By Sarah MccorMack
ShowcaSing the PaStoral ProviSion in the Primary School
Sarah McCormack, Primary Principal
Aswe begin a new academic year, our focus returns to the heart of what makes our school, a nurturing place for every student.
This term, we are excited to share our refreshed pastoral mission, which is designed to create an even safer, more inclusive, and supportive environment where every child can truly shine.
Our pastoral provision in the Primary School is built on three key pillars: Welfare, Community and Well-Being. These pillars reflect our deep commitment to the holistic development of our students and are closely aligned with our school’s guiding statements.
THE THREE PILLARS OF PASTORAL CARE IN THE PRIMARY SCHOOL
1. Welfare: At the core of our welfare approach is the unwavering belief that every student deserves to feel safe and protected. This pillar encompasses our duty of care, child protection policies and safeguarding practices. Through thorough risk assessments, individualised support, and dedicated staff training, we create an environment where all students can grow with confidence.
2. Community: Our community pillar highlights the importance of building a warm, welcoming, and inclusive school culture. By celebrating diversity and strengthening relationships, we work to remove any barriers to success, ensuring that every student feels cherished and supported.
3. Well-Being: The well-being pillar centres on social and emotional learning, behaviour support and citizen-
ship - essential components of a positive school experience and future success. We believe that well-being goes beyond academic achievement to include the development of character strengths and a strong sense of belonging.
OUR TEAM SUPPORTING PASTORAL CARE
To bring these pillars to life, our pastoral team is carefully structured to provide targeted support across all year groups. Carol Battram, our Vice Principal, oversees the entire pastoral provision, working closely with Year group Leaders (Pastoral) from Foundation Stage to Year 6.
These leaders play a crucial role in meeting the specific needs of their students, ensuring that the care we provide is consistent and continuous. Additionally, our dedicated Inclusion team—experts in Support for Learning, English as an Additional Language, and Counselling—upholds our commitment to creating a safe and nurturing environment for everyone.
A CLEAR FOCUS ON WELL-BEING
Within the Well-Being pillar, we place emphasis on behaviour and citizenship as we know that positive behaviour and attitudes are essential to creating a learning environment where students can learn and grow.
This year, we have relaunched and expanded our behaviour approach, setting out clear expectations for student conduct within a framework, or ‘matrix’. With the three key principles of safe – curious – kind, this matrix offers a practical on the behaviours and attitudes we
hope to develop and see in our school.
1. Safe: Safety is about physical protection and emotional security too. We encourage our students to follow established safety protocols, care for one another, and help create classrooms where everyone feels secure and able to fully engage.
2. Curious: We encourage our students to embrace learning with an open and inquisitive mind. This promotes an environment where asking questions, exploring new ideas, and engaging in creative problem-solving are everyday practices. It’s all about fostering a love of learning that lasts a lifetime.
3. Kind: Kindness in our matrix focuses on building empathy, cooperation, and respect among students. We teach the importance of using positive language, working well with others, and resolving conflicts peacefully.
DEVELOPING POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR AND ATTITUDES
Through instructional strategies such as the ‘Patana 7,’ our focus on coaching, our teachers are equipped and guided with the tools and strategies to weave the new matrix into everyday classroom learning and the wider school experience. Regular assemblies, PSHE lessons and discussions will help ensure these principles are not just understood but lived out in our student community.
To support the approach, we have also developed guidance on class-based reward systems, a continuum of age appropriate and proportionate responses to poor behaviour choices, and protocols for handling identity-based harm or bullying. Additionally, we have developed individualised support plans for students who may need extra help, from time to time.
LOOKING AHEAD
As we welcome our students back after the summer break, we are committed to providing the very best pastoral care we can. We look forward to working with our parent community over the course of the year, so that we can ensure that our pastoral pillars and behaviour principles are supported both at school and at home.
Should you wish to find out more on our approaches, do look out for upcoming parent workshops; speak with your class teacher or Year group Leader; or drop into the Primary Office. Our Library is also packed full of excellent picture books which will support conversations on being safe, curious and kind at home.
So many oPPortunitieS to chooSe From!
Bangkok
Patana School is a very large school and as such the offering is vast. It’s not unusual for the school to be concurrently hosting sporting, arts, academic and community events all on the same day! This makes for a rich and varied education for our students, but it can make for a busy time for families.
To support you in navigating this, we publish a Whole School Calendar on the Firefly Dashboard, which parents, students and staff alike can all easily access. We highly recommend you subscribe to the Whole School Calendar. Here are several short videos to guide you through this process on this page: Subscribing to the School Calendar - Bangkok Patana School (fireflycloud.asia)
Other tools you can use to help your family achieve school/life balance include:
1. The ECA magnet and Arts Calendar - Position them in a prominent location in your home to help you keep track of upcoming concerts, the ECA blocks, Sports Seasons and associated deadlines. These items are part of the start of school pack that has been distributed to the youngest
sibling in each family this week.
2. Download the iParent App, which allows you to access the upcoming calendar events, along with school reports, and other important information about your child(ren).
3. Make it a habit to read Patana News (published each Friday) and your Year group newsletters and bulletins, all will highlight upcoming important dates.
4. Opt into your Year group PTG chat - this is a great way to stay connected and other parents will often post reminders about upcoming events for one another.
5. If your children play Seasonal Sports, add www. patanasport.com to your online bookmarks - it shows all the upcoming sports fixtures.
6. Secondary Parents can access the Student Daily Notices and subscribe to them. Information is on Firefly in the Daily Life section for Parents on Firefly Secondary Daily Notices (Parent view) - Bangkok Patana School (fireflycloud.asia)
Cindy Adair, Cross Campus Principal
WHAT SHOULD I DO WHEN MY CHILD HAS A CLASH?
Whilst we actively work to ensure minimal clashes, sometimes these are inevitable, especially when outside parties such as external visitors, exam boards and other schools are involved. We encourage you to look ahead at least one term at a time as a family and identify any clashes. Reach out to the teachers and coaches leading the activities and discuss your options. It may be possible to participate in both activities in a modified way, or in some cases you and your child will need to make a choice. We encourage you to view this as a learning opportunity to discuss concepts such as commitment, balance and personal preferences. If your child is in Secondary we strongly encourage you to empower your child to reach out to the staff involved in the first instance (in person or via MS Teams) and practice advocating for themselves and negotiating a solution.
Solo Festival September
DATE Saturday 28th September 2024
TIME 9:00am-1pm (time-slots – 9-10am, 1011am, 11am-12pm, 12pm-1pm)
SIGN UP Registrations open : Monday 26th August
Deadline: Monday 16th September
INFO solofestival@patana.ac.th
well-Being ProjectS - term 3 2023/24
Rory Stewart, Well-Being Curriculum Coordinator
During Term 3 our Year 8 ,9 and 10 students participated in well-being projects over several weeks.
Year 8 (Grad’29) were given the following brief: “create an illustrated children’s book that will help young readers look after themselves and the world around them”. There is a lot of evidence that reading can have positive effects on well-being. Reading for just six minutes can reduce stress levels by up to 68% (Lloyd et al., 2019) and it can also help us develop empathy and understanding of ourselves and others (Kidd & Castano, 2013). Books have even been used as an effective therapy to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety and this is known as bibliotherapy (Hamden et al., 2021). Check out our winning well-being books in the Primary Library.
Year 9 (Grad’28) were tasked with designing a well-being walk around our beautiful campus to help the Patana community find a moment of calmness in their day. During the COVID-19 pandemic, six in ten UK adults found that walking helped them cope with stress caused by the pandemic (Mental Health Foundation, 2020). We chose three honourable mentions and one winner. The winning walk included a QR code to an audio guide which we felt was going above and beyond!
Year 10 (Grad’27) had a slightly unusual project where they created their own ‘blob’. The blobs were made of playdough and illustrated their own values, identity, and hobbies as well as trying to capture strategies the students use to manage their own well-being. The results were unique and varied with some wonderful reflections re -
corded along the way. Mr Owen was not totally surprised to see the presence of so many beds and mobile phones in amongst the blobs!
Congratulations to all the students who participated enthusiastically in the well-being projects. View the winner’s submission here.
Well-Being Book Winners
Zoe, Gigi, and Momo (9H)
Tara, Leah, Janice and Varissa (9N)
Emily and Amy (9N)
Elizabeth and Plaire (9W)
Sam, Nathan, Diniz, and Esaiah (9T)
Well-Being Walk
Honourable Mentions
Emily and Emma - 10T
Saba and Emily - 10S
Evie, Leonor, Katja, and Eliana -10F
Winners
Ana, Aime, and Martha10V
Well-Being Blobs Winners
Tyno – 11O
Rosie - 11V
Jenny - 11W
If you have any areas of technology you would like me to talk about in these videos then please add a comment in the video or contact me directly on brta@patana.ac.th.
Timestamps
The best AI search tool in my humble opinion. https://www.perplexity.ai/
Have an inspired AI search-filled weekend.
Brian Taylor
Assistant Principal, Technology for Learning
Bangkok Patana School Featured in na-
tional geograPhic’S Photo ark
Coke Smith, Curriculum Leader, Environmental Science
Ithinkwe can all agree that Bangkok Patana School is one of the best schools in Bangkok. Ok, modesty aside, Bangkok Patana School is the best school in Thailand. Let’s just say, Asia! There is little doubt that Bangkok Patana provides the most well-rounded and rigorous educations anywhere while at the same time being one of the more progressive, nurturing and environmentally conscious schools around.
So when I was contacted by one of Bangkok’s most famous artists and conservationists working with National Geographic, Tom Potisit, in conjunction with the US Embassy, to be a guest speaker at the prestigious Photo Ark exhibition this past July, I felt it was a perfect opportunity to toot our horn a bit and share how schools like ours are such an important part of creating inspired and dedicated young people who will become our next generations’ environmental problem solvers.
You may be wondering what the Photo Ark is. The Photo Ark is a monumental project founded by Joel Sartore, a famous American wildlife photographer who is attempting to document, with backing from the National Geographic Society, every species on earth. Joel is working with zoos, sanctuaries and aquariums around the world and has photographed over 14,000 images to date! Take a look at the Photo Ark website below
How does Bangkok Patana School fit in? Well, since I
am an avid wildlife documentarian myself, my work was known by Joel and the project. So far I have over 4000 species but my images are wild captures rather than captive. And since Joel’s emphasis goes beyond documentation and includes many aspects of conservation, I was asked to present how education serves a vital function in creating conservation-minded citizens as part of the program.
My main talking points were how Bangkok Patana School strives to cultivate a culture conservation, appreciation of nature and an ethic of sustainable living. I talked about many of Bangkok Patana School’s projects and courses such as Environmental Systems and Societies (ESS) as well as the Student Environmental Committee (SEC), the Solar Village Project and our Outdoor Classroom and so much more. I highlighted how a progressive, visionary school such as Bangkok Patana School is so vital in our effort toward creating a sustainable world.
The talk was very well received by those who attended. I have already received requests to come and view our outdoor classroom and learn more about what we do to help the world. Bangkok Patana has so much to be proud of and I am confident that this academic year will be better than ever in our fight to save our planet!
Photo Ark Link (https://www.nationalgeographic. org/society/our-programs/photo-ark/)
ServiceS uPdateS
Starting Monday, 2nd September 2024, our security team will begin enforcing new parking regulations under the Patana Sticker system:
• Nursery: Only vehicles displaying a green BPS sticker are permitted to park in front of the Nursery.
• Foundation Stage (FS): Parking in the FS lot is restricted to vehicles with a pink BPS sticker.
• Year 1 and Above: Vehicles bearing a blue BPS sticker may park at the Sports Complex and the Soi 35/37 Parking lot.
Please note: Vehicles without a BPS sticker must park at the Sports Complex only. For additional details on our security and parking policies, please visit the following link:
https://patana.fireflycloud.asia/services/administration-department/parents-parking-stickers https://patana.fireflycloud.asia/resource.as
tenniS centre inauguration on 31St auguSt
This coming Saturday we have the opening ceremony of the new tennis centre. Following on from this we will have an open morning for the Patana community. We will have activities set up with tennis coaches on court ranging from a ball machine exercise to a fast serve game plus mini tennis set up. These activities will start from around 10.00am and will finish at 1.00pm and no registration is required.
Patana ParticiPateS!
Achievements from Our Community
Megumi Fujiki, Parent
Jun 7B, showcased exceptional skill in recent equestrian competitions, taking first place in the 50-60cm Pony, 50-60cm Open, and the Thailand Championship Category B qualifying round. In addition to these individual victories, Jun, alongside her brother Leo 7U, led their team to victory in the 70cm team competition, earning first place with their teammates.
Ronya Wallins of 9W has earned the second place at the Asia Pacific Dance Competition (APDC) 2024 in musical theatre. After winning the Thailand category earlier this year, Ronya had the chance to compete on the Asia Pacific stage, where she shined among top regional talents.
Sukanya Wallin, Parent
Story Time: Celebrating Dot Day! by Ms. Kit
Saturday Storytime, August 31 at 10:30am
Free for members, 200 Baht for non-members
Registration required. Book your spot here https://bit.ly/StoryTimeRegistration
Join us this weekend to learn about International Dot Day and artists who use dots as inspiration for their art. Ms. Kit, an art educator and active member of the library, will tell stories, sing songs and lead a craft activity all about circles, spots and polka dots! Come wearing your spots and dots to help celebrate this special day!
Friendly reminder that children must be accompanied by a parent or guardian at all times before, during, and after Story Time. This is to ensure the safety of children and an enjoyable library experience of all visitors.
With the limited parking space available at the Library, it’s recommended that you take a taxi or use public transportation. If you do drive, parking is available at Bangkok Union Insurance, 175/177 Surawong Road (garage entry on Soi Anuman Rajdhon 1) a 5-minute walk to the Neilson Hays Library. They charge a fee of THB 30 per hour for parking.
