www.patana.ac.th
PATANA NEWS
Friday 29th October 2021
Together Again!
Mr Mills’ First Blog of the eYar
By Cross Campus Assistant Principal Page 2 Katherine Hume
Also in this issue... M Primary Maths FOBISIA Success More Inclusive PE Uniform in Secondary Year 5 Clean Water Project New Student-Led Magazine
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Bangkok Patana is a not-for-profit IB World School accredited by CIS
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Together again... Katherine Hume, Cross Campus Assistant Principal Continued Professional Learning BANGKOK PATANA VALUES: WELL-BEING t goes without saying that we have been absolutely delighted to begin welcoming some of our oldest and youngest students back onto campus this week….to finally be together again. And we look forward with excitement, positivity and joy that over the next few weeks all of our Year groups will be back in school, reconnecting and learning together.
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Over the last few days, it has been a great feeling to see the campus buzz with the presence of students and staff once again. Gently and safely, adjusting to school back in a classroom and learning with teachers and peers in person. As we all transition to being back on campus, reconnecting with friends and colleagues, establishing routines and feeling comfortable in our school environments again, we need to be sure our Bangkok Patana Well-Being values are at the forefront of our thinking and practice, so that we can best support our students during this time. BANGKOK PATANA WELL-BEING VALUES: • Protected, safe and secure • Motivated and engaged • Responsible and honest • Kind, compassionate and respectful • Balanced and fulfilled While we know that many of our students, staff and parents are very excited about the return to school, some of us may be feeling anxious or worried about transitioning from our now ‘normal’ routine at home. Empowering our community to embrace the unknown and to feel confident being back on campus is important. It's normal to feel excited about the change but it is also normal to feel some anxiety. I would like to share with you a few helpful resources to support us in making the transition as positive, caring and understanding as possible. WATCH A TWO MINUTE CLIP... An engaging, short and helpful video from Belfast Health and Social Care trust, to share with younger children who
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may have some questions or feel a little anxious about starting or returning to school. READ A FIVE MINUTE POST... Guidance from the UK Mental Health Foundation which offers practical advice for parents and caregivers relevant for when children go back to face-to-face learning on returning to school after the coronavirus lockdown. LISTEN AND TAKE A DEEPER DIVE... Mindful Headlines podcast, Dr Neeru Bakshi, medical director and an expert in the field of adolescent psychiatry, helps parents navigate conversations with their children about starting or returning to school. In the podcast, Bakshi outlines ways to talk to our children – in Primary or Secondary School– about adhering to the new rules, preparing for changes in learning, social anxiety surrounding being back in the classroom and vaccines. As a parent of two boys (one in Year 6 and the other in Year 8), I know how important it is to be a role model for our children - to stay positive, calm and patient during this transition. Our children are looking to us as adults. Well-Being must come first, so please reach out, and speak to your child’s class teacher or tutor if they are feeling overwhelmed or anxious about coming back into school. Our key aim over the coming days and weeks is to make sure all the students feel comfortable and happy to be back in school and together again.
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Primary Students Success in FOBISIA Mathematics Competition Tanya Peake-Hutchins, Assistant Leader of Learning Support
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efore half term, students from Years 5 and 6 participated in a FOBISIA online Mathematics Challenge hosted by Seoul Foreign School. These kinds of opportunities support students in applying their mathematics skills, whilst also strengthening their perseverance, resilience and creativity in approaching problem solving in mathematics. According to the students, it was fun and engaging, but it was also tough and a little tricky!
certificate. Congratulations to Chanya (Bayla) Somboonvechakarn in 6S for earning the gold certificate!
In the group challenge, students worked in teams of four to solve problems and complete challenges to escape from the virtual escape room in the fastest time. Congratulations to Lucas Suradejvibul and Soranop (Tonsol) Boonsong in 6P, Nichamon (Khongkwan) Kim in 5K and Khoon Wanglee in 5D who successfully collaborated on In the individual challenge, of the 59 students who took the challenges and escaped in the fastest time. They were part, 12 were awarded bronze certificates, seven were joint winners of the competition and earned a first place awarded Silver certificates and one was awarded a gold certificate!
Year 5 Takes Gold Medal in Under 12 PTT Lawn Tennis Competition Congratulations to Phasin (Lookkid) Sinchalong in Year 5 on another gold medal, this time as the Boys’ Under 12 Single Tennis Champion in PTT Lawn Tennis 2021 Central #7 in Nonthaburi. Well done Lookkid, we look forward to further successes on the courts.
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A More Inclusive Secondary PE Uniform Cindy Adair, Cross Campus Assistant Principal, ECAs and Sports
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t the core of our aims for students at Bangkok Patana School Physical Education is that students of all shapes and sizes can find a way of moving they enjoy and hopefully can continue well beyond their years at Bangkok Patana so they can be happy and healthy adults. How you look and feel when exercising, is a part of your overall experience and influences how likely you are to continue. That is why based on student feedback, we are pleased to let you know that in Secondary in 2021/22 we are introducing the option to wear black leggings with your PE shirt. The leggings offer a more modest option for students who prefer to cover their legs, but still have the freedom to run, jump and play. The leggings must be: • Bangkok Patana uniform black leggings with the paw logo only • Below the knee only (mid-shin cropped or ankle length) • Worn alone with your PE shirt, not under PE shorts The TigerShop stocks the leggings which meet our requirements and retail for THB500. You can purchase them online or in person once school opens. We are very excited to make this move towards more inclusivity, and ensure that no student is “left on the bench” because they feel uncomfortable in their uniform.
BEFORE YOU PLAN YOUR HOLIDAYS - CHECK THE CALENDAR!
2021/22 CALENDAR
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Scan here for Lost Property 6
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PRIMARY MUSICIAN OF THE MONTH
Shreya Goshal
Lisa Mallet, Primary Music Teacher he iconic sounds of India’s Bollywood genre lead us to our November Musician of the Month, the famous playback singer, Shreya Ghoshal. Born in 1984 in West Bengal, India, Shreya was already showing her talent at a young age. She started learning Indian classical music at the age of six, and won the TV reality show Sa Re Ga Ma when she was 16.
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Following this, she recorded her first songs for a major Bollywood movie, Devdas, in 2002. Since then she has received many awards and recognition for her work including four National Film Awards, four Kerala State Film Awards, two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, seven Filmfare Awards and ten Filmfare Awards South. She is also well known as a judge on several television reality shows such as Indian Idol and performs all over the world. In 2017, Shreya became the first Indian singer to have a wax figurine of herself in Madame Tussaud’s Museum. Enjoy her music on our special playlist here. Did you know? Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, with actors lip-syncing the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not appear on the screen.
FROM THE TIGER SHOP
Buy it at the TigerShop online and pick it up at school. Also, Grab Delivery at the Tiger Cart near the Cashier starting Monday 1st November 01/10/2021
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Sustainability Meets Privilege Cindy Adair, Cross Campus Assistant Principal, ECAs and Sports
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ere at Bangkok Patana School we are privileged to have the resources to be able to critically assess our choices and increasingly lean in to our goals of being more sustainable in everything we do. For example; we have installed solar panels to use more renewable energy, we’ve built and nurtured a fabulous outdoor classroom and we have a range of amazing receptacles throughout the school to encourage students to reduce waste and recycle. I have recently been involved in a six week course via the Green School in Bali called The Green Educator. One of the most fascinating units of learning examined the relationship between socio-economic status and our efficacy with regards to taking action to become more sustainable in the ways we work, rest and play. Often those from less privileged situations may have a deep love and care for the environment (and often rely upon it for their livelihoods), and yet are forced into making purchasing decisions based on needs and not wants. Let’s take the example of food… Sadly fast food is often much more affordable than healthy, organic fresh food. Same goes for fast fashion! Those from higher socio-economic backgrounds often have the means to make more sustainable daily choices such as driving an electric or hybrid vehicle, using a reusable coffee cup, using plastic free and planet friendly toiletries and washing detergents, and eating a mainly plant based diet. However those same upwardly mobile individuals can feel these small steps are futile in the face of industrial polluters and rail against governments for not doing more – sometimes even leading to eco-anxiety.
who are we to judge? The answers must therefore lie within not just finding sustainable solutions but also ensuring they are cost effective and easy to replicate at scale throughout the world. To ward off eco-anxiety an action based paradigm must be adopted. Participation in the assignments, forums and online lessons in this course has taught me there are three items of importance for those who are privileged enough to be able to take direct climate action: 1. Continue with your own small daily steps. Consider your eco footprint, take those cloth tote bags to the shops, refuse single use plastics, use more public transport, reuse or upcycle clothing, furniture and household goods, recycle what you can and embrace a more plant based diet, reducing your intake of meats and seafood. Taking action directly will empower you and ward off eco-anxiety. 2. Use your privilege and influence to call for change. Spread the word, sign petitions, attend peaceful protests, volunteer, write to your government officials, advocate to big business, start sustainable businesses, support science, organise events and invest in green solutions. 3. Check your privilege and reduce judgement on those with less to give or contribute to sometimes costly changes. The “first” world in the most part created this mess we now owe it to the developing world to find solutions which are more inclusive, cost effective and consider cultural and community sustainability, alongside economic sustainability.
The Green School movement is spreading throughout The course taught me that we must engage in systems-based thinking and consider the affect of unintend- the world and they now have schools in Bali, South Africa, ed consequences when planning for a more sustainable Mexico and New Zealand. You can learn more about future. More nuanced critical thinking is required to see their alternative educational philosophy here. the full picture. It’s easy to promote the idea of renewable energy solutions to those who have had electricity in their homes all their lives and have disposable income available. It’s like upgrading the brand of car you drive, to one that is more fuel efficient and modern. However if you’ve never had electricity in your home and you have the chance to drastically improve your quality of life through coal based electricity in your house or workplace – then 01/10/2021
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CAT/CAS CORNER
Year 5 Cambodia Clean Water Project
Julie Kelly, Year 5 Leader of Learning and Curriculum
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n Term 1, Year 5 embark upon the learning theme of ‘Water, Water, Everywhere..?’ Through a range of learning experiences, students discover that although 70 percent of the world is covered in water, only three percent is freshwater - fit for human consumption.
water to more than 24,000 people. Not only does the clean water improve sanitation and health, it is also used to irrigate farm plots and provide drinking water for domestic animals. Healthy animals and good crops result in increased opportunities for families – helping to lift them out of poverty.
By keeping a water diary, the children gain an understanding of how much water they use on a daily basis, Every year, the Year 5 students take part in special events leading to the question: Do we take our unlimited water such as ‘The Great Water Walk’ which raises awareness supply for granted? of water scarcity and ‘The Bring, Buy and Bake Sale’ where the proceeds go towards the installation of wells Many rural communities in our neighbouring country in the villages in Cambodia. Each water well, including of Cambodia, do not always have access to clean, safe installation, costs approximately THB15,000. Last year’s water. As a result, families have little choice but to drink Bring Buy and Bake Sale event raised a grand total of from whatever source is available such as rivers, lakes or THB70,130 allowing us to purchase four wells. a canal. Sadly, these unsanitary conditions often cause typhoid, cholera, dysentery and other preventable diseases. This year, due to COVID restrictions, our hope is to turn ‘The Great Water Walk’ into a sponsored event, making The Cambodia Clean Water Project is a charity pro- the event even more meaningful. Furthermore, the extra ject that has been building wells for families in Siem Reap, layer of competition will certainly motivate the students to Cambodia for over ten years. To date, more than 1,600 give their all! wells have been installed, bringing fresh, bacteria-free
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Brought to you by Smile Patana
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CAT/CAS CORNER CAT/CAS CORNER New Student-led Magazine Celine (Gem) Ninsuvannakul, Rada (Sammy) Anuras, 12E
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y April of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic had taken a toll on our lives: where every day was a monotony of Zoom fatigue and isolation. A group of Year 12 students - including Celine (Gem) Ninsuvannakul, Rada (Sammy) Anuras, Sophie Stevens, Emiri Miyake, Giles Kinsella, Preeyanan (Pam) Jirarungroj and Pe (Peter) Pakdeejit - took it upon themselves to alleviate the boredom of social isolation by providing students with educational resources in the form of a magazine. Due to the lack of work experience, internships and college visits during the pandemic, Erawan Magazine provides an alternative method for students to learn more about their dream careers and universities from the comfort of their homes.
(EPA) and Kid’s Academy. Erawan strives to use its publication as a force for good, where 100 percent of proceeds will be used in reforming education and improve the livelihood of underprivileged youth. This will be done through creating and implementing a carefully curated curriculum at local temple schools, as well as providing schools in marginalised communities with digital tablets and solar panels.
Erawan Magazine, in collaboration with The Youth Fund, visualises a society in which no child is left behind due to the advancement of technology; a society where the dire effects of pandemic era online education are diminished, This magazine aims to empower youth not only through and everyone gets an equal opportunity to pursue acaarticles in which key opinion leaders ‘hand down’ wisdom, demic endeavours and occupational dreams. strategy and inspiration, but also by providing a credible “We will continue to fight for an education system that platform for students to express their opinions. Erawan of- questions instead of dictates; cultivates curiosity instead fers readers unique insights into the corporate world from of inhibiting it; most importantly, a system that lets their industry leaders such as investing titan Louise Taechaubol student’s passions flourish beyond the scopes of the and musical entrepreneur Paye Vietrio, as well as exclu- classroom. Our ambitions for change got us this far, but sive interviews with students at the top universities around it is the lessons learnt from the experience of teaching the world. An online copy can be downloaded at www. that will take us to places even further.” Rada (Sammy) theyouthfund.net. Anuras, Scholastic Editor and Head of Communications, “The magazine aims to continue our pursuit of em- when commenting on the importance of education for sopowering youth through knowledge, celebrating bright cietal development. students’ passions and giving our readers wisdom and You can learn more about The Youth Fund on Instagram awareness like our namesake, the legendary Thai ele- @theyouthfund_official or on their website here. phant Erawan.”Celine (Gem) Ninsuvannakul, Co - Editor in Chief, when asked about the origin of the name ‘Erawan’ The first issue was successful in generating over THB300,000 in funds for charitable causes. As a result, Erawan is now Thailand’s first charity oriented, student-led publication. With over 2,000 physical copies in circulation around Bangkok, as well as online copies on its website, Erawan achieves an equitable and free distribution of its publication to students of all backgrounds and educational institutions. This would not have been possible without the generosity of Erawan Magazine’s sponsors - Gems Pavilion, MOTIF, Excellent Preparatory Academy
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#198: What Parents Need to Know About Apple Guided Access C
lick the image to download the PDF. Click here to learn more about these parent guides and sign up for more on the National Online Safety App.
Have a relaxing weekend. Brian Taylor Assistant Principal, Campus Curriculum Technology Integration 01/10/2021
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STUDENTS SPEAK Hydrogen Cars Arnav Baliga, 12D, Wei-Hsuan (Cheyenne) Lu, 12E and Bo Jun (Hubert) Wang, 12M ARE THEY WORTH THE HYPE? n a world with a rapidly changing climate, engineers, scientists, investors and consumers alike are looking for sustainable alternatives to everyday products. One of the projects with the most hype behind it is the hydrogen powered car. Initial concept creators and prototype engineers touted it as a once in a century solution, combining the speed and ease-of-use of a standard petrol car and the sustainability of an electric car.
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to create a fuel cell stack, which powers the car. This groundbreaking invention of hydrogen cars not only holds a promise to a more sustainable future, but also presents as a more efficient mode of transportation in certain aspects, revolutionizing the automotive industry. ADVANTAGES OF HYDROGEN VEHICLES One of the biggest areas of advantage is that hydrogen vehicles contribute to environmental sustainability. As previously mentioned, the only reactants involved are hydrogen, oxygen and the only product is water. Hydrogen powered cars do not generate any greenhouse gasses. This would significantly reduce the global greenhouse gas emissions as transportation accounts for around 15-20 percent of global emissions. With the aid of the application of hydrogen fuel cells as well as the process of methane cracking to produce hydrogen, some studies predict that the hydrogen economy may diminish the global carbon dioxide equivalent emissions by up to 27 percent (given that methane leakages from natural gases are reduced to the minimum).
Furthermore, hydrogen fuel cells present as an appealing alternative to lithium-ion batteries. According to researchers, these cars “offer an attractive value proposition that seems to get rid of the problem of the end of the lithium batteries life cycle”. Lithium-ion batteries present a large issue, primarily with charging. It takes significantly longer In the fuel cell, hydrogen is passed through the anode to charge from 50 percent to 100 percent than it does to (negative) and oxygen is passed through the cathode charge from 0 percent to 50 percent This is the biggest (positive). In the anode, a platinum catalyst splits the hy- issue for electric vehicles, but hydrogen fuel cells bypass drogen atom into its subatomic parts, a positive proton this as they never actually store any energy. (denoted as H+) and a negative electron (denoted as e-). Aside from the environmental advantages, hydrogen The protons are able to pass through the electrolyte, but the electrons are not. As the protons pass to the other side, cars are arguably a more efficient means of transporthere is a difference in electrostatic charge. Because op- tation. Due to the arrangement of their energy storage, posite charges attract, the electrons are forced up through these cars can achieve longer distances: an average of an electrical circuit to reach the protons on the other side. 211 miles (340 km) in one fill of hydrogen compared to This motion of electrons through the circuit is what powers an average of 181 miles (290 km) in one charge of the the motor. At the cathode, the protons and electrons join electric cars. According to Automotive Technologies, hyback up to form hydrogen, which reacts with the oxygen drogen cars can even travel to lengths of 300 miles in to form water. This is the only waste product of this reac- one fill. Moreover, hydrogen vehicles take significantly tion. Many hundred cells are stacked on top of each other less time to pump. On average, it takes around five to ten HOW DO THEY WORK? The hydrogen car uses fuel cells, which work much like batteries. They convert the chemical energy in the hydrogen atoms to electrical energy which powers the motor.
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minutes, similar to petrol cars, to fill the hydrogen tanks as opposed to an electric car, which can take anywhere from one to more than eight hours to fully charge. In addition, with the rapid technological advancements of the 21st century, cutting-edge methods, like the proton exchange membrane (PEM) method, may increase the efficiency of a fuel cell from around 60 percent to around 86 percent. DRAWBACKS AND DISADVANTAGES Although this car certainly is innovative, there are some significant drawbacks which may contradict the original vision of revolutionising the automobile industry. Due to the recent discovery of this form of fuel cell technology, investors would need to dedicate a huge amount of time and money into development to improve and mature the technology. An example of this in a similar field, the electric car, is when Marc Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard experimented with electric car prototype EV1 during 1996-1999. It wasn’t successful from a commercial standpoint until the company (Tesla, Inc.) was founded in 2003 with a huge investment of 30 million USD by Elon Musk. The same level of funding, if not more, would need to be achieved by hydrogen car producers to make them commercially viable. Despite hydrogen being the most abundant element in the universe, as mentioned above, hydrogen needs to go through electrolysis or separated from fossil fuels that are infused with carbon in order to be extracted on its own. Therefore this requires a huge amount of energy and it is possible that this extraction process runs at under 50 percent efficiency, rendering the environmental benefits of
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hydrogen cars pointless. In addition, the biggest hindrance to the widespread deployment of hydrogen cars is the lack of infrastructure. In the United States, there are 39 publicly available hydrogen fuels stations, as compared to 43,000 EV charging stations and 150,000 gas stations. The major issue for the expansion of the number of hydrogen stations is the lack of demand for the car. Additionally, hydrogen fuel stations are exorbitantly expensive, each one having a price tag of over US$2 million. The Toyota Mirai, one of the first publicly available economy hydrogen cars, has sold just 10,000 units to date. If the cars do not sell well, automobile companies do not have the capital to invest in building thousands of hydrogen filling stations across the country; without the infrastructure, consumers are reluctant to purchase such cars. This constitutes the classic chicken-and-the-egg problem. To solve this problem, either the price of the fuel stations must go down, or the price of hydrogen cars must be so low that consumers buy them regardless of the infrastructure issues. Both solutions will require huge amounts of investment and research. Overall, the hydrogen powered car is a brilliant invention and has potential to be game-changing in the automotive industry. However, given the current levels of investment and infrastructure, or lack thereof, these revolutionary vehicles are still quite a way away from being viable to the vast majority of consumers.
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Desert Island Discs With Dave Walton, Year 4 Leader of Learning
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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 our Year 4 Leader of Learning Dave Walton is stuck on a desert island. MR WALTON, IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND WHAT EIGHT PIECES OF MUSIC WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? Not Nineteen Forever - The Courteeners
Love you Better - The Maccabees
In Degrees - Foals
Keep the Car Running - Arcade Fire
Death - White Lies
The Rat - The Walkmen
Hard to Explain - The Strokes
Live Forever - Oasis Click to listen to Mr Walton’s playlist
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. An unlimited supply of Irn Bru WHICH ONE BOOK WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? Mr Nice by Howard Marks 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.
Looking for something to do for the Christmas Holidays? Check out the Community Offers on Firefly
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COMMUNITY
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COMMUNITY
DATE & TIME: Saturday, 6 November 2021 at 16:00 (Bangkok time) ADMISSION: Free of charge VENUE: Online (Available via Zoom, Facebook Live here and YouTube Live here TO BOOK: Members can register here
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