On Friday last week was our Early Years Sports Day, and our Early Years campus came up to Windsor park to make use of the fantastic facilities available on our larger campus. It was a great day, with children competing in competitions from an exciting water relay to the classic egg and spoon race. The aim of the day was to build teamwork and cooperation, I was impressed both by how the houses worked together to gain points but also by how generously they cheered on their competitors. Even our Pre-Nursrey children showed the excellent sportsmanship that we have come to expect at Bromsgrove. Although we understand the importance of teamwork, there was still a competitive element to the event. The most intense competition was seen in the staff vs parents basketball shoot off. I was delighted to see how many staff and parents volunteered to take part. Our parent body won five baskets against two, much to the disappointment of our teaching staff who are already calling for a rematch next year. The week ended with our termly Learning and Progress Conversations, and I was delighted by how well attended the event was, a real testament to families and teachers working partnership. I would also like to thank all of the families who gave such kind feedback to both myself and their class teachers.
I have recently returned from the UK, where Dr Moore and I were busy recruiting teachers to join the BIST teaching team in August. This year, with staff retention at the school at an all time high, we were only looking for two teachers – Maths and Physics – and we were delighted with an outstanding field for both positions. It is increasingly clear that our reputation worldwide is growing ever stronger, and teachers around the world are increasingly keen to come and work at our fantastic school. Dr Moore and I will look forward to sharing with you soon the two stellar appointments we have made, both of which will make these two core faculties even stronger than they are already, and able to deliver even better Learning and Teaching for every student from Y7 to Y13. It was a delight to come back to Bangkok in time to see both the energy and excitement of our Early Years Sports Day, and also yet another wonderful turnout at our Learning and Progress Conversations on both Early Years and Windsor Park campuses – evidence that our parental support, also, continues to go from strength to strength.
Based on our key principles of flair, discipline and academic rigour, Bromsgrove International School is proud to offer an intensive English language programme.
Welcome back to all our students, parents and teachers! It has been great to see everyone coming back to school with such enthusiasm, which created a fantastic atmosphere at Bromsgrove last week. On the Early Years, there was much excitement in the Year 1 corridor as one of the classroom doors had been replaced with a drawbridge! At the Windsor Park Campus on Wednesday, it was the Super Start dress up day introducing our new topic. This term it is the students’ choice and so we had an eclectic mix of costumes including: Egyptians (Year 2), Romans (Year 3), volcanoes (Year 4, evacuees (Year 5) and witches and wizards (Year 6). Although all the costumes were fantastic, my favourite was our Year 4 class, where children and teachers had found some very imaginative ways to dress themselves as volcanoes and earthquakes.
On Wednesday, January 6’16; Miss Garnjana Pawakranond (Fluke), who is currently studying Fashion Marketing at the University of Arts London, and Miss Doungkamol Jantrachot (Bee), who is currently studying Marketing at Bangkok University; shared their experiences with Year 12 and Year 13 students about how to apply for target universities in Thailand and overseas, how to prepare & settle in the new environment, and how to make academic progress as it is a big investment of the family. The sharing could draw a lot of attention, and could inspire students to look ahead for their future.
We are very proud of Wei Joe in Year 7 who has achieved the Outstanding Youth Award 2016 from the Ministry of Education for his sporting skills in ice hockey. He will meet the Prime Minister of Thailand and receive his trophy tomorrow. Congratulations Wei Joe!
On Wednesday, December 16, 7.00 pm.; the school was one of the co-hosts for the funeral rites of ACM Siddhi Savetsila, father of Mr Thada Savetsila, a member of the Board of Governors, at Sala 100 Phee, Wat Benchamabophit Dusitwanaram Buddhist Temple.
Unusually for Bromsgrove Boarding, this was a quiet week, with our senior school students away on their various challenges. This gave the Primary students a great week to use the sports centre and have extra activities planned by the boarding staff and teachers. It was great to see Bromsgrove Boarding feature in the Boarding Schools Association’s quarterly newsletter for our work on the Mona Lisa Effect. This week we have a scavenger hunt, the Christmas Meal at Windsor Park Golf Course and then our final Secret Santa and Christmas party to look forward to in this last busy week of term. I look forward to seeing lots of you at the end of term pickup. Please do remember to let us know when your child has returned home safely. I hope you all have an excellent holiday and return refreshed in January ready for more new and exciting events and trips.
Last week truly was an incredible week, with our secondary students and a number of staff enjoying the Secondary Challenge Week trips. The Year 7 students had a wonderful time at the World Heritage listed Khao Yai National Park. Both students and staff have been raving about the trip and about some of the highlights, including setting up their own tents, camp cooking by torchlight and a great night safari during which the group got up close to a herd of elephants. Our Year 8 students had a challenging time on the ‘reefs to rainforest’ experience down near Chanthaburi. Two of the real highlights on the trip were the turtle programme that they visited and the mangrove kayaking. The Year 9 and 10 students had possibly the most challenging of all the trips, with the IA students undertaking a huge 2 day walk through the jungle. Whilst a number of very tired students initially said ‘never again’, this is an experience that many of them will never forget. The spiders alone were something that most students have been discussing since their return. The final one of our trips was for the Year 11 to 13 students, who travelled to Chiang Rai before splitting into 2 smaller groups and heading to a couple of the local villages, where they undertook community volunteer work. Both the group working at a local school, and the group working on the water supply to a local village, were commended for their work ethic, with one person commenting about how Bromsgrove students had exceeded all expectations. Our Challenge Week trips were a huge success, and I would like to extend my thanks to all of the students for their fine efforts and attitude, to all the very tired staff for their enthusiasm and to the trip leaders for their sterling planning and guidance in the lead up to the trips.
The Windsor Park campus was quieter than usual last week, with our Secondary students away in different parts of Thailand, building their teamwork skills and testing their resilience beyond their comfort zone. Meanwhile, back at school, Primary and Early Years were busy preparing for the fantastic Winter Wonderland concert and fayre, taking place on Thursday of this week, and both campuses are looking ever more christmassy all the time. The quieter environment enabled key staff to begin looking at the massive amount of data we are building up about our students’ achievement and progress and, now, their attitudes to learning too. As many parents know, we are the home of the ‘Mona Lisa Effect’, which describes the way in which our school explores each child’s attitudes to learning and how they can be strengthened and enhanced to improve both learning and wellbeing. We now approach Term 2 with an even stronger understanding of all our students strengths and needs.
