Primary and Foundation Stage

A look at our first week back in school and some amazing experiences with frogs and elephants!

It was so great to see all the students here last week socialising together and interacting with their teachers face to face. School has been very strange without our students, so it was great to have the buzz of activity back! The students have been excellent in remembering to wear their masks and keep their hands clean. Thank you to all the parents for helping with the smooth drop-offs and pickups of the students each day. With ECAs starting this week, the busy 2:30 pick-up will be eased.

Life Cycles Learning in FS2

Last week in the FS2 the students were all learning about lifecycles with a wonderful display showing the life cycle of a frog, from frogspawn to tadpoles to adult frogs. As you can see from the pictures, the display contains some actual tadpoles that have grown into frogs. There is no better way to teach students than to see the growth of these animals. Alongside lifecycle learning the students are also learning about how to look after animals and care for them and also that life is precious, some wonderful life lessons.

Amazing Elephants: A virtual field trip

VSE came to a close with a fantastic online excursion to Chiang Rai for Year 1 and Year 4.  A total of 239 pupils, their teachers and various family members met over Google Meet with Khun Ou and Mr John of the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation to learn about and enjoy the elephants that live there.

The children enjoyed watching the elephants playing, eating and interacting with their mahouts in the beautiful countryside right by Thailand’s border near Myanmar. Khun Ou’s engaging presentation explained all about elephant habitats, their individual biographies and the problems they face. Many elephants, mahouts and their families are facing considerable hardships with the shut down of Thailand’s tourist industry due to the pandemic.

There were moments of drama with a group of elephants bathing in the nearby river rushed up onto the banks trumpeting, chasing each other and surprising everyone with their fun-loving antics. At times, the elephants quietly allowed us to get up close and personal and learn about their physical adaptations.

The children were really keen to ask all sorts of questions throughout and typed these live into the chat with Khun Ou providing answers when she could. Some of the Year 1 also practised their STEAM skills by creating their make-believe binoculars to spot the elephants during the trip. 

It’s incredible to think that despite being less able to travel, the children could still discover more about these beautiful animals and connect with the people helping them.

We hope to bring this experience to more year groups in the coming months. To find out more about the Foundation, please visit their website.

Mr Ewen and Mrs Susan

4 Steps to success with KidsUp

KidsUp is a fantastic app for KS2 parents who want to make picking up the children after school as smooth as possible. Many parents are using the service, but we are finding that some people are still having issues with this. To make sure you get it right, simply follow these steps.

Step 1.) Select the Child you wish to collect. Then choose Gate 1 and Click COLLECT MY KID.

Step 2.) As you get close to school, (Around Soi 20/1) Press the purple dot that says ‘Kids’.

Step 3.) Now Immediately press the ticket number. This lets your child know to move to the main gate ready for pickup

Step 4.) Don't Forget to Press done when your child gets in the car. This removes them from the system for the day.

Primary Family Support Team

Providing support to our community is a priority for our school. We are delighted to share with you a new development with the introduction of our Family Support Team. This new channel is devoted to our current St Andrews families who require non-academic support for queries pertaining to ID badges, ECAs, School Events or other general questions.

Should you need any assistance or support, the team can be reached via email at support@standrews.ac.th, telephone, or visiting the school office. We look forward to assisting you.

You might be familiar with our team, but please allow us to take this opportunity to introduce everyone: