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PATANA NEWS
Friday 26th November 2021
Can You Live Within Planetary Boundaries? By Primary Senior Teacher Peter Taylder
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Also in this issue... M
UKMT Primary Maths Challenge IB Theatre Brings New Skills Name the Tiger Mascot What is Thomas House? Claim Your Lost Property
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Bangkok Patana is a not-for-profit IB World School accredited by CIS
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Can You Live Within Planetary Boundaries? Peter Taylder, Senior Teacher, Leading Student Progress
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hat would you guess is a fair share of CO₂ for one person to produce per year? The amount which scientists say would allow us to avoid the most catastrophic effects of global warming?
According to the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) humans can emit 420 billion tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere before we cross over the 1.5°C threshold. That equals a maximum of about 1,500 kg of CO₂ per person per year for each year until 2050. Excellent! Let’s party. Hang on a minute. What does that look like in terms of your lifestyle? Let’s start by looking at some return flights from Bangkok. DESTINATION
SEAT CLASS
TOTAL GHG EMISSIONS FOR ONE RETURN TRIP
% OF PERSONAL ANNUAL BUDGET
Chiang Mai
economy
310 kg
20%
London
economy
5,480 kg
370%
London
business
10,275 kg
685%
London
first
13,700 kg
910%
We can see that one return flight to Chiang Mai is one-fifth of your carbon budget. A return flight to Phuket is even more at 395 kg. Take one international flight and we go way over. Now the cognitive dissonance sets in. The facts are scary, the problem enormous. What can we do? We will come to that later. Let’s move on to food. The table below shows the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the food supply chain. For example, 1kg of beef produces 60kg of GHG, most of which is methane (another, even more potent, greenhouse gas).
FOOD
GHG PER KG
Beef
60
Cheese
21
Chocolate
19
Coffee
17
Farmed Prawns
12
Wheat
1.4
Nuts
0.3
Source: Greenhouse gas emissions across the supply chain. If your family ate 1kg of beef per month, which is not a lot, they would emit 720kg of GHG per year.
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Back to flying. Living in an international community, people will want to fly to see their families overseas. On the other hand, one of our school values is to be active stewards of the environment. If we believe in this value, personally and as a school, we need to take action. So, if you are going to fly, why not offset your emissions? One way to offset this would be to support the regeneration of mangroves and swamp forests in Thailand. Did you know that for the same area mangroves can sequester three or four times the carbon of a tropical rainforest? Also, mangroves protect coastlines from erosion and are essential fish nurseries for the coral reefs. They can even expand the coastline area in the right conditions. Over the last 40 years, Thailand has lost a lot of its mangroves to shrimp and salt farming and charcoal burning as well as urbanisation and the expansion of tourist resorts. Mangroves fringe our city and looking after them can also protect us against rising sea levels. Some of our students are members of Mangrove Teens. They have been planting mangroves in Bang Pu as part of a regeneration project. This is part of the students’ Community Action Service. As a group, with other schools, they have planted 13,000 trees, and their goal is 250,000. They are now focused on fundraising, so donations will help them reach their goal. If you would like to learn more, see this site. If we truly wish to be sustainable, then we need to live within planetary boundaries. This means changing our habits and expectations. Make a journey more interesting by taking a train rather than flying. Rather than drinking on the go, sit down and enjoy your drink from a glass or ceramic cup. Introduce more vegan meals into your diet. I was inspired to write this article after being involved in the first draft of the School’s Sustainability Policy. “Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment.” the United States Environmental Protection Agency. If you were to choose two targets for the schools sustainability policy to help us all move towards living within planetary boundaries, what would they be?
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UKMT Primary Maths Challenge Tanya Peake-Hutchins, Assistant Leader of Learning Support
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ecently, students from Year 5 and 6 took part in the Primary Maths Challenge. The Primary Maths Challenge set by the United Kingdom Mathematics Trust (UKMT) is an opportunity for students to solve problems and develop their reasoning skills. It encourages them to think outside the box when tackling Mathematical questions and hopefully boosts confidence and enthusiasm. Congratulations to everyone who took part and in particular to our Gold, Silver and Bronze certificate winners!
Year 3 Student Wins Excellence Award in Korean Art Competition Hojung Kim, Patana parent
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ear 3 student Hajun Kim recently took part in an Art and Korean speaking competition hosted by the Korean Association in Thailand and sponsored by the Korean Embassy in Thailand, the Korea Education Center, the Overseas Koreans Foundation and the Korean-Thai Chamber of Commerce. The competition, which is called Ggumnamu Hanmadang in Korean; ggumnamu meaning children talented in study, art and sports, and hanmadang festival, takes place annually. The competition is divided into two sections; a drawing competition for Korean students in Thailand and a Korean speaking competition for foreigners studying Korean, of which Hajun participated in the drawing competition. Normally, this competition would be a timed event taking place with all participants in one location. However, due to COVID restrictions, students were given the theme and submitted their work within a fixed time on paper stamped by the Association. Hanju won an Excellence Award for his drawing of Nuri, the Korean Space Launch Vehicle II in line with the theme of space, spacecraft and rockets. Well done Hajun!
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Rhytmic Gymnastics Win for Year 6 Student Thitida Leelapanyalert, Patana Parent
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rnicha (Ava) Voravutvityarak in Year 6 recently took part in the New Look Cup 2021: III Online In-ternational Tournament, a rhythmic gymnastics competition held in Tbilisi, Georgia. Gymnasts from Cyprus, Georgia, Egypt, Philippines, Italy, Canada, Sweden, Thailand, France and Qatar participated in the tournament. Ava’s dedication and perseverance saw her finish the tournament at the Number 1 ranking. Great job Ava!
FOBISIA Visual Arts Competition Learn more about the competition here Register online here
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IB Theatre Workshops Bring New Skills Gemma Verde, 13D
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s part of the IB Theatre course, we have begun exploring different theatre theorists in order to prepare for our individually devised solo performances. We have been exploring two theatre practitioners and their theatre theories; Katie Mitchell and Jerzy Grotowski. Katie Mitchell is an English theatre maker who is known for her theory of extreme naturalism, which includes aspects of live theatre. Technology, cameras and recorded performances enhance the actor’s facial expressions and movements, allowing the viewer an insight into the character’s context and mind. The use of voiceovers to portray a character’s ‘inner thoughts’ helps to enhance the actions and dialogue. To explore Mitchell’s style, as a class we did exercises where we used several cameras and TVs that were placed around the room. They were focused on and highlighted one of the actors and their movements or dialogue as they performed their piece inspired by the poem “The Yellow Wallpaper”. This was a fun exploration as it allowed us to consider the importance and essences of theatre, making us realise the significance of movements and how dialogue is not essential.
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We also explored Jerzy Grotowski, a Polish theatre maker whose theory is ‘Poor theatre’. This is where actors use objects in a different way, making their purpose different to the object’s normal function. This style of theatre is performed in a traverse layout which allows close proximity to the audience making them feel involved in the performance. Grotowski’s work is very movement based and forces you as an actor to use your whole body. The use of production elements (lighting, sound, props) is quite minimal and those which are used play an essential role in the performance. To explore this style of theatre we experimented with objects and how we could use them in a different form or way such as a chair as a ladder or a piece of fabric as a motif for entrapment or struggles. This was a strange but fun exploration process as it was challenging to use an object for a different purpose. The workshops have taught me new skills as a theatre maker, how to challenge what theatre can be and highlighted the importance of expressive movement. These are two theatre practices I will definitely consider when choosing a practitioner and devising my solo performance.
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BANGKOK PATANA TIGER MASCOT
HELP US NAME OUR TIGER MASCOT! CLICK ON THE LINK OR SCAN THE QR CODE TO SUBMIT SUGGESTIONS
T he win ner g et s a TH B 30 0 g i f t vo u c he r t o t he T i ge r S ho p
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: 17 DECEMBER 2021 WINNER TO BE ANNOUNCED IN JANUARY 26/11/2021
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CAT/CAS CORNER
What is Thomas House? Kylie Beer, Year 3 teacher
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homas House is a small, specialised school for children with special educational needs located in Tha Ton, north of Chiang Mai. It provides a vital service to a rural area with very few options for children with special needs. Before Thomas House, children were either sent to schools that were ill-equipped and untrained to cater to their needs, or they did not attend school at all.
around the world. The school has been closed for most of the year meaning the children have been at home receiving little education. However, the children have been lucky to receive regular home visits from the aptly named Kru Joy. She has spent considerable time with the children keeping them busy with fun activities and the more able up to date with their number work and writing skills. They are always so excited to see her! Kru Joy iis well-known and With construction completed in November 2017, this respected in the district for her outreach work. November marks the four year anniversary of Thomas House. The school can accommodate up to 24 students HOW HAS BANGKOK PATANA SUPPORTED IT IN and offers an individualised learning program to suit the THE PAST? needs of each child. Thomas House also offers placeBangkok Patana has been sending groups for DofE, ments for specialist volunteers and work experience op- Geography and community service to the MRV centre portunities for trainees in the SEN field. for many years. During the setting up of Thomas House, a Thomas House is part of a registered charity which incor- large amount of recently replaced Primary furniture found porates three projects: Thomas House; the ‘Continuing Ed- its way from Bangkok Patana to Thomas House, saving sigucation Project’ which supports students through second- nificant funds. Christmas collections have also increased ary and tertiary education; and the ‘Community Building the amount of quality books available to the students of Project’, part of the visiting schools programme to improve Thomas House and the recent funds raised from Friendconditions in local schools. Visit here for more information. ship Friday will go towards replacing failing playground equipment. WHY DOES IT NEED OUR HELP? Funding for Thomas House is solely reliant on the support HOW CAN WE HELP? Christmas cards made by a talented local student will of the MRV (business) Project and charitable donations from visiting schools, hotel guests and others. Due to the go on sale before Christmas with proceeds going towards pandemic these sources of income have been severely Thomas House. Check the Patana News lter for more information on where to purchase Christmas cards. Donadiminished. tions are also very welcome. You can contact Rosie and Thomas House has received very little support over the Bryan, who do a great job running Thomas House at rospast 18 months as the effects of the pandemic were felt ie@mrv-educationservices.com. 8
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Gift Hampers for Christmas Safy Rizk, PTG TigerShop Manager
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• Gingerbread Cookie
• Patana Christmas Bauble
• Candy Canes
• Jacky Bakes Christmas Cookies
• Chocolate Wafers
• Chocolate Cake
• Patana Christmas Mask
ave yourself a Patana Little Christmas and gift your teacher, your partner or even your friend our Special Christmas Hamper, which includes:
• Macarons • Brownies
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• Box of Cheese and Cold Cuts
Pre-order now and contact us on ptgtigershop@ patana.ac.th or Line 008864sr for more options. We can deliver it right to your teacher's doorstep!
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STUDENTS SPEAK Dolly Garam (Momo) Lee, 6D MONDAY 31ST OCTOBER 1983 It’s the holidays now, and all my friends are going home to their families. Unfortunately, Mum and Dad are busy with work this week, so I’ll be staying at school for a little longer. Without most students here, the halls are empty and it’s so much quieter. Plus, there is no queue for lunch! It’s so silent that I can hear the horses in the stables of the riding school down the road. I used to ride when I was younger; I rode a tiny Shetland called Masha. I’m thinking of going down there tomorrow morning. TUESDAY 1ST NOVEMBER 1983 I encountered the most beautiful Friesian horse I could ever imagine, named Dolly. She was new and kind of wild. Friesians originated in Friesland and were popular warhorses. She doesn’t feel relaxed around people yet; however, the school let me spend some time with her. There’s something unique about Dolly… She’s strong and powerful, but I think she’s tense about being in a new environment. I tried to give her a carrot to put her at ease, but every time I got close, she backed away. She’s a funny horse. I’ll show her tomorrow that there’s nothing to be afraid of.
I can tell that she’s comfortable with me because she followed me all day and laid her head on my shoulder. Towards the end of the day, I attempted to saddle her up, but her ears tilted backwards, and she started to swing her head. I’ll have to get her more familiar with the saddle before I can ride her. I need to show her it’s safe and that there’s nothing to worry about. FRIDAY 4TH NOVEMBER 1983 I had an idea. I went down to see Dolly and prepared a saddle. This time, I placed an apple in front of her, and as she began to eat, I plopped the saddle on her back. I thought this would turn the saddle into a good experience for her, but she shook it off stubbornly and trotted away. Maybe I won’t get to ride her after all. SATURDAY 5TH NOVEMBER 1983 In a way, I know how Dolly must feel. When I first arrived here at the boarding school, it felt strange, and I was uncomfortable. I really missed my family. But over the years, I grew to love this place, and now it’s like my second home. It takes time to get used to change. I’ll give Dolly some space today.
WEDNESDAY 2ND NOVEMBER 1983 I tried apples this time. I placed one in front of her, and she reluctantly reached out her head and devoured it. Her very first apple! She must’ve been starving. I tried again, this time with my hand. She hesitated at first but couldn’t resist the juicy Honeycrisp. She’s starting to warm up to me!!! She even let me groom her and braid her hair. I wonder if I’ll have the chance to ride her…
SUNDAY 6TH NOVEMBER 1983 I didn’t bring the saddle today. I walked right up to Dolly and gently held onto her mane with my left hand. Her ears raised, which meant she was focused. Lifting my right leg and clinging onto her back, I pulled myself up. I was surprised by how still she was. Sitting on top of her, I gently tapped her side with my left foot, and she started to walk. Her head bobbed up and down, and she picked up her pace, her mane dancing in the wind. She responded to my movements, and I responded to hers. It was as if we were one.
THURSDAY 3RD NOVEMBER 1983 This morning, Dolly ran up to me with her eyes shining brightly.
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ARTS COUNCIL Using Art to Raise Awareness Rinrada (Gina) Suksatit, 11L These art pieces were created with the idea of making more people in the school community become more aware of global issues such as damage to coral. Problems which have occurred include pollution of waste and trash, overfishingand coastal developments, which have been caused by human activities in different industries. These artworks further show the different ways many onlookers can perceive different emotions and messages. Additionally, I have used ‘Persian blue’ in many tones to create different textures and emotions seen on the faces of the corals. By researching how different artists use colours of the same tones to create emotions, I was inspired to do this monochrome artwork. Furthermore, I have created texture in these artworks by applying the paint strokes roughly instead of blending the shades together which creates an
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exceptional depth to the artwork. The artwork can be interpreted by onlookers as the corals being in the depths of the ocean and shows the deprivation of life as there is no marine life and it seems to be quite isolated, leading to the atmosphere being blue. This further presents the different messages and emotions that can be perceived by different people. Moreover, these artworks have been inspired by the concept of ‘surrealism’. By engaging emotions to the corals, this personifies the coral and gives them humanistic qualities, this is to further demonstrate to onlookers that corals are alive and that they too hold their own harmonious beauty.
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ARTS COUNCIL Gaining Confidence Through Drama Krista Shim, 10M This year is my first year participating in the (I)GCSE Drama course. Out of all the engaging activities covered from watching plays such as Antigone and Frantic Assembly, performing duologues online through CSL and exploring warm up and rehearsal techniques, my personal favourite work was devising theatre. This was one of the first really physical drama topics that my class covered. I remember discussing with my parents that the sole purpose of me choosing drama was to be more confident in myself. Most of my subject teachers encouraged me to speak up in class or to participate more actively which I really wanted to do but was hindered by my shyness. Choosing drama was my main focus for this year so I could better myself mentally. When I was told that my class was starting the topic of devising theatre, I was very nervous because the main aspects of it included really physical theatre.
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Devising theatre is a way of creating a piece of drama with no script, using inspiration from things such as songs, art, memories etc. My class started off by exploring different movements used in devising theatre such as hymns hands, rhythm jumping etc. Starting off with these activities in a friendly and welcoming atmosphere really allowed me to gain confidence in what I was doing and develop a deeper understanding of what is meant by ‘devising theatre’. Currently, I am in the process of really exploring the different aspects of devising theatre which I am really looking forward to in future lessons. I would definitely recommend arts to anyone who struggles with self-confidence as drama has undoubtedly helped me gain so much confidence in myself.
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WEAR YOUR PE UNIFORM TO SCHOOL. BE SURE AND BRING A FRESH, CLEAN MASK FOR AFTER YOUR PE LESSONS.
(I)GCSE Language Exams
Celine Courenq, Head of World Languages
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f your child studies a language outside of school, either a Home Language or a Foreign Language, and would like to consider taking an (I)GCSE exam in that language this academic year, do contact Celine Courenq, Head of Faculty World Languages (ceco@patana.ac.th) before Friday, 3rd December. Please include: • the full name of your child • his/her tutor group • the language they wish to be entered for • the syllabus code of the exam (for example” Cambridge IGCSE Chinese - Second Language (0523)”)
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#202: Top 10 Technology for Learning; Weekly Review
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would like to share with you highlights of my recent digital travels...
Have a great weekend. Brian Taylor Assistant Principal, Campus Curriculum Technology Integration
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Desert Island Discs
With Ross Corker, Secondary Curriculum Leader Art
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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 Ross Corker, our Secondary Curriculum Leader of Art, is stuck on a desert island. MR CORKER, IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND WHAT EIGHT PIECES OF MUSIC WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? Z-Cars - Johnny Keating My Girl - The Temptations Shakermaker - Oasis
Fight Song - Rachel Platten
Rocket Man - Elton John
Dreaming of You - The Coral
Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead
Hey Jude - The Beatles Click to listen to Mr Corker’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. Snorkelling kit WHICH ONE BOOK WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? A world atlas 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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BEFORE YOU PLAN YOUR HOLIDAYS - CHECK THE CALENDAR!
2021/22 CALENDAR
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COMMUNITY
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COMMUNITY
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