Patana News Volume 23 Issue 3

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 4th September 2020

Volume 23 Issue 3

www.patana.ac.th

THE IMPORTANCE OF EMPATHY

BY HELEN THEW, CROSS CAMPUS PRINCIPAL AND ACTING SECONDARY PRINCIPAL

Page 2 Also in this issue...

Kart Racers Take to the Track/Trinity Awards Thailand/In-depth Look at Filtered Fresh Air Systems 04/09/2020

Bangkok Patana School News

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

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The Importance of Empathy

Helen Thew, Cross Campus Principal and Acting Secondary Principal

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verything we do at Bangkok Patana is driven by our Guiding Statements (mission, vision, and values). In previous Patana News articles I have focused on attributes under our Global Citizenship and Well-Being values. Today I turn the spotlight onto our vision which I see as the umbrella statement over our values. It reads as:

“We develop global citizens who shape their world through independence, empathy, creativity and critical thinking.”

All the skills listed in our vision are very important to develop our students into global citizens but the one I wish to focus in on further is empathy. In our opening staff meeting of this academic year Matt Mills, Head of School, highlighted the importance of empathy to us all especially at this time. So, what is empathy? The Chambers English Dictionary states is as, “The power of entering into another’s personality and imaginatively experiencing their experiences.” Tim Minchin (who I enjoyed watching in Jesus Christ Superstar during lockdown) is quoted as saying, “Empathy is intuitive, but is also something you can work on, intellectually.” From a neuroscientist’s perspective two parts of our brain need to work together. The emotional centre perceives the feelings of others and the cognitive centre tries to understand why they feel that way and how we can be helpful to them.

Some people are more naturally empathetic than others but in line with Tim Minchin’s view there are exercises we can all do to increase our empathy.

TALK TO NEW PEOPLE Trying to imagine how someone else feels is often not enough. There is an easy solution to this ask them! With many new staff, student and parents having just joined the Patana family go beyond the small talk and ask them how they are doing? They say that highly empathic people have a curiosity about strangers and will talk to the person sitting next to them on say the BTS. Curiosity expands our empathy when we talk to people outside our usual social circle, encountering lives and worldviews different from our own.

LISTEN HARD AND OPEN UP There are two traits required for being an empathic conversationalist. One is to master the art of active listening to be able to hear the unique feelings and needs a person is experiencing in that moment. In other words, we need to tune in to emotional cues. The second trait is to make ourselves vulnerable. Revealing our feelings to someone is vital for creating a strong empathic bond.

Dr Brene Brown reminds us that empathy fuels connection and says we can only create a genuine empathic con2

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nection if we are brave enough to really get in touch with our own fragilities. This short YouTube clip sums it up very well indeed

JOIN FORCES FOR A SHARED CAUSE Working on a project with other people reinforces everyone’s individual expertise and help to mimimise the differences that can divide people. By putting the needs of others centre-stage may enable us to see the situation differently and perhaps offer more useful support and assistance. It was excellent to see so many students joining together across the different Year groups in the CAS/CAT fair held at school this week.

LEVERAGING DIVERSITY Leveraging diversity means being able to create and develop opportunities through different kinds of people, recognising and celebrating that we all bring something different to the table. People with this skill respect and relate well to everyone, regardless of their background. They see diversity as an opportunity, understanding that diverse teams work much better than teams that are more homogenous. They create an atmosphere that is respectful towards everyone. I challenge all students to seek out ways to work with a new group of students and who knows you may have a bonus and make new friends along the way.

It may not always be easy to empathise with others but, through practicing our good people skills and some imagination we can all work towards more empathetic feelings. Research has shown that empathy makes people better managers and workers and better family members and friends. Even bigger than the personal effect researchers also say that these connections and compassions are crucial to a sustainable and humane future. I am therefore very proud that we place such an importance on empathy by having it part of our vision.

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Pre-cooled Fresh Air Filtered Systems Keep Classrooms Healthy B

angkok Patana installed pre-cooled fresh air filtered systems in July 2019. We sat down with Khun Prawit Sristit, the Head of Buildings and Grounds, to find out how effective they have been working.

Khun Prawit explained that normal air conditioning simply recirculates the air in the room while the fresh air system brings air from outside. However, before it enters the buildings it passes through two filters; the first one filters out large particles, PM10 or larger. The air then passes through a second filter that filters out the small particles or PM2.5. Then the clean air enters the room and pressurises it.

“This pressurisation is very important,” he explained, “because once the room is pressurised then the outside air won’t rush in when doors are opened. This is why it is so important to keep the doors closed.”

“Teachers and staff work hard to ensure that the air stays clean by making sure doors are closed but everyone needs to work together on this.”

Khun Prawit added that the filters have a 90 percent efficiency rate; sometimes the PM2.5 levels in rooms can reach almost zero. However, in general the PM2.5 rate will be about 10 percent of the outside levels. All classrooms and nearly all buildings have the system and the air in the rooms are within the US EPA guidelines for safe levels of PM2.5.

“We have detectors in each location and we can see the PM2.5 levels. The detectors continuously monitor the PM2.5 levels in each area.”

“The fresh air system also cools the air before it goes into the buildings but it is not as cold as the air conditioners so all buildings have both. The system helps to reduce the load on the air conditioning system, especially when it is hot. The solar panels we installed nearly offset the additional power usage of the pre-cooled filtered fresh air systems.”

The system is turned off in the evening to save energy and then turned on around 3.00am so that the air in all the rooms is clean by the time students are in school.

Depending on the season, the filters are replaced every three to six months. There is a gauge that shows when the pressure on the filters is high and this indicates that the filters need changing. “There are filters in each area, so that means there are a lot of filters,” he added.

“Bangkok Patana’s pre-cooled filtered fresh air systems are in place to ensure the health and safety of our students and our staff,” Khun Prawit concluded.

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First Virtual Fun Run!

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angkok Patana’s annual Fun Run is a popular fixture on the Patana calendar. This year, we are going virtual! Sign up online, register your time and see how you do! All proceeds go to charities so you can know you are doing good while you are having fun. Sponsorships are available from THB 5,000. More info on sponsorships here!

Run or Best Male Run as well as Best Female and Male Runner in each Key Stage.

Do you prefer to run with friends? Then maybe you should try to win the Fun Run Selfie with the Most Number of Participants (wearing masks of course!). Other fun awards in the Fun Run include: Most Sweaty Selfie (not hard to do in Bangkok’s heat!) and Best Dressed Twin RunWe have some great awards, including the Keen Bean ners (dress twinsie style - you don’t need to be actual twins (first to post their run) and on the flip side Back of the Pack to particpate). (last run submitted). There are also awards for Oldest and Details to come on how to register online will be posted Youngest Runners. Students can boost their House by winin the coming week, The cost is only THB 100 per parning the Most Runners for their House, Primary isn’t left out with Year Groups being given the same chance. Second- ticpant and your own unique medal as well as the chance ary Year Groups can make their mark with most runners as to purchase a cool Fun Run t-shirt after the run for THB well. Made a great time? You may win the Best Female 300.

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Trinity College Awards Year 11 Student Rank 3 Advanced Certificate C

ongratulations to Wei-Hsuan (Cheyenne) Lu in Year 11 for her performance in Piano in the Trinity College London music exams. She earned the Rank 3 Advanced certificate in the Trinity Awards Thailand 2019.

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 the ceremony was cancelled but she was able to receive her trophy and certificate from the Head of Piano at Trinity Awards Thailand.

Help Traffic Flow: Use the New Car Park

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raffic is always heavy during the first weeks of school. Please help us by (If you have a driver, please give them this info):

• Using the new car park on Lasalle soi 35. Enter on Soi 35 and exit on Soi 37 • Cars need a blue Patana parking sticker to enter, this is the family pass you use to enter the Sports Complex parking. If you do not have one please contact reception@patana.ac.th • Do not park on the school side of the road and the PTT parking area next to the school, there will be police checks.

• The school will allow parents/drivers in Nursery and Foundation Stage to come on the campus at 1.30pm while other parents/drivers can come on the campus at 2.00pm.

• If you are on the far lane and would like to make a left turn into the front of the school, please make sure you use your signal. This prevents accidents, which further clog the traffic.

Let’s all be good neighbours in our community!

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Kart Racers Take Home Trophies in the Rok Cup Thailand K

art racers Nandhavud (Jem) Bhirombhakdi (Year 9) and Taiyo Vliegen (Year 7) were back on the tracks the first weekend after school opening where they joined Rounds 2 and 3 of the Rok Cup Thailand.

Both Singha Motorsport team racers showed excellent form. Jem outclassed the competition in the junior class by winning all his sessions ending in first position for both rounds.

Taiyo’s hard work was rewarded with a second place on Saturday and a third place on Sunday.

Karting is more than kicking the pedals and turning the wheel. This is hard work and requires besides a very good physical condition and driving skills, a technical understanding of the kart. Well done boys!

On 12th and 13th September they will head out to Nakhon Sawan for the second round of the Thai Nationals. Let’s all wish them well in their races.

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Bangkok Patana School News

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#158: Favourite Chrome Extensions Series - #1 Link to Text A

s many of you know, I am all about saving time. “Death by clicks” and “the 3-click challenge” are some of my many tech mantras. As such, I thought I would use Taylor’s Technology tips to share with you some of my favourite Chrome extensions that save me time, and hopefully some of your time too!

This week’s Chrome extension allows you to send somebody a link that jumps directly to the text in a webpage you want them to read. In addition, it only goes and highlights the text automatically for you! How great is that? No more snipping a copy of the page and drawing a box around the text you want somebody to read, then pasting the image into an email. Even typing that previous sentence took way too long. Here is me showing you how to do it in less than 60 seconds.

You can find this handy chrome extension called ‘Link to Text Fragment’ here. Note: it only works on public pages.

Happy time-saving-sharing.

Brian Taylor Assistant Principal, Campus Curriculum Technology Integration

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What’s New in the Library?

Early Years’ Library

Fiction

Primary Library

Fiction Non-Fiction Non-Fiction Comic Books and Oversized Books DVDs

Secondary Library

Fiction

Professional Learning

Senior Fiction Life Collection Graphic Novels

Non-fiction

Did you know that we also subscribed to these magazines? Check out the Bangkok Book Awards short-listed titles for 2021 here 04/09/2020

Bangkok Patana School News

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UNI COUNSELORS’ CORNER

So, You Want to Become a Doctor?

Andrew Haughton, Careers and Universities Counsellor

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t was wonderful to ‘virtually’ welcome back Nadine Paul to Bangkok Patana this week to talk to our budding medical students about her experiences of studying at university in the UK. Nadine graduated from Bangkok Patana in 2012.

She read Biomedical Sciences at Corpus Christi College at the University of Oxford and is now in her final year of the Medicine Graduate programme at King’s College London.

Speaking live from her north London home with a cup of steaming hot tea firmly clasped in her hand, Nadine shared her insights with our aspiring Patana medical students. This included an overview of her journey to Medicine which incorporated an eye-opening Gap Year in Sri Lanka where she honed her people skills working with various outreach projects that supported vulnerable populations. She explained the three approaches to studying Medicine, the interview and testing and the importance of carrying out work experience. This is a real challenge in the current climate but there are options out there such as The Aspiring Medics’ online work experience website and Brighton and Sussex’s free Virtual work experience programme as well as individual medical school’s online webinars.

Being a doctor is a uniquely rewarding career which binds scientific challenge with human interaction. If a student is deciding on medicine, it is very important they understand the key qualities that make a good doctor, the commitment required to qualify as one and the realities of their work-life balance.

In the Spotlight...

University of Guelph, Canada

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his picturesque university is located in Ontario, Canada where the main campus covers 4 sqkm in a lovely green environment dotted with the limestone buildings that date back to the college’s first founding in 1874. There are seven faculties (including the original veterinary and agricultural colleges) offering a total of 90 majors in areas like Business and Economics, Physical and Engineering Science and others. Of the approximately 22,000 students, nine percent are international. Guelph is well-known for its strengths in areas as diverse as agri-food and veterinary medicine, human nutrition and family development and environmental studies with its Veterinary Science faculty ranked in the top five globally in the QS World University Rankings.

Well-known alumni include famed economist John Kenneth Galbraith, TV personality Scott McGillivray, Canada’s first female astronaut and neurologist Roberta Bondar, computer scientist Tim Bray as well as many well-known Canadian politicians. (and many cows, sheep, goats and chickens too!)

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University Visits UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE

COUNTRY

LOCATION

DATE

Lasalle College of the Arts

Singapore

04.09.2020 12.30pm

Syracuse University

USA

Northeastern University

USA

High Point University

USA

Rice University

USA

Savannah College of Art and Design Yale-NUS

USA Singapore

York College of Pennsylvania

USA

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

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Bangkok Patana School News

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08.09.2020 07.15am 09.09.2020 12.30pm 10.09.2020 07.15am 16.09.2020 07.15am 17.09.2020 12.30pm 22.09.2020 12.30pm 07.10.2020 09.15am

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Japanese at Bangkok Patana

PATANA JAPANESE GROUP 【ジャパニーズグループに参加しませんか】 バンコクパタナスクールのジャパニーズグループ は、日本人の父親あるいは母親を持つ生徒の保護 者により運営されているグループです。 現在69家族 が加入しており、毎年行われるインターナショナル デーなどの学校活動に協力しています。 また、情報 交換の場として親睦会を年に数回行っています。 参 加ご希望の方は、 日野までご連絡ください。 ptgjapan@patana.ac.th

JAPANESE LANGUAGE ECA 【ＥＣＡ日本語のご案内】 日本人または日本語を母国語とする親を持つ生徒 のためのＥＣＡ日本語が、新学期も引き続き開講さ れます。 外部からの国語教師が授業を担当します。 これを機会に子供たちの日本語力を高めません か。 詳細はＥＣＡ登録画面で確認願います。

A Japanese language ECA will be offered to all students who are Japanese natives or those whose parents are Japanese speakers. A Japanese teacher (from outWe are the Japanese group of Bangkok Patana School side Patana) will lead the ECA classes and help your child with our current members made up of 69 families. We improve their Japanese skills. Please refer to the current actively take part in an International Day and other fun ECA sign-up site for more details. Kind regards from Yuko school activities, and occasionally hold get-togethers to Bunsokuwan Japanese group 2020/21. get to know each other better! If you are a Japanese Those interested in joining sessions of the Japanese ECA or your spouse is, or if you would like to inquire more information about us, please email to Mrs. Maya Hino at may check the contents of the Japanese ECA in the ECA sign-up site and may apply during this Block 1 sign up ptgjapan@patana.ac.th period.

Contact prsh21@patana.ac.th Check out the latest articles online here

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Desert Island Discs With Clara Boucher, Senior Delegate

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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 Clara Boucher, Senior Delegate, is stuck on a desert island.

CLARA , IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND WHAT EIGHT PIECES OF MUSIC WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? Someone You Loved - Lewis Capaldi All I Ask - Adele Grenade - Bruno Mars Dancing On My Own - Calum Scott Viva la Vida - Coldplay When You Say Nothing At All - Ronan Keating

Listen to Clara’s playlist here

Right Here Waiting - Richard Marx In Your Eyes - The Weeknd 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 coffee machine WHICH ONE BOOK WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom 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.

School will be open 4th and 7th of September 2020/21 CALENDAR

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the m o r f t s e The lat

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PTG

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Click here to join the PTG Facebook Group

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COMMUNITY

email bjnetballacademy@gmail.com for more information

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You can purchase tickets oneline HERE or email info@neilsonhayslibrary.org

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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 18

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