Head's lines: Saying Goodbye Sadly, this time of year, we say goodbye to some of our teachers and families leaving St Andrews to go on new adventures. We saw the final graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2021. The House Music Competitions and Sports Awards are here and now! Finally, a huge thank you goes to the whole St Andrews International School Bangkok community for your loyalty, resilience, and support over this challenging year.

Sadly, this time of year, we say goodbye to some of our teachers and families leaving St Andrews to go on new adventures. We saw the final graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2021. The House Music Competitions and Sports Awards are here and now! Finally, a huge thank you goes to the whole St Andrews International School Bangkok community for your loyalty, resilience, and support over this challenging year.

With four days to go in Term 3 and the end of this academic year, I have to say it has been a very challenging one for all of us. The Yearbook 2020-21 makes us appreciate that we have truly experienced some fantastic moments this year. In addition, our teachers and students worked together in a number of inspired online learning activities across the whole school. At the same time, we have missed not being able to engage in real face to face interactions in physical classrooms and learning spaces, and we end the term with friends missing out on the opportunities to say their goodbyes in person. However, we all remain hopeful and optimistic for the new academic year, and I cannot wait to see how students’ newfound armory of skills, their armour of resilience and their ardent sense of independence forged over the past year will manifest through their academic, creative, and sporting achievements in the years to come.

Graduation
Last Tuesday saw the final round of graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2021.  This group of St Andrews International School Graduates are an inspirational and indefatigable group of young people who have certainly acquired some major life skills as they have persevered through their final two years of High School. I know you will join me in wishing them and their families success and happiness as they move on to the next stage of their young lives at either college, university or the workplace.

Saying Goodbye

I would like to thank the whole St Andrews International School teaching and administrative staff for all the hard work and effort throughout this tough year. It has been challenging for everyone, so thank you for your support and loyalty to our school community.  Some of our teachers will leave our school community at the end of their current contract returning either to their home country and reuniting their families or going on to other international schools in other parts of the world. I wish you continued success, happiness and adventure in the next stage in your career, wherever that may lead you.

I wanted to mention just a few individuals who have been at our school for a substantial time and have been a part of crafting the school into what it is today.

From our High School, Mr Mick, who has served as one Physics teacher and the Head of the Science Department, has been with us for 15 years will be leaving St Andrews at the end of this academic year.  We also bid a fond and heartfelt farewell to Dr Siona, the Head of Chemistry, who will be leaving us after 11 years. They have worked with the whole science team - once a small handful of teachers moulded by Mr Mick’s leadership,  now a large, multi-faceted Science Department which both Ms Mick and Dr Siona have been instrumental in developing.

From our English faculty, Ms Brenda Connolly, our Head of English, is leaving us after 14 years. Brenda has contributed enormously to the whole school’s growth and development, particularly in the development of our multi-tiered English programme. She has been the guiding force behind many wonderful High School Book Weeks, as well as countless literary activities that our students have so enjoyed with her team.

Ms Anne Delaval, I’m sad to say, will be leaving this year from our school, retiring to France and embracing the next long-awaited adventure in her life. Ms Anne has made a massive contribution to our Languages Department, particularly in French MFL and the First Language Programme, having taught her subject in Primary and High School. Additionally, Ms Anne was inspirational in setting up our now thriving tennis programme. Thank you, Anne. I wish you nothing but happiness on your return to France.

I am very glad to say that Ms Shelley Boswell, our current Head of Creative and Performing Arts, is not leaving us. Ms Shelly is stepping down from her Head of Faculty role and becoming our part-time expert for Drama and Theatre Arts, continuing to lead the IB instruction. Ms Shelley has been with the school for 15 years. She has been an incredibly inspirational leader of the Creative and Performing Arts programme at St Andrews, putting on some fantastic productions with her colleagues and building our school’s outstanding reputation for dramatic and performance excellence. I look forward to continuing our work together  next year.

At the Primary School, we are saying goodbye to Ms Alice, who has been with the school even longer than I have. Throughout her time with St Andrews, Ms Alice has had several roles in the Primary School and took on the specialist music teacher and Head of Primary Music. I and the whole school community have enjoyed the music concerts and activities Ms Alice and her fantastic Music Team in Primary have created over the years. I wish her every success and happiness in her new role in Spain, and thank her for all her wonderful contributions to our school and the greater music team she has brought together.

Finally, this year we will also have Ms Jette Vincent leaving, a fantastic member of our Foundation and Key Stage 1 team. Jette is an excellent teacher and a key contributor to the remarkable growth and development of our youngest learners. Jette will be moving to Scotland with her family, and I wish them warmth and contentment with this move to a much colder climate.

Music Competition

I was very impressed with all the entries to the House Music Competition this year. There were some fantastic performances which made judging very difficult. Regardless of the results, congratulations to everyone who entered - you all did exceptionally well. Scroll down to the Music section below to see videos of this year's winners of the House Music Competition for Primary and High School.

Sports Awards
There have been some great performances, and more importantly, a really great attitude of sportsmanship and determination evident in everyone participating in all our teams this year.  The Sports Awards across the school aim to celebrate achievements of our student athletes and coaches, while also recognising some of the notable performances from the past year.  Congratulations go to every single person involved in our sports, particularly those individuals who will receive their awards this week.

Fundraising for Communities in need
A huge thank you to everyone who has contributed to our appeal for funds to help the people of India through the Indian Association of Thailand, providing life-saving equipment to different regions in India as they grapple with a truly terrible COVID crisis.

We have had our very recent activity STAr Jump for Klong Toey to support a local community very close to us that was suffering due to the so-called third wave of COVID in Thailand.  These funds now stand at 559,400 THB, but the money will provide immeasurable support to the families in Klong Toey over the coming weeks and months. It’s not too late to get involved in this campaign! You can still donate by contributing through our STAr Jump for Klong Toey Moodle page. To see how the money we have raised together has contributed to helping this community watch this video.

Autism Awareness Fundraising

During Autism Awareness Week at STA last term, some of our students coordinated business enterprise groups to sell wristbands and baked goods to raise money for Special Educational Needs charities. We are excited to announce that this initiative raised 36,000 Baht for our chosen charities. The two charities chosen were Thomas House Special School in Chiang Rai and The Rainbow Room in Bangkok.

Thomas House is a non-profit organisation that supports children with special educational needs to access schooling and outdoor education activities. Thomas House provides valuable opportunities to support education and vocational opportunities for students and communities in rural areas.

The Rainbow Room in Bangkok is a non-profit Special Needs Awareness Centre. It was founded and is operated by the parents, families and friends of individuals with developmental and behavioural special needs, including Down Syndrome, Autism, Asperger's, PDD-NOS, Cerebral Palsy, ADHD and other genetic challenges. The Rainbow Room raises positive awareness through the sharing of information, experiences, encouragement and empowerment, using the “Parent-to-Parent” model. This organisation works to encourage independence, confidence and pride in the individual differences and inspire better opportunities for children with special educational needs through community acceptance.

Thank you to everybody in the STA community for participating in the Autism Awareness Week to support and celebrate neurodiversity in our community and beyond.

Special thanks must go to our PTG for the constant support they have given to the whole school community and me throughout this year.  I look forward to meeting them all again in person in the new academic year.  

Finally, thank you to our whole school community for all your support and assistance throughout this school year.  I hope everyone who is leaving our school community at the end of this academic year remains safe and happy wherever you may be going.  I wish everyone who is remaining in Thailand a safe holiday, and I hope that with the vaccine roll out many will be able to receive their long-awaited vaccinations. We shall then all move together to a more positive outlook with Thailand opening up and let's hope life returns more towards normal.

Campus developments and improvements
Over the next 9 weeks, our school campuses will remain a hive of activity as the Estates Teams really get down to painting, cleaning and revamping across the whole school. There will be some major renovations, particularly in Primary, giving the school a new, more spacious look. Everyone will be working hard to get all these projects finished and ready once again for when we open on Monday 16th August 2021.

Reminder about changes to Academic Calendar 2021-22
I know everyone has been following the global pandemic news closely. We all hope that the vaccine rollout across the world will finally bring this crisis to an end. However, travel restrictions remain in place, making it difficult and expensive for us to plan holiday visits back to our home countries. With the vaccination programme in Thailand not yet fully underway, we know that many people are debating whether returning to their home country is even going to be a viable option at all this year.

In response to comments from parents and staff, we have re-examined our school calendar for the next academic year. By reorganising a number of single-day holidays on the calendar, we have been able to allow for a four-week Christmas holiday at the end of Term 1. This extended break would give families a second, longer opportunity to return to their home country to be with their families. Hopefully, by December the global vaccination programme will be much further along and travel restrictions will be eased. Rearranging these holidays in the calendar ensures that no teaching time would be lost. Parents can click here to review this revised Academic Calendar 2021-22 which has Term 1 set to finish on Friday 10th December 2021 and has Term 2 scheduled to start on Monday 10th January 2022.

Please click here to see upcoming dates and holidays in the updated school calendar for the last days of the current academic year.

For parents with enquiries, please contact support@standrews.ac.th. You can also call the Primary School directly at +66 2 381-2387-8 or the High School at +66 2 056-9555.