St. Mark's International School Newsletter 2017-2018 vol 1

TRILINGUAL CHRISTIAN EDUCATION  Member of association of christian schools international

ST. MARK’S

 Member of australian council for educational research

 Affiliated with hanyu shuiping kaoshi chinese proficiency testing

 Member of

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

international schools association of thailand

2017-2018 Newsletter Vol. 1

Academically Aspiring - Caringly Christian - Experientially Enriching

Bake Sale for Charity

Once Upon a Time... Lessons We Can Learn From Animals

Editorial Advisory Board:

Featured items in Students’ S P A C E :

John Ruangmethanon & Dr. Listati Liu Editor: Dean Leaman

Writer, Artwork & Cover Photography : Keurkoon Phoomwittaya

Tangman Phuvapatchim, Janine Jirasakuldech, Tinnaphob Leelasathien, Waraporn Leelaprapal & summer school students

Copyright © 2017 by St. Mark's International School Read Newsletters Online at http://stmarks.ac.th/

This first newsletter of this academic year is packed with precious memories and exciting new happenings. In this issue, we take a look at students who are now all grown up and review our new extra-curricular activities like Band and Badminton.

Every moment spent here at

St. Mark’s are richly treasured - from our Bake Sale to our Year 6 Graduation Ceremony as well as our “Once Upon a Time” Annual Function, Summer School, and our recent class activities. We hope you enjoy the uniqueness of our stories.

Blessings,

Bake Sale for Charity

Editorial Team

Our Bake Sale was a special day for all. Students

What’s New At St. Mark’s

brought their pocket money to buy delicious

To get our new academic year off to a safe start, we

homemade bakes and drinks.

have now installed additional CCTV monitoring devices around the campus and we have a new entryway

Our IGCSE students adapted the marketing strate-

equipped with fingerprint scanners for added security.

gies they learned in Enterprise Studies to organ-

Every morning our school nurse and teachers on duty

ise this charity fundraising event. On 15-16 May

welcome families and screen students’ health before

2017, our Secondary students ran their own stalls,

admitting them through the security checkpoint.

inviting students of all years, along with their par-

The new garden area next to the Secondary Building is

ents and teachers, to buy their products such as

designed to give students the chance to plant trees and

sweetened milk, cakes, cookies, fizzy fruit drinks

vegetation to help beautify our campus. New rubbish

and cups of chocolate-flavoured ice that were en-

bins give students the convenience to help keep our

joyed by everyone.

school clean and to make it a happy eco-friendly place.

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Year 6 Graduation Many of our students have learned together since they were little tots. Now they are going to follow their teenage dreams.

St. Mark’s students and parents gathered in celebration of our Year 6 students’ achievement upon completing Primary education. On May, 31st, 2017 we made this a special day for them in memory of their friendships that they have shared together in time of tears and laughter.

“The journey of our childhood life has just ended, and we are ready to step forwards to a higher level. Let’s remember our precious memories together, ” Passaraporn Tay said in her speech presented at the ceremony.

We are glad to see the bond that our Year 6s of 2016Video available in Parents’ Gateway

2017 have built throughout their time together and wish each one all the best on an exciting future!

Thai Culture Assembly Celebrating Mother’s Day Every Thursday we have morning assembly on the theme of Thai Culture. On this special “Mother’s Day” occasion our students watched a video about the work of H.M. Queen Sirikit.

The students sang Thai Mother’s Day songs, as well as learned how to show appreciation to their mothers by paying respect and giving them flowers.

Video available in Parents’ Gateway

New Parents Orientation Second Semester Parent-Teacher Conference

We would like to welcome new parents to our community!

On June 9th, School Administration organised our second semester parent-teacher conference to discuss the progress that students have made over the previous semester.

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On August 9th, we trained new parents on how to use our School Website in keeping up with their children’s progress.

Video available in Parents’ Gateway

Once Upon A Time..

At this year’s Annual Function, held on 3 June at Wind-

favourite fables and acting out the characters from each

sor Suites Hotel, we were proud to present colourful

story.

costumes and extravagant music and dance, along with

This year our Drama Club members performed a show

meaningful drama shows transporting the audience into the world of imagination!

entitled “The Right Thing to Do” – an adaptation of the

Our families watched Thai

story of “The Good Samaritan”.

musical performances, a piano, violin and vocal rendi-

“Dr. Seuss, we love

you!” was one of the memorable lines from our collabo-

tion of “My Heart Will Go On” and a choir performance

rative Dr. Seuss show by our Year 1 and Year 2 stu-

of the Mandarin song entitled “Invisible Wings”. Follow-

dents. Our Year 3 and Year 4 students then brought us

ing the performance everyone enjoyed a buffet lunch

into magical world of Peter Pan. Following, we watched

together.

the scene of a classroom again - but the characters

On the theme of “Once Upon a Time”, our Early Years

turned out to be teenagers in the drama show titled

performances were set in a classroom scene where a

“The Ants and The Grasshoppers” by Years 5 and 6.

teacher was reading a bedtime story to children. Our

Our Secondary students’ performance brought rapt at-

youngest ones showed their rhythm in dancing to “Let It

tention with their dramatic and artistic rendition of

Go” in collaboration with The Little Superheroes who

“Beauty and The Beast”. After the presentation of stu-

ran up on stage as a surprise at the end of the show.

dent awards, all Primary and Secondary students sang

Kindergarten played roles as Disney characters in the

“Pass It On” leaving wonderful memories for everyone.

stage drama “Snow White” bringing lots of smiles. After Pre-preparatory danced and sang along with “Where

We are grateful for this wonderful celebration of every

Dreams Begin”, our Preparatory class brought us back

story we have shared throughout this academic year.

to the classroom where students took turn to reading

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“The words of the mouth are deep waters, but the fountain of wisdom is a rushing stream.� Proverbs 18:4 4

Activity week!

Weird Science

Cooking Class Our students enjoyed playing a weird Science game such as attracting balloons with static electricity.

This was our competition to rub those balloons on our hair and pull them to the finish line.

Arts & Craft

Crafting beautiful work needs imagination and a bit of concentration.

Bible Drill

Primary students learned to make waffles, chocolate cookies, blueberry cheese cake, and rice dumplings during activity week.

“Cooking is at once child's play and adult joy And cooking done with care is an act of love.”

Alive Club members participated in a

― Craig Claiborne

Bible competition during assembly time.

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Lessons We Can Learn From Animals This summer, students both new and old, had a special time together at our school. They learned language, mathematics, science, arts and moral lessons through thematic activities. These included T.V. storytelling, video-taking of our pets, clay modeling of animals, and mixed media art work of endangered and extinct animals (see page 12). They let their imagination spark with some messy activity like blowing bubbles, and moving around and making animal sounds. After having explored many ideas about the life cycle of various unique creatures, students packed their bags and went on a field trip to Dusit Zoo. Arriving back at school, they participated in an animal conservation arts competition.

To watch our video please visit https://goo.gl/iqaVR1

Come Watch Our Class Videos in the Parents’ Gateway!

We have been keeping video records to inform our parents community on the progress of students in their studies.

You may find class activity and event videos from previous school years, as well as more recent videos, in the Parents Gateway (www.stmarks.ac.th/parentlogin.php) under “Class Video”. After click the open another tab where you may view the video . * Please note that our website operates best on Mozilla Firefox.

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button, it will

Student Life Posting a Minion Science Question On the first week of school, our primary students wrote some questions they wished to know the answers to and posted them on Uncle Minion’s board outside the Science Classroom.

Do baby animals look like their parents? Where does electricity come from?

They will find out more about those questions through out their lessons. Brainstorming sessions are a great motivational activity for students, as the foundation of Science is that of asking questions and then searching for every possible explanation.

Nursery Painting Toast Art Bread on each plate, yummy condensed milk on each piece of bread, food colours in containers and paint brushes in little hands...

Nursery children love fun activities, so our teachers let them make toast in an extraordinary way. First, Ms. Anna asked them to say what colour she was showing them. Then the children sniffed each food colour and said if they liked it or not.

To watch our video please visit

Holding paint brushes ready in hand, it

https://goo.gl/i276Aa

was time to draw pictures on the bread. After removal from the oven, we smelled the fresh baked toast. Our teachers helped us cut them into smaller pieces – and then bravo! Colour-filled toast ready for nibbling!

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Simulation of Moon Phases and Total Solar Eclipse Our year 5s explored the phenomena of a total solar eclipse in the darkened room. To make sense of this event that happened in America on August 21st, they initially learned the basic concept of moon phases by shining light from torches on the moon models. Their heads represented the Earth that blocked the light to the moon. They continued in simulating a total solar eclipse by having the visualizer light represent the Sun, and by moving the moon model to block the light from the picture of the Earth.

Video available in Parents’ Gateway

Extra-Curricular Activities St. Mark’s School Band Inspired by their performance at the recent Annual Function, the School has decided to offer Band as an ECA option for those students who play musical instruments or excel in singing, to help them develop as a group and work on collaborative performance.

This ECA will give the members of the School Band additional time to practice and to unite in their passion for music and performance. “ I want all the singers and musicians involved to develop their skills for playing in a larger group, listening to each other, cooperating and being disciplined about learning music. My hope is that this ECA can inspire the larger school community and get more students involved in learning instruments and singing,” said Mr. Warren Fryar, the director of St. Marks’ band.

Music can always be fun even during practice and rehearsal time. The band has gotten off to a good start and they are developing

New ECA—Badminton

good experiences and friendships. “If we have some success, it will increase the stu-

Last year, the Student Council decided to run a bad-

dents’ love for music of all kinds,” Mr. War-

minton competition. Now we have Badminton club

ren added.

as a school ECA. We meet every Monday after school for practice and matches!

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Our school is pleased to announce the success of our Year 8 students who took their first IGCSE examination in May of 2017. With the first IGCSE examination results just rolling in, our school warmly welcomes the good news of our students’ achievement.

Yoonjee Lee and Thananchai Ruangmethanon both received an A* for their IGCSE Mandarin examination. This result is truly outstanding, considering that these students took the exam at the end of Year 8, while the IGCSE examination is normally taken at the end of Year 10.

This is our second group of students who have excelled in their IGCSE examinations and we hope to see more of our future students achieving similar academic success. Congratulations on their accomplishment!

Share your child’s success story with us!

Did your child win a music competition, give a speech that people love, achieve in sports or an arts contest? Please send your story along with a few photos to admin3@stmarks.ac.th We would like to keep a collection of wonderful stories for our upcoming newsletters. Your child’s story will be an inspiration to our parents’ community!

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Schools that ban mobile phones see better academic results Effect of ban on phones adds up to equivalent of extra

“We found that not only did student achievement im-

week of classes over a pupil’s school year

prove, but also that low-achieving and low-income students gained the most. We found the impact of banning

It is a question that keeps some parents awake at night.

phones for these students was equivalent to an additional

Should children be allowed to take mobile phones to

hour a week in school, or to increasing the school year by

school? Now economists claim to have an answer. For

five days.

parents who want to boost their children’s academic prospects, it is no.

“Therefore, de Blasio’s lifting of the ban on mobile phones with a stated intention of reducing inequalities

The effect of banning mobile phones from school premis-

may in fact lead to the opposite. Allowing phones into

es adds up to the equivalent of an extra week’s schooling

schools will harm the lowest-achieving and low-income

over a pupil’s academic year, according to research by

students the most.”

Louis-Philippe Beland and Richard Murphy, published by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London

The research was carried out at Birmingham, London,

School of Economics.

Leicester and Manchester schools before and after bans were introduced. It factored in characteristics such as

“Ill Communication: The Impact of Mobile Phones on Stu-

gender, eligibility for free school meals, special educa-

dent Performance”found that after schools banned mo-

tional needs status and prior educational attainment.

bile phones, the test scores of students aged 16 im-

“Technological advancements are commonly viewed as

proved by 6.4%. The economists reckon that this is the

increasing productivity,” the economists write. “Modern

“equivalent of adding five days to the school year”.

technology is used in the classroom to engage students and improve performance. There are, however, potential

The findings will feed into the ongoing debate about chil-

drawbacks as well, as they could lead to distractions.”

dren’s access to mobile phones. In the UK, more than 90% of teenagers own a mobile phone; in the US, just under three quarters have one. The prevalence of the de-

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/

vices poses problems for head teachers, whose attitude

may/16/schools-mobile-phones-academic-results

towards the technology has hardened as it has become ubiquitous.

In a survey conducted in 2001, no school banned mobiles. By 2007, this had risen to 50%, and by 2012 some 98% of schools either did not allow phones on school premises or required them to be handed in at the beginning of the day. However, some schools are starting to allow limited use of the devices. New York mayor Bill de Blasio has lifted a 10-year ban on phones on school premises, with the city’s chancellor of schools stating that it would reduce inequality.

Photograph: Caiaimage/REX Shutterstock

This view is misguided, according to Beland and Murphy, who found that the ban produced improvements in test scores among students, with the lowest-achieving students gaining twice as much as average students.

The ban had a greater positive impact on students with special education needs and those eligible for free school meals, while having no discernible effect on high achievers.

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STUDENTS’ S

P

A

C E

A Place for free writing and creativity that lets your imagination spark!

This story was part of the Year 1 Thai coursework for the 2016-2017 academic year.

By Tangman Phuvapatchim

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“Endangered and Extinct Animals� mixed media art by Summer School students 12

by Janine Jirasakuldech , Pre-preparatory Class

by Tinnaphob Leelasathien, Preparatory Class 13

by Waraporn Leelaprapal, Year 4

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900 Rama 9 Rd,Suanluang Bangkok 10250, Thailand Email: info@stmarks.ac.th Phone: + 66 -2-300-5463 www.stmarks.ac.th

Guided by Christian philosophy, St. Mark's International School aims to provide quality Early Years through Secondary education, enabling each student to achieve their fullest potential by becoming confident, motivated, optimistic and responsible young citizens.

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