Term 1 - 4 November
Matters of Principal
Whole School News
LET'S RICE TOGETHER
Drum roll please...
... The prize for the neatest stacked rice was clearly in Pre-Prep, with a special mention to Year 1 who edged ahead and was named the Pre-Prep winners.
The competition between Prep and Senior slightly tipped the scales on volume, and was pretty close up until the last minute, when over a ton of rice arrived to push the Seniors firmly into 1st place!
This means the risotto for first place goes to Senior, with the real winners being the Hand to Hand Charity Foundation, benefiting from the whole School drive to support such a worthy cause through our MAD champions.
Well done to Seniors who won the Rice Challenge!
Here are some statistics to show how amazing this challenge was:
As a School, we collected more than 5 tons of rice! We worked on an average of 190THB per 5kg bag, which means our rice is worth just over 200 000THB! What an amazing donation! The rice will last hand to hand for about 2/3 months.
They are very thankful, and could not believe the amount of rice we collected. There is also a table in the pictures, that details exactly how much of each we collected just to give perspective.
A HUGE thank you to everyone involved, we have exceeded expectations, and we are thankful to be able to help our community.
CHRISTMAS FAIR SPONSOR - THE BRITISH LEARNING CENTRE
We'd like to say a big thank you to The British Learning Centre, who are sponsors of our Christmas Fair.
Based in Pattaya, The British Learning Centre is Thailand's premium evening and weekend tuition school, delivering English National Curriculum objectives at British international school standards. They offer English, Maths & Science Tuition; small group classes and private one-to-one classes.
To find out more, contact the BLC: info@britishlearningcentre.com / 084 090 5572
If you'd like to become a valued sponsor of the Christmas Fair, please get in touch with us: ChristmasFair@rugbyschool.ac.th
ROCKY MOUNTAIN VOICE COMPETITION
2 students took part in the Rocky Mountain Voice Competition over the half-term break. We are pleased to announce that Piano (E Block) was awarded First Place in the intermediate, 15-16 years old, general (less competitive) difficulty level category, for her rendition of Calum Scott & Jon Maguire’s ‘You Are The Reason’.
Donut (Piano's sister, 7A) was awarded the Grand Prize in the Junior Category, 11-12 years old, General (less competitive) difficulty level, for her rendition of the same piece
The Grand Prize is awarded for an outstanding performance based on the judges' decision. There is only one (or rarely two shared for a split decision) Grand Prize winners from the entire season. For this Autumn 2022 season, Donut was awarded the prize.
Well done Piano and Donut!
Whole School Reminders
BOARDING OVER EXEAT WEEKENDS AND HALF TERMS
A reminder that boarders have the option to remain on campus over any of our Exeat weekends or half-term holidays, if they would like to do so. This is another way we are improving and developing our boarding provision to offer flexibility and support for boarding families' different needs.
If you would like to find out more please contact the Director of Boarding, Mr David Ennis-Billing dennisbilling@rugbyschool.ac.th. To sign up for a boarding trial or discover more about our boarding options and how they can help your child, please get in touch with the Admissions Department admissions@rugbyschool.ac.th
14th – 18th NOVEMBER - ANTI-BULLYING WEEK
Friendship Week in Pre-prep
18th NOVEMBER – ODD SOCKS DAY
Please come to School wearing odd socks
Please look for more details around your section of the School on whom to contact if you're worried about bullying:
Senior News
Announcements & Reminders
2023 IMMERSE EDUCATION ESSAY COMPETITION
Congratulations to Prinn whose essay was selected to receive a partial scholarship of 30% to take part in the Law programme with Immerse Education in 2023
This year saw a record-breaking competition and thousands of entries were received from students attending leading schools all over the world. The judges commented on the impressive quality and originality of essays that were received and it was clear that the candidates had invested significant effort in researching and writing their essays.
Well done Prinn!
THAILAND CHAMPIONSHIP 2022 DRESSAGE
Congratulations to Peace (E Block) who won the Thailand Championship 2022 Dressage Competition held at the Thai Pole and Equestrian Club last weekend. Peace also accumulated the most overall points this year.
Well done Peace!
COBIS ART COMPETITION
A reminder to please hand in your artwork for the COBIS Art Competition to Ms Pardoe by Friday, 11th November.
LEVEE
Our wonderful Levee (student leaders) are fantastic examples to other students; they are involved in running the Student Council, in organising events, activities, societies and clubs, as well as charity and service projects and so much more. Here some members of the student leadership meet to finish planning visitors' tours for this Saturday's Senior Open Day.
Dates for Your Diary
7th – 10th NOVEMBER
Sixth Form Virtual Parents Meetings, 16:30 - 18:00 daily
7th NOVEMBER
Tech. team interviews for selected students with Mr Burkhill and Mr Spreyer
U19 Boys and girls Basketball vs Regents away
8th NOVEMBER
Loy Krathong Celebration
8th NOVEMBER
RSTMAD local visit to Baan Jiang Jai and Hand 2 Hand
9th NOVEMBER
Business Studies and Design & Technology trip to BMW, Rayong
U19 Boys and girls Football home vs Regents 7 aside
10th NOVEMBER
Departure of World Scholars' Cup trip to Yale, USA
11th NOVEMBER
Sixth Form in-person Parents Meetings, 16:30 - 18:00
Sixth Form Residential Trip
The last 2 years have seen many curbs to our trips and excursions programme, which made it particularly exciting to take the whole of the Sixth Form to Royal Varuna Yacht Club for 2 days last week. Opportunities for challenge and personal growth are integral to a holistic education and our Sixth Form rose magnificently to the series of challenges presented to them. Everyone had the opportunity to learn to sail, or improve their skills, on the ocean with the instructors from Varuna. Brisk winds and sunny days saw happy students skimming across the waves and experiencing the joys of carbon-free travel.
Our students also spent a half-day negotiating a series of Commmand Tasks; leadership exercises designed to improve their communication and teamwork skills. These exercises, run by our skilled Sixth Form tutors, gave them all the opportunity to work with their peers to strategically plan and refine their approach to 6 challenges.
Challenge remained a theme as the students participating in the Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Award completed their initial expedition training. Camping overnight, learning to use a gas stove, developing navigation skills and practising First Aid prepared them for the progressively longer Adventurous Journeys they will take part in over the next two years.
Friday afternoon saw tired but happy students returning to the comforts of home with new skills, new friends and freshly equipped for the challenges of Sixth form life.
Inktober
Inktober concluded this week and the student Heads of House have been busy behind the scenes tallying results to find out the overall winners.
The winners will be announced soon but, in the meantime, each of the house leaders has written some words about how it went for the newsletter. Please click on the link below to read their report:
Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos)
Over 50 students (a combination of day and boarders) came to the Black Box to celebrate the Mexican tradition 'Dia de los Muertos'.
They ate tacos and nachos (and popcorn), listened to Mexican music and did some cool face painting "katrina" style. They also watched the film 'Coco'.
Everyone had a great time!
Whole Me Progamme
F BLOCK LEADERSHIP AND TEAMWORK
Over the past two weeks, our F Block students explored how collaborating, contributing and cooperating with others can help them make better progress and work more positively in groups.
They were forced to put their new knowledge to good use at the end of the session as they had to work together to build towers made of marshmallows and toothpicks.
Learning
PHYSICS
Last week, D Block students studied static electricity during their Physics lesson:
DRAMA
The Performing Arts Centre was full of life this weekend, with IGCSE drama rehearsals and music practice.
F Block have started their new topic about 'Verbatim Theatre' by rehearsing and performing a range of verbatim monologues, using a technique called 'recorded delivery'.
Verbatim Theatre involves collecting real interviews and using the exact words spoken in them to create a performance. Recorded delivery is when you listen to the recorded dialogue through headphones as you rehearse, copying the way the words are spoken.
BIOLOGY
F Block students consolidated their learning of the Carbon Cycle in Biology this week, by splitting into teams and drawing the details of the cycle, whilst being blindfolded. The students had to work together and displayed excellent ‘Communicator & Collaborator’ qualities:
ART
Senior students have explored what it means to be globally minded, this week. On Thursday they visited the Museum of Contemporary Art in Bangkok and became familiar with the British street artist and political activist, Banksy. The museum also houses a wide selection of Thai and international artists, from which they drew and painted from.
Namhom said 'It was a great experience to study artwork, being able to see the artists' work up close, both Thai and European'. Ah Ra said 'It was inspiring to see art that we had learnt about in Prep with Ms Barnes in a gallery space'.
Prep News
Announcements & Reminders
DIWALI
Last Friday, we were lucky to hear from some of our Sikh and Hindu community about what Diwali meant to them. Many thanks to Ayla, Nathawee, Shaan, Jason and Daivik for being fantastic communicators and helping the rest of our community to be more globally minded.
LOY KRATHONG
On Tuesday, 8th November, students will be celebrating Loy Krathong. As part of the cultural experience, our students will be making eco-friendly decorations, which will be on sale at the end of the School day. All proceeds will go to RSTMAD.
REMEMBRANCE DAY
Poppies are available at the Veraphan Entrance every evening. All donations will go to the Royal British Legion who have provided lifelong support to ex-military personnel and their families since 1921. We will remember and honour all those who have fought and died in service in wars around the world during our Remembrance Service on Friday, 11th November. We will also learn about Remembrance Day in our next Friday assembly.
THAILAND CHAMPIONSHIP 2022 DRESSAGE
Congratulations to Imboon (6S) who took part in the Thailand Championships 2022 Dressage competition, and achieved the following results:
1st place: dressage test walk trot 3
3rd place: dressage test world challenge Cat A
1st place: dressage test preliminary A all pony of Thailand
3rd place: dressage test preliminary A open
Well done Imboon!
CAR PARK SAFETY
Please drive slowly and responsibly around our School campus to keep our community safe. Remember that we are all role models for the children and we should be setting a good example to them.
Dates for your Diary
5th NOVEMBER
FIXTURES - HOME
(08:30 – 10:30) U10 & U14 Football v Planet Football @RST
(09:30 – 11:30) U8 & U12 Football v Planet Football @RST
FIXTURES - AWAY
U13 Basketball @ASB
U14 BMAC Girls Basketball Championships @ NIST
Teams have been informed via email
SENIOR SCHOOL OPEN MORNING
We would like to invite parents from Year 8 to visit to tour the Senior School and meet the Heads of Year and Heads of Department. Please fill out this form if you would like to attend
YEAR 6 PRODUCTION REHEARSAL
(08:15 – 12:30) in the Veraphan Theatre. Students should bring their water bottle but a snack will be provided.
7th NOVEMBER: YEAR 3 PARENT/TEACHER MEETINGS
15:50-16:40 (online) OR 16:40-18:00 (in-person)
8th NOVEMBER: YEAR 3 PARENT/TEACHER MEETINGS
15:10-16:40 (online) OR 16:40-18:00 (in-person)
8th NOVEMBER: LOY KRATHONG
Students may come to School wearing traditional Thai costume. Please also bring in PE/swimming kit as normal.
17th NOVEMBER
Y7 Art Trip to Bangkok
14th – 18th NOVEMBER
Anti-bullying Week with Odd Socks Day on Monday, 14th November
14th NOVEMBER & 16th NOVEMBER: YEAR 8 PARENTS’ EVENING
14th November
15:00 – 16:50 (Online)
16:30 – 18:00 (In-Person)
16th November
15:10 – 16:50 (Online)
16:30 – 18:00 (In-Person)
14th NOVEMBER
Year 3 Geography Field Trip @Wisdom Valley - PE kit, sun cream, hat, water bottle & bug spray required.
RSTMAD Charity Update
On Monday, many of our students came into School dressed in scary and gruesome costumes to celebrate Halloween. They took part in a ghostly competition in their forms, where they had to choreograph a dance to songs such as Ghostbusters and Thriller.
Not only was this a lot of fun, the students also brought in 100THB donation for RSTMAD. We raised an impressive 25,450 THB, which will be delivered to Hand to Hand, who delivered a talk to our students a few weeks ago. These donations go a long way toward supporting those in need in our wider community.
You can find out more by visiting their website.
Year 5 Science
Year 5 students have been looking at the work of David Attenborough and learnt about the roles of each member of his filming crew. Then, they worked in groups to produce their own documentary about the giant African tortoise (Ruby and her babies). This a fantastic example of how they develop the communicators and collaborators traits from the learner profile, in science.
Design & Technology
With a through-flow curriculum across Prep and Senior DT, we are now teaching the foundations to basic 3D design and how to create digital renderings. The Procreate digital illustration app is used throughout the sSnior department but to better prepare Prep students we are now incorporating the app in upper Prep as well.
Prep students are now learning to create their own app-based renderings that enhance their own design work within their current project.
Inktober
Throughout October many students participated in the Inktober House Competition. There has been a Prompt word for each day; students could make an ink sketch in response to any or all of the prompt words.
We had a range of entries for every prompt which allowed children to show their creative flair through their sketching and practise and improve their skills. Several students completed sketches for all 31 prompt words, a huge well done to them!
Jason Narang, one of the Hardy House Captains said this about his house: "This month of Inktober was amazing for Hardy. It was amazing to see all the beautiful artwork that Hardy students have been able to achieve. It has been a good experience working with the other Hardy house captains."
The House Captains managed this competition throughout the month, assigning marks and giving comments to students in their Houses, about the sketches submitted.
The overall results will be announced later this term.
Lunchtime Concert
This week, we have held another two wonderful lunchtime concerts to showcase the amazing musical talent in the School and to give our musicians the opportunity to perform to an audience. We have even more coming up next week and of course parents are welcome to attend.
Pre-Prep News
Announcements and Reminders
CAR PARK SAFETY
Can we please remind you that the carpark is a 2kph speed limit and that safe and courteous driving is expected.
No one should stop on the zebra crossings to unload passengers as this is a pedestrian crossing. Families should be able to cross safely on these zebra crossings at all times. The security guards are there to help everyone and ensure that we all remain safe.
COBIS ART COMPETITION
We are excited to invite your child to enter the COBIS Art Competition 2022. Entries will be accepted from 24th October to 11th November. We can submit three entries from the Pre-Prep age group so selection from entries will take place on the 14th November with the three chosen entries being submitted to COBIS by the 16th November 2022.
Please click below for more information:
Dates for Your Diary
7th NOVEMBER – COFFEE MORNING
8:30am - Year 1 Parents coffee morning with Head of Year and SMT
8th NOVEMBER – LOY KRATHONG
Children may dress up for our in-School celebrations but please bring School uniform to change into later.
14th – 18th NOVEMBER - ANTI-BULLYING WEEK
Friendship Week in Pre-prep
18th NOVEMBER – ODD SOCKS DAY
Please come to School wearing odd socks
21st NOVEMBER
School closed for EXEAT weekend (open Tuesday 22nd)
23rd NOVEMBER
Monster Phonics Day
Come and See
It was wonderful to have so many parents join their children in class last Wednesday. The happy faces of the children as they showed their parents around their classrooms and shared their workbooks and activities were just superb. We hope you got to see a snippet of what your children do when they are with us.
Early Years parents got a special treat with Wake and Shake! We look forward to welcoming you again next time.
Music
Our young musicians started the term with energy and enthusiasm!
Nursery and Pre-Nursery students love being full of energy – they sing, dance and play percussion instruments! However, these budding musicians also wait patiently for their turn to get the instruments and they know how to play them with care.
Reception students love to sing with Makaton signs which help them to remember the words and develop their fine motor skills. They also love to play percussion ensembles. When different instruments play together, it makes music more interesting and beautiful.
In Key Stage 1 we are focusing on playing instruments (Y2-recorder, Y1-xylophone). To play a nice tune requires coordination in our bodies; reading music, controlling the air, moving our hands/ fingers all of which need to happen simultaneously.
STEM
Last Friday, Pre-Prep had their very first STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) day, Fairytale STEM. Each year group from Pre-Nursery to Year 2 chose a story to focus their STEM activities on. In classes children then completed many fun and interesting STEM activities and in the afternoon assembly, Miss Lauren made some giant toothpaste for the giant in ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’.
It's been reported he has some very smelly breath so we hope he will be able to clean his teeth now. Everyone had a great STEM day and are looking forward to what we will get up to next term for another STEM day!
Makaton Signing
This week, we have been learning the Makaton signs for 'please', 'thank you' and 'no'.
Thank you to Duck class for their help making the video.
Nursery Fish
Fish Class absolutely adored our new topic of 'People who Help us'. Last week, we focused on firefighters. We painted our own fires, put out (pretend) fires, played with small world fire trucks, and tweezed numbers out of fire colour paper...and so much more!
Year 2 Chimpanzees
This week, the Chimpanzee class had very special visitors. Our mummies and daddies came to see our classroom to do some fun activities with us, and see what we have been working on.
We showed them our little supermarket, where we can buy food and toys using Thai Baht and British Pounds; we looked for insects together in their natural habitats, and we made art pieces with our parents about the different habits.
We had so much fun showing our parents our alliteration ice creams, and playing corners. We hope to have you in our classroom again soon!
Useful Links
Enrichment & Sport
What a day at the Harrow Cup!
We took 80 students (8 teams) to play in this year’s tournament. U9 and U15 girls were crowned champions, U9, U11 and U15 narrowly lost in the final, U11 and U13 girls won the bronze, and the U13 boys finished 4th.
Our U15 boys took part in the first Regents School 3-on-3 basketball tournament. They played really well, eventually getting knocked out in the quarter-finals. Raff (E Block) was the star, winning the skills challenge!
PET CARE CLUB
In Pet Care Club, Year 2 learnt about keeping bunnies as pets and then they made bunny treats. They mixed together hay pellets, oats and mashed bananas and baked them in the oven. They smelled delicious but they are strictly for bunnies to enjoy. We will be watching a video this week of Miss Lauren's bunnies enjoying their homemade treats.
MANDARIN
In Mandarin Activity, Pre-prep students have been learning about the life cycle of frogs and how to write basic Chinese characters.
CROSS COUNTRY
What a beautiful ‘wintery’ evening. Y5-8 cross-country split into two groups, group 1 ran over 6km completing the whole Wisdom Trail. And group 2 ran a 4km section of the Wisdom Trail.
Lots of resilience and hard work today - well done!
CERAMICS
This week, Year 3 and 4 students painted and decorated their Christmas decorations which they made a few weeks ago, using the coiling method
CULINARY ARTS
In the Culinary Arts activity, Prep students had a blast learning how to whip up an egg-white-based icing. They then added food colouring to their icing to decorate their sugar cookies.
STEAM ACTIVITY
The Year 5&6 STEAM Activity group explored our local environment to observe, identify and record items from a scavenger hunt list with a focus on biology.
Students then created a photographic board to document their experience in different tech media. A fun hands-on way to learn, explore and create. And a wonderful sunset to witness!
DANCE OUT LOUD
Prep students have enjoyed the new dance choreography:
Boarding Life
It was a spooktacular Monday night of Halloween-themed activities in Marshall House. Mr & Mrs Stoker, Miss Amanda and the duty staff set up a series of games in each of the common rooms - from the 'Oreo Game' (trying to get an Oreo from your forehead into your mouth without using your hands), to the 'Cereal Box Game' (trying to pick up an ever-shrinking cereal box with a peg in your mouth) and the 'Loo Roll Mummy Game' (wrapping a team member up like a Mummy in the quickest time, without breaking the loo roll).
It was all great fun, and despite the extra sugar hit, the boarders were all asleep in record time that night!
School House boys dressed up for Halloween on Monday, rasing lots of money for charity.
Rupert Brooke girls also enjoyed dressing up for Halloween:
Our boarding students have extra time to build strong links with staff who do duties in the houses, so this weekend Marshall House boarders each invited a staff member to join them for a meal in the house. It made for a very jolly picnic lunch.
KaiMook and Atom later got stuck into barbecuing, putting Mr Dunn out of his usual job, but preparing another great meal that was enjoyed al fresco. On Sunday, the boarders headed to a trampoline park, where they had an excellent time expending lots of energy before relaxing back in the house for the evening and welcoming their weekly boarding friends back.
The competition was on over the weekend as Rupert Brooke and School House went head-to-head to each make their 'Guy' for this week's bonfire night celebration, where Marshall House boarders will join them down at the Outdoor Education Centre. The students found a range of recycled materials and had to use their creativity and collaboration skills to bring their ideas to life.
School House and Rupert Brooke students tucked into some spooky Krispy Kreme doughnuts on Saturday night, helping them to get into the Halloween spirit.
It was another busy Saturday morning for our boarders. Whilst some students were away playing matches, others chose from a range of exciting enrichment activities, including scuba diving, sailing, Dungeons and Dragons, volleyball, art, badminton, creative writing, basketball... and many more.
Last week, School House boarders did their final 'weigh in' of all the rice that they bought over half term. Together, they managed to donate a fantastic amount to the rice appeal and we are really proud of their charitable spirit.
Rupert Brooke managed to collect over 200kg of rice, an incredible effort.
RSTeam Spotlight
Get to know the people who make RST great by learning more about them and their roles.
This week's spotlight is on Kathy Wharton - Deputy Head (Pastoral) Pre-prep:
Community Events
