REGENT’S newsletter
primaprimary
19 december 2014
merry christmas & happy new year!
In this issue:
Welcome
MRS. RACHEL PERKINS HEAD OF PRIMARY headpri-bkk@regents.ac.th
principal’s letter
donkey for sale
Dear Parent, I am writing this letter after witnessing our wonderful Nativity and excellent Christmas Concert. I was so proud of how all the children performed so confidently and with such joy.
Party and shared the soft toys from the ‘Teddy Bear Appeal.’ We have enjoyed a special Christmas Lunch and a fun filled Party Day.
Many thanks goes to the whole teaching staff for planning and encouraging the children to strive to achieve their full potential when singing and acting.
Please may I take this opportunity to wish you and your family a very merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year.
We have enjoyed a very busy last week of term, the children visited the Good Shepherd Sisters on Friday and provided the children there with a Christmas With best wishes,
the christmas concert
good shepherd sisters’ christmas party Mrs Rachel Perkins
Also don’t miss out on :
early years activities • art competition • science to try at home • ultimate frisbee club • ks 1 stars of the week • boarding news • english speaking award • upcoming dates • regent’s uk
newsletter
Principal’s letter
a reflection, updates and the future: A letter from the principal
by Mr Peter Hogan, Principal What makes a school special is best measured by what the students are like, what they do, what they believe is important and how they treat other people. Being new at the start of this term I met lots of our students and was delighted by what I discovered. I found students to be hard working, who wanted to do well and who know where they were going. This is not particularly unusual in a good international school but what was different was what else they were doing and the opinions they held. The volume and quality of work for others, the commitment to service and the thoughtfulness shown is quite exceptional. In my view this is something that sets us apart and makes me very proud to be a new member of the school community. At the start of term I asked all staff and all the older students about the school; in particular what they liked and what they would like to see improved. The clear message from the students was that they felt valued, known and understood by the staff and that they are treated as individuals. Although the younger students are not able to articulate their opinions so well the primary staff views were a vital part of the process.
Mr. Hogan took part in Loy Krathong and other Thai cultural celebrations this year for the first time
principal’s letter
REGENT’S newsletter
volume and quality of work for others, the “ The commitment to service and the thoughtfulness shown is quite exceptional. In my view this is something that sets us apart and makes me very proud to be a new member of the school community.
As a result of listening to students there has been a good deal of improvement of facilities including the primary play areas, secondary outdoor recreation area, a business school, a primary parents lounge, a refurbished secondary dining room, renovated Sixth Form rooms that are now a new IB suite and improved catering for boarders. Renovations and improvement will continue along with completing our new building and tennis courts. There is a new approach and new roles for Senior School prefects and some improvements planned for the uniform. We have improved Wi-Fi and internet speeds across the school, developed the Virtual Leaning Environment in the Senior School and our new school app will be launched in January. We believe it will be the first of its kind in Thailand; it will be free to download and keep everyone up to date with what is going on. We have had a wide variety of school trips and service activities in Bangkok and outside the region,
“
REGENT’S
visiting sports coaches, musicians, performers and university staff. There have been an encouraging number of Oxbridge applications and three students invited to interview at Cambridge. We have held some large scale events, in particular our Loy Krathong celebrations attracted large numbers and was a great success involving almost the whole school. We are busy school with students who live up to the ideals of the Round Square. However our biggest successes are in the classroom. Academic excellence is vital and the quality of our teaching continues to be at the core of what we do. With good teaching, hardworking students and our holistic approach our students and our school continues to flourish. The philosophy of the school room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next, said Abraham Lincoln and I am in no doubt many leaders of the next generation are with us today at Regent’s International.
REGENT’S newsletter
recent events & news
Party Hats
recent events & news
REGENT’S newsletter
Donkey for Sale
by Ms elerie davies, early years Coordinator
by Ms Alicia warner, marketing officer
Early in the week we were getting creative by making party hats for the last day of term on Wednesday! We used lots of glitter, sequins and tinsel to make them look bright and festive!
In the lead up to the festive season Early Years worked long and hard putting together their production ‘Donkey for Sale: a Nativity Play”. The result was a wonderfully heartwarming and adorable production that gave the youngest children in the school the chance to take to the stage. Many exuded confidence as they took turns to speak in front of all of the parents and it was clear that all of the Early Years and Primary Music Staff did a fantastic job in rehearsals. Well done Early Years on your great performance! We look forward to the next production.
REGENT’S newsletter
recent events & news
good shepherd sisters’ christmas party
by Ms helen mullan, year 1 teacher Last Friday we went to the Good Shepard Sisters to celebrate Christmas with the children that we teach phonics to every week. As a school we collected more than 100 teddy bears of all colours and shapes! We had an enormous sack to put them in but that wasn’t enough and we needed lots of boxes too. Everyone was incredibly generous! We wore Santa hats to get into the party spirit and as well as the teddy bears we brought with us a chicken and rice dinner for each child and lots of party food. The children were so excited to see us! First we all ate the food together. Then we played ‘pass the parcel’ and had a dancing competition. During the dance competition the Year 4 children helped every child pick their favourite teddy. After it was finished there was still loads of teddies left that the Good Shepard Sisters are going to share with other children in their community. As we were leaving the staff and children asked us to thank everyone at Regent’s for all their generosity at this time of year. So thank you everyone who helped! We made Christmas a little more special for some very grateful children. Well done!
recent events & news
REGENT’S newsletter
Art Competition
by Mr karl perkins, year 4 teacher Last week pupils in all year groups took part in a very Christmassy competition. Everyone had to make a Christmas Card. That sounds really easy but judging by some of the amazing entries, some people put an awful lot of hard work into producing them. Overall, the standard of entry was exceptionally high and we must thank parents for helping with resources for the cards. Some were quite ingenious, using pop-outs, springy paper, textures and stuck on features to enhance the cards. Many pupils wrote heartfelt messages to their friends and everyone used their best handwriting. Well done to all contestants, the standard was high. However, there have to be winners and they are;
Year 6 Amy Year 5 Minnie Year 4 Mitti / Santa Year 3 Anika Year 2 D-Day Year 1 Kane Early Years Grace Well done everyone who took part!
REGENT’S newsletter
science @ home
recent events & news
Make Science Fun - Try this! Film Canister Rocket
by Mr gavin terry, secondary science teacher Love science? Watch this space for scientific experiments you can try at home! just make sure you have help from a parent or guardian. brought to you by our secondary science teacher mr terry caution: this experiment must be done outside! What do I need? Water Empty film canister & lid ½ an antacid tablet (Alka-Seltzer works best if you can find it!) Teaspoon
What do I do? 1. Break the antacid tablet in half. Alka-Seltzer works well if you can find it in Thailand. Make sure it is an antacid tablet (not a capsule!) 2. Remove the lid from the film canister and put a teaspoon (5 ml) of water into the canister. Do the next 2 steps quickly 3. Drop the tablet half into the canister and put the cap onto the canister (make sure that it snaps on tightly) and give it a quick shake 4. Quickly put the canister on the ground CAP SIDE DOWN and STEP BACK at least 2 meters. About 10 seconds later, you will hear a POP! and the film canister will launch into the air! !!! Caution: If it does not launch, wait at least 30 second before examining the canister. Usually the cap is not on tight enough and the gas has leaked out. !!! You could try making a cone out of paper to add to your rocket to make it fly even better What is happening? The antacid tablet reacts with the water producing carbon dioxide gas. As the carbon dioxide builds up it creates pressure inside the canister. The pressure builds up inside until eventually the cap is blasted down and the canister blasted up into the air.
REGENT’S newsletter
Ultimate Frisbee Club
by mr nathan rumple, Primary eal teacher This term we had a great group of children participate in the Ultimate Frisbee Club. Ultimate Frisbee is a sport that is gaining popularity around the globe. It is a very active sport that requires cooperation and great teamwork among the players. Our Frisbee Club had a great time learning the skills that it takes to play the game and we had a lot of fun while doing so. By the end of the term we were able to make two squads that competed against one another. Hopefully these students will continue to enjoy this great game and spread the word that playing Ultimate is a lot of fun!
REGENT’S newsletter
recent events & news
recent events & news
The Christmas Concert
by ms rachel teague, head of music
There was a wonderful Christmas concert organised by the Music and Drama Departments on 16th December. All students throughout the school, Years 1 to IB, performed in the Christmas concert and were joined by Primary and Secondary Orchestra, Primary and Secondary Choir and String group. Florence, Mo and Tania compѐred with amusing jokes and repartee. We started with the King’s anthem followed by the Principal’s address. The Secondary Orchestra played ‘Sleigh Ride’ with much verve which gave a great start to the festive concert. Sadhu, Primary Head boy and then the rest of the programme ran in order of Year 1,2,3,4,5, and 6 interspersed with seasonal Drama performances. String group performed well it their extracts from ‘Frozen’. The Primary orchestra also performed ‘Suffolk Morris’ and we are looking forward to hearing more in the future.
All primary students performed with energy and enjoyment and their performances were delightful. Primary joined with the Secondary choir to perform The King’s Anthem before they performed ‘Lean on Me.’ Tyler ‘s performance as Scrooge in the Y9 and Y10 Drama performance was particularly memorable and the Drama Performances were very entertaining. The concert finished with a very successful, combined performance of choir and orchestra playing, ‘The Christmas Festival.’ Audience participated with singing along with the Christmas Carols. This was a lovely end to the concert. There was an amusing seasonal video performance by Mr Irving, Mr Hogan and Mrs Perkins, which the students thoroughly enjoyed. A good time was had by all!
REGENT’S newsletter
REGENT’S newsletter
recent events & news
recent events & news
Term 1: 100% attendance!
YEAR 1
YEAR 2
YEAR 3
YEAR 4
YEAR 5
YEAR 6
REGENT’S newsletter
REGENT’S newsletter
ele award
dates for your diary
english learning environment award! Many congratulations to the children below, they have been outstanding English Learners this week!
Pre-nursery - mankorn Nursery K - tae tae Reception D - a-young Reception N - pan pan Year 1M - uzen Year 1g - nano Year 2B - manna Year 2F - noah Year 3G - mady Year 3V - pita Year 4P - ice boy Year 4G - mitty Year 5D - tara Year 5t - natalie Year 6J - sarah Year 6n - charlie Mr VOSKO - tae 5t Mr BROWN - deeday 2f Mr rumple - jesse mrs sirisom - bell
newsletter
important dates - term 2! finally, don’t forget to put these dates in your diary! january
14th - 20th February =Half Term
7th January - Term 2 starts and New Parent Orientation 16th January - Early Years Sports Day 21st - 23rd January - Year 4 Residential - Khao Yai 28th - 29th January - Jolly Phonics Book Fair
23rd February School reopens 28th February International Day
february
GREAT ENGLISH SKILLS!
REGENT’S
8th - 12th February - Year 6 Residential - Chang Mai 9th - 12th February - Year 5 Residential - Barge Programme 9th February - Year 1 Educational Visit 10th February - Year 2 Thai Educational Visit 11th February - Year 3 Thai Educational Visit 13th February - Staff INSET- school closed
March 4th March - School closed - Makha Bucha Day 16th - 19th March - Book Week 18th March - Author Visit 20th March - Primary Swimming Gala 24th - 26th March - CIS visit 31st March - Reports to Parents
April 1st April - Parent’s Consultation 3rd April - Songkran Celebration and end of Term 2
Diss • Norfolk • IP22 2PA • England
Regent's International Fair SATURDAY 28th FEBRUARY, 2015
ThE REgENT’s school, UK
Spend a Term in the UK! For StudentS ageS up to 14 YearS oLd
terM 2: 5 Jan – 27 MarCH 2015
The Regent’s school, Bangkok now offers a unique opportunity for students to experience real British style boarding at The Regent’s school UK. The Regent’s school UK is based at the Riddlesworth hall campus, near cambridge; a beautiful city in England, rich with history. This 300 year old school boasts of prominent alumni members, including the late Diana, Princess of Wales. We open this exciting opportunity for both boys and girls ages up to 14 years old.
Places to visit Within the exchange programme, there is the possibility to visit some of the most beautiful and interesting sights that make the United Kingdom one of the biggest tourist destinations in the world. london has many exciting points of interest, including Pleasurewood Theme Park.
Save the date! 02 957 5777 Ext 222
www.rEgEnts.ac.th/uk
admissionspri-bkk@rEgEnts.ac.th
The Regent’s School , UK
Afternoon Activities
students will gain valuable experience within a British academic environment and a home-from-home boarding facility, which offers care and security.
students keep busy in the afternoon with a variety of activities, including hockey, rugby and horse riding. sTUDENTs hAvE A vARIETy of REcREATIoNAl AcTIvITIEs To choosE fRom
Contact us
Accommodation The Boarding house provides the utmost in security and comfort, with supervision from the headmaster and a team of Boarding staff. They ensure that your child is happy and at home in their new environment.
for more information please phone 02 957 5777 ext 222. To enroll your child, please complete the attached application form and email to admissionspri-bkk@regents.ac.th. further information can also be found on the website at www.regents.ac.th/uk
BoARDINg AT ThE REgENT’s school, UK 957 5777 Ext 222 0202 957 5777 Ext 222
www.rEgEnts.ac.th/uk www.rEgEnts.ac.th/uk
-bkk@rEgEnts.ac.th admissionspri -bkk@rEgEnts.ac.th admissionspri
957 5777 Ext 222 0202 957 5777 Ext 222
www.rEgEnts.ac.th/uk www.rEgEnts.ac.th/uk
-bkk@rEgEnts.ac.th admissionspri -bkk@rEgEnts.ac.th admissionspri