In Music this term, students in Year 5 have been learning about the music of Carole King and her importance as a female composer in the world of popular music. All of the learning has centred around her Grammy Award-winning song, You’ve Got A Friend.

Singing and rhythmic understanding have been a big focus of this topic. Each lesson has started with a ‘follow the leader’ warm-up based on different Carole King songs. As the children listen to the songs, they follow the teacher’s lead with body percussion rhythms, beat boxing and to recreate part of the song as a class.

Following their “Everyone Can Play Guitar” unit in term 1, Year 5 have also continued to develop their performance skills on guitar. As well as adding to their range of chords to learn the song, the children have also learnt how to pick, following a simplified form of tab notation. This has enabled them to practice improvisation, starting with some call and response exercises and building up to individual 1-bar solos in front of the class!

Most recently, this unit has seen Year 5 creating their own compositions in small groups. Taking two of the chords from the song, they then added a strumming pattern to create a repeated chord progression. The children then used the improvisation notes they have learnt to write their own melodies. Each group have worked independently and collaboratively to create their own music and will soon be performing their work for their friends in class!

Jeremy Meddows-Taylor
Head of Music

We have continued to grow as a boarding community this term and it has been wonderful welcoming a large number of new students to Bromsgrove. It has been a delight to see old students and new students making friends and supporting each other in their daily lives. We are proud of the supportive environment that we have developed in boarding and would like to thank all of the students for caring for each other throughout the term.

The students and staff have worked hard together this term to provide a wide range of extracurricular activities for the boarders. Thursday Team Time has continued to be a highlight of the week with House Captains planning and delivering a range of competitions for everyone to get involved in. Some of the most popular evenings have included a basketball tournament, Thai games for Loy Krathong, and a spooky Halloween Party.

Weekend trips have continued to be a popular part of the week in boarding and staff and students have had the opportunity to visit a range of places in and around Bangkok. Some of our favourite trips of the term included: Laser Tag, Bounce, Cartoon Network and Escape Hunt. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the boarding staff and day teachers for attending these trips and allowing so many of our boarders the chance to go out over the weekend.

We have also been happy to provide a number of volunteering opportunities this term allowing students the chance to support others in the wider community. One of these trips was to a school for visually impaired and blind students. It was an excellent learning opportunity for our students to try to support them with their learning and spend time with people different to themselves. The Boarding Student Leadership Team also helped arrange a trip to a charity concert to help raise money for Operation Smile which allowed students to give to a worthwhile cause whilst having fun. We are already excited to see what trips and visits we will have next term.

Boarding at Bromsgrove is supported by an enormous team which includes: boarding staff, nurses, administration team members, maintenance staff, laundry and cleaning staff, teachers and the Epicure catering team. I am sure you all join me in thanking all of these people for their hard work and dedication in supporting the boarders during their time at school. All of the boarding team would also like to take this opportunity thank all of the parents for their support this term, we are looking forward to working together with you next term.

We hope that all of the boarding community have a wonderful December break and enjoy spending time with their friends and family. We are already looking forward to welcoming you all back in January 2019 and meeting the new boarding students who will join the boarding family in just a few weeks.

I wish you all the best for 2019,

Ms Georgina Drew
Head of Boarding

The Secondary phase at Bromsgrove has gone from strength to strength this academic year and has been packed full of inspirational learning opportunities and innovative and holistic opportunities for students to embrace the wider enrichment of education.

The first term in Secondary has been filled with exciting events, inspiring trips and motivating learning opportunities. We have been lucky to have external companies visit us and work with our students, who, as ever, were an absolute credit to the school. The Handlebards Drama day and the Oxford Union Debating events were a highlight of the first term and allowed our students to experience a different style of learning outside a standard classroom. Students have also attended the Service conference and will plan our third Bromsgrove Service week which will take place at the end of April. The International Award was relaunched this year and 15 students have taken part in a practice Adventurous Journey to Kanchanaburi. This trip really took them outside of their comfort zone and developed their independence – congratulations to all students who completed it!

Secondary House Spirit is alive and well with weekly House Sport competitions taking place as well as events such House Debate. This is the second year where House Debate has taken place and students have demonstrated an immense enthusiasm for contesting topics such as “Video Games should be banned” in the heats before the final in the auditorium took place. From the heats and the final, it is clear that Bromsgrove students know how to make a strong argument!

Our Secondary Christmas Assembly combined festive music from students across the year groups and a review of the events of the term across the different academic faculties. It was a wonderful opportunity for us to look back, reflect and celebrate all the achievements of our students and Bromsgrove community in term 1. We followed our Assembly with our Christmas Fayre which had stalls that were organised and run by our Secondary tutor groups to raise money for our chosen House Charities.

We ended our term with our annual Big House Christmas Quiz and yet again, it was wonderful to see all students taking part in a fun and fact-filled general knowledge Kahoot quiz in the auditorium. Students were also treated to a real surprise in the form of Project X – a staff pantomime!

I would like to say an enormous thank you to the teachers and support staff whose unwavering dedication and enthusiasm makes everyday at Bromsgrove inspiring and enjoyable for the students. I would also like to take this opportunity to wish them all a restful Winter holiday! In addition, thank you to you, the parents, for your support and I look forward to seeing you in January 2019.

Wishing you a happy holiday,


Ruth Young
Secondary Principal

What a fantastic first term of academic year 2018-19 we have had here at  BIST Primary. The term has been fun-filled and bursting with learning, both in the classroom and beyond. It goes without saying that there is excellent learning taking place across the Primary school, but at this time of year when many are giving thanks, and many people around the world are reminded to think of others and their families, I would like to draw attention to the things we do in school to focus on the development of our students as kind and caring global citizens with well-rounded personal and social skills.

This term we have extended our Primary leadership to include learning champions and community champions, to help us think more about how we look after each other in school and the wider world, amongst other responsibilities. Our active Student Council have had an abundance of ideas and suggestions of how we can enhance the student experience in school, as well as be more environmentally responsible. Students have visited our EY friends at our EY Campus to help them with their reading skills, and play with them outdoors to help them develop their social and friendship skills. Each class have been working as a team to collect class marbles for displaying acts of kindness, friendship, helpfulness and great manners. We have been helping to raise money and supplies for 4 local charities this term, and all Primary took part in the Bromsgrove Charity Fun Run. In addition, we have been making gift boxes for a local orphanage and all Primary helped to make Christmas decorations to decorate our wonderful school, and get everyone in the spirit for our Christmas activities. These are just a few highlights of the things happening in Primary already this year and we look forward for to everything else coming up in term 2.

Our Primary school can only be this dynamic with the unwavering hard work of our Primary team of teachers,  teaching assistants, administration and support staff. I am sure you all join me in thanking them very much for all their hard work. Likewise, we couldn’t do all this without the support of our parents and the huge enthusiasm of our students to join in, participate, and care for each other and the wider world. So to all involved in helping to make Primary a rich experience for our students we thank you very much indeed.

Term 2 is already looking very busy and we are excited to get started! Primary wish our community a very happy holiday and a prosperous new year, and we look forward to seeing everyone in January 2019.

 

Christine Armstrong
Primary Principal

What a fantastic first term it has been on EY campus. It has been a term filled with lots of learning and festivities! Our morning routines are much smoother than the beginning of the academic year, so I would like to thank the parents for their support in separating from their child quickly in the mornings and arriving promptly for the start of the school day. This has made a huge impact on the children’s learning.

The last couple of weeks have been occupied with a range of Christmas activities for both the parents and children to enjoy! For the third year running we did the shoe box appeal to donate to Baan Nok Khmin. A huge thank you to all of those who took part in this activity, supporting those who are less fortunate than us, is such an important value to teach our children. We’ve had Loy Krathong, Christmas lunch; Fun run; Father Christmas, Christmas Fayre, but most importantly, we had our second Christmas Nativity – Whoopsy Daisy Angel! I cannot express how proud I am of all our Early Years students, they performed with such confidence and maturity, they were a credit to all those rehearsals! They have set a very high standard and we very much look forward to doing another one.

All of these events wouldn’t have been possible without the help from the Teachers, TA, Administration and back office staff. We are extremely lucky to have such a supportive hard working team on Early Years and I cannot express enough my gratitude for all their hard work. Also a massive thank you to our PTA. You have been so supportive and I really appreciate all your efforts with making our Early Years Christmas Fayre a memorable one for the children.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I Look forward to seeing everyone in 2019 and welcoming more families to our caring and supportive community.

 

Best Wishes
Mrs Charlotte Ridley
Early Years Principal

Throughout this term we have been continuously upgrading our campuses and learning environments.

On the Early Years campus, we have installed the new flooring in the parent meeting room, upgraded the library, upgrade all display boards, repainted various areas on the campus and provided additional parking spaces for parents and visitors.  

On the Windsor Park campus, we have renovated and installed a state-of the-art flooring on the outdoor basketball court, repainted various areas on the campus, installed the new drinking water dispensers with filters, upgraded the alarm systems and improved the traffic flow and safety on campus. Also to improve the health of our school community, we arranged for the influenza vaccination to be provided students and staff, which resulted in a drop in illness across the campus this term.

We are very proud of the various celebrations and shows that we had this term, including Loy Kratong, Charity Fun Run, Taste of Music and the Christmas Assemblies and Fayre.   For health & safety; we arranged the influenza vaccination. The success of these wonderful events and activities in Term 1 would happen without the full support and the spirit of teamwork  from all stakeholders.

May God bless you this Christmas and I wish you all a Happy New Year!

Duenpen Pawakranond (Mint)
School Director

Recently the children celebrated Chinese New Year. We were treated to a fantastic Chinese New Year assembly on Monday the 4th of February which the children really enjoyed.

Our topic this half term is ‘Dragons’, and we looked at Chinese dragons and how we could make them in different ways. First we made some dragons using coloured paper and chopsticks. We folded the paper so that the dragon looked like it was moving, when we moved it around the room.

Next we looked at the art of paper folding. The children worked so carefully to make sure the folds were all in the correct place, then we made a dragon body out of a paper chain before putting the tail onto it.

The children enjoyed posing with their paper dragons at the end of the week and we are looking forward to making a beautiful, colourful display now that they are finished!

Year 4 Kingfishers have been learning about the traditional life of tribes in the rainforest as part of our Topic work. We found out about their daily life, what they eat, what their homes are like and how they dress. We were very interested in learning about how and why they decorate their bodies and faces using natural paints, jewellery, head pieces and masks. We are now designing and making masks inspired by the tribal designs we looked at. We will use Modroc to cover the masks and paint them to finish.

 

On Saturday 9 February, 17 students from Bromsgrove traveled to Brighton College Bangkok to compete in the 2019 TISAC Secondary Battle of the Bands.

Our Year 8 band, School Daze, performed in the Lower Secondary category, with their set including the AC/DC hit, Back In Black. The band have been preparing for their first ever show in their Music lessons this half term, through the ‘In At The Deep End’ unit, which was first introduced at Bromsgrove by Musical Futures International when they visited in November 2017. Its fantastic to see a classroom group given such a great opportunity to share their learning and performing to such a high level after just a few weeks.

In Upper Secondary we entered two bands from our popular Rock School ECA. Black Eagle performed an energetic set which included the Guns N’ Roses classic, Sweet Child of Mine. They were followed later in the competition by Mondegreen, who performed Bad Romance by Lady and Nina Cried Power by Hozier.

Come the results, we were delighted to hear that Black Eagle had been awarded 2nd place once again, having now been in the top 2 bands for 3 years in a row. This is also the fourth year running that Bromsgrove have featured in the top 3 bands of the competition!

Due to relatively high pollution levels in Bangkok lately, Bromsgrove International School Thailand continue to take responsible steps to ensure we are looking after the health and well-being of our students, teachers and community. We monitor the AQI and PM 2.5 levels throughout each day and publish/update the levels on our external doors to inform our community of when outdoor activity is possible and safe for our students, boarders and staff. This is just one of the processes in place to keep our school a healthy environment during pollution. For more information regarding our Air Quality Policy, please call 02-9894873.