH ONE BOOK WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 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.

Community Offers HEADING OUT OF TOWN? FIND SPECIAL OFFERS FOR THE BANGKOK PATANA COMMUNITY HERE

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Bangkok Patana School News

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COMMUNITY NOTICES

For further information and bookings please contact: Khun Prasert or Khun Supanut - Tel. 02 661 6470-3 ext. 504, 506 Fax. 02 258 3491 or e-mail: supanut@thesiamsociety.org

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Bangkok Patana School News

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COMMUNITY NOTICES

Bangkok Community Theatre holds regular evening online play readings. Each time we choose a new script and share it with the participants in advance.

Then we get together and read the play aloud on zoom, regularly switching up the roles so that everyone gets a chance to read, if they wish. Some BCT friends don’t want to read; they just like to listen & watch. That’s okay, too.

Free for BCT members and guests. We'll send you a link to the Zoom meeting room after you RSVP: rsvp@bangkokcommunitytheatre.com

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Bangkok Patana School News

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

643 Lasalle Road (Sukhumvit 105) Bangna Tai, Bangna, Bangkok 10260 THAILAND Tel: +66 (0) 2785 2200 Fax: +66 (0) 2785 2399 www.patana.ac.th Email: reception@patana.ac.th 20

Bangkok Patana School News

19/02/2021