Nord Anglia Education
WRITTEN BY
St Andrews Bangkok
08 March, 2022

Head's Lines: Magical March in full swing!

7thMar2022PageLinkImageHl
Head's Lines: Magical March in full swing! Book Week was undoubtedly a great experience enjoyed across the whole school. Along with book week, we have action-packed activities for everyone to support with sports fixtures galore, International Woman's Day celebrations and a date set for a PTG meeting. Learn more below... 7thMar2022HeroimageHl

Book Week was undoubtedly a great experience enjoyed across the whole school. Along with book week, we have an action-packed schedule for everyone to enjoy, with Sport fixtures galore, International Woman's Day celebrations and a date set for a PTG meeting. Learn more below...

Book Week was certainly a great experience enjoyed across the whole school. It was fantastic to see so many children involved in a variety of enthralling literacy activities while also taking part in an array of inspiring competitions and literary events. The whole week grew to a crescendo with Friday’s Book Character Day as students and staff on both campuses brought to life some of literature’s most memorable characters through their wonderfully imaginative costumes. Year 6 had an especially fun and exciting time over at the High School, taking part in the annual Poetry Slam and confidently waxing lyrical with works of their own creation.

A huge thank you to Mr Eoin and the English Department at High School, along with Ms Leanne and all the year leaders in Primary working and coordinating with staff across the school to recreate a truly memorable Book Week experience for all our students. Thanks must also go to Ms Pepa- our author in residence - for all her contributions during the week. It has been great for the whole school to have this opportunity to once again conduct this annual school celebration and inspire the next generation of writers and readers.

Sports Galore

Last weekend, it was great to see so many of the St Andrews Flames & Marlins sports teams involved in competitions. These included swimming, football, golf, volleyball and badminton. The strict COVID Protocols we are following, in conjunction with the other international schools attending these events, allow our teams to enjoy inter-school competitions once again.

International Women’s Day 2022 

There are lots of preparations going on, especially in High School, to celebrate International Women's Day this Tuesday. Students and staff were asked to wear purple white or green to mark the day, whose theme this year is "Break the Bias”. Everyone will be taking part in both sporting and social events to help recognise and celebrate women’s achievements.

St Andrews Golf Tournament

On Sunday, I attended the start of the St Andrews International School Golf Tournament held at Subhapruek Golf Course. There was a great atmosphere as nine international school teams teed off for their rounds. STA was well represented by 10 students from both Primary (4) and High School (6) in a competition which fielded over 120 young golfers. Despite a break between competitions, there were some excellent rounds as well as some prizes won by our team. It was a great effort by the players and as always our parents were very supportive.

A huge thank you to all our staff involved in organising and attending these events so that our students can once again participate and be involved with the Bangkok community.

Staff training Day: Friday 11th March

On Friday 11th March  the school will be closed to students, but all academic and administrative staff will be undertaking a staff development training day.

This is a vital time for all our staff. They will be working together in their teams on a wide range of areas, particularly in High School, where teachers will be focused on final preparations of all the evidence for the final examination courses in Year 11 and 13. The faculty teams will also be working together to review the year so far, while ensuring clear planning is in place for the rest of term 2 and term 3. Our Primary staff will be focused on developing our phonics programmes, incorporating Juilliard further into the curriculum, reviewing our own curriculum and looking at further developments that can happen. The administration team shall be, for the first time, undertaking some Elklan Communication language training. This will be a very useful day spent with the whole staff together and will help us on our journey to becoming a recognised communication-friendly school.

PTG Coffee morning

Next week, we shall meet with the PTG committee to put together a format for our first PTG Coffee Morning this year. This will be held on Thursday 24th March starting at 8 am in the Primary Sports Hall. A sign up sheet will soon be sent out for those people who are interested in getting involved. The PTG helps organise a whole range of school activities that really do make rewarding experiences for both our children and older students, as well as creating opportunities for parents to really get to know each other. We will be particularly looking for parent volunteers to join the PTG who are eager to guide our planning for the next 18 months of activities as we move into the post-pandemic world and look to once again hosting and holding events at school and outside in venues around Bangkok.

Vaccinations for 5 to 11 year old children

We are currently coordinating vaccination opportunities for 5 to 11 year old children (paediatric dose of 10 mcg - Pfizer orange cap). On Saturday 5th March, the next group of 80 students were able to receive their vaccinations. The government distributes allocations to hospitals, the hospitals inform the school of the number of available shots, and then we email the families who have consented to being contacted with opportunities for their children. Please be sure to update your consent/vaccination status for each of your 5-11 year old children via the Health App if you wish to be contacted for future opportunities. Please note that each allocation is limited in number and that the hospitals have been asked to initially invite the older year groups.

As some families have managed to receive a vaccination for their child directly through their home hospitals, we kindly ask you to update your child’s vaccination status via the Health App so that another student might make use of any upcoming allocation. We thank you for your cooperation.

We have been told by STA families that Thai citizens have been able to independently book vaccinations for children in this age group through Thai phone service providers. Please note that families do not have to be a subscriber of the provider to book the vaccination through this service.

Vaccinations for 12 to 18 year old children

Please contact health@standrews.ac.th if your 12 to 18 year old child has not yet received a vaccination and you would like to organise a first shot for them. Please note that the student needs to meet the following eligibility criteria:
 

  1. The student is already 12 years of age.
  2. 30 days must have passed since the student recovered from a previous COVID infection.
  3. The student has not previously received a COVID-19 vaccination.

Parking 

Over the last few weeks more cars have been parking in Soi 20 and several of the families living in this area have complained that their drives have been blocked by cars. The only families using the gate on Soi 20 should be those who come to school on the shuttle bus or live in the area of Soi 20. Please do not park on these streets as the local police have been informed and will be wheel locking cars found parked in this area.

Thank you for your cooperation and support in this matter.

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.