Patana News Volume 24 Issue 6 by Bangkok Patana School

www.patana.ac.th

PATANA NEWS

Friday 24th September 2021

Building a First Blog of the eYar Well-beingMrTMills’ oolkit By Secondary Assistant Principal Lorna Conroy Page 2

Also in thisMissue... Football Academy Challenges Page 4 Meet Your PTG Reps Who is Home of Praise? Dance Academy Project Connect Wildlife with Coke 24/09/2021

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Page 6 Page 8 Page 9 Page 14

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

Building a Well-being Toolkit Lorna Conroy, Secondary Assistant Principal Student Welfare

s the impact of the pandemic continues to affect all of us the term ‘well-being’ is being used more and more frequently. But what does it actually mean? If you Google the term you will be presented with a whole array of suggestions - some very narrow focusing solely on mental health issues, others extremely broad and much more holistic. When I co-wrote the Student Well-Being Policy alongside Carol Battram last year, we settled on the following definition:

ary are talking to your children about their well-being. The students are telling us they are feeling more stressed than normal due to the pandemic. For some it’s the uncertainty surrounding exams, others missing family and friends overseas, some cite feelings of isolation, others anxiety around the reopening of schools, shopping malls, restaurants etc. It is also a challenging time for families as we try to navigate our way through the pandemic. There are often differences of opinion over screen time, a lack of privacy, feelings of being trapped and concerns about finances. All of this is affecting everyone’s well-being, not least the students.

‘Well-being is present when a person realises their potential, is resilient in dealing with the normal stresses of their life, takes care of their physical well-being and Shortly after the Songkran break this year, when we were has a sense of purpose, connection and belonging to in CSL for the third time, we introduced a new programme the wider community.’ WHO 2001: mental health: new - the Well-being Toolkit. The aim of the toolkit is to equip understanding, new hope. the students with a range of strategies, skills, knowledge and understanding that they can use during their school We felt not only did this definition resonate the most with years as well during their adult life to help manage their our own thoughts regarding well-being, it also linked so own well-being. well to the Bangkok Patana values : Well-Being, Learning and Global Citizenship. Whenever the three values are It is a programme delivered to students from Year 7 to presented, Well-Being always comes before Learning, in Year 11 by tutors three times a week in registration and is recognition that, without it, learning can not be maximised. aimed to complement the well-being activities carried out We are all part of the Patana community and we want in the weekly tutorial session. the students to feel a connection and to belong. We want Mondays are now ‘Mindful Mondays’ where students our students to be resilient and be able to cope with the normal stresses of life. We want them to have a sense of complete a short mindfulness activity aimed at focusing purpose and the resilience to cope with knock backs to their minds and preparing them for the week of learnhelp them fulfil their potential, as the Patana Mission states. ing ahead. We are currently using sessions from Smiling Mind. A recent United Nations policy brief stated ‘Children Wednesdays are now known as ‘Well-Being Wednesare not the face of this pandemic. But they risk being among its biggest victims. While they have thankfully days’ where activities focus on a range of topics including: been largely spared from the direct health effects of • Happiness COVID-19 at least to date – the crisis is having a pro• Positive Emotions found effect on their wellbeing. ‘ UNSDG Children around the world are being affected in so many different ways. Tutors and Support Tutors in Second2

• Kindness

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• Gratitude

14, or that we are just hanging on, like number 1. Sometimes we might feel sociable, like numbers 11 and 12. Other times we might want to be alone and hide from the world, like number 8. Understanding and being able to talk about emotions is so important for young people, especially at this challenging time.

• Positivity and mindsets • Belonging • Positive relationships

Last week, Year 7 students identified the different things Thursdays have become ‘Thriving Thursdays’ where stuthat they were thankful for. It was lovely to hear some of dents focus on developing skills and techniques to help their responses including: them thrive. Topic areas include: • Playing with my brother

• Character strengths

• Watching a movie with my family

• Resilience

• Eating pasta!

• Empathy

• Riding my bike

• Curiosity

• Doing a handstand for 30 seconds

• Meaning and purpose

• My friends

• Motivation, engagement and flow

• Taking my dog for a walk • Chocolate Students in other Year groups were thinking about emotions and that it is perfectly natural and normal for our moods to vary. They used the Blob Tree as a tool to help frame their thinking and discussions. Sometimes we feel confident, ‘on top of the World’ and enjoy being the centre of attention, much like number 20. Other times we are more apprehensive, nervous or shy, like Blob number 7. There are times we might feel like we’re falling, like Blob

Students in Year 7 have all completed a character strengths quiz to find their top strengths and shared these with their peers. The older students have been learning about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and thinking about what motivates them. The overarching aim of the programme is to help your children thrive in these challenging times while at the same time equip them with skills and strategies to help them thrive throughout their future lives. Feedback from students: It helps us identify good and bad things during CSL: since we are so isolated, managing our mind and our well-being is important. Doing activities to help us figure out what makes us happy and feel less stressed is really good. I think it helps to guide your feelings and thoughts into a more positive way. The mindfulness activities really helped me relax and stay calm. There's always an activity to help everyone and what they're dealing with. I've become more connected with my feelings and emotions. I think it has really taught me how to be in control of my emotions and how important resilience and mindfulness are.

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Football Academy Challenges Mark Potter, Head Football Coach

he Football Academy staff have put together a range of challenges for our student-athletes to try at home. There are four tiers to the challenges, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Legend and we would love to see as many members of the Bangkok Patana Community get involved. The challenges become incrementally harder with only a few people being able to complete the legend award.

The awards are assessed through various methods which allow us to engage with our players and offer feedback. Using these forms of challenges was used in the UK by many Premier League clubs as way of improving football techniques, engaging with their players and offering competition!

At the time of writing, we have already had several stuThis methodology stuck with me after listening to John dents who have completed the bronze award and are Hattie speak at our staff CPL days earlier this year to para- moving on to the silver! Take a look at this excellent effort phrase him when speaking about children gaming, “When by Kris in 3W below! children are playing computer games and are finding it All videos need to be sent to coach Brandon on difficult, they do not just go onto the next level nor does MSTeams - BRGR the game get easier, they work at it until they get it right” It reminded me of hours spent on Mario.

HAVE YOU BOOKMARKED THE SCHOOL CALENDAR YET? 2021/22 CALENDAR 4

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International Day of Peace T

he International Day of Peace was on 21st September and students across Primary took part in a series of challenges, including writing poems. This is Peace by Torres Chou in Year 6.

Peace Peace is like a beautiful dove, that soars with stunning grace. Peace, like a comfortable hug, is something you must embrace. Peace is all over the world, you’ll find it in every place. No matter where you are, peace will be found within space. Peace just cannot be denied, cannot be crushed or broken. Peace will not calm down until kind words from you are spoken. With no regard of where you are, or whatever you do, Just remember one thing: Peace will always be with you. Torres Chou, 6T

In the Spotlight...

Washington University in St Louis, USA

ashington University is ranked 51st in the Times Higher Education global university rankings for 2021 and 18th for US colleges. The school is well-known for its highly ranked School of Medicine. The university also has schools of Arts and Sciences, Business, Design and Visual Arts, Engineering, Law, Social Work and Public Health. The McKelvey School of Engineering at the university is highly ranked as well. NASA hosts its Planetary Data System Geosciences Node on the campus and professors, students and researchers have been heavily involved in many of the unmanned missions to Mars. Notable alumni include actors Harold Ramis and Peter Sarsgaard, Phil Radford CEO of Greenpeace and co-discoverer of the neutron Clyde Cowan. Three graduates have earned Nobel prizes, as well as a Pulitzer Prize winning author and an astronaut. Past and present faculty list six Nobel winners in bio-chemistry, physics and medicine. 24/09/2021

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Bangkok Patana School News

CAT/CAS CORNER Who is Home of Praise? Julie McGlynn, Foundation Stage Teacher

ome of Praise is a Nursery providing safe educa- reconnecting again. tion for children in Klong Toey. Bangkok Patana has You can reach out to Home of Praise through the followbeen working in partnership with them for over 10 years in ing contacts: the Primary CAT team. For enquiries in Thai Our support has included training for teachers as well as organising play mornings where the children spend time in the Foundation Stage unit.

Krittayasai Saengserm

Home of Praise has been closed since March 2020 but the staff have been really busy working to continue to support the community by maintaining and improving the physical space to create a bright and beautifully painted exterior.

081 480 6980

Krittayasai@gmail.com For enquiries in English Anne Storstein Haug annesh@nms.no

Teachers are preparing educational packages which 0832928080 are sent out to the families and making online calls to say Home of Praise hi and check in with the children and their families during this time. Home of Praise Nursery also facilitated a big No. 12/217 Atnarong road, “dry food donation” to all the around 300 households in Nong Mai community where Home of Praise is located. Khlong Toei District, Nong Mai Community (under the This was done in cooperation with the Lutheran Founda- Expressway) tion. This was possible to do because of the donation สถานรับเลี้ยงเด็กบ้านสรรเสริญ Patana sent before the summer holiday. Home of Praise is a vibrant community which is giving back even during these difficult times. We continue to have strong links and are hopeful that 2022 will see us

เลขที่ 12/217 ถ.อาจณรงค์

คลองเตย, ชุมชนน้องใหม่ใต้ทางด่วน, กทม. 10110

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24/09/2021

Bangkok Patana School News

STUDENTS SPEAK Three Hours of Online Games a Week for Under 18s? Hui Ying (Ying Ying) Han, 5G “Three hours, only on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, for one hour each day. From 8pm-9pm for under 18s. This is so that the young ones will not get addicted to online games.”

hat’s what I read in a news article published in The Straits Times, Monday 30th August, 2021. For the full article click here.

My first thoughts were, ‘Oh no! I won’t be able to play if that happens! I sleep at 7.30 pm, thirty minutes before they allow us to start playing!” I think it is good for children, but also harsh, because some people sleep earlier, or have lessons at that time! Now kids are spending more than seven hours a day online, so we should cut down on screen time, but I don’t really like the idea of not being able to choose when we want to play. Since I want to cut down on my screen time, I’ve been following some tips to help me. These are some of them: Set a time limit and stick to it. Don’t think, ‘oh, just another five more minutes!’ 1. Find a different thing you also like to do. E.g., reading books, playing games, dancing. 2. Ask a parent/sibling/family member to help you. If you just can’t stop yourself, they are there to support you! 3. After 30 minutes stop and take a break. It helps your eyes to relax, and it will prevent you from having to wear glasses in the future. 4. Another thing you can try is the 20-20-20 rule. After 20 minutes of screen time, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds, to give your eyes some rest. Nowadays, we are learning online, which means that, in addition to our video game time, we also have a whole school day online as well. You should try to get away from the screen after a lesson and go outside and play to get more Vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency can lead to a loss of bone density, which can contribute to broken bones. Severe vitamin D deficiency can also lead to other diseases like rickets that affects children. In addition, if we spend so much time on a device, we’ll forget what’s happening around us. You could also get emotional over what happens to you when you’re playing, you may get angry when you lose and get frustrated. That’s why it’s best to pause after a bit to prevent that from happening. “Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.” Jean de La Bruyère

Bangkok Patana School News

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up at the

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Bangkok Patana School News

#195: Technology for Learning Weekly Review P

lease find below some of the highlights of my digital travels this week. I hope there’s something there that will pique your interest.

Have a great weekend. Brian Taylor Assistant Principal, Campus Curriculum Technology Integration

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Desert Island Discs With Martin Gadgil, Chemistry Teacher

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 Martin Gadgil, Chemistry teacher, is stuck on a desert island. MR GADGIL IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND WHAT EIGHT PIECES OF MUSIC WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? The Warning - Codename John Blue Monday - New Order How Low Can A Punk Get? - Bad Brains

White Noise - Mogwai

ROGoAT - internal_error

Tapes & Money (John Talabot’s Ritual Reconstruction mix) - Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs

Sheen of Gold (Live at the Gluepot 1990) - Skeptics

Sand In Your Shoes (Original Mix) - ARTBAT and Dino Click to listen to Mr Gadgil’s playlist Lenny

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? The Compleet Molesworth by Geoffrey Willans & Ronald Searle 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 half-term break? Check out the Community Offers on Firefly

24/09/2021

Bangkok Patana School News

Wildlife Spotting with Coke It’s Just a Squirrel! Really?

Alexander Coke Smith IV, Curriculum Leader Environmental Systems and Societies

here is little doubt that anyone who has spent time ferent colors of squirrels around.”….and….”Two!” out and about in the green spaces of Bangkok has Well here are the facts. Thailand has an impressive wealth noticed that squirrels are ubiquitous in the city. Virtually any place that has more than a few trees and or shrubs, will be of these furry little rodents called squirrels – dozens in fact. a home to several squirrels and perhaps other little furries. In Bangkok, however, there are two species of squirrel that are regularly encountered. The most common by far is Our very own campus here at Bangkok Patana School the Finlayson’s Variable Squirrel (Callosciurus finlasyonii) is home to dozens of squirrels and our students and staff which is comprised with at least 16 subspecies and has at encounter them daily as we go about our activities and the least this many color variations – hence the name “variasquirrels go about theirs. They are so common in fact that ble”. I have included images of some of these subspecies. people rarely give them a second thought. However I am I have spent years seeking out and documenting the varchallenging you to do just that! ious subspecies of Variable Squirrels throughout Thailand and have amassed the largest collection of images of this Are all of the squirrels you see here in Bangkok the same group available, many of which you can see published in species? Are all the squirrels you see here in fact squir- the book, “Squirrels of the World” when I was working rels? These are questions I pose to my students every year alongside the Smithsonian Institution as a contributor to this and the answers are predictable: “Aren’t all squirrels the field of research. same?” “There must be many because I see so many dif-

Bangkok Patana School News

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Another species that is found regularly in Bangkok’s Take a look at the images in this article and see if you can larger green spaces is Pallas’s Squirrel (Callosciurus eryth- tell the difference. raeus). This species is common throughout Southeast Asia Where to see these critters easily in Bangkok: Our own as well as further north in China and Korea. This can be school gardens of course! However all of the green spaceasily discerned by the red belly and brownish fur. es in town have resident populations of both Treeshrews But there is one more species that people almost always and Variable Squirrels. Lumpini Park is a great spot. Rot Fai call a “squirrel”, but could not be more wrong. In fact this Park is filled with these as well. But Saranrom Palace Park, species is not even closely related to squirrels – these are near the Grand Palace is home to many different forms of the Northern Treeshrews (Tupaia belangeri) and are con- the Variable Squirrel, so if you want to get a good view of sidered to be near living fossils that have been in existence a few of the variations this might be a good place to start. since before the Oligocene. I advise people to pay attention to squirrels where ever they may travel in Thailand as finding the dozens of variTreeshrews are also very common here at Bangkok ations of these lovely little rodents can be a great activity Patana School as well as all of the other green spaces for the family! Hint: Sukhothai has in my opinion the most in Bangkok. They are actually quite easy to distinguish beautiful forms….And Khao Yai – WOW! between the squirrel species in the area. If you see them scurrying on the ground, rather than in the trees, odds are I would love to know more locations for my own studies, you have a Treeshrew. But of course that is not definitive. so if you know of any, I would love to hear from you. Drop When you see a potential suspect, take a look at their me a note at cosm@patana.ac.th. nose –if it is narrow and pointy, you have a Treeshrew.

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