High School: Giving you more choice with the BTEC, IGCSE & IB

High School: Giving you more choice with the BTEC, IGCSE & IB More subjects to choose from! With new additions to our IGCSE and Senior Studies programmes. Get your tickets for the first-ever Dance Showcase ‘In Motion’! And our NAE Juilliard music and dance specialists were full of praise.

More subjects to choose from! With new additions to our IGCSE and Senior Studies programmes. Get your tickets for the first-ever Dance Showcase ‘In Motion’! And our NAE Juilliard music and dance specialists were full of praise. 

Visitors from Juilliard

It was great to (virtually) welcome Brian Drye and Hilary Easton, our Juilliard Curriculum Specialists for Music and Dance, back to the High School last week.

Brian Drye held workshops with our Orchestra, Jazz Band, Sax Ensemble and Year 10 Music GCSE students, focusing on Emotive Performance in Music, and Hilary taught live Tap and Flamenco lessons to a number of KS3 classes, as well as working with our Dance Teachers in a Masterclass. Both of them were full of praise for both our Music and Dance students’ “beautiful work” and our programmes, with Hilary - NAE’s Director of Global K-12 Dance Programs - describing our High School Dance programme as “a thing of beauty” and “one of the best in NAE”.

You are invited to see some amazing Dance performances, from students from Year 7 to Year 13, at next week’s first ever Dance Showcase, In Motion, being performed on the afternoons of Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th April. Tickets are on sale now from the Accounts Window in the High School Office. As with Working Title, please book your tickets as a family group to allow for appropriate physical distancing.

Options/BTECs Update

Year 11 students have recently completed their Senior Studies Option Choices, and we are very excited about having our first ever IB Diploma Programme Dance students in next year’s Year 12, reflecting both the importance of the Arts at St Andrews and our continued work to provide more opportunities for St Andrews students to be “inspired to be the best they can be” in our IGCSE and IBDP programmes.

As you can also see, the Senior Studies Option Blocks now include opportunities for students to study BTECs in Travel and Tourism, and Enterprise and Entrepreneurship alongside their IB Diploma Programme courses.

BTEC courses are internationally recognised, career-focused qualifications with a practical and vocational approach to learning, and in extending the range of BTECs that we are offering next year we are building on our years of previous experience of running other BTECs, such as Hospitality. St Andrews was one of the first schools in Thailand to offer BTECs, and honoured for this at a ceremony I described in a Newsletter in September 2019.

This morning Year 9 students all received their personalised Option Choices forms, which they can discuss with their parents and teachers at this week’s Parent/Student/Teacher Meetings before submitting their signed Options Forms to their Tutors during Friday's Wellbeing lesson.

As usual, these blocks have been created following the students’ "First Thoughts", collected at the end of Term 1, so allowing all students to choose the best combination of subjects for them, with two new IGCSE subjects, Enterprise and Graphic Communication, as well as BTECs in both Art and Design, and Travel and Tourism included for the first time.

As we want to meet “all the needs of the individual learner” we will, as we have already done with these Option Blocks, ensure that any students who would like to study one or both of these BTECs are able to, along with their other (I)GCSE subject choices.

Virtual Steam Festival

Congratulations to Anish, Kayra, Krit, Lisa, Machi, Mathias, Minnie and Yash, in Years 7 and 8 who were selected to represent St Andrews in this week’s Virtual Steam Festival

Over the two days students will be sent video challenges that they will need to work together to complete and then share with other students and schools, via the Global Campus, with the challenge named Mission Control as many of the challenges are created as if the team were communicating and reacting to communications from astronauts on Mars or the team at Mission Control on Earth.

Two events on Friday

On Friday this week we have two very interesting events.

On Friday morning, Ms Amy, our Head of Counselling, will lead a workshop for parents on the theme of Substance Misuse & Your Teen. Please email Ms Amy - amy.bo@standrews.ac.th - if you would like to attend.

Universities UpdateLater on Friday, the Thai department has organised a special event where Alex Rendell has been invited to meet with our Year 10-11 Thai IGCSE students. Alex has been an actor since the age of seven and has acted in many soap operas. He is a well-known actor in Thailand as well as having a strong educational background, studying for a Bachelor’s Degree from Chulalongkorn University and then a Master’s Degree in Environmental Social Science at Mahidol University.

Alex established the EEC: Environmental Education Centre, an organization that has raised environmental awareness among children in camps, has been involved in many environmental projects is the UN Environment Ambassador to Thailand.

Alex will meet with the students to talk about his inspiration and share his experiences as an environmentalist. Our students will have the opportunity to learn and take note of his inspiration from his attitude, motivation and experience as an environmentalist.

Universities Update

Congratulations to Prim, whose offer to study Psychology at Monash University, following her earlier acceptance into the Joint International Psychology Programme (JIPP) at Chulalongkorn University, was the 200th offer/acceptance received by the Class of 2021. Following on from last week’s focus on the Visual Arts, Prim has also recently received the Class of 2021’s 204th offer, to study Music at Berklee College of Music.

Congratulations on a fantastic set of offers Prim.

As always, you can see more details about this year’s, and previous year’s, University Offers and Acceptances on our website.

Autism Awareness Day

On Friday April 2nd we will acknowledge World Autism Awareness Day. This day highlights the need to appreciate, understand, support and improve the quality of life of those with Autism so that they can lead full and meaningful lives as an integral part of society.

Worldwide, the theme for this event is to wear a flash of blue. Our High School students, staff and families can acknowledge this day by wearing a ‘Flash of blue for Autism’, whether that be a hat, scarf, or other accessory. Our High School STARS and Embracing Differences will be selling custom made wristbands, sodas, and cookies to our school community. Proceeds will go towards Autism programs/charities in Thailand and will keep you up to date with this.

Across the week, class teachers will be supported by specialist staff to run a lesson on the basic facts of Autism and how we as a community can acknowledge, engage and relate to people with Autism Spectrum Disorders. There will also be opportunities for our students with Autism to showcase their talents so stay tuned for further details!

High School Calendar: Term 2

Mon 29th, Tue 30th, Wed 31st March, Thu 1st April: Key Stage 3 Parent/Student/Teacher Meetings

Tue 30th March: Year 12 Group 4 Project Day

Tue 30th March - Wed 1st April: Virtual STEAM Festival

Wed 1st April: PTG Meeting

Fri 2nd April: World Autism Day

Fri 2nd April: Substance Misuse & Your Teen Workshop

Fri 2nd April: Thai Special Guest: Alex Rendell

Fri 2nd April: Year 12 Grade Reports published

Sat 3rd April: VEX IQ Juniors (KS3) Finals: STA

Sat 3rd April: STAMUN 2021

Sun 4th April: Shakespeare Festival Rehearsal

Mon 5th - Thu 8th April: Year 11 GCSE Art & Photography Exhibition

Wed 7th and Thu 8th April: In Motion: High School Dance Showcase

Fri 9th April: Songkran Assemblies and Celebrations - End of Term 2