1Bangkok Patana School News PATANA NEWS Bangkok Patana is a not-for-profit IB World School accredited by CIS Friday 2nd September 2022 Also in this Celebratingissue...(I)GCSE Results Register for the Fun Run! Connecting with University Reps Primary Choral Festival Office of the Foundation Board Life-Long Learners Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 8 Page 9 Page 12 www.patana.ac.th A Boutique BAngkok PAtAnA exPerience By Matt Seddon Page 2 Volume 25 Issue 3
Matt Seddon, Secondary Principal
Amongst the many great memories from the summer, one simple moment really caused me to think and re flect. My family and I were going to one of our favour ite lunch spots; a lovely restaurant on the river that has always been a happy place for me. When we walked in – I was given the most amazing and heart-warming greeting.“Matt! We haven’t seen you for so long – how are you?!” It was so nice to see the familiar faces of the staff there. They made a fuss of our children. They re membered what we liked to drink. They made us feel so welcome. I didn’t realise it before hand, but against the backdrop of my slight anxiety of returning home, this was exactly what I needed. It was a boutique experi ence that made me, and my family feel special. This got me thinking. Who doesn’t love a boutique experience? Whether it is at a hairdresser, a barber, a cocktail lounge, a special hotel, or your favourite restaurant. The personalised touch makes us feel really valued.Whilst lamenting parts of last year, I realised that there were likely to be many similarities between how I felt, and how members of our community may feel about re turning to campus. For too long we have been required to keep our doors closed and for too long we have not been able to hold the events that we know our students love so much.
2 Bangkok Patana School News 02/09/2022 A Boutique Bangkok Patana experience
There are so many things about the start of an ac ademic year that are enjoyable, but one of the things I particularly enjoy is the excited buzz that is felt when a community comes back together. There is something special about the smiles, conversations and refreshed energy at this time of the year, after a time spent re-connecting with loved ones over the summer. This summer was the first time in three years I have been able to spend time back home with my family in the UK and I know that many of you have been in the same position. I too am feeling refreshed from this and I hope that however you spent your summer, you are feeling refreshed too.
Home is a fascinating word. It is a word that is used, interpreted and cherished in many ways. It is a word that plays such an important part of our identity. For me, the word home speaks of both my family and the com munity that I grew up in. The people and the places. I have always been vocal about my how much I love my home, but I have never had such a long gap between visits. Because of this, I had mixed feelings about re turning home. Would it be the same? What will have changed? Will we still recognise it? Where would we fit Thein? time at home was special and we really enjoyed spending time with our loved ones. But although it was the same town, it was also not the same town. It was a classic case of ‘Same same, but different’
02/09/2022Perhapsparents
We are delighted that we can open our doors to you again, because we all want to see things like communi ty action, sports and the arts thriving. We are delighted that we will be welcoming parents face-to-face for par ents’ evenings and coffee mornings this year. Our phi losophy will be to find the safest way to do things, rather than looking for reasons why we cannot. However, I would like to encourage us all to aim for more than this. I would like to extend an invitation to your family to join us in striving for a boutique experience. I would like to encourage you to get to know your child’s class teacher or tutor – they are always here for you. If you have any questions, please do not feel that you need to wait until parents evening, you can call us at any point. Join in with our wonderful PTG. Come and join us on campus. Come and introduce yourself. Come just to say ‘hi’. I believe that the best way we can enjoy being back together is if we are all working together to provide a personalised experience – and that begins with rela tionships. This is your campus. You are so welcome here and we cannot wait to enjoy the year with you.
3Bangkok Patana School News
are asking questions such as ‘Have the staff completely changed? Will the school still know who I am? Where will I fit into the new Bangkok Patana community?’ Perhaps students are asking similar ques tions; ‘Will my teachers know what my talents are? Will the school know what I have been doing during lock down? How will I be seen?’ Upon returning to Thailand, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the analogy of a boutique experience at Bangkok Patana, and whether it was an appropriate for our community. As is often the way, Grant Robert son, Secondary Senior Teacher, was able to provide me with a very well-considered perspective: a boutique in a department store is an example of how to provide a small, personalised experience within a much bigger space.Thisis exactly what I want us to be striving for at Bang kok Patana. How can we as a community, ensure that a really personalised, small school feel, permeates through a much bigger school like ours. How can we all strive to provide each other with a Bangkok Patana boutique experience? This is the challenge I set for our staff at the beginning of the year. How can we provide a boutique experi ence for our parents and students? How can we as a staff ensure that we are giving a boutique experience to one another? How can we really personalise our experiences together?
celeBrAting our (I)GCSE
Last week, our students received a historic set of (I)GCSE exam results. We are so pleased for our students considering the challenges they have faced along their two-year journey. This group of young peo ple have shown determination and courage in the face of adversity, adapting to extenuating circumstances incredibly well. We feel it is important to remember that several students in this cohort had to sit their exams in two or three different venues due to COVID restrictions, including the WIH Hospital for COVID-positive students. We are immensely proud of them for pushing themselves through right to the final exam. It is a remarkable achievement for this cohort to have surpassed our previous results over the last five years across all measures for both the Cambridge and Edexcel exam boards. These results included an overall pass rate of 98% A* to C and equivalent, an impressive and superb achievement for a non-selective school. Over two-thirds of the cohort (89%) received all their (I)GCSE grades from A* to B (9 to 6). Overall, the pro portion of the highest grades of A* to A (9 to 7) was an impressive 75%, and seventeen students have nine or more courses with maximum marks (A* / 9).
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4 Bangkok Patana School News 02/09/2022
Luke Jones, Secondary Assistant Principal, Curriculum and Assessment Aazar Munir, (I)GCSE Examinations Leader RESultS!
The UK Government Office for Qualification and Ex aminations (Ofqual) have regulated exam results this year to realign results to pre-pandemic levels. Despite this application to realign the global results this year, our students still produced results that outperformed this trend. It is key to note that Ofqual will continue to realign results over the next 12 months, and they an ticipate that globally the results in 2023 will match the results of 2019. As our new Year 12 students move to the next stage of their learning journey, we wish them all the best in their endeavours at IB level. They are fully prepared academically for the road ahead and we will be sup porting and encouraging them every step of the way.
The Professional Outdoor Educators of Thailand (POETS) was founded by outdoor educators from international schools around Thailand to provide a plat form through which outdoor professionals can meet and share best practice, technical knowledge and resources in an effort to facilitate better outdoor education experi ences for young people in Thailand and Southeast Asia. POETS has a desire to build frameworks and guidelines that will ensure safe outdoor experiences for young peo ple, are specific to Southeast Asia and are accessible by people and institutions that may be limited financially or geographically from accessing similar organisations based in Europe and America.
5Bangkok Patana School News02/09/2022
Cindy Adair, Cross Campus Assistant Principal, Continued Professional Learning
The first conference of the 2022/23 academic year was held at UWC Thailand and included an opportunity to view the UWC Thailand Campus and Outdoor Educa tion Centre. Attendees had the chance to discuss best practice in outdoor settings and partake in both kayak ing and sailing practical sessions.
PoEtS ConfErEnCE Phuket
Our very own Kieran Clarke (Head of Outdoor Ed ucation) helped to plan the Conference alongside Rob Carmichael of UWC Thailand. “It was a pleasure to organise a local outdoor education conference for outdoor leaders in the region over the past few days. We had a dozen attendees and were able to discuss lots of great topics, share ideas and learn from one another’s professional experiences. Of course, we also managed to get out of the classroom and on the water too! Despite a bit of rain it was fantastic to get some first-time kayakers out amongst the mangroves.”- Kieran Clarke
UNIVERSITY FAIR AT BANGKOK PATANA - 200+ UNIVERSITIES!
On Wednesday 21st September, Bangkok Patana will be hosting a university fair with nearly 200 univer sities from over 22 countries represented (see page 9). Students and parents from Year 10 through Year 13 are welcome to attend. There will be a more formal invitation sent to those families, including a list of participating uni versities, closer to the event. This is an exciting opportunity for our community to make meaningful connections with the universities they are already considering and to learn more about new universities that might be a good fit. Throughout the academic year we will be welcoming universities on campus, both individually and in small groups. Students will receive notifications through the dai ly notices, via Cialfo and by way of Patana News. We hope that parents will encourage their children to make use of these valuable opportunities to connect with rep resentatives and learn more about a university than what they can find on a website.
WITH UNIVERSITY REPRESENTATIVES C A R E E R S A N D U N I V E R S I T I E S F A C U L T Y
6 Bangkok Patana School News 02/09/2022 NNOUNCEMENTS: NNOUNCEMENTS:
Coast Mountain College, Canada
US Mini-Fair Tuesday, 13th September US Mini-Fair Thursday, 15th September Bangkok Patana University Fair 200 universities onsite! Wednesday, 21st September Canadian Mini-Fair Monday, 10th October
eArly yeArs’ LiBrary primAry LiBrary secondAry LiBrary Fiction Non-Fiction Fiction Non-Fiction Comic Books & Oversized Books Fiction Non-Fiction Graphic Novels Senior Fiction Parents Collection PROFESSIONAL LEARNING All Library and magazine subscriptions listed here WHAT’S NEW IN THE LIBRARIES
U N I V E R S I T Y F A I R S
Kevin Keller, Head of Faculty, Careers and University Counselling
Last week, my article highlighted the value of visiting campuses for a university counsellor, but this week I'm going to turn the tables! Now that COVID-19 restrictions on travel have been removed, Bangkok Patana School is gearing up to welcome over 300 university visitors over the next several months. This is a great opportunity for your Year 10, 11, 12 and 13 students to interact with repre sentatives from global universities, learn more about the opportunities they can offer and what steps and consider ations students should take if they are applying. Google and other resources can be a valuable tool in the univer sity search process, but the ability to connect with peo ple who are connected with the university’s academics, student life and application process is a huge advantage to our Recently,students.Karel
De Cock and I met with students to re mind them about asking thoughtful, detailed questions to university representatives, reminding them of the benefits of attending these meetings and how they can build im portant relationships that will pay off when it comes time to apply. Students found this session very helpful as they think about which aspects of university selection are most im portant to them and which questions they can ask to learn about academics, student life and the application review process. Importantly, they learned that in some countries, the United States in particular, attending a university vis it or meeting with a representative can make a positive impact on how their application is reviewed. Represent atives from every country appreciate when students are well-prepared, thoughtful and forthcoming; something I have no doubt they will find when they visit our commu nity! If you are interested in viewing a Screencast version of the presentation by Mr De Cock, you can view it here
Students can contact the Careers and for more information.
CONNECTING Marist College, USA U P C O M I N G
7Bangkok Patana School News02/09/2022 US Mini-Fair Tuesday, 13th September US Mini-Fair Thursday, 15th September Bangkok Patana University Fair 200 universities onsite! Wednesday, 21st September Canadian Mini-Fair Monday, 10th October Marist College, USA U P C O M I N G U N I V E R S I T Y F A I R S Students can contact the Careers and Universities department for more information Coast Mountain College, Canada HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY U N I V E R S I T Y S P O T L I G H T
https://www.hofstra.edu/ Hofstra University is a private institution with a total undergraduate enrolment of 6,120 students. Located in Long Island, New York, the campus has a suburban setting and is about a 40-minute drive from New York City. Even though the university is close to a major inter national city, it provides students with a personal experience and an above average education. The student-faculty ratio at Hofstra Uni versity is 13:1, and the school has 44.1% of its classes with fewer than 20 Whateverstudents.the field, students enjoy the special learning communities, research and internship opportunities that help students have a strong start, as well as a friendly and encouraging environment that allows students to find their niche. With more than 160 academic programs, Hofstra has a major for everyone. Some popular majors at Hofstra University are Psychology, General; Finance, General; Accounting; Marketing/Marketing Management.
8 Bangkok Patana School News 02/09/2022 3rd -5thOctober 2022 FESTIVALCONCERTWEDNESDAY 5TH O�TOBER 2.30PMatBangkokPatana School ROSAMUNDSTUETZELTHEATREGUESTCONDU �TOR: LIN MARSH “ALONGCAMEMAN” BY LIN MARSH Bangkok Patana School King’s College International School Bangkok Prep Thai Chinese International School St. Andrews International School (Nord Anglia) Shrewsbury International School ICS Bangkok Bromsgrove International School Denla British School Charter International School Shrewsbury City Campus St Andrews 107
The Office of the Foundation Board, along with a group of Bangkok Patana staff, provided onsite assistance at the Opening Ceremony of the Temple Pavillion at Wat Pong ploy Wiriyaram, Bangna. Khun Dee served as a Chairperson of the Organising Committee, under the Supreme Patriarch of Wat Pongploy Wiriyaram. It was truly an honour to partici pate in this special event!
9Bangkok Patana School News02/09/2022OurDirector of the Foundation Board Office, Khun Dee, was delighted to welcome the former Deputy Prime Minister, Dr. Somkid Jatusripitak, together with Bangkok Patana alum Nachat (Klang) Jatusripitak and his family, for a visit on campus. They walked around the school to see how much it has changed throughout time. We always love wel coming our alumni back onto campus as part of our caring Bangkok Patana community!
Achievements from Our Community Piyamas Jamroentrakul, Patana Parent
Rylan Gulkin (10C) received the most valuable player (MVP) award in the Under 14 5v5 Jr. NBA Thailand 2022 competition. He managed to turn around the game by scoring seven crucial points in the last minute, bringing his team from behind to win the championship. Rylan and Jonathan Cumming, his classmates, together with friends from other International and Thai schools, played for Saipanya Rungsit’s Under 14 basketball team. They won all of their games and in the finals, they won against Bangkok Christian College for the Championship. What a remarkable attestation of Rylan’s dedication, determination and talent in basketball!
Congratulations to Yada Sritrakul (8U) for placing third in the ISF Golf Competition with a score of 89!
Chupit Chutitum, Patana Parent
Kanapha Shim, Patana Parent
Congratulations to Krista Shim (11O) for winning her Battle Round of The Voice All Stars! Watch her performance below:
10 Bangkok Patana School News 02/09/2022 PAtAnA PartiCiPatES!
Dr Paisan is an ophthalmologist who specializes in Retina/Vitreous treatment. His 25 years in research to find a intervention for the 2nd leading cause of blindness - Diabetic Retinopathy - won a Sasakawa award, presented by the World Health Ogranisation in this past May who recognised this success and advancement in early screening for Diabetic Retinopathy. Dr Paisan initiated this research because of the shortage of ophthalmologist and increasing This project's next steps are to incorporate the use of Artificial Intelligence into the amount of complicated proliferative cases in the country. The research aims to eventually be able to provide more accessibility to these screening services, along with further intervention for those who are found to have the condition, to people all around the country, especially those in more rural areas with less available healthcare. screening process, to improve both efficiency and accuracy by eliminating human error and reducing time. In collaboration with Google, they've found it has over 95% accuracy in screening, and currently are waiting for approval by the FDA to simultaneously launch this AI program to 13 provinces across Thailand. 01 02 photo of Dr Paisan recieving the award, from WHO/Pierre Albouy screening images from a patient with Diabetic Retinopathy
This method works for early diagnosis because the target group for screening is not only people with diabetes who exhibit symptoms of Diabetic Retinopathy, but people with diabetes in general This means that they effectively detect the developing condition prior to early onset of symptoms, and allow for earlier, more effective intervention.
W.H.O. AWARD: SASAKAWA
Find out more about our visit later from the DiabeOne CAT Club
DiabeOne president's eye
An example of a brief screening of DiabeOne's president's eye on a visit to interview Dr Paisan
RETINOPATHY
A photo of DiabeOne's leaders with Dr Paisan and his research assistant on the interview visit
11Bangkok Patana School News02/09/2022
DIABETIC
Part of this project included training healthcare professionals and volunteers to work with the screening methods and improve primary healthcare in Thailand
DiABeone Cat CluB uPdate
12 Bangkok Patana School News 02/09/2022
Teaching is one of those careers that is often seen as a calling. I truly believe that. We in the profes sion use a lot of technical jargon, but there is one saying that stands out to me – “life-long learner”. These are not mere words to me and many of my colleagues. Rather, I absolutely believe that we are all naturally life-long learners, but that it may be difficult to put into practice for some. Teaching, however, is a profession in which this ethic is basically built into the job. Modeling the life-long learner philosophy with our young learners can take many forms. For me, it will often come in the form of my sharing my nature-based expeditions with my students, through slide shows and an ecdotal stories of the wildlife and their natural histories, thereby allowing my students to see how their teacher puts life-long learning in to real and meaningful prac tice. This inspires the young minds in my classes. I am often asked how I use my nature photographs in my classroom. The answer is simple. I use my images on a near daily basis at some point or another in virtually every class. If you were to come to my classroom you would see images of Thai wildlife on every wall. My im ages are used for many purposes, not just decoration. For example, I use them for springboard discussion-starters on many topics, as well as specific case studies for biological and environmental concepts. Although I generally emphasise Thai wildlife, my students are often treated to images of nature and wildlife from all over the world. In today’s column, we will take a journey outside of Thailand. Let’s go to the USA! Here, I highlight some of the amazing wildlife my daughter (2-year-old Liana) and I captured by camera during an epic expedition to North America where we covered thousands of kilometers and documented over 300 species of birds and 126 species of mammals, most of which were successfully photographed! Although this may be a diversion from my very Thailand-oriented articles, I have already started to design curriculum for my classes using these American-fauna images. There are few places where the fauna have been more studied that North America, so we know a tremendous amount about them. With this in mind, I have examples of many of our topics in Biology and Environmental Science in these images. And here are some for you to enjoy! Coke Smith is our Environmental Science Leader and can be reached at cosm@patana.ac.th if you have any questions.
Alexander Coke Smith IV, Secondary Environmental Sciences Leader
Wildlife SPotting with Coke on BEing a life-long leArner
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14 Bangkok Patana School News 02/09/2022 This 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 PTG Communications Coordinator, Sneha Rebecca Matthew, is stuck on a desert island. SNEHA , IF YOU WERE STUCK ON A DESERT ISLAND WHAT EIGHT PIECES OF MUSIC WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? 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 Sudoku Puzzle Book WHICH ONE BOOK WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE WITH YOU? The Robe by Lloyd C Douglas Catch the real Desert Island Discs on BBC. What are you listening to? Have a list of your own? Let us know! Contact STML with your favourites. With Sneha Rebecca Mathew, PTG Communications Coordinator The One - Backstreet Boys Just Watching You - Jeong Sewoon Oceans - Hillsong We Are All Made of Stars - Moby Stuck in a Moment - U2 Chasing Pavements - Adele Dirty Paws - Of Monsters and Men Jar of Hearts - Christina Perri Click to listen to Ms Sneha’s playlist Desert Island Discs FOR PURCHASES ABOVE 50$ COMMUNITY OFFERS BOOKMARK OUR COMMUNITY OFFERS PAGE TO FIND DISCOUNTS AND SPECIAL OFFERS FOR LOCAL BUSINESSESINCLUDING FOOD, ACCOMMODATION, AND HOLIDAY PACKAGES! CLICK HERE
15Bangkok Patana School News02/09/2022 #225: What ParEntS nEEd to knoW aBout Virtual rEality
Virtual reality (VR for short) has ex isted for decades, but it’s only in the last ten years that the technol ogy has really become publicly available. With VR’s rapid rise as a gaming and educational medi um, there are plenty of unknowns regarding its use – for adults and children alike. Is it safe? How long should someone use VR for? How expensive is it? What’s clear is that VR is becoming ever more ubiqui tous in everyday life: from compa nies using it for training to at-home fitness. Knowing what the technol ogy is capable of is more useful than ever. In the guide, you’ll find tips on a number of potential risks such as physical accidents, premature ex posure and eye strain. Have a fantastic weekend.
Brian Taylor Assistant Principal, Campus Curriculum Technology Integration
16 Bangkok Patana School News 02/09/2022 COMMUNITY CY 2022 035
17Bangkok Patana School News02/09/2022 COMMUNITY FOLKSONGS & SERENADES CONCERT When: September 3 (Saturday) at 19:00 Where: Neilson Hays Library Ticket Prices: 650 Baht, 550 Baht for Library Members, 250 Baht for Students ONLINE BOOKING
18 Bangkok Patana School News 02/09/2022 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 For daily updates, snapshots and news on life at school you can find us here...
