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Important Dates
Wednesday 25th Nov Loy Kratong
Friday 27th Nov –Year
The International School of Samui Newsletter I S S U E
1
A C A D E M I C
Y E A R
2 0 1 5 / 2 0 1 6
N O V E M B E R
2 0 1 5
Remembrance Day Service 2015
1 curriculum trip.
Friday 27th Nov –Year 10 performance of Romeo and Juliet
Friday 4th Dec –His Majesty the Kings Birthday celebrations.
Monday 7th Dec school closed as substation for Kings Birthday.
Tuesday 8th Dec – Primary School world religions 3 day projects begin.
Tuesday 8th Dec— Primary School hosts ‘Carols by Candlelight’
Wed 9th Dec - End of Term 1 reports sent home.
Friday 10th Dec - Santa visiting.
Friday 10th Dec – Kindergarten Carol concert.
Friday 10th Dec – school closes at 12:30pm for end of Term 1.
Tuesday 5th Jan— School reopens for beginning of Term 2.
Monday 11th Jan— ECA’s, Private music lessons and ESP lessons begin.
The Remembrance Service at the International School of Samui was held on Wednesday 11th November 2015 at 11am. The Students, Teacher and Parents of ISS, celebrated Remembrance Day together; A day which commemorates all of the soldiers who fought bravely, and made the ultimate sacrifice. After some moving speeches and poems, read by teachers and students, a 2-minutes silence was observed. A time for all to contemplate the sacrifice made by all soldiers, and civilians who have fought and died. It was a very moving ceremony, which has allowed the students to reflect on what they have, and how lucky they are. The Poppy Appeal 2015 raised an outstanding 8,217 Baht. Thank you to all parents, pupils and staff for supporting this very worthwhile cause run by the Foreign Legion which all veterans of war, young and old, as well as their families will benefit from. Following on from this we were honoured to welcome British Honourary Consul, Dave Covey into school to talk with our Senior School students about the work of the British Legion. He was accompanied by two other British Ex Servicemen, who participated in a question and answer session, where our students could ask them about their experiences and what the reality of being in the armed services is like. We would like to thank the Samui Ex Servicemen group for taking the time to join us and for sharing their remarkable stories. with our students.
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The International School of Samui Newsletter
A Spooky Day at ISS - KG and Primary Halloween celebrations The Halloween festivities provided a marvellous days entertainment. It was lovely to see so many of our students from Kindergarten and Primary school dress up in their scariest costumes. The Halloween games led by our Kindergarten teachers provided lots of fun and entertainment and the Primary School spooky disco and Senior School film night were both a real success. Thank you to everyone who was involved in the preparations.
Senior School Halloween Spooky Film Night. The ISS senior student council chose Tim Burton's 'The Corpse Bride' as this year's Halloween movie. The new cafe area provided a great venue for the occasion and the students rose to the occasion with lavish costumes that made most of them unrecognisable to their teachers. Some of the staff were worried that they were in danger of losing control under the onslaught of a zombie apocalypse. Thankfully a great night was had by all and none of the staff are currently classed as having left this world. The verdict is out on the students....
www.iss.ac.th
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The International School of Samui Newsletter
New Thematic Curriculum—Year 4 Egyptian Day The Year 4 Egyptian Day was the finale to 8 weeks packed full of learning all about Ancient Egypt. The children shared their learning with their parents and brought Ancient Egypt to life through a series of performances, including stop frame movies about the Gods; drama about mummification; building pyramids; the journey to the after-life; performance poetry about the canonic jars; the search for Tutankhamun's tomb; as well as TV news reports about Howard Carter's discovery. The children also prepared a delicious banquet of Egyptian-style food and enjoyed this wonderful feast with their parents. Our busy and successful day ended with a trip to see the Mummified Monk and discover the Temple where he lays.
New Thematic Curriculum—Year 2 Trip to Big Buddha As part of the topic about buildings and structures, we took Year 2 on a curriculum trip to the Big Buddha. This visit had a history focus and whilst we were there we explored and described the structure and the history of the Big Buddha. During this trip the children spent time learning about how the Big Buddha is used during festivals; we also made some observational drawings, paying particular attention to the features of the structure and thinking about why it was designed in such a way.
New Thematic Curriculum—Year 3 Trip to the Rainforest As part of our topic about the rainforest, we took Year 3 on a curriculum trip to Hin Lad waterfall, near Nathon. With a Geography focus, part of this topic explored map reading and the drawing of plants and animals. During this trip the children spent time learning more about how the water from a river or waterfall contributes to the environment.
New Thematic Curriculum—Year 6 Coast to Coast Trip Year 6 had a fantastic day exploring the coastline of Koh Samui. We travelled to a number of locations, including: Hin Ta and Hin Yai rocks, Bangrak Beach and Maenam Pier. At each location, we had a go at field sketching to draw the coastal features we could see. We also had fun doing some drama on the beach related to our class story Floodland. Finally, we explored some strange, dilapidated buildings that inspired our writing this half-term.
www.iss.ac.th
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The International School of Samui Newsletter
ISS Swim Squad is leading the way forward in competitive events The ISS swim squad is rapidly gaining recognition and is becoming a force to be reckoned with. The students have been working incredibly hard to reach the highest standards possible and are now training up to 6 times a week, both before and after school. We are so impressed by the commitment and dedication that each member of the squad has shown. Due to the high standard of swimming that the squad are showing, we were recently invited to attend the Thanyapura Open Swim League Championships. This competition was held at the Thanyapura Sports Complex in Phuket. Competing at this event were various schools and swim squads from the Phuket and southern region. During the one day intensive meet, the students of ISS excelled in all of their age categories, finishing very high in their class . As we are now members of FOBISIA (Federation of British International School in Asia) we are very excited to be able to take part in many more competitive swimming events throughout the coming year.
ISS introduces Brazilian Football On Friday 20th November, we welcomed Cliff Herman da Silva into school to give our senior school and primary school students a taster session of Brazilian Football. We are very excited to be working with Cliff and his team over the coming year. Cliff will be launching the Samba Kicks Brazilian Football Academy at The International School of Samui. In Term 2, he will be hosting a Brazilian Football ECA and also offering evening and weekend academies for students aged 5 years upwards.
Keeping our students safe—Termly Fire Drill Practice On Wednesday 28th October 2015, ISS undertook its termly Fire Drill routine. All the pupils from KG, Primary and Senior schools gathered on the school car park. All the pupils took this exercise very seriously and behaved with maturity and good discipline. We are very proud of the excellent timings and smooth running of this very important safety exercise. Thank you to all for your fantastic effort and maturity on this occasion.
Sun Safety and Mosquito Awareness Day On Friday 13th November, the children in the Primary School learnt about sun safety, mosquito awareness and the importance of keeping hydrated within their PSHE topics. We were very lucky to have Bangkok Hospital support this important work and we were very excited to have Dr. Donya Hemmadhun from Bangkok Hospital come and speak with the children during assembly time. Following on from the assembly, Dr Donya hosted a parent talk on children’s health, where she provided important medical information regarding pediatric care. We would like to thank Bangkok hospital and Dr Donya and her team for supporting us and for the wonderful work they did with both our students and their families
www.iss.ac.th
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The International School of Samui Newsletter
Kindergarten students learn all about Diwali KG pupils celebrating Diwali Festival 2015 at ISS on Wednesday 11th November 2015: Kindergarten enjoyed a wonderful morning celebrating Diwali. We started by having a presentation on the story of Diwali and then painted a giant floor Rangouli with chalk, made colourful candle holders and made Diwali sweets. The children enjoyed having their hands decorated with paint and wearing Bindi's and dancing to traditional Hindu music.
Kindergarten's annual Pirate and Princess Day Pirates and Princess Day was a huge success in Kindergarten. The children all came to school dressed up as either a princess or a pirate to reinforce the letter sound 'P'. There were lots of fun activities with children walking the plank, digging for treasure, sticking the patch on the pirate and making pirates and princess paper plate faces and princess crowns. A fun day was had by all.
PTA Christmas Appeal—Maesot Orphanage visit by Miss Wakelin Louise Wakelin, Head of Kindergarten at ISS, will be volunteering again this Christmas supporting the Burmese refugee children in Maesot, on the Thai border. She will distribute donations to Sunshine Home children’s centre for Burmese refugee orphans aged 2-4 years who need food donations such as rice and tinned food. The PTA would like to support Louise and thought as a good will for Christmas we would ask all children/families for their support. The baby clinic was set up by a Burmese volunteer Doctor. Many babies are bonded at the clinic and the clinic struggle to afford to give babies milk past the age of three weeks of age. Many of the babies suffer from malnutrition and disease. Garbage Mountain holds home to 130 Burmese refugee children living amongst the rubbish dump. They have nothing and are desperate for any food parcels, blankets and clothing. Hear Nam Nak dormitory in the mountains supports 100 Burmese refugee orphans aged 5-18 years. They desperately need donations for warm clothes and blankets where temperatures drop as low as 4o.C. These children do not have toys or any real possessions of their own. As a school we would like to help and ask for your help to support this worthwhile cause. If every child in the school could donate any of the following the PTA will then work with Louise to get all donations sent up prior to Christmas:-Nappies, Formula milk, Food and clothes parcels, -A brand new toy for either a boy or girl. By working together as a school we hope we can make a small difference this year for these children. All donations can be left with Nancy in the school office by Friday 4th December. We thank you in advance for all your help and support .
www.iss.ac.th
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The International School of Samui Newsletter
Senior School Inter House Competitions. We held our first inter-house competition of the year organised and run by our Sixth Formers. Students had to cross a 'minefield' while blindfolded, extract themselves from a 'human knot', and build the tallest tower possible from drinking cups and straws. The day finished with a teachers versus students game of dodgeball where the teachers were quite well behaved and only cheated a little! Congratulations to our overall winning house Newton, with Darwin close behind and Einstein in third place.
Senior School Parent Workshop—Key Stage 3 English KS3 - English Workshop was held on Thursday 29th October 2015 in the English classrooms. Thank you to those of you who attended the KS3 English workshop. There was an excellent turn-out from parents. We hope it highlighted the cross-curricular value of your child reading for pleasure. If your child is a reluctant reader, please pop in and speak to Mr Denman, so that we can work together and come up with strategies and ways of encouraging them to read the books they will enjoy. If you would like to borrow a book from the school Library you are welcome to do so, please speak to Khun Aom and borrow the book under your child's name. Happy reading!
Senior School Parent Workshop—Key Stage 3&4 Mathematics The ISS Senior School is striving to strengthen links between home and school. To help develop parents’ understanding of what students are learning in school, we hosted a series of Mathematics workshops for parents of students throughout Years 7,8, 9, 10 and 11.The premise for these workshops was that by engaging parents and families in students’ learning, not only do students’ levels of achievement rise, but parents also learn. Specifically the aims were: •to achieve more effective partnerships between school and home •to enhance and increase the opportunities for learning in and through the home •for us to share information about teaching and learning in school with parents •to contribute to raising achievement across all subjects. We hope all parents who attended found the workshops informative and offered them a good opportunity to learn how students are taught Mathematics in Key Stage Three and Four.
www.iss.ac.th
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The International School of Samui Newsletter
ISS launches The Healthy Snack Shack The International School of Samui is thrilled to have launched our brand new school café called The Healthy Snack Shack. The new school café is centrally located in our new outside canteen area and is a hub for all members of our school community to join together to meet and greet. The Healthy Snack Shack serves a variety of healthy snacks for our pupils to enjoy throughout the school day. Our Healthy Snack Shack emphasises foods and beverages with Maximum Nutritional Value. It allows our students to buy a range of foods and beverages that they enjoy while, at the same time, encouraging healthy choices. Our new school café reinforces our classroom healthy eating education, promotes healthy eating and drinking habits and provides students with a healthy source of energy and nutrients during the busy school day. We would like to thank Mrs Victoria Lees and Khun Daeng for all their work in launching this new initiative and we look forward to welcoming you all to join us at The Healthy Snack Shack soon.
Loy Kratong celebrations - Thailand through the ages’ Fashion show On Wednesday 25th November we are very excited to celebrate Loy Kratong Day at The International School of Samui. The Thai department will be leading a whole day of learning activities to deepen the student’s knowledge of Thai Culture and Loy Kratong. The students will be participating in an array of activities including creating presentations about Loy Kratong creating individual Kratongs to take home. At 2pm you are invited to join us in our Loy Kratong celebrations. On the basketball court we will be hosting a selection of Thai dancing and a ‘Thailand through the ages’ Fashion Show. We will also be showcasing the beautiful Kratongs that the students have created. All students are invited to come to school wearing traditional Thai costume or a Thai style colourful flowery shirt. We hope the students will deepen their knowledge about Thai culture through participation in this special celebration. We look forward to seeing you for this very special event.
His Majesty the Kings Birthday celebrations. On Friday 4th December we are very excited to celebrate His Majesty the King’s birthday. We will be hosting a day dedicated to His Majesty the King led by our Thai department. We will be hosting a ceremony in his honour on the school basketball court at 9:00am. The students will present gifts to their fathers, sing some beautiful Thai songs and we will have a book for everyone to sign their birthday wishes.
To The International School of Samui, Thank you very much for helping with our Poppy Appeal. 8,217THB were collected by you. Without your help, we would not be able to continue our vital welfare and benevolent work. Dave Covey, Honorary British Consul.
www.iss.ac.th
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The International School of Samui Newsletter
ISS joins the community by running for charity
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL OF SAMUI 141/21 Moo 6 Bophut 84320 Koh Samui School secretary
Tel: +66(0) 77 48 45 48 secretary@iss.ac.th
Contact our admissions department: Eng/French: Victoria admissions@iss.ac.th
Thai: Khun Aom admissionsoffice@iss.ac.th
Russian: Marina russianpr@iss.ac.th
A special welcome to all our new students in Term 1 : Early Years
Year 3
Aleksandra
Arda
Mork
Max
Rasa
Conor
Leonardo
Jenny
Florence Scarlett
Year 4
Philip
Evie
Skye Mungkorn Emily
Year 5 Rizky Ping Ping
Nursery Tristan
Year 6
Leticia
Maryan
Dennis
Rocco
Mind
Natalie
Reception
Year 7
Mark
Paul-Eric
Grigory
Yu Han
Bibi Year 8 Year 1
Joshua
Christian Wilhemina
Year 9
Kaegan
Mathis Paul-Louis
Year 2
Fei
Lily Sara
Year 10
Leah
James
Petr Iakov
Year 11
Robert
Alessia
www.iss.ac.th
ISS invites you to join us for a Christmas Carol Concert