Patana news Volume 24 Issue 4

www.patana.ac.th

PATANA NEWS

Friday 10th September 2021

End of Week 2 CSL Survey Mr Mills’ First Blog of the eYar

By Cross Campus Principal Page 2 Helen Thew

10/09/2021

Also in thisMissue...

Join the PTG - AGM

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Make a Difference to your Community Returning to PE and Sport Journey Back Home

Page 7 Page 8 Page 10

Bangkok Patana School News

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

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CSL: End of Week 2 Survey Results Helen Thew, Cross Campus Principal

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hank you for taking the time to complete our latest CSL (Continuing Student Learning) survey. It is good to see how in sync the parents and the students are. Below are the ‘headline’ results from both the Primary and Secondary surveys.

CHANGES TO THE PRIMARY CSL PROGRAMME As a response to your previous feedback, the quantity of live lessons from both the class teacher and the specialist subject areas increased at the start of this academic term. The Primary Leadership team were therefore very interested to hear your views on this change and your initial feedback says it is ‘just right’. As we start a new term it is very important for the child’s well-being that they have the opportunities to build positive relationships with their new teachers and classmates. The feedback is showing that this is happening, and the class teachers will continue to mix the student groupings in the breakout rooms so that further positive relationships can be formed.

Parents

Year 3-6 students

The quantity of live lessons in ‘just right’ for my child/ I have the right amount of live lessons in a day.

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The content of the lessons is engaging and supporting my child’s development/My lessons (on and off screen) help me learn new things and develop new skills.

Bangkok Patana School News

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My child is beginning to build positive relationships with My child is beginning to build positive relationships with thitheir teachers/ I am getting to know my teachers. er classmates/ I am getting to know my classmates.

CHANGES TO THE SECONDARY CSL PROGRAMME As we welcomed our new Secondary students to Bangkok Patana so we were hearing that some were finding it hard to navigate MS Teams and find all of their live lessons. The Secondary Leadership Team asked staff to add their live lessons to their MS Team calendars thereby having all staff using the same system. It is pleasing to see that this solution has meant that students are now saying they can easily find their lessons.

The one question that received the highest disagree / strongly disagree responses was the one on the balance between screen time and off-screen time learning. In some ways it was good to see that one question received negative feedback as it meant that stakeholders were being open and honest in their responses. Screen time is an area that staff are mindful of and now that the textbooks have been distributed staff can look to having students using their textbook as a resource as well as online resources.

The Secondary Leadership team also wanted to know about student well-being at this time and how they were developing their positive relationships with their teachers and classmates. Whilst we appreciate it is harder to do this online rather than face-to-face, it is encouraging to see that students are saying that these important relationships are forming.

My child finds it easy to find their live lessons in MS Teams/ My child is being appropriately challenged with their learnI find it easy to find my live lessons in MS Teams. ing/ I am being appropriately challenged in my learning.

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Bangkok Patana School News

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The amount of learning being set for my child is appropriate My child has a good balance of screen time and off-screen and tasks can be completed in a given time/ The amount of learning/ I get a good balance of screen time and offlearning being set is appropriate and tasks can be complet- screen learning. ed in the time given.

The teacher communicates well with my child and gives My child has, or is developing, a positive relationship with feedback on their work in a variety of ways/ The teachers their Tutor/ I have, or am developing, a positive relationship communicate well with me and give feedback in a variety with my tutor. of ways.

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Bangkok Patana School News

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My child has, or is developing, positive and supportive re- My child has, or is developing, positive relationships with lationships with their subject teachers/I have or am devel- their classmates/ I have, or am developing, positive relaoping positive and supportive relationships with my subject tionships with my classmates. teachers.

I feel well supported by my child’s Tutor.

10/09/2021

Bangkok Patana School News

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Make a Difference to Your Community Jane Lovegrove, Youth Club and Community Service Leader

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few weeks ago, the Thai Government announced that they will give the parents of each student in Thailand a THB 2,000 subsidy in recognition of COVID pandemic difficulties. Some of our parents indicated they would prefer to donate their share of the subsidy, however, the government has asked that these parents accept the subsidy and then donate it as they wish.

At Bangkok Patana we have a number of student-led community service clubs (CAT – Community Activity Teams) that raise money for activities in communities that are not well-resourced. If you would like to donate your THB 2,000 subsidy to one of the CAT groups or find out more about the CAT groups, please click here.

In the Spotlight...

Academy of Performing Arts, Czech Republic

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he Academy of Performing Arts (AMU) is located in the heart of Prague and offers courses in both Czech and English. The official language of instruction of the course units is Czech, but each faculty offers some degree programmes in English. Famed for their Film and TV School (FAMU) which as exchange programmes with US schools including NYU, Syracuse and Emerson College. AMU also has faculties of Theatre and Music and Dance. Programmes in English for undergraduates include Authorial Acting, Photography, Composition, Conducting, Choreography, Dance Education and Nonverbal Theory among others. They also have extensive programmes in English for graduate degrees. The school is free for Czech students as well as Americans. Notable alumni include director Milos Forman and violinist Ivan Romanoff.

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Bangkok Patana School News

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Annual General Meeting of the Bangkok Patana School Parent Teacher Group (PTG)

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Tuesday 14th September via MS Teams from 2.45pm to 3.45pm PLEASE JOIN THE MEETING THROUGH THIS LINK

G Click here to join the PTG Facebook Group

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We will be electing new representatives for the 2021/22 PTG Committee at the AGM. If you are interested in getting involved in your PTG, please consider nominating yourself for a position.

To nominate yourself or someone else for a position on the PTG Committee, please fill in this nomination form by 9.00am on Monday 13th September. The 2021 AGM agenda, minutes of the last AGM and committee positions open for nomination are all listed on the PTG Firefly page here.

Bangkok Patana School News

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Returning to PE and Sport

A collaboration from PE Teachers, Sports Coaches and NewMoves Gym PRIMARY PE - ANDREW TATAM he Primary PE Team have been getting to grips with live CSL lessons from Year 1 to Year 6 since returning to school and have been enjoying the increased student interaction that this has allowed.

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With a potential staggered restart for Primary Year groups, a possibility sooner than we had dared hope we want to focus on the students themselves. Many are new to Patana and obviously, our student community has had a tremendously varied experience away from “normal” school life. Our new Primary Principal, Sarah McCormack has been focusing on “One Word” with staff and students alike and our team ethos will undoubtedly be “HAPPINESS” as we welcome students back to PE. We anticipate that engagement levels will vary with so much time out but hope to focus upon the joy of play and physical activity with friends.

As a teaching team, we simply can’t wait to welcome all of our Primary students back to school and will certainly be keeping our fingers on the pulse to support as smooth a return as possible.

SECONDARY PE - OLIVER BLUNDELL In Secondary PE this week we have started to discuss what core values we are going to prioritise for the first six to 10 lessons upon resumption of face to face teaching. We want to make the students feel as comfortable as possible coming back to their PE classes, we are aware that all of our students have had very different experiences during the last five months.

We want to be open, adaptable and caring as educators. We will be putting less emphasis on technique development and fitness levels. Our aim will be to support students to access movement pathways for PE and Sports safely with confidence.

We will be carefully adhering to all available guidance in proving students with a choice of activity options. We will utilise our fantastic facilities to create exciting and challenging environments for our students. We will look to engage students in social situations through PE, where they can re-establish their face to face communication skills.

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Bangkok Patana School News

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SPORTS AND ECAS - CINDY ADAIR In August and into September we have been able to offer a broad range of active and engaging online opportunities for students - many of which are fitness based.

However, we are mindful that not all students will be accessing these in a consistent manner, nor pushing themselves to the extent they would in a team context under the watchful eye of a coach.

which involve the potential for contact or pressure.

Alongside the planning of our physical sessions, coaches will be asked to talk to their student-athletes about effective recovery techniques. Stretching, nutrition, hydration, sleep and physical therapies such as preventative strapping, hot/cold therapy and foam rolling will be incorporated. This aims to help us maximise the short timeframe We plan to be as inclusive as possible as we approach we have available to get our students back in form and to our first trials post-closure, offering plenty of B teams where keep them injury-free. possible to embrace any child keen to move. We have relAs we have missed much of our traditional Season 1, we atively large squads and we are anticipating needing to rotate our subs more than usual as our teams collectively will look for opportunities (both competitive and social) build back their aerobic fitness and muscular endurance. for our student-athletes to still experience those sports later The first few weeks of team training will be based around in the academic year. This might be in the form of standre-establishing, relationships and fundamental skills with alone invitationals, fun intramurals, friendly fixtures or mullittle or no focus on winning. On a sport-by-sport basis ti-sport Games. We plan to especially focus on creating we will then introduce more intensity and complex tactics, those opportunities for our graduating Seniors.

NEWMOVES GYM RECOMMENDATIONS After having such a long break from most physical activities, I’m sure a lot of us are very eager to get back to our sports and training. To do so, we should first be aware that our bodies are not going to be as conditioned as they were prior to the holidays and injuries are now a very real risk.

So here are three tips to help you get back to moving at 100 percent again (without the risks): 1. The most obvious yet most important tip is to ease back into things, slowly. Give your body a chance to adapt and catch up.

2. When you begin, moving in many varying ways is going to help you adapt faster. Running, skipping and jumping are great but don’t be afraid to move side to side, bend and twist to incorporate all 3 planes of motion before hitting the weight room or the field. We want your body to be resilient and prepared before doing anything strenuous.

3. Make sure you are properly fueled and hydrated before and during your training sessions and workouts. Dehydration has been shown to increase the likelihood of injuries on the field, track, pool and gym so don’t underestimate the major importance of such a simple action.

We hope these tips help you get back to moving and performing at your best again, safely. Have fun! Rob, Dillon and Toby of NewMoves Gym Bangkok, changing the way people train since 2013 – info@newmovesbkk.com 10/09/2021

Bangkok Patana School News

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STUDENTS SPEAK Journey Back Home Hui Ying (Ying Ying) Han, 5G

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ne day in June, my parents were talking about going to visit my grandparents in Singapore. Three days later, I was on the plane flying to Singapore!

First, my parents had to book a fit-to-fly swab test so that we could be tested and go onto the plane. When we arrived at the hospital, I was very nervous and scared. Would it hurt a lot? Turns out, they were gentle and it didn’t hurt that much. I was anxious to know if we were negative or positive. My parents told me that I couldn’t pack my bags because we didn’t know if we could go yet. I waited and waited and waited until in the morning, an e-mail came saying that we were free to go!

Two days later, we were in the airport. There weren’t a lot of people, and it was unusual for me. It seemed so quiet and that there was an awful lot of space. On the plane, my parents didn’t allow me to take off my mask to eat or drink anything, because they didn’t want me to be exposed.

The flight was short and soon enough, we landed in Changi Airport.

We had to do another swab test there and then we could take a bus to our hotel. We didn’t know which hotel we were going to, because we were assigned hotels for quarantine. When we finally reached the hotel, lots of people went off the bus to go check in. It was 11.00pm, almost midnight, and I was so tired. Finally, we were able to get checked in so I got to sleep around midnight.

When I entered the hotel room, I was amazed. It was so big! We had one bedroom, one living room, one super large bathroom with a separate toilet and a section to put our luggage!

I really appreciated that we had such a big room because my dad had to work, and although it was the school holiday, I still had some online classes. Over the 14 days, we had to do three swab tests by ourselves.

The first time, we watched a video and did it together. The second and third time I was confident and managed to do it myself. The two weeks passed by so quickly! Before I knew it, we were going to do our last swab test! I was so excited to finally get out of the hotel! Once we got our test results, we packed our luggage and we zoomed far away from the hotel.

We finally got to breathe the fresh air in Singapore!

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Bangkok Patana School News

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I am an Echidna

By Garam (Momo) Lee, 6D

My species has thrived for millions of years, We walked the Earth during the age of the dinosaurs, long before mankind, Parades of echidnas turned over the soil, reducing compaction and improving water penetration, Watching the world for centuries, not much changed––until humans came along, We never thought that your early tools would lead to this, You forever changed our home, with your ideas and contraptions, One by one, species vanished as the colour in the sky faded away, Replaced by the breath of your mechanical beasts,

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Fires erupted across the land, the result of your indifference, What you call development, we experience as absolute chaos, We were once told stories about ancient humans who lived in balance with nature, They only took what was needed and were kind enough to share with us, What happened to you? Why did you choose to change?

There are so few echidnas left now, If we could fix the problems of our world, we would, But that’s far beyond what we’re capable of, There is only one path that will lead us all to survival, Our future is in your hands.

Bangkok Patana School News

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Government COVID-19 Subsidy Information T

he following email was sent to affected parents on 7th September. If you had a child fully enrolled at school by 6th August and did not receive the letter, please email businessdirector@patana.ac.th and the form will be sent to you.

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Bangkok Patana School News

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#193: Cybersecurity

You may have caught the news this week regarding the spate of cyberattacks on organisations in and around Thailand: Warning over cyberattack threats (bangkokpost.com).

At our school we continuously scan all our accounts for ‘signatures’ that they have been compromised. Typical ‘signatures’ include malware linked IP addresses, unfamiliar sign-in properties and atypical travel. We classify the account into low, medium and high risk. For risky accounts we contact the individual and assist them in changing their password and signing out of all devices. Helpdesk@patana.ac.th can guide you through the process of changing your password, or you can do it yourself (students & staff) by following the instructions in the video below:

Younger students can use this password generator: DinoPass - Simple password generator for kids. We recommend everyone follow the steps on this site with regards to keeping your online accounts safe: Top tips for staying secure online - NCSC.GOV.UK

Have a safe weekend.

Brian Taylor Assistant Principal, Campus Curriculum Technology Integration 10/09/2021

Bangkok Patana School News

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Desert Island Discs With Kees Meinders, Part-time Dutch Teacher

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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 new part-time Dutch teacher Kees Meinders is stuck on a desert island.

MR MEINDERS IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND WHAT EIGHT PIECES OF MUSIC WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? The Turn of a Friendly Card - The Alan Parsons Project

Close to the Edge - Yes Decades – Joy Division Echoes – Pink Floyd The Court of the Crimson King – King Crimson

The Dreamweaver – Gary Wright No Quarter – Led Zeppelin Life on Mars? – David Bowie

Click to listen to Mr Meinders’ 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. A hammock WHICH ONE BOOK WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? Start with Why? by Simon Sinek 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.

HAVE YOU BOOKMARKED THE SCHOOL CALENDAR YET? 2021/22 CALENDAR

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COMMUNITY

BCT SHORTS: Volume 3 - A Laugh a Day! Films will be published on the BCT YouTube channel every couple of days starting Monday, September 20th – links shared on Facebook here.

Thursday 23 September at 4pm

Free of charge Members register here Non-members can view on Facebook here or YouTube here A talk on the events that took place in Siam during the total solar eclipse of 6 April 1875 and the reports from observers at the time. This is a free online lecture, members of the Siam Society may join in the live Q&A via Zoom, others may watch the live transmission from YouTube and Facebook.

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For daily updates, snapshots and news on life at school you can find us here...

643 Lasalle Road (Sukhumvit 105) Bangna Tai, Bangna, Bangkok 10260 THAILAND Tel: +66 (0) 2785 2200 Fax: +66 (0) 2785 2399 www.patana.ac.th Email: reception@patana.ac.th 16

Bangkok Patana School News

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