Rugby School Thailand eNewsletter

Matters of Principal

This week Mr Grindlay reminds us of the importance of taking the time to reflect:

Whole School Reminders

ANNUAL TUITION FEE DISCOUNT
A reminder that if you settle your School fees in full each year, you qualify for a discount of 3%. Please complete the below survey to qualify:

School Fee Remission Survey

SCHOOL PHOTOS
Please find an outline below of how to order your child’s School photo:

Photo sample packs will be sent home with your child on 20^thJune;
Parents can either place their order in School from 20^th– 22^nd June (Admin Reception Area), alternatively orders can be placed online. The deadline for online orders is 27^th June;
Photos will be ready for collection in School from 18^thJuly onwards (Admin Reception Area), or
Photos can be delivered at home (there will be a small delivery charge to parents). Orders will be delivered from 18^th July onwards.

CHANGES TO SCHOOL UNIFORM
A reminder that we have reviewed the School uniform and made some small changes, both to allow a better quality, and to provide a more continuous uniform running through the three sections of the School.

The new uniform will be available from August 2022, but we will have a transition period where the old uniform items will still be acceptable for the next academic year. Please click on the link below for more information on the changes:

New School Uniform

UNIFORM SHOP OPENING TIMES
24^th June – 19^th July – CLOSED

20^th July – 22^nd August OPEN
9:00 – 16:00
** Closed on Saturdays, Sundays and Public holidays.

23^rd August – OPEN
9:00 – 19:00 (Boarders Return)

24^th August onwards
Normal opening hours 07:30 – 18:00 hrs

Contact us VIA Line ID : @rstshop or TEL : 033 141 800 ext.1150

Whole School News

Boarding Week

Our ‘Boarding Week’ was a huge success, with current boarders hosting a series of afternoon teas, games and sleepovers in the Houses. Day students from each year group (Year 6 through to LXX) came together to enjoy quality time, whilst also gaining an understanding of our vibrant boarding life and the benefit it has for independence, working habits and so importantly, making wonderful friends!

If you enjoyed seeing more boarding content on social media, please follow @boarding_rugbyschoolthailand on Instagram to keep up-to-date with life in Rupert Brooke, School House and Marshall House.

You are always welcome to come and enjoy a boarding house tour with the resident staff or just pop in for a coffee to discuss our flexible and bespoke boarding options. Please contact admissions@rugbyschool.ac.th at any time!

The joint Prep and Senior Art Exhibition opened this week and exhibits fantastic artwork from across Year 3, all the way to GCSE and A Level students.

The Senior artists especially, demonstrate all the learner profile characteristics. They have been particularly ‘resilient’ when they had to work remotely for part of their course. They have become more ‘inquiring’ after researching artists and cultures which have influenced their personal projects, whilst ‘communicating’ their intentions using visual language. They have learned to be ‘reflective’ as their work progressed through a range of skills and demonstrated their ‘versatility’ as they worked independently. After studying on this two-year course, they are definitely more ‘globally-minded’ after choosing themes such as 'reflection', 'passion & obsession' and 'ordinary & extraordinary.'

The Grand Opening for Prep students is today, and the Senior exhibition is open for viewing during the Senior Speech Day tomorrow, 18^th June.

There is also an art sale and the money raised will help the ‘Elephant Jungle Sanctuary Pattaya’ build a new shelter for their elephants. Here is a sneak preview of what to expect - see you there!

This weekend, six of our students attended the ‘World Scholar's Cup’, where students competed in four disciplines: team debate, collaborative writing, Scholar's Challenge and Scholar's Bowl. The latter two events were a stern examination of critical thinking and general knowledge. RST entered the event with two teams:

Junior - Si Eun, Max and Jada
Senior - Prinn, Xander and Pam

If it wasn't impressive enough to be part of the event, Prinn and Pam are actually still eligible for the Junior category; there were about 45 teams per age group and our Senior team can 6^th overall, earning a gold medal. Our Junior division team came 15^th overall, earning a silver medal.

Individually, Pam came 3^rd in the debate competition, despite being younger than those she was competing against, and was selected to take part in the Debate Showcase with the other top debaters at the competition, which she won. Max earned the 5^th highest individual score for the collaborative writing challenge, writing a recipe for appointing a worthy successor. He also earned gold medals in three subjects and was placed 11^th individually in the Junior Division. Jada and Si Eun also took part in the Scholar's Showcase, performing a duet called Welcome to Wonderland; Si Eun played the violin and Jada sang.

All the RST students earned silver and gold medals – too many to list in full!

In this regional round, we met the qualifying criteria to compete eligible in the global rounds, one of which happens to be in Bangkok (there are other venues such as Dubai, Prague, Nha Trang, Cape Town) in September.

Thank you to all involved for representing the School incredibly well.

Please click below to read Si Eun and Max's account of the event:

World Scholar's Cup - Si Eun & Max

World Scholar's Cup - Xander & Prinn

'Whole Me Weekly' Update

At RST we aim to develop a progressive and modern programme that meets the students where they are at in their lives, and adds value to their progress through inclusive experiences and discussion both academically, socially and pastorally.

Click on the link below for this week's update:

Whole Me Weekly

Senior News

Announcements and Reminders

SPEECH DAY - SATURDAY 18th JUNE
Could parents please arrive by 10.45am at the latest. All Senior students are required to attend in full School uniform (mandatory).

BATTLE OF THE BANDS
Students are busy practising every evening in the Performing Arts Centre, in readiness for next week's ‘Battle of the Bands 2022’. This year it will take place outside on the RST croquet lawn on the afternoon of the last day of School.

It promises to be a great afternoon of music from all year groups, and a great way to close the School year. We hope to see you there!

Here are the highlights from our last event:

F Block Arts Showcase

Our F Block Arts Showcase was a huge success this week. Parents and staff enjoyed viewing artwork created by the F Block in their Art Gallery, before watching a series of music and drama performances. Every student in the year was involved in this event and it was a fantastic opportunity for them to show their work throughout the year to their parents and guests. They performed excellently and we are very proud of them. Well done F Block!

Last Saturday, 19 Senior students travelled to the Bangpu Recreation Centre for their second mangrove restoration project. In a race against the incoming tide, they toiled against the mud and mosquitoes, planting close to 400 saplings in 2 hours!

Afterwards, the rangers complimented them on their precision, as every tree had been secured at the correct depth and was neatly tethered to a thin wooden stake. Each sapling had a value of 20THB, which was paid for by recent charity drives, such as the House 'Change for Change' challenge (which raised more than 5,000THB). RST M.A.D. has committed to a mangroves site visit once per term and hopes to involve a large number of Senior students in the future.

Careers Taster Week

Our Careers Taster Week for Key Stage 3 & 4 was designed to spark students’ curiosity in all things related to future career paths. Each day was themed around a specific careers-themed question, with activities and resources available at ‘Call Over’, in ‘Tutor Time’, and during ‘Break Times’.

By the end of the week, students had learnt about more than 30 different career paths, undertaken virtual work experience, shared their aspirations for the future (knowing that it's absolutely fine to change their minds). They also learnt more about employability skills, or ‘competencies’ as we refer to them when using Unifrog, including ways on how they could continue to develop their ‘soft skills’.

During this week, students essentially had the opportunity to "try before they buy" in a safe and supported environment, helping them to build the knowledge they need to make informed decisions about their futures, assisting them with post-16 subject choices, and developing their confidence to be curious.

Swimming Gala

Last week saw the return of the RST Senior School Interhouse Swimming Gala. Swimmers from F and E Block could be found donning pyjamas at this year's event, to add to the festivities!

The competition took an untraditional approach where the houses battled it out in a giant kickboard relay.
The second event – and undoubtedly the highlight of the day – was the ‘Stepping Stone Slam Dunk’ event. This event required participants to traverse a series of floating mats with a foam ball in hand. If a swimmer was able to reach the final mat, they would then have to slam dunk a ball into a floating basket at the end of the mats. There were some fantastic displays of athleticism, style and precision!
Next, swimmers at the end of a 50m rope were pulled the length of the pool by members of their team, who took the strain on the opposite end.
The event culminated in a more traditional style, as the Houses took to the starting blocks for a 4x50m Freestyle relay. Some of our RST squad swimmers were on display, producing some quality swimming and treating the crowd, to some excellent swimming.

PSYCHOLOGY
LXX Psychology have been conducting a field experiment around School this week, investigating pro-social behaviour. They have been putting their research methods skills into practice and have been very happy to conclude that everyone at RST is very helpful!

ENGLISH
At RST we strive to incorporate as many practical, real-world skills in the classroom as we possibly can. In preparation for a debate on a central theme in one of our set works this week, students took turns chairing meetings, and began crafting their persuasive arguments in small groups.

To help our students engage more during discussions, they were given a unique challenge card which helped them bring some depth to the issues being raised.

MUSIC AND DRAMA
The newly-named Performing Arts Centre (PAC) has been very busy this week! With the rehearsals taking place for the ‘F Block Showcase’, performances for ‘Speech Day’ and ‘Battle of the Bands’, students are working hard right up until the very end of term.

E Block have been rehearsing for their Speech Day performance this week - we can't wait for you to see it on Saturday!

LANGUAGES
This week, E Block students chose to learn about 'Madrid'. They researched the size of the population, places of interest, climate etc in Spanish, and created an informative infographic.

HISTORY
F Block History students recently submitted their end-of-year 'Personal History Projects' which gave every student the opportunity to apply the historical method to any area of history which interested them. We have included the front pages from a selection of them below:

American Women in World War One - Poon K

ART
In the ceramics activity every Wednesday we have loads of fun. This week we painted our fired pieces and also had a go on the electric pottery wheel learning to 'throw". We got very messy!

Prep News

Announcements & Reminders

SHREK THE MUSICAL
A couple of weeks ago, our Year 8 students wonderfully produced Shrek - The Musical. You can now watch the amazing performance in the comfort of your own homes by clicking on this link.

MICROSOFT MIXED REALITY WORKSHOP
Microsoft Thailand came into School this week to help conclude the virtual reality projects Year 5 and 6 have been doing in computing. Our students were able to get hands-on experience with the next generation in mixed reality, where, using the HoloLens 2 headset, students were able to project virtual objects into the real world using just their hands. The educational potential of this technology is almost limitless and with talks of the metaverse at our doors, this was a vital experience for our young minds to not only see the potential that this technology can bring, but also the dangers and pitfalls we need to be aware of.

The students were also able to try out the latest offerings in tablet and laptop computers and how they could be used in their lessons; experiencing time relevant learning whilst having fun in a new environment.

TECH TEAM PREPARES TO GROW
This week saw the final meeting of our ‘Tech Team’ where preparations were underway to change leadership, as our Year 8 members transition to Senior School. This marks an exciting time in the Tech Team's development as these Year 8s will mark the founding members of the ‘Senior Tech Team’ and pave the way for the whole School team to be created in the coming months.

We are still very much at the start of the journey however, I very much look forward to collaborating across the School with these students to train, learn from and guide into a technology support relied upon by the School.

Mr Burkhill

Dates for your Diary

18^th JUNE - U12 FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT FINAL (08:30 - 10:30)
Team members have been emailed separately

18^th JUNE SATURDAY ENRICHMENT
(08:00 – 09:30)

Saturday Sport: Badminton & Volleyball are available for all Y5-8 students. Please contact sbuck@rugbyschool.ac.th if you would like to attend. Drop-off is at the CGA.

23^rd JUNE PREP SPEECH DAY IN THE WEBB ELLIS CENTRE
10:30-12:00 All parents may attend

23^rd JUNE YEAR 8 LEAVERS' LUNCH WITH FAMILIES
12:00-13:30 Year 8 students with their parents and siblings may attend

23^rd JUNE – END OF TERM
12:00 End of Term for Y3-7
13:30 End of term for Y8

Adventure, Explore, Survive Outdoor Course

On Wednesday, Mr Hitchmough and Mr Douglas presented an exciting new activity for Years 3-6 that will take place in and around our Outdoor Education Centre.

Next term, students will be able to complete the Adventure, Explore, Survive Outdoor Course to earn badges and awards by demonstrating their skills in many areas that range from lighting a fire to building a shelter. This course is designed to develop our students’ resilience, ability to reflect, communicate, collaborate, think and be versatile – all attributes from our Learner Profile. The students are already excited to join!

House Debate Final

On Wednesday, the final debate took place in the Performing Arts Centre (PAC).

House Debate Final

Maths Relay

During maths lessons this week, our Year 5 to Year 8 students took part in the annual 'Prep House Maths Relay'. The students collaborated in small house teams to solve a variety of tricky maths questions. ‘Resilience’ was a key part of the challenge and all students supported each other, displaying excellent reasoning and problem-solving skills.

The scores are all in and students know which House won in their own year group. But, who will be the overall winners of our fantastic ‘Maths Relay’ trophy? We'll find out next week at the end of year assembly.

Lunchtime Recital

Last Friday, we welcomed parents into School to watch a music recital, where many of our students, both in Prep and Senior, performed their exam pieces to the audience. It was incredible to see their confidence and talents on display. The performances were fantastic, and we wish them luck with the instrumental exam results.

This week in swimming, the RST coaches provided students with a valuable opportunity to experience, and learn, the basic skills of personal survival in water.

Our RST students had a lot of fun as they made their way through the unit of ‘Personal Survival’, all whilst dressed in their pyjamas to simulate the difficulty of moving in water whilst fully clothed.

Break Time Music Concert

During Tuesday’s break time, some of our instrumentalists played in a mini concert for their friends. For some of them, it was their first performance in front of an audience, as they have only been playing for a term or two. It was great to see and hear all the progress from our musicians!

If your child is interested in starting a new instrument, they can contact our Director of Music, Ms Andrews - kandrews@rugbyschool.ac.th. The School can also arrange trial sessions for those who are not sure what instrument they would like to learn.

Many thanks to the Arnold House Captains for organising an incredible talent show last month:

Year 4 Maths

This week, Year 4 students enjoyed getting creative in Maths with Mrs Fogden, making all sorts of symmetrical patterns!

Year 4 English

Year 4 students has been learning about parables (human characters) and fables (animal characters) which are short stories containing a moral (life lesson).

In the famous parable of the ‘Blind men and the Elephant’, 6 men who have never met an elephant argue about how to describe it. Each man only touches one part of its body and jumps to a conclusion because they cannot see the rest of it. It's a wall. They say: "It's a spear. It's a snake. It's a tree. It's a fan. It's a rope". All of them are partly right... but all are in the wrong! Listen to the teachers tell the story here.

Then, this week, the children used this parable to innovate their own versions. We used a real-life hedgehog as the inspiration and focused on using similes as a literary device. Students described it as having spines that are prickly like a cactus. Its feet are rough, like a brush. Its belly is soft and warm, like a scarf. Its nose is fuzzy, like a peach.

Year 8 Boarding Experience

School House and Rupert Brooke were delighted to welcome Year 8 students into their boarding houses this week as part of their transition. There was lots of laughter as we played an egg catching game, had tours of the Houses, asked questions to our current boarders, drank delicious hot chocolate, and enjoyed some free time to relax in the House with friends. It was great to see our older and younger students enjoying time together. Thanks for coming, Year 8!

Announcements and Reminders

SCHOOLZINE
If you have not done so already, please download the SchoolZine app. Instructions for Android and iOs can be viewed by clicking on the links.

Dates for Your Diary

21^st JUNE PARENT WORKSHOP
8:30am – How to help your child over the Summer holidays

21^st JUNE – YEAR 1 SUMMER SHOW
2:30pm in the Assembly Hall

22^nd JUNE – YEAR 2 LEAVER'S CONCERT
2:30pm in the Assembly Hall

23^rd JUNE CLASS PARTY DAY
Please wear your party clothes!

School finishes at 12

Music Showcase

Our EYFS learners are so excited to share their musical talents with their loved ones. Watch them sing, dance and play percussion:

PRE-NURSERY AND NURSERY: SHOWCASE

PRE-NURSERY: BEHIND THE SCENES

NURSERY: BEHIND THE SCENES

RECEPTION: SHOWCASE

RECEPTION: BEHIND THE SCENES

Moving Up Meetings

Pre-Prep took part in a transition morning where they got to move up to their next year. Everyone went to their next year group and met some of their new teachers and learnt a little about their new classrooms. They were quite excited – especially Reception who got to visit the KS1 playground, and the Year 2s who went to Prep to experience what it feels like to be in Year 3 for the morning. The children also watched videos from new teachers who are not yet at RST so they could meet them virtually.

We held a Pre-Nursery and Nursery Tea Party this week, to welcome new children and parents to our School. It is all part of the transition process to help make that move from home to School as smooth as possible. There was a stay and play session, followed by singing, and a picnic. Our teachers got to meet the children and the parents and show them our classrooms. We look forward to seeing them all again in August.

Selfie Art Day

Today's Art exhibition in Pre-Prep was all about collaborative and interactive art; each Year group designed a 'selfie art wall' and our parents and children had a great time posing and taking 'selfies'.

The classroom windows were displayed with beautiful and impressive art pieces, demonstrating the range of techniques and styles our Pre-Prep children have learnt throughout the year.

This week we have been learning a little about chemistry and physics in the Owl class. We made bubble snakes and learnt how bubbles are formed and how the gasses from our breath create them. We also looked at how shadows are formed by the sun, and how they change throughout the day. We made milk turn into beautiful rainbow art by separating the fat molecules in the milk with liquid soap, however the highlight of the week was our very own erupting volcano, where lava (made out of baking soda and vinegar) spread all over our own small Jurassic world.

STEAM in Early Years
Research confirms that early STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) education promotes academic success and 21st-century skills. Children who learn STEAM concepts throughout their education are better prepared to meet increasingly technology-focused professional requirements.

STEAM concepts also help children develop new ways of thinking and problem-solving, encouraging curiosity, creativity, and analysis. Spontaneous teamwork promotes collaboration and communication. The children learn to share space and resources, accept others’ perspectives, discuss different ideas and solutions, and build their leadership skills. All this while playing and having fun on a daily basis. We see an increasing number of engineers, architects, urban developers, prototype constructors, builders, designers, and jewellery makers during our free-choice play time in our Nursery Ant Class.

The children spontaneously select the activity and resources they want to use individually or with friends. Their language has developed so much this academic year that they are able to describe their intentions and proudly talk about their final projects. Our little Ants keep themselves busy in meaningful and enjoyable ways. We are so proud of them.

This week, Reception have been thinking about healthy food. We talked about ‘superheroes’ and what they need to eat to stay healthy and strong.

The children made smoothies by cutting up some pineapple, mango and bananas. We then added juice and frozen berries and blended it all up. We tried two different kinds of smoothies; the red berry smoothie was the firm favourite.

It was a delicious, cool and healthy snack on a hot day!

Year 2 Frogs had a great time producing some abstract animal artwork this week during their Art classes! We have some very ‘Creative Chameleons’ in Year 2!

This week, Butterfly class have been learning how to extend their sentences during their English lessons. They learnt how to use a technique known as 'stretch a sentence' to develop their vocabulary and add further details to their work by using ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘why’. Here are some of their fantastic examples:

Intensive English

This week, our phonics focus was on "oo" and its long and short sound. Ethan, HaYoon and Sunny said it was the best English lesson ever! I can't imagine why, can you?

Useful Links

Learner Profiles

Enrichment and Sport

PREP PREP FINE MOTOR ACTIVITY
In fine motor activity this term, we've been working hard to build the muscles in our hands. It's been wonderful to practise these movements whilst having fun.

MANDARIN
In the Year 1 Mandarin activity, students made China’s most beloved flowers – the plum blossom (meihua 梅花). As the flowers blossom in the coldest time of year, it is a symbol for perseverance and aligns nicely with one of our Learner Profiles, ‘Persevering Penguin’.

MOUNTAIN BIKING
The Year 7 and 8 mountain bikers have been learning how to navigate the different types of terrain around RST. In one of the photos, you can see them all at the top of a hill contemplating Mr Douglas' challenge to find their own path back down!

What an incredible setting we are in for this activity!

Meanwile, the Year 5 and 6 students tested their skills on some fun ramps in the quarry area around campus:

DEADLY 60 ACTIVITY
Each week, the children learn about dangerous animals such as the poisonous dart frog from South America, or the giant hippo from Africa. They made these animals from craft materials and learnt some amazing facts. This week, they chose any animal they wanted and created a silhouette picture.

They don't look at all deadly, do they?

SPANISH
In our Spanish activity, our little ‘Exploring Eagles’ are learning about various Spanish and Latin American artists and their work. This week, we have been talking about ‘Pablo Picasso’. The children loved making their own Picasso-inspired asymmetrical portraits. Look at these ‘Proud Peacocks’ and their artworks. Excellente trabajo!

ECO GARDEN CLUB
This term saw the start of a new activity in Pre-prep, the ‘Eco Garden Club’. We’ve planted seeds in the Eco Garden and had fun completing lots of garden themed activities, such as making a Bug Hotel and recycling plastic milk bottles into gardening baskets.

CROSS COUNTRY
The Cross-Country term is coming to an end soon, and we decided to finish it off with heaps of resilient fun! We set a challenge to run up the steepest 700m long hill for the title of “King and Queen of the Mountain”!

We celebrated at the top of the hill with some well-deserved ice lollies and prizes.

Well done to Arabella and Teddy for taking the “King and Queen of the Mountain” and to Maxi and Lea for winning the “most improved athletes” award.

New friendships were made and some brilliant basketball was on display from all the teams. Here are the results of the matches:

Boarding Life

MEET THE MATRONS
Here are our boarding house Matrons - Khun Ney, Khun Aim and Miss Amanda (left to right) - who ensure each house runs smoothly. They sort laundry, ensure any meds are taken, tend to boarders if they're sick, wake everyone up in the morning, and generally bring sunny smiles to life in the houses!

Last weekend, Rupert Brooke girls enjoyed a lovely evening of candyfloss making:

Last weekend, Mr & Mrs Dunn took the full boarders from Marshall House up to Bangkok, where everyone had a great time playing crazy golf, ice-skating and eating delicious Vietnamese food at Le Dalat! Back at School on Sunday, they spent they relaxing in the house and swimming in the CGA pool.

On the weekend, boarders love spending time playing sport, either in a team, or just for fun. We promote health and fitness as part of boarding life, and being able to use our amazing facilities is something our boarders really value!

The E Block Rupert Brooke girls enjoyed wearing their home clothes yesterday, to raise money for Childline Thailand:

As an evening activity with Mrs Barnes, some of the Marshall House boarders created this amazing Harry Potter themed mobile for Miss Amanda (the House matron) to put in the nursery for her twin boys. Each piece of paper has a little handwritten note for the babies. A wonderful gift for a Harr Potter lover!