www.patana.ac.th
PATANA NEWS
Friday 28th January 2022
A Special Letter From Mr Matt Mills
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Also in this issue... M
World Language Review IB Sports Exercise Health Science Waste Less Week 2022 Scientia Article Welcome, TukTuk!
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Bangkok Patana is a not-for-profit IB World School accredited by CIS
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Greetings Everyone, After 15 years of leading Bangkok Patana School and close to 40 years in education, I wish to inform the school community that I intend to retire at the end of the 2022/2023 academic year and move back to New Zealand. It has been a huge privilege leading such a high-quality school for so many years and I have enjoyed every minute of it. When my wife and I joined the Patana Community in August 2008, our boys were starting Years 2 and 4. They have both now graduated from Patana, successfully gaining their IB Diplomas, and are enjoying university life in Melbourne, Australia. They are both polite and forward-thinking young men who greatly appreciate how the Patana way of learning gave them the important foundation to go on and flourish as adults. I’ve been so incredibly proud of our Patana students over the years and their academic results continue to impress me. Patana students are warm and caring, love their learning and, most important of all, treat people with kindness and respect. One of my first tasks as Head of School was to dig a spade into the Arts Centre foundations. Now we not only have a thriving Arts Centre, but we have a stunning Science Centre and a wonderful Early Years learning environment, to name just a few. It gives me great pleasure to see all students now attend their learning consultations whether it be 3-Way conferences in Primary or Secondary parent conferences. I still remember my own ‘meet the teacher’ experiences where I would have to wait outside while my parents would meet my teacher and talk all about me! It’s so valuable to have the students take ownership of their own learning. Bangkok is such a dynamic and changeable city. My family and I have lived through all the ups and downs from pollution days, to coups, to floods, to pandemics. We have also had the wonderful privilege of experiencing Thai culture and hospitality plus all the amazing Thai celebrations, including Wai Kru and Loi Krathong ceremonies, which we will never forget. One of my great highlights as Head of School was welcoming Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn to Bangkok Patana School; it was such an honour and privilege to have her open our Science Centre. The school is in such great shape as we have a relatively new Business Director in place who has already made his mark. Our two new Principals have really settled into their new roles and our new School Manager is also doing a wonderful job.
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I have recruited 85% of the teaching faculty and I’m sure you will agree with me that the quality of teaching staff at Patana is exceptional. When I started at Patana only 2% of the teaching faculty had a master’s degree. We introduced lots of master’s initiatives over the years and I’m proud to say that 36% of teaching staff now have a master’s degree and all of my academic leadership team have their master’s or are in the process of gaining their master’s degree. The School Board will start the recruitment process later this term as they embark on a worldwide search to appoint my replacement. I’m confident that they will appoint an experienced educator who will continue to lead the school on its development journey starting August 2023. I look forward to continuing leading the school for the next 15 months. Best wishes, Matt Mills Head of School
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Outcome of The World Language Review Luke Jones, Secondary Assistant Principal
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t is with great pleasure that I am able to inform you of the outcome of our World Language review. After much consultation, analysis and evaluation, we have made the decision to continue our academic offerings of German and Japanese. Despite, as anticipated, the demand for these subjects being at a lower level than other languages, we will still be offering these language programs for our students at Bangkok Patana. We hope that this is welcome news to those of you who were keen to see these options stay open for our students! German and Japanese will remain as options for Year 7 students in Secondary School, and the program for these subjects will move through the language curriculum into IGCSE (Key Stage 4) and into the IB Diploma subjects. German will also continue to run as an option subject in Primary School if we have enough students in Year 6 who want to study this language in August 2022.
Another outcome of the review has resulted in our ambitious plan to create a ‘Home Language Lab’ inside the World Languages Faculty. We are eager to expand the home language provision in order to develop a ‘Home Language Lab’ fit for the 21st century. A specific set of programmes and a dedicated area for this curriculum would allow us to support students in deep home language immersion; integrating the use of innovative technology, expert remote tutoring, and the use of all of our great experience gained during the CSL program. We are very excited about all the possibilities here and will begin moving forward with these plans as we move into Term 2, Term 3 and the next academic year.
Be sure to check out our collection of Home Languages books, available in both the Primary and Secondary Libraries.
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NEW IB SUBJECT: Sports Exercise Health Science Cindy Adair, Cross Campus Assistant Principal
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angkok Patana is very excited to announce that next year we are launching a new IB subject – Sports Exercise Health Science. This is a Group 4 Subject, which focuses on the application of science to the world of sports and performance. We are thrilled to announce we have 16 students enrolled as our inaugural cohort.
the course does not have a performance component so you don’t need to be an elite athlete to be successful in the subject – just have a passion for the topics covered. Students at Patana can now seamlessly transition from Core PE in Key Stage 3, through to GCSE PE in Key Stage 4 and finally IB Sports Exercise Health Science in Senior Studies.
For several years this has been a goal of the Physical Education department. Bangkok Patana has many of the ingredients to ensure the long term success of the subject: •Fantastic facilities for both sports and science •A proud sporting culture •Opportunities for collaboration between the PE, Maths and Science faculties •Well established GCSE cohorts who consistently achieve good results The subject involves the study of Anatomy, Physiology, Energy Systems, Movement Analysis, Sports Psychology, Nutrition and Skill Acquisition but also modern issues in sport such as Genetics and Immunity. Students can tailor their Internal Assessments to study a broad range of interesting sports science applications; from what kinds of movements in a fitness gym promote good performance to how ice baths affect recovery in contact sports. Unlike the GCSE,
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Students who study this subject are equipped to go on to study to become Sports Scientists, Coaches, Physiotherapists, PE Teachers, Nutritionists, Personal Trainers, Podiatrists and more! We look forward to sharing the progress of our class with you in the coming years!
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Hackathon 2022 Winner Varit Asavathiratham, 10S
Over the course of two and a half days, I participated in the Verso Hackathon 2022. Our goal? Reimagine the future of food. I was put in a team of amazing minds, all of whom I hadn’t met before. We were grouped based on our personalities, and each group had three different kinds of people: hackers (techy people), hustlers (marketing) and hipsters (design). There was Sebastian, our hustler from Harrow. Hilight, a hacker, like me, from ICS. Finally, we had Ryu, a hipster from Bangkok Patana School. Equipped with loads of lessons and people to help us, we set out to eliminate all single-use plastics. In order to do that, we created Evergreen. Our idea was to eliminate single-use packaging in food delivery, by creating a reusable packaging system. Our self-produced packaging would be sent off the restaurants, who would distribute their food in that packaging to consumers. Consumers would leave the packaging outside their houses or at drop-off points, and we would collect it for cleaning and reusage. This system would be self-sustaining, meaning that we could just cycle the same pieces of packaging for 50, maybe even hundreds of uses!
For two days, we brainstormed, organised our thoughts, and learned new ways to pitch businesses. But then, on the final day, came the pitch. We had to prepare and present our ideas to a group of highly skilled business people, who had already had success in the food department. Not only that, we had to do it with about a hundred of people watching. No pressure… We were pitching against the twelve other teams in the Junior category, with their ideas ranging from food delivery using drones, to websites that could help you cook and protein shakes made of mealworms. The range of ideas was fantastic! Our pitch went great, and after getting into the finals, we delivered our extended pitch to a different group of judges, which also went alright. Overall, we came 1st in the Junior category. The hackathon was an absolutely amazing experience. Being able to learn so many new things, meet amazing people and have this much fun was extraordinary. I really enjoyed, and hope to come back next year.
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GET READY FOR WASTE LESS WEEK! 7TH - 11TH FEBRUARY 2022
1. 3.
Less Meat Monday
Well-Being Wednesday
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Finish it Friday
2. Terminal Tuesday it off 4. Turn Thursday
EVERY ACTION COUNTS TO MAKE OUR PLANET MORE GREEN
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ARTS COUNCIL
IGCSE Music Visualisation Nalin (Miu) Baholyodhin, 9M
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hroughout Year 7 and Year 9, I was part of the choir. During that time, I created multiple pieces of music, which I liked and enjoyed. However, I think my favourite might be one of my more recent pieces. For the music IGCSE taster, I had to create my own piece of music, which had to have eight bars and at least one octave. This was pretty much the only guideline I had. So, this piece involved a lot of thinking and creative freedom. At first, I was really stuck because I never created an original piece of music before and had always just followed the songs that were given to me.
In conclusion, I’m really happy with what I produced and how it turned out. This project helped me be creative and original. Of course, if this were a longer project, I could have done a lot better. However, given the time that I had to complete it, I’m pretty proud of myself! A link to my work: https://musiclab. chromeexperiments.com/Song-Maker/ song/5890922654466048
This process involved a lot of trial and error. There were so many errors with it at first! I could not just randomly put notes together and play it, but I had to think carefully about the arrangement. I also had to consider whether it sounded good and if people would like it. I collected a lot of inspiration and it took around a week to create, but I’m very happy with the end result. This project gave me so much freedom and I had a lot of fun with it.
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SCIENTIA
Garbage In, Garbage Out Yerin Kang, 11R
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Often, we regard AI as a fair, unbiased and non-discriminatory technology. Major factors why we trust AI include its incapability of consciousness, sensing morals and processing emotions the way we do. Perhaps this allows them to make fair decisions - uninfluenced by human bias. Wait, is AI completely fair? Let’s think about a scenario: a company is hiring new employees amongst an endless list of applicants. Before they start interviewing the candidates, they want to have an elimination stage in which the AI selects a narrower range of qualified applicants. Is this a totally efficient and fair system? Have a think. Definitely, one may argue. It’s probably better than having humans select candidates who are susceptible to various prejudices and biases. The first round- with only the document of their academics, nationality and gender- should not be influenced by inclination towards a group, intended or not. Interviewing can be carried out by humans later on, allowing employers to interact with applicants in greater depth. Actually, no. Here comes the alarm: AI can discriminate. Several years ago, Amazon failed to adapt a similar recruitment tool based on AI technology. It had shown gender bias against women and inclination towards men candidates. For example, applications including gender key words like “women’s golf club” and graduates from women colleges were penalized. The reason was simply because it reflected data collected, prepared and selected from a male-dominant tech industry. Here, we can apply the concept of “garbage in, garbage out”; incomplete, flawed data results in a flawed output. In other words, the bias already rooted in our society over preferred race, gender and degrees is input into the AI as data - the AI is only trained to apply the concept. The lack of diversity in data also affects many other platforms, for example facial recognition disproportionately misidentifying women (especially of colour). Yet, it becomes a serious issue when flawed data can further interfere with our living and health.
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GENDER BIAS IN CLINICAL TRIALS Are women receiving optimal treatment? Research shows that women are more likely to suffer from side effects of drug usage because of the clinical trials relying heavily on male participants. Gender is a fundamental, yet underappreciated variable in clinical development of drugs. Diversity in research is crucial as patients from different subgroups (age,gender,race,disabilities,etc) can experience varying treatment outcomes to the same medication. “Men and women have different concentrations of digestive enzymes starting in the mouth, stomach and liver, which affect the metabolism of that drug,” says McGregor of Brown University. However, there are other significant differences between male and females that must be considered, for example : fluctuating hormone levels from menstruation each month (female); potential to becoming pregnant (female); physical differences (body composition, size, weight); patterns in genetic expression; and socio-cultural factors SO WHAT HINDERS WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION RATES? Until the early 1990s, women of childbearing age were banned from participating in medical trials due to concerns over potential damage to pregnancy and their fetuses, regardless of their capabilities to become pregnant, sexual orientations and desire to carry a child.
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In return, these efforts to protect women resulted in 4. Pregnancy - fertile women participating in the trials women being underrepresented in clinical trials, there- must be warned to avoid pregnancy during the period fore resulting in unreliable results of side effects, correct of drug exposure. Women should also have access to dosage and drug efficacy for different subgroups. counseling and medical care for contraception. Researchers must confirm the participants are not pregnant, In later stage trials (Phase 3), there is an increased and continue to monitor for pregnancy. Furthermore, deenrollment of women; these numbers significantly drop tailed information about potential risks to a fetus must be in Phase 1 trials. This is concerning because the stage stated clearly for women participants’ confidence allows researchers details on how the drug works- how it is broken down, absorbed, processed, distributed, exWill gender discrimination in trials be solved by simply creted etc. achieving a 50:50 split ratio? For example, Zolpidem was originally approved with equal doses for male and female. Yet alarmingly, women experienced serious side effects like increased traffic accidents in the morning after taking the medication. After realizing the same doses in women caused double the drug levels (due to differences in metabolism), the FDA later directed that women should receive half the standard dose given to men.
ACTIONS? Actions to enhance the collection and availability of subgroup data may include: 1.Participation - improving community outreach and health literacy. This includes: identifying barriers to enrollment for members of subgroup; implementing programs to encourage enrollment; outreach to communities lacking access or knowledge to clinical trials
Rather than a simple 50:50 ratio, a participation to prevalence ratio (PPR) higher than 0.8 is more commonly calculated to confirm an appropriate participation ratio of women. The participation to prevalence ratio (PPR) is a metric used to describe representation of women in a trial relative to their representation in the disease population. The PPR was calculated as follows:
A PPR close to 1 indicates that the gender composition of the trial approximates that of the disease population. A PPR <0.8 or >1.2 indicates that women were underrepresented or overrepresented, respectively, relative to the disease population.
2. Transparency - providing clear information with patients about the trial processes and potential side ef- Sources/ further reading recommendations: ht tps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ar tic les/PMfects, so patients can feel confident being aware of the C4800017/#ref10 details. https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/feature/why-
3. Technology - the FDA’s project Critical Path Initia- we-need-to-talk-about-sex-and-clinical-trials tive aims to modernize drug development through use of https://www.appliedclinicaltrialsonline.com/view/geninnovative tools and techniques, such as: biomarkers to estimate efficacy and safety outcomes, advanced tech- der-bias-in-the-clinical-evaluation-of-drugs nology - study designs, new trials designs and new data analysis techniques. Collectively, these can help identify womens’ different responses accurately
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A very warm welcome to TukTuk, the Mascot! TukTuk has their own Patana Card now and is officially enrolled at Bangkok Patana.
Special thanks to nna eller, ear 3 for suggesting the name, she earned her 300Baht ift oucher from the Tiger Shop!
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Designed by Kaitlin White,Year 12
ZIP-UP HOODIES Available in S/M/L/XL 850 THB
BUY NOW AT THE TIGERSHOP 28/01/2022
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NEWS FROM PTG
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#207: What Parents Need to Know About YouTube Y
ouTube, the omnipresent video-sharing social media platform, allows billions of people around the world to watch, share and upload their own videos with a vast range of content – including sport, entertainment, education and lots more. It’s a superb space for people to consume content that they’re interested in. As a result, this astronomically popular platform has had a huge social impact: influencing online culture on a global scale and creating new celebrities. In the guide, you’ll find tips on a number of potential risks such as connecting with strangers, inappropriate content and high visibility. I hope you find it informative Have a relaxing weekend. Brian Taylor Assistant Principal, Campus Curriculum Technology Integration
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Desert Island Discs With Sarah Gaughan, Leader of Learning and Strategic Development, Foundation Stage
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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 Foundation Stage Leader of Learning and Strategic Development, Sarah Gaughan, is stuck on a desert island. MS SARAH GAUGHAN, IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND WHAT EIGHT PIECES OF MUSIC WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? Sweet Dreams - Eurythmics
It Feels So Good - Sonique
Stand By Me - Ben E King
Oh My Gosh - Basement Jaxx
Kingston Town - UB40
I’ll Be Missing You - Diddy
Insomnia - Faithless
Cheap Thrills - SIA Click to listen to Ms Sarah Gaughan’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. Egyptian Cotton Bed Linen WHICH ONE BOOK WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? Sapiens - A Brief History of Humankind 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. FOBISIA ASA VIRTUAL RUNNING CHALLENGE Host School: British School Manila ENTRIES ACCEPTED BETWEEN 18TH MARCH to 1ST OF APRIL
AGE GROUP & CATEGORIES: U11: 3KM U15: 5KM U18: 10KM Open Age community: 10KM
Join the fobisia strava community! Please Note: the recommended age rating for strava 13+
Award for most entries per school Fill in the google form with relevant information.
FOR FURTHER DETAILS, PLEASE EMAIL: ssherratt@britishschoolmanila.org
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COMMUNITY
OU
RFORM TDOOR PE
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A N C E!
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COMMUNITY
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COMMUNITY
RECRUITING FOR CPD & SAFEGUARDING EXECUTIVE AT FOBISIA HQ IN BANGKOK RECRUITING FOR CPD & SAFEGUARDING EXECUTIVE FOBISIA is the premier Federation in Asia supporting and promoting high-quality British-style AT FOBISIA HQof IN BANGKOK international education. With more than 30 years shared history, the FOBISIA family is a diverse and inclusive community offering peer-to-peer support and extensive networking and collaboration FOBISIA is the premier Federation in Asia supporting andvalue promoting high-quality British-style high opportunities to its members. It is FOBISIA’s Mission to deliver for its members by ensuring international education. With more than 30 years of shared history, the FOBISIA family is a diverse and quality British-style international education through shared professional development, student inclusive community offering peer-to-peer support and extensive networking and collaboration enrichment, and mutual support between Member Schools in the region. opportunities to its members. It is FOBISIA’s Mission to deliver value for its members by ensuring high The Federation supports 85+ Member Schoolsthrough and 95+ Affiliate Members, development, as well as Individual quality British-style international education shared professional student Members, including founding and former Heads of FOBISIA Member Schools. FOBISIA is looking to enrichment, and mutual support between Member Schools in the region. recruit a new CPD & Safeguarding Executive to join its small but dynamic and growing team at FOBISIA The Federation supportsThe 85+ Member and includes: 95+ Affiliate Members, as well as Individual HQ, located in Bangkok. full-time localSchools hire position Members, including founding and former Heads of FOBISIA Member Schools. FOBISIA is looking to recruit new CPD &Professional Safeguarding Development Executive to join its small but dynamic and growing- team at FOBISIA ● aContinuing (CPD) & Safeguarding Executive responsible for HQ, located in Bangkok. The full-time local hire position includes: achieving effective networking and collaboration and to share and deliver relevant, high quality CPD and safeguarding initiatives, in order to promote best practice in FOBISIA Member Schools. Continuing Professional Development (CPD) & Safeguarding Executive - responsible for achieving networking and collaboration and to share deliver relevant, highfor quality this We are hoping theeffective successful candidates will be able to commence in and August 2022, with scope CPD and safeguarding initiatives, in order to promote best practice in FOBISIA Member Schools. to be brought forward to April 2022. ●
We are hoping the successful candidates will be able to commence in August 2022, with scope for this Applicants must have: to be brought forward to April 2022. ● a Bachelor’s Degree and be highly proficient in written and spoken English; Applicants must have: ● strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work independently; ● strong organisational and ICT skills; ● a Bachelor’s Degree and be highly proficient in written and spoken English; ● proven administrative skills including budget management; and ● strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work independently; ● strong organisational and ICT skills; Previous experience working in events management, administration and/or international schools would ● proven administrative skills including budget management; and be a distinct advantage. Previous experience working in events management, administration and/or international schools would Please send a CV and any queries to Ms. Shana Kongmun – eom@fobisia.org. be a distinct advantage. Closing date: Friday 18 February 2022. Please note early appointments may be made prior to the Please send a CV and any queries to Ms. Shana Kongmun – eom@fobisia.org. closing date. Closing date: Friday 18 February 2022. Please note early appointments may be made prior to the closing date.
Federation of British International Schools in Asia http://www.fobisia.org/
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Federation of British International Schools in Asia http://www.fobisia.org/ Bangkok Patana School News
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