www.patana.ac.th
PATANA NEWS
Friday 14th January 2022
Happy New Year! By Mr Mills
ear
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Also in this issue... M
Primary Record Breakers The Dance Extravaganza! New in the Libraries Danish National Team Visit Amnesty Write for Rights Expedition: Northern Thailand
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Bangkok Patana is a not-for-profit IB World School accredited by CIS
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Happy New Year!
Greetings Everyone! It is so good to have school open as we continue to deal with this ongoing global pandemic challenge. I did a great deal of reflecting over the Christmas holidays as I walked beautiful Khao Lak beach. One of the areas I reflected on was the importance of ‘Beliefs’ in schools especially dealing with daily Covid-19 challenges! I came up with ten beliefs that are inherent in the fabric of Bangkok Patana School. 1- Honesty and integrity are essential for building trusting relationships. 2- Each person is unique and has equal worth. 3- All people are responsible for their actions. 4- Open-mindedness, empathy and compassion are essential for living in a global community. 5- Expectations that are challenging lead to higher levels of performance and improve results. 6- Commitment, enthusiasm, and perseverance lead to success. 7- Education is a shared responsibility of students, family and school. 8- Everyone has the responsibility to contribute positively to society and the environment. 9- Celebrating diversity enriches our lives and the life of the community. 10- Nurturing curiosity and creativity stimulate exploration and discovery throughout life.
Having permeating beliefs are the basis for developing the most positive and constructive school culture possible, which in turn help us remain upbeat and resilient even when external forces like pandemics try to turn us in a different direction.
New Students We welcome 91 new Primary students and 23 new Secondary students. A special warm welcome to our new students and their families and we are so glad you have joined the Patana family.
On the Recruitment Front We have a normal turn-over of staff leaving us at the end of this academic year and our recruitment drive is well under way. As in previous years, there is a wide array of talented, highly qualified teachers wanting to join the Patana family.
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My Personal Favourites for 2021: As we bid farewell to 2021, I thought I would share with you some of my personal favourites!
Top Book of 2021 Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner. A beautifully written memoir that is heartfelt and sincere.
Top Movie of 2021 The Power of the Dog, Director Jane Campion. A typically dark Jane Campion western that happens to all be filmed in New Zealand.
Top Thai Beach Khao Lak, an hour and a half drive from Phuket airport, such a gorgeous coastline and no plastic on the beach at all!
Best New Attraction in Bangkok The new extension to the right of Benchakitti Park. The elevated walkways overlooking the wetlands are absolutely awesome!
New Favourite Restaurant Waki Waki Vegetarian/Vegan Sushi on Soi 24. Small and intimate with high quality fresh produce, not for meat lovers!
I hope you have an enjoyable weekend. Matt Mills Head of School
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Junior TriDash Medalists Jacqueline Baumann, Patana Parent
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ongratulations to Harley Slater (5A) and Charoen Baumann (5D) for their achievements in the first Junior TriDash Bangkok series of 2022! After competing in the Junior Series for athletes in their respective category, Charoen won 2nd place and Harley placed 3rd overall. The TriDash consists of swimming, biking, and running.
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Primary Record Breakers Athletics Meeting 2022 Saturday 29th January 2022 -7am to 12.30pm
LETS BREAK SOME RECORDS! Athletes from Years 4, 5 and 6 will compete in all of the following events: *60m Sprint, 600m (Y4) or 800m.
*Long Jump, High Jump, Standing Triple Jump (Y5,6) and Standing 3 Springs Jump (Y4). *Tee-Ball Throw (Y4), Javelin (Y5,6), Basketball Chest Pass (Y4), Shot Put (Y5,6), Quoit Throw (Y4) and Discus (Y5,6). Remember your hat and apply lots of sun screen before you ar rive at the track. Bring a water bottle to and drink lots of water during the mor ning! *Letters will be available from the 10th
of Januar y.
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Do you want to perform in
THE DANCE ACADEMY INVITES STUDENTS TO SIGN UP FOR OUR ANNUAL DANCE SHOWCASE
THE DANCE EXTRAVAGANZA The Dance Extravaganza2021/22 2021/22 "You dance love and H youere dance joy and you dance dreams" - Gene Kelly Scan to sign up for Dance ECAs: One More Song Years 1 & 2
Into the Unknown Years 1 & 2
Chein Pra Khawn Years 1 & 2
Nutcracker Years 3 & 4
Lion King Years 3 & 4
Dynamite Years 3 & 4
On Top of the World Years 5 & 6
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Prince Ali Years 5 & 6
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Me Too Years 1 & 2
Moana - You're Welcome Years 3 & 4
Come Alive Years 5 & 6
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Here are the plans for the upcoming show THE DANCE EXTRAVAGANZA 2021/22 sign up for ance ECA s to getKelly started! "You dance love andblock you dance3joyDand you dance dreams" - Gene THE DANCE ACADEMY INVITES STUDENTS TO SIGN UP FOR OUR ANNUAL DANCE SHOWCASE
SCAN FOR INFO
A Pale Years 7,8 & 9
Money Years 7,8 &9
Photograph Years 7,8 & 9
Colors of India Years 7,8 &9
Get your Mudra on Years 9+
All that Jazz Years 9+
America Years 9 +
We Get the Job Done Years 9+
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London Young Musician Gold Medal Amy Poon, Patana Parent
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ongratulations to Leah Leung (4H) for being awarded a Gold Medal and Certificate in the 2021-2022 Season 3 Performance Grade 5 Piano Competition by London Young Musician (LYM). LYM is an international online classical music performance competition for musicians under the age of 28 from all countries. The competition looks for talented musicians who have excellent musical skills, a strong personality and fantastic creativity in their video performance.
Thailand Dressage Championship Gor-Bua Puttisombat, 10H
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ver the course of two days, I participated in the Thailand Dressage Championship 2021: Young Rider Division (U21) in Saraburi from 10th-12th December, 2021. This was my first official debut with my new horse, “Still on My Mind” (Hero). In the three weeks leading up to the competition, Hero unexpectedly had a minor injury with his leg, which meant that I only had around one to two weeks to practice and get used to riding with him. However, all problems aside, I was really happy with our performance considering the obstacles and amount of time I started riding before the competition. On the first day, we achieved the highest score, putting us in the lead.
On the second day, I didn’t expect us to achieve much as I was the youngest rider and still pretty new to this level of dressage, as well as to the horse. In the end, however, we completed an outstanding performance and again achieved the highest score. Overall, just having the chance to compete with such talented older riders was already an honour, but it was even more memorable since Her Majesty Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya decided to attend and watch me during both my practice and competition, which I think was a key motivator to help me do my best! At the end of the competition, I was awarded 1st Place in the Thailand Dessage Championship 2021 (Day 1 and Day 2) in the Young Riders Division (U21), and was the overall winner of the Thailand Dressage Championship 2021: Young Riders. I am really proud of Hero and I hope to make many more great achievements together.
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STUDENTS SPEAK
So Hard to Say Goodbye Ying Ying Han, 5G
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022 has just begun! A new fresh start from 2021, where we couldn’t go to school for seven months! This year, we can hope that we’ll be able to stay in school the whole year. At the same time, I’m very dismayed that now when we’re in school, my good friend Elsa has just left! She left last term to go to Germany, when we have only just started to go to school! When I first heard that she was leaving, everything froze. My only thoughts were, Did I really hear that? Surely, she can’t be leaving! When I asked Elsa herself if she was really leaving, I prayed so hard that she would laugh and say no. Instead, she said yes. We had had one and a half years in the same class, and we went on residential visit together and did many fun activities in the same group! She was such a great team player, warm-hearted and a communicative person. In our first year together, we won first place in an interclass teeball match. Elsa always had so much team spirit! When she wasn’t on the field playing, she was cheering and encouraging us from the sides. I’ll really miss being on the same team with her. WHAT’S NEW IN THE LIBRARIES
In the same year as the tee-ball match, we also did a swimming gala together! Even though our class didn’t win, we had a great time cheering for each other. Another reason we were such good friends was because we were both April babies! Because we were born in the same month, we celebrated our birthdays together with a joint birthday party! Luckily for me, we have lots of photos together which I will cherish now that she’s left. Now every single moment that we spent together is even more precious than diamonds! When I knew she was leaving, I decided to paint her a painting and give it to her as a goodbye gift. Then me and my friend Glenda drew a picture of the whole class for Elsa to remember us by. When we showed her, she loved it, and we framed it for her to bring to Europe. I hope that she stays safe in Europe, settles into her new school and will find new friends soon! It was so hard to say goodbye to her, but I’ll always remind myself that even though she’s left Thailand, she’s never left me and my memories.
Early Years’ Library Primary Library Secondary Library
Fiction Non-Fiction
Fiction Non-Fiction Comic Books & Oversized Books
Fiction Home Languages Life Collection Non-Fiction Parents’ Collection Senior Fiction
Want to recommend a book for our library? Check out our new recommendation form here! All Library and magazine subscriptions listed here
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DANISH NATIONAL TEAM VISIT Rebecca Maw-Dzatkowski, Head Gymnastics Coach
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onday 10th January, the Gymnastics Academy welcomed the Danish National Performance Team with socially-distanced, open arms for a fun-filled day of workshops, masterclasses and finishing with a mini-performance for all. The travelling athletes are on their 2021-22 World Tour, and we were lucky enough to secure a visit for the day to take part in workshops, masterclasses and enjoy a mini-performance to wrap up the day. The day kicked off with a workshop for our primary gymnasts. The DNT athletes lead our gymnasts through some team games, dance elements learning through play and of course, some gymnastics skills. The energy in the room was infectious, with lots of smiles (from behind their masks). The day then continued with a mini-workshop for the Gymnastics Academy coaches to learn from the Danish National Team coaches - as trainers, it’s great to learn from other coaches and share ideas within the coaching community to develop our practice and bounce ideas off each other. Our Bangkok Patana coaches practiced some new warm-up games with the DNT athletes, and discussed both drills and spotting techniques, as gymnastics techniques always differ from country to country. It was great to see the Danish approach and equally, the DNT athletes were interested in the Thai techniques as well.
The DNT athletes were blown away by our students and were extremely impressed by their dedication, discipline and work ethic and thoroughly enjoyed their time working with all BPS gymnasts! It’s always lovely to receive such positive feedback from visitors as BPS students represent themselves and the school so professionally. The Danish National Team are performing at the IconSiam Saturday 15th January - check out their website for more details.
After lunch, the athletes delivered a masterclass to the senior gymnasts, focusing on tumbling and conditioning through play. The primary gymnasts then returned and joined the senior gymnasts to witness a spectacular performance that included various events from dance, jump rope, rhythmic gymnastics, tumbling, and mini-tramp. This inspiring performance was an incredible way to kick start Term 2!
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Primary Literacy & Numeracy Festival 18-20 JANUARY Do you have what it takes to be a FOBISIA champion? Learn, revise & compete in a range of fun Literacy & Numeracy activities! Open to Year 5 & 6 students, there are certificates & prizes up for grabs for the top-placing students & FOBISIA schools! Powered by
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KEY STAGE 2
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CAT/CAS CORNER
Patana Economics and Business Society Prithvi (Pritu) Acharya, 12P
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lassified as an emerging market, Turkey remains the 20th greatest economy globally in terms of nominal GDP, and 11th greatest when PPP is considered. Upon first glance, Turkey appears to be a relatively stable economy with a great dependence on the secondary sector--the economy has grown at between 2% and 10% beyond the Financial Crisis at the end of the 2000s, and 21.7% YoY in the second quarter of this year. This may appear great, but in actuality, this is a money illusion (viewing wealth in nominal terms rather than real terms) that has arisen as a result of poor decision making from the central bank of Turkey. Specifically, an unconventional monetary policy decision of cutting the interest rate down to 14% from 19% sunk the economy into a cavity of inflation, unemployment, and faltering currency. I say unconventional because interest rates are traditionally increased in times of inflation, but as reflected by the Consumer Price Index (above), a weighted average price of a basket of goods usually purchased by households that serves as an indicator of inflation, and interest rate (below) curves diverging, this is not happening with Turkey.
Under normal circumstances, central banks exist independent from government control which mitigates decision making that solely stems from political interest. However, Turkish
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President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (a known adversary of high interest rates) posited that cutting interest rates would boost domestic investment and lead to a depreciation of the Lira, thereby also attracting an influx of foreign capital. This may have been a good decision if not for the fact that the Turkish inflation rate of 20% was already four times greater than the target rate.
The Lira has been a talking point as it has lost 45% of its value when compared to the US Dollar. This significant depreciation has hurt Turkish citizens the most, with per capita income in dollar denomination declining consistently after 2013.
Prospects for Turkey aren’t looking too great as well. Turkish elections will be held in June of 2023, and it can be expected that Erdogan will continue to push down borrowing rates with the intention of winning over the population. Furthermore, the Federal Reserve tapering its bond-buying program in the US has not slowed down the strengthening Dollar which negatively affects the Lira.
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NEWS FROM PTG
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CAT/CAS CORNER
Amnesty Write for Rights Phineas Larmer-Beech, 7D and Rie Aiyama, 12L
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hroughout the latter half of Term 1, Amnesty Patana - a CAT club that raises awareness about human rights - has been focusing on three case studies for the annual Write for Rights campaign. The information below is based on our research and we encourage you to look into them for further details. Each case focuses on people of different nationalities who have been under attack while fighting for what they believe. By writing postcards and signing petitions, we show our support and encourage them to continue fighting, as well as pressure governments to take action on giving them the justice we believe they deserve. The first of our case studies was on Zhang Zhan from China. Zhang Zhan is a civil journalist and former lawyer who covered people’s experiences in Wuhan, China during the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Arrested on the charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”, she was imprisoned for four years in Shanghai. She has since staged a hunger strike, but her family last reported that she was nearing death. With this campaign, Amnesty wants Chinese authorities to release her immediately and unconditionally. The next person we focused on was Wendy Galarza from Mexico. Wendy is a childcare worker and feminist activist, working to denounce femicide in Cancún. On November 9th 2020, Wendy was shot while protesting against the murder of a woman in her community. Wendy has since
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filed a complaint, but the people who shot her still have not been questioned for their actions. In Mexico and many other countries women are killed, and activists are fighting for this to stop. With Write for Rights, Amnesty wants Wendy’s assailants to be held accountable by Mexican authorities. Lastly we focused on Sphere, a non-governmental organization founded by activists Anna Sharyhina and Vira Chernygina. They aim to provide a safe space for women and LGBTQIA+ people in Kharkiv, which is Ukraine’s second largest city. As groups opposing such communities have proliferated across the country, Sphere has suffered attacks; however, when they report these incidents to the police they feel that nothing happens. “I want our attackers to be held accountable in accordance with the law,” says Anna. Amnesty too, wants Ukrainian authorities to take further action. Amnesty Patana is a student-body CAT Club inspired by the NGO Amnesty International, while not affiliated. By raising awareness with students and teachers within the Bangkok Patana School community, we hope to expand the school’s understanding of human rights issues around the world. For Term 2, we hope to focus on the topic of Refugee Rights and Asylum Seekers. If you would like to join our club, please sign up for the ECA next block - we meet on Mondays at 14:30-15:30. Feel free to email our president Rie (riai23@patana.ac.th) for any queries regarding Write for Rights, or Amnesty!
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#205: Technology for Learning Weekly Review
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appy New Year everyone. Please click the tweets here to follow the links to four tech-related posts that I found interesting this week. Have a relaxing weekend. Brian Taylor Assistant Principal, Campus Curriculum Technology Integration
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Wildlife Spotting with Coke Expedition: Northern Thailand Alexander Coke Smith IV, Secondary Environmental Sciences Leader
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nyone who has been following my bi-weekly column has surely gained an appreciation for the wealth of nature and wildlife-viewing experiences that the greater Bangkok area has to offer. And as our year progresses, I will definitely keep highlighting more of these opportunities. But this week, I would like to share with our readership what is happening in Thailand’s far northern provinces – namely, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. My family and I, along with two expert colleagues, spent time in the north over our winter break searching for and finding the wildlife of Thailand’s famous “Dois” (mountains). Winter is a special time for these places and not just for the chilly temperatures and Sea of Mist thermal inversions. The avian life is simply outstanding during these periods. In late fall and early winter, the mountains of Northern Thailand are invaded by countless winter migrants who travel south from China and Russia to find warmer climes and more ample food stocks. We travelled to several major bio-hotspots over the break to document this phenomenon. And combine these winter migrants with the normal year-round residents, wow, what a spectacle!
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We hit several places of import – Doi Inthanon, Doi Ang Khang, Doi Lang, Doi Pha Hom Pok and other locations to see the epic wildlife show. We sure were successful! With over 300 species under our belts, we had seen and even photographed so many beautiful and rare species, ranging from the small and almost indistinguishable warblers to such charismatic species as Mrs Hume’s Pheasants, Pied Harriers, and so many more.
in these mountains. And while we were only visiting a few of the major spots where these migrants come, I find it awesome to think about the countless mountaintops in Thailand (and Burma, Laos, Yunnan, etc.) where there are similar assemblages of fauna this time of year. It is staggering to say the least!
Please feel free to contact Coke Smith (cosm@patana. ac.th) for more information on the North of Thailand if These migrants come for the wealth of food available you would like to plan an adventure in the near future.
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Desert Island Discs With Tracey Williams, Acting Leader of Learning and Welfare Year 2
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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 Acting Leader of Learning and Welfare Year 2, Tracey Williams, is stuck on a desert island. MS TRACEY WILLIAMS, IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND WHAT EIGHT PIECES OF MUSIC WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? Oh, Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison
Truly Madly Deeply - Savage Garden
You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ - The Righteous Brothers
The Fighter - Keith Urban & Carrie Underwood
In The Air Tonight - Phil Collins
No Air - Jordin Sparks ft. Chris Brown
Smooth - Santana ft. Rob Thomas
Return To Sender - Elvis Presley Click to listen to Ms Tracey William’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. Manicure set WHICH ONE BOOK WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. 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 STML with your favourites.
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COMMUNITY
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COMMUNITY
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COMMUNITY
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