Head’s Lines: Honouring the memory His Majesty the Late King Bhumibol

With Deepest Respect from St Andrews International School Bangkok

For the Royal Cremation of His Majesty the Late King Bhumibol Adulyadej

It has been almost one year since the passing of His Majesty the Late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a great loss resonating in the hearts of Thai people throughout the world. The much-revered and beloved King passed away peacefully at the age of 89 on 13th October 2016 at Siriraj Hospital in Bangkok. The Royal Cremation and merit-making activities are planned to last five days starting from 25th until 29th October 2017 at Sanamluang Royal Crematorium where the “Architecture of Heaven” – an elegant nine-spired funeral pyre for the late King has been built especially for this ceremony. On 26th October, the Royal Cremation Ceremony will take place between 17.30 hr and 22.00 hr. The actual cremation is scheduled for 22.00 hr.

To express the profound sense of mourning that we all feel from the loss of our beloved Majesty the late King Bhumibol, St Andrews International School Bangkok would like to encourage the entire school community to observe an appropriate dress code in respect to this great man. If possible, we ask that you wear black or dark clothing, or at the very least, tone down the colours of your shirts or dresses for the entire month of October. Students should still come to the school wearing their normal school uniforms. Furthermore, during October we will not be wearing House Colours until the mourning period and the royal cremation is finished.  

With one week to go before half term, the first part of this academic year seems to have flown by.  It certainly has been a very exciting time with the expansion and opening of our High School and Primary School along with all their wonderful new facilities for children of all ages to enjoy.

Our Primary children have thoroughly explored the old and new areas of the re-designed educational spaces aimed at fostering a brilliant primary learning environment. Together with their teachers, these young Primary minds are utilizing these areas in creative ways to branch out in exciting and ambitious new directions in their learning. Similarly, our High School students and teachers have now familiarised themselves with an entirely new campus and are developing the facilities to make it their own. Certainly the High School is growing stronger each day with lots of exciting activities taking place inside and outside of the classroom and lots of workshops each day.

Last Thursday we had a Buddhist Monk Blessing Ceremony at the High School given by Phra Dhamma Kunaporn, Assistant Abbot and other eight Buddhist monks from Wat Traimitr Withayaram Wora Wiharn. The main part of this ceremony was held in the excellent new auditorium located on the 7th floor of the Blue Building,  which looked and felt appropriate for this important event.  

On Friday 20th October, our school will hold two assemblies to commemorate the passing of His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej.  The Primary assembly will start at 8.00 am. in the Sports Hall and the High School assembly will start at 1.30 pm. in their respective Sports Hall (4th Floor in the Gold Building). This is a very special occasion and we encourage our school community to wear respectful and sombre black attire, or white shirts with black ribbons or bows either on the chest or the upper arm. We do so in keeping with country-wide commemorations and in adherence to cultural traditions of the whole of Thailand, as we all reflect and pay tribute to the passing of the beloved King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

I hope everyone has an excellent break and rests well in preparation for the start of the second half of this first term on Monday 30th October.

Contacts

For parents who have any enquiries about Primary School, please contact officeps@standrews.ac.th or Tel: +66 2 381-2387-8

For parents with enquiries about High School, please contact officehs@standrews.ac.th or Tel: +66 2 056-9555