Rugby School Thailand eNewsletter

Matters of Principal

This week Mr Grindlay talks about leadership, and the importance of leading by example.

Whole School Announcements & Reminders

REDUCING OUR POLLUTION
Could we please ask that you consider turning off your car engines when picking up your children at the end of the School day? We realise that cars quickly heat up without the A/C being on, but the amount of fumes and pollution having so many cars running in our car park causes needs to be addressed.

Thank you for your consideration.

RSTPA
(Rugby School Thailand Parents' Association)

HALF TERM
Half term runs from the 14-17 May. School resumes at 8am on Wednesday, 18 May.

NEW ARRIVALS AT RST!
We’ve welcomed some new additions to the RST community!

Miss Amanda & her husband, Phop, welcomed their twin boys, Chai and Korn, at the end of April; and Mr & Mrs Ennis-Billing welcomed baby Wolf earlier this week. Congratulations to both families!

WISDOM FIT GRAND OPENING DAY

Whole School News

WHOLE ME PROGRAMME
Please click on the link below for an update on our 'Whole Me Programme'.

The Whole Me Update

Senior News

INCOMING HEADS OF SCHOOL INTRODUCTION

INCOMING HEAD GIRL - PUN J
It is a great privilege to take up the torch as the next Head Girl of Rugby School Thailand. I am beyond honoured to have the opportunity to build upon the legacies of Alex and Cherry, as well as that of all the head students that have come before, in leading and supporting a kind, empowering and uplifting School community. In the upcoming academic year, I look forward to working alongside our strong student leaders and staff to strengthen integration and connection within the School, as well as supporting the local community, especially after the challenges we have faced as a result of the global pandemic.

INCOMING HEAD BOY INTRODUCTION - ALBERT S
Having studied at Rugby School Thailand since it was founded, it is a particular honour for me to have been appointed as Head Boy. I have seen our School grow, both in student numbers, achievements and spirit, over the last four years and I am excited to be leading RST into this next phase. I am grateful to Cherry, Alex and all the previous Heads of School, as well as the members of the Levee, for everything they have done for the student body and I hope to build upon their excellent work next year. It is my ambition to carry on their legacy, with a focus on developing leadership, resilience and, most importantly, kindness. I am excited to work together with staff and the Levee to bring about positive change for the RST community.

Learning

SPANISH
In Spanish this week, D block students practised their meteorological vocabulary by delivering the weather forecast in Spanish.

ENGLISH
The Senior English department has begun working on Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet', which is always a great hit among the students as it is a story of the ages that deals with a number of very relevant issues. The language of the famous lovers is alluring, complex, beautiful, dominated by wordplay and wit, and very familiar. 'Did my heart love 'till now?' gushes Romeo when he first meets Juliet. When they speak, the audience hears the language of love. The F Block students actively engage with the text in a number of ways, including memorising lines and performing choral verses. Here they can be seen collaborating and communicating in order to prepare their prologue presentations.

E Block English students are being investigative and are collaborating as they explore how writers use words for effect. They are learning how writers communicate effectively, in particular they are looking at the power of words to persuade. This communication skill is an essential life skill as we need to learn how to be critical readers and thinkers.

MANDARIN
A number of our F Block students went on a field trip to Anek Kusala Sala as part of their Mandarin Studies. Besides the cultural enrichment experience, students also had to push themselves to complete a series of tasks which you can find in the attached booklet below. A big thank you to Mr. Chi as well as Ms. Tam for organising the event.

As part of their continued professional development, Mrs. Salter and Ms. Pardoe had the fantastic opportunity to take part in a 2-day Japanese woodblock printing workshop, last week.

They worked with local artist Ralph Kiggell who has previously lived and studied in Japan, to learn the traditional technique. Here are some photos of them being creative, and learning about the process:

Prep News

Announcements & Reminders

EFFORT AND ATTAINMENT GRADES
Students' Effort and Attainment grades will be published on the Parent Portal by the end of today. You can access the Parent Portal through the SchoolZine app. If you cannot remember your log-in details, please contact mdewhurst@rugbyschool.ac.th

HPV VACCINATIONS
Around the world children are being vaccinated against HPV (Human Papilloma Virus). This vaccination tends to take place between the ages of 11 – 13 years old and is suitable for both boys and girls. Further information on HPV can be found here. I would encourage you to contact your healthcare provider to discuss if you have not already done so.

KANGAROO MATHS THAILAND
We are very pleased to announce that Coupe in Year 3 has achieved a merit certificate in the Grade 2 Pre-Ecolier award of the Kangaroo Maths Thailand competition. Coupe participated with students all around Thailand and we are very proud of his success.

YOUTH CHINESE TEST
The Youth Chinese Test (YCT) is an international standardised test of Chinese language proficiency that assesses a student’s ability to use Chinese as a second language in their daily and academic lives, and the test is recognised throughout the World.

Congratulations to 6D Axel, who has recently passed YCT. Well done, Axel!

SWIMMING GALA

QUIZLET
'Quizlet’, a study platform we use across the School, has introduced a rule that requires a parent’s e-mail address to be linked to the student's Quizlet account if they are under 13 years old. Please contact Mr Burkhill (rburkhill@rugbyschool.ac.th) if you do not want your address to be linked to your child’s account.

Dates for your Diary

19 MAY
08:15 - 10:15 Y3 & 4 Swim Gala
10:30 - 12:45 Y7 & Y8 Swim Gala
13:30 - 15:45 Y5 & Y6 Swim Gala
17:00 – 17:30 Year 3 to Year 4 Transition Presentation
Parents are invited to meet the Year 4 team and learn all about moving to Year 4. The presentation will be held in the Veraphan Theatre and refreshments will be available.

20 MAY - SLEEPOVER AT MARSHALL HOUSE
Year 7 students are invited to a sleepover at Marshall House on Friday, 20^th May.

Alongside a fun Friday evening with activities, dinner and a movie, your child can also stay for Saturday Enrichment, which you can sign-up for on SOCS. Sport will include basketball and badminton, and activities will include English Sketches, All Star Challenge, Armadillo Run and Watersports.

Please complete the Google Form to register before Monday 16 May.

21 MAY – FOOTBALL (08:30 – 12:00)
Boys U11A & U11B and U9A V Lions FC (Home)
Girls U11/12 & U12/13 V Piing and Lions FC (Home).

Teams have been notified via email

21 MAY – SATURDAY ENRICHMENT PROGRAMME (9:45- 12.00)
Year 3 – 4: Talent show OR Traditional Thai Games
Year 5 – 6: Armadillo Run OR Stop-mo-go
Year 5 – 8: Watersports (THB400)
Year 6 – 8: English Sketches

22 MAY - RUGBY FIXTURE (06:00 – 15:00)
U9, U11 & U13 vs Bangkok Lions (Away)

Teams have been notified via email

Playmaker Award

The Playmaker Award is now in full swing, with the Y5 and Y6 students, who have selected this as their activity, responding very well. Students have been exploring the use of PACE during the sessions - Participants, Area, Communication and Equipment and how these are used to organise and run engaging sporting sessions. This week they were tasked with creating their own relays, setting them up, demonstrating and then running them. All groups completed this task extremely well, showing fantastic leadership skills.

Big Geography House Quiz

Last Friday, Prep students competed in a ‘House Geography’ competition. The aim was to answer questions about capitals, flags, foods, sports and cultures of countries around the world. The houses were split into small teams where they had to collaborate to answer questions whilst tackling an obstacle course in between each round. The team scores were extremely encouraging, highlighting the students’ global-mindedness. In fact, one group answered 92 correct questions out of a possible 104, which is excellent. Interestingly, Year 7 students achieved the highest score of all the year groups. House results will be announced at the end of term.

School of Rock

Last month, RST hosted its first-ever School of rock house competition. Students from every house had to play over a drum and bass music beat that Mr Donaldson and Mr Ortiz recorded in the Senior music studio.

We received a variety of awesome entries from our very talented students, and Bai-Toey (Year 8) won the individual prize with her amazing keyboard piece. This week, she came to the Senior recording studio, and had the opportunity of using a professional multi-track Logic Pro X set up, complete with full monitoring system.

The house results of the competition will be announced in the last assembly of the term.

Thai Language

This week, Year 5 Thai students took home their Thai herbs in an eco-pot. Before Songkran break, Year 5 had learned about Thai herbs and its properties. They enjoyed visiting the Eco Garden, exploring nature and getting a little dirty. They planted useful herbs and made an amazing pot from a recycled water bottle. It works by filling in water at the bottom and plants absorb water through a rope connected to the top. The herbs grow well in the pot. Year 5 are very excited to present their excellent work.

Announcements

ROAD TRAFFIC ACT
A new amendment to the road traffic act is coming into force in 120 days. Children under 6 years of age must use a child safety seat and seatbelts MUST be used by the driver and all passengers. There will be a fine if this is not followed.

SAFEGUARDING PARENT WORKSHOP
For those who were unable to attend here is our PowerPoint presentation

Safeguarding

Dates for Your Diary

VACCINATION FOR PRE-PREP STUDENTS
19^th May (1pm onwards)

BIKES TO SCHOOL
Monday, 23^rd May – Reception

PARENT WORKSHOP: MONSTER PHONICS PART 2 – WHAT WE TEACH AT EACH YEAR LEVEL
24^th May

YEAR 2 TRIP
25^th May (morning only)

YEAR 2 SWIM GALA AND FUN SESSION
Friday, 27^th May

Parents are welcome to attend

PHOTO DAYS
Monday, 6^th June & Tuesday, 7^th June

Students to wear their PE kit with yellow socks

TRANSITION MEETINGS
As we approach the end of the year we are beginning to prepare the children, and you the parents, for the transition to the next academic year. We are offering a range of transitional experiences for the children to help them make that move. We are also offering parent meetings to discuss key changes for the following year groups:

8^th June 8:30am Moving from Nursery to Reception,
14^th June 8:30am Moving from Reception to Year 1.

(Y2 to Y3 dates are still to be confirmed)

Selfie Art Day

We are excited to invite all of you (2 parents/caretakers per child) to our Pre-Prep Art exhibition on Friday 17^th June.

Your child(ren) will guide you around our Oval to show each Year's group “Selfie Art” piece. In total, we will have 5 selfie art pieces you can admire and take pictures of and with during the exhibition. We have 2 times slots available for you on that Friday: in the morning between 8:00-8:30 and the afternoon between 3:00-3:30.

We hope you can all make it!

Pre-prep Thai

Last week was a busy week in the Thai department! Reception students learnt about the letters ฉ and น and Thai numbers 1 – 10, and our non-native Thai speaking students learnt about the objects they put in their School bags.

Year 1 students reviewed the long vowel สระไอ สระใอ and they learned new sounds เสียงอัย such as ชัย มาลัย, etc. and our non-native Thai speakers learned about pets and the new sentence ‘This is my pet’.

Year 2 students learnt about short sound consonant words and used them to create sentences.

Nursery Parrots

In Parrot class this week, we have been retelling the story of ‘The Gingerbread Man’. Students enjoyed taking on different roles and are fantastic at joining in with the repetitive phrases: ‘Run, run as fast as you can! You can't catch me. I'm the Gingerbread Man!’ and ‘Stop! You look good enough to eat!’.

After learning about floating and sinking, the children challenged themselves to make boats for the Gingerbread Man to safely cross the river. They persevered for a long time to create designs that floated.

Reception students have enjoyed everything number-related this week! We focused on numbers beyond 10 and had to put numbers 11-20 in the correct order. We also loved playing Bingo, where we practised our number recognition and we had fun playing Snakes and Ladders where we practised our counting skills.

Year 2 Butterflies

This week, Butterfly Class have been learning about traditional Thai games during our topic lessons. Miss Praew taught the children an old-fashioned game that uses a banana tree branch to make a 'horse'. The children used their ‘Teamwork Tiger’ skills to strip the leaves, bend the stem to make a head, and create a tail at the end. We gave our 'horses' silly names and enjoyed playing on them around the Oval.

We have also been busy thinking about how we can innovate the Stickman story, which we are using to inspire our journey story writing in our ‘Talk for Writing’ lessons. Butterfly class had great ideas about how they could introduce new characters, change the settings, or add even more problems for poor Stickman to solve.

Year 2's visit to the Outdoor Education Centre

Years 2s visited the Outdoor Education Centre this week, where they learnt about directions and how to navigate by either using a compass or simply by where the Sun is in the sky. They also played with tents, and the camp’s wooden structures whilst surrounded by nature.

Spanish

This week, Year 1 students have been learning all about ‘las frutas’ (fruits) in Spanish through different crafts and singing.

Year 2 students have been learning how to describe their best friends. They enjoyed playing online games and I am very glad to see they are now more confident in making sentences in Spanish!

Boarding Life

Marshall House has been busier than ever this term! It's been lovely to welcome so many new faces into the community and the existing boarders have done a wonderful job of helping them settle in. Here are a few pictures from Marshall House life this week, including our full boarders at Varuna Yacht Club last weekend and the gourmet supper they prepared in the house for Mr & Mrs Dunn on Saturday night!

Some LXX boarders in School House have been trying out boarding prefect duties, taking over the reins from the students in the XX as they prepare for their final exams. One key responsibility is to call the register at Call Over every morning and evening, then offer any notices to the House. This is a fantastic opportunity for the boys to continue to develop their leadership skills and, so far, they have been doing a fantastic job!

Enrichment and Sport

PRE-PREP ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES
As part of our enrichment programme, our Pre-prep students enjoy activities such as taekwondo, snag golf, ballet and robotics, to name but a few. It is great to see our Pre-Prep students immersed in such a range of great activities.

SNACK ATTACK
Last Saturday, Year 3 & 4 students had the opportunity to make a variety of sweet and savoury snacks in our food technology room. They loved mixing, shaping, chopping, assembling and, most of all, eating their creations!

HARROW CUP
Another historical weekend for RST sport! Last weekend we travelled to Harrow Bangkok to participate in the largest School sports event in Bangkok. And what a weekend it was! 8 RST teams (U9, 11, 13 & 15 boys and girls) played 40 games over 2 days. There were 30 wins, 3 draws, 7 loses, 118 goals scored, and only 42 goals conceded. And both the U11 and U15 girls won the Harrow Cup!

Congratulations to everyone who took part!