Iss Newsletter March 2015

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Important Dates 

Wednesday 1st April PTA Easter Egg Hunt

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Thursday 2nd April Songkran Day

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Friday 3rd April - Primary Dance Competition

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Friday 3rd April - School closes at 12:30pm for Songkran holiday

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Monday 20th April School opens for Term 3

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Monday 20th—Friday 24th April—School photographs

Friendship Bench

Pledge of Friendship When you are sad I will dry your tears When you are scared I will comfort your fears When you are worried I will give you hope When you are confused I will help you cope When you are lost And can't see the light I shall be your beacon Shining ever so bright This is my oath I pledge till the end Why you may ask Because you're a friend

The International School of Samui Newsletter I S S U E

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ISS celebrates World Book Day 2015 On Thursday 5th March 2015, we joined schools from all around the world in celebrating World Book Day. World Book Day is a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading and marked in over 100 countries all over the world.

Our aim at ISS is to help our children to develop a love of books and reading. Children’s literature and books play a fundamental role in developing children’s academic engagement, development and life chances, providing the framework and stimulus through which to deepen their understanding of themselves and the world around them.

Kindergarten children came dressed as a character from their chosen book or author, while primary and senior students were assigned a book per year group. The students participated in an array of literary activities throughout the day, with the highlight being a visit from a published illustrator. The students joined together to create, imagine, discover, explore and experience books in a whole new way.

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The International School of Samui Newsletter

Term 2 Thai Culture Day—A celebration of Thai Food ISS hosted a Thai Culture Day on Friday 6 th March; the theme for the day was Thai Food. The students worked in teams to deepen their knowledge about the role of Thai Food in Thai culture. They took part in preparing their own Thai dishes and experienced the art of Thai cooking first hand. We invited parents to assist in preparing different kind of foods and would like to say a big thank you to everyone involved, especially our Thai department and all parents. The finale of the day saw students from our senior school take part in a ‘Masterchef’ competition, being given a bag of local ingredients and teams worked together to prepare a traditional Thai dish. A wonderful day of learning was had by all, well done!

A wonderful celebration of Chinese New Year 2015 We were pleased to celebrate Chinese New Year at The International School of Samui on Friday 13 th February. All students took part in a number of activities throughout the day to help teach them about Chinese culture and to broaden their international mindedness. Everyone was invited to come to school wearing the colour red in honor of this special celebration and many parents came to join in the afternoon. There was a whole school Qiqong (similar to Tai Chi), Mandarin studies students singing traditional songs, Firecracker show and Traditional Dragon dance and a cooking competition from our senior students. Classes showcased their self made food and everyone was able to try some of the Chinese delicacies.

www.iss.ac.th

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The International School of Samui Newsletter

Year 10 and 11 Learning Trip to W Retreat Koh Samui As part of their Business Studies curriculum, students in Years 10 and 11 were honoured to be invited to the very prestigious W Retreat in Bophut. The students spent a whole day working with the staff from the W Retreat and learnt first hand about Marketing, Finance, HR and ICT networking. Our sincere thanks to Khun Brian, Jean, Eks, Banke, Rose, Pod, Tang, Ae, Ox and all the staff for working with our students and for providing such an informative and memorable learning experience.

Coast to Coast Bicycle ride During the February half term holiday, Mr Titterton and Mr Denman embarked on a charity cycle ride from Koh Samui to Phuket in aid of our work with the Shark Guardian charity. After many days cycling they arrived back safely to Koh Samui—a big well done to both of them for completing this tremendous fundraising initiative. Below is a photo in Khao Lak, where they were welcomed by Shark Guardian dive centers "Wicked diving" and "Thai Dive Sail".

www.iss.ac.th

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The International School of Samui Newsletter

ISS students love to learn outside of their classrooms—Term 2 trips RECEPTION: Children from Miss Wakelin’s and Miss. Morton’s class have been learning all about money. Both classes went to visit the 20 baht shop in Bophut, where every child was given 100 baht to spend at the shop. Following this they went to the beach for a picnic, ice cream and playtime at the sea. Earlier in term 2 they also went to the airport, as part of their topic about different forms of transportation. It was very informative and they saw how an airport works. Special thank you goes to Khun Jae for organising such great field trips for our students and the airport staff, who arranged an amazing morning.

YEAR 3: As an introduction to their new topic ‘Paintings, Pictures and Photographs’ Year 3 went on a curriculum trip to Maenam.

With a Geography focus, part of this topic was to explore aerial photography, map reading and the drawing of maps (cartography).

During this trip the children spent time investigating and developing a map of the local area.

YEAR 4: As part of the Primary Science Days, Year 4 explored how electricity is used on the island. They went on a tour around

Samui and visited different locations to observe where electricity is utilized through photography, discussion and drawing.

YEAR 6: Students went to visit the French Boulangerie in Lamai as part of their new Science topic on microorganisms and learned

how French bread is made using yeast. They had the opportunity to have a go themselves and taste lots of different food made at the bakery.

YEAR 9: The Geography students have recently been studying Tropical Reefs and Marine Ecosystems as a Geography topic. To

further their learning, the Geography and Science departments took them on a Marine Ecosystems Fieldwork Investigation and study of Coral Reefs near Bang Por Beach. They learned first-hand knowledge of their local marine ecosystem’s characteristics, the importance of coral reefs, biodiversity, species adaptations and the impact of human activity.

www.iss.ac.th

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The International School of Samui Newsletter

ISS students win the COBIS Primary Creative Challenge ‘Come Dine With Me!’ was the theme for the 2015 COBIS Primary Creative Challenge, with KS1 and KS2 students creating a stunning array of mouth-watering culinary delicacies from around the world. In total, 41 films from more than 20 COBIS schools were submitted showcasing how to prepare drinks, deserts, snacks and main courses from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. A group of ISS students, led by Mr Hawkey and Miss Stapeley, entered a video entitled ‘Massaman Curry.’ The students worked hard to prepare their video entry and were thrilled to learn that they won the category ‘Most Delicious and Interesting Recipe.’ This is a wonderful achievement and we are so proud of them. Their winning video can be viewed at http://goo.gl/qAp06Y

ISS Caps and Bucket Hats are available for purchase.

Primary School Science Super Learning Days On 19th and 20th March 2015 our Primary School hosted two Science super learning days. Students were

involved in a variety of projects to support their development and acquisition of scientific knowledge. A wonderful two days were had by all and the finale presentation to our parents was a wonderful end.

450 Baht including name embroidery

www.iss.ac.th

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The International School of Samui Newsletter

ISS Swim Sharks take home the Gold The ISS Sharks continue to impress and are achieving extremely well in many regional swim meets. Last weekend they attended the prestigious FOBISIA swim meet at Thanyapura sports complex in Phuket.

Our swimmers all excelled, many achieving personal bests and many students winning Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. Recently some lucky swimmers were very proud to meet with Olympic and World Record Champion Florent Manaudou training with the Marseille Sprint team. Well done Team!

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF SAMUI 141/21 Moo 6 Bophut Koh Samui Surat Thani 84320 Thailand School secretary Tel: +66(0) 77 48 45 48 secretary@iss.ac.th ***

Contact our admissions department: Eng/French: Christophe admissions@iss.ac.th

Thai: Khun Jae

liaisonmanager@iss.ac.th

Russian: Anastasia pr@iss.ac.th

A new shaded area is erected over Basketball Court The new cover on the basketball court, was recently installed and we are thrilled with the results. Our students and teachers now have the opportunity to enjoy sport games and assemblies in the shade.

Thank you to the team, which set it up in just one night to assure the security of our students and staff.

www.iss.ac.th