Rugby School Thailand eNewsletter

Whole School News

Announcements

IMPORTANT SECURITY NOTICE: PARENT ID CARD
The entrances to Prep and Senior are in the process of being fully automated and you will not be able to access the School site without your parent ID card. Visitor cards will not be able to open the automated gates.

Please ensure that you bring your parent ID with you at the start of next term if you would like to access the internal School site.

SCHOOL ACCREDITATION NEWS
We were recently inspected by the Education Development Trust. Highlights are below with the full reports available via these links: British School Overseas Report and International Schools Quality Mark Report.

NO SHAVE NOVEMBER
We would like to thank every member of the RST community who helped support 'No Shave November' to raise money for the Chonburi Cancer Hospital this year. We were able to raise just over 10,000THB across all sections of the School, which is certainly something to celebrate!

We would also like to thank nurse Joy and Bangkok Pattaya Hospital for their unbelievably kind gesture of donating ten free cancer screenings for parents and staff. We deeply appreciate your continued support of our RST community!

COBIS Art Competition

This year's COBIS art competition had the title “Who Am I?” and the competition was judged in Key Stage groups.

Our winners in Early Years and Key Stage 1 are Eric from Year 2, Hedgehogs class and Sherlyn who is in Year 2, Dolphins class. Both children used a wide range of colours, textures and patterns in their pieces. Eric colour-coded the different parts of his personality in a rainbow and Sherlyn’s piece has a hypnotising effect when looking at it because of the intense colours, blacks and patterns she used.

Our winner for Key Stage 2 is Arin from 3H, followed by Jule in 6A as our runner-up.

Arin’s work shows amazing textures using colouring pencils and Jule’s work uses an interesting mix of media to show the things important to him. Other highly commended work in Key Stage 2 come from Roy (4B), Leo (4J) and Ida (4J).

Our Key Stage 3 (years 7 - 9) winner in Prep is Ivy from 7B. Her self-portrait painting clearly shows her passion for art. Sieun (7A) also is highly commended for her surreal watercolour and Berry (7A) for her clever digital work.

Rin was the winner from Senior, F Block and she painted a miniature make up brush as Marilyn Monroe with delicate precision. Sua’s drawing was highly recommended.

Once students get to Key Stage 4 they begin to use a combination of observations and interpretative skills which lead Buggy to produce a mixed media piece “Me” which was selected as the winner and 2nd Place went to Tanya K for her double image portrait of her friend Lynne, where she combined a delicate pencil drawing with acrylic paint.

This year there was a new category for Key Stage 5 which received the most entries, as you may have seen in our previous post. The judges found it really difficult to decide but came to the following decision. Dee-Dee’s interpretation of life in Boarding was enchanting. At first glance, you may not see the figures communicating across the windows, whilst the main figure lies casually on his bed whilst having a video chat on his phone. The idea behind this work is that having lots of people around you all of the time is an amazing experience but there is also a need for time on your own. Candy gained 2^nd place with her self-portrait which uncovers her inner self and traits. Grace Fan’s coursework piece received a highly recommended as runner-up.

Whole School Reminders

3^rd January 2023
Boarders return from 18:00

4^th January 2023
Term 2 Starts at 8am

Senior News

Announcements & Reminders

REPORTS
End-of-term reports have been published on the Parent Portal. Please see the Reports Guidance for further information.

Art Auction

Rew is a member of the Levee and has played a key role in RST MAD projects in the past. She first came up with her idea of having an art auction during the long vacation with the main aim to promote financial inclusivity in Thailand. After receiving her email and numerous communications via email it was evident that she felt very passionate about her idea. Friends and students across the senior School have donated artwork for this venture. Many created work in their free time, especially to be auctioned whilst others used pieces they had made for their GCSE or A Level courses.

I am pleased to say that Rew and her friends achieved an amazing amount and a grand total of 64,900THB has been raised! All proceeds will go to support rural enterprises in the Isan region that are in need of business loans.

Many thanks to everyone who donated large sums or bid for artwork. Thank you to Mr Groves, Mr Spreyor, Mr May and especially Mrs Rees for making this auction possible.

Learning

BIOLOGY
The LXX Biologists carried out chromatography to look at the different types of the pigment chlorophyll found in different leaves as a way of looking at variation. They calculated the Rf values to try and identify the different types of chlorophyll.

E Block students consolidated their learning of the circulatory system this week, by dissecting hearts:

BUSINESS STUDIES
On Saturday 26^th November, 40 senior business students took part in the RSTPA Christmas fair, selling products that they had designed, created and marketed themselves. There were 15 stalls in total, with goods on offer such as slushies, handmade bracelets, pancake art, cookies, LED lights and even Christmas presents for pets! It was a great opportunity for students to put their business skills to the test and have plenty of fun while at it.

In total, students managed to raise 27,351THB for RST charitable funds, which is a fantastic achievement. A huge thank you to the RSTPA for their support in this wonderful opportunity.

Prep News

Announcements & Reminders

REPORTS AND EFFORT & ATTAINMENT GRADES
These are available to view on the Parent Portal. Click here for a reminder of our Reporting Schedule.

PARENT HANDBOOK
Our Parent Handbook has been updated.

ACTIVITIES
All activities for Term 2 are now viewable on SOCS

STUDENT-LED FUNDRAISING
Last week, one of our students, Tommy, organised a concert for families who live on-site, to raise money for ‘Hope for Strays’. He organised the space and the acts, as well as baking some of the treats which were on offer.

The event was a huge success and managed to raise over 7000THB which was dropped off at the Hope for Strays centre last weekend. Well done Tommy!

LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF PREP
Please click on the link below to view an end of term letter from the Head of Prep, which includes some key dates for the first half of next term:

Letter from Head, and Important Dates

Dates for your Diary

3^rd January 2023
Boarders return from 18:00

4^th January 2023
- Term 2 Starts at 8am
- Our Activity Programme begins

Y5 & Y6 Junior Sports Leaders

Our Junior Sports Leaders completed their final week of delivery to the Y2s this week. They have planned, organised and run their own mini-sporting sessions for the Y2s during break times in the CGA. All students received high praise from the Y2 staff for their engagement with the Y2s and their ability to lead fun and well-organised activities.

We will certainly look to develop and expand this programme further based on the success of this current cohort. Many valuable skills and experiences have been developed and improved.

Adventure Explore Survive Activity

Students in Years 3 to 6 who signed up and joined the Adventure Explore Survive activity completed their course by testing their skills in the hilly forest of Khao Mai Kaew. Students were responsible for map reading, setting up ropes on steep rocky sections, building shelters, making campfires and cooking their own food.

The trail took them to the top of Khao Mai Kaew where they could look down over RST and even see as far as the sea in the distance. They carried all the equipment they needed and worked in small teams to ensure their success.

Year 3&4

Rugby and Regents staff have been battling it out at Pattaya Disc Golf, a beautiful park in Takhian Tia, for a couple of years. It was the perfect venue for our first disc golf fixture, drawing on experienced members of our Year 7 and 8 enrichment group, some of whom have been practising on our own course for over two years.

The format was best-disc doubles, four pairs from each school. We were up against some older students and it was Vladimir and Happy from Regents who set the best score of the day, finishing even par after 11 holes. Seb and Teava were only two strokes behind and were well supported by the other pairs so that our total was +13. This was 6 strokes better than the Regents' total of +19 so Rugby were the overall winners. The players all got along really well and are keen to meet up again.

Pre-Prep News

Announcements and Reminders

SCHOOL REPORTS
Your child's Term One School report is now available for you to read. If your child is in Pre-Nursery, Nursery or Reception, you can access the report through Tapestry. If you have any issues accessing them please contact Miss Sophie or your child's class teacher.

For those of you with children in Year 1 and Year 2, you can access their report through the parent portal on iSAMS. If you have any difficulties accessing the reports, please contact Miss Sarah or Miss Kirsty.

KEY DATES FOR TERM 2

Key Dates for Term 2

MESSAGE FROM THE HEAD
It has been a very festive week in Pre-Prep this week starting off with the Year 1 show "A Christmas Toy Story" on Tuesday to a packed audience of mums, dads and grandparents. This was then followed by the Year 2 show "Angel Express" on Wednesday. Both shows were amazing with some super speaking parts, singing and dancing. Much fun was had by all, and I think the audiences of both would agree that they brought the house down with their smiles. You could see how much they enjoyed it!

Of course, the week didn't stop there, we then had our class parties with a special visitor in red – I wonder who that could have been? He kindly read a story to the EYFS classes and asked to hear songs from the Year 1 and 2 shows before jingling on his merry way to prepare for Christmas Day.

Then finally, we had our Christmas jumper/dress day and Christmas lunch on Friday. Oh, my after all the party food on Thursday and then Christmas lunch on Friday I think we might all sleep for a week!

It has been a joyous end to a busy term in Pre-Prep. Thank you to all the parents for their support with our events this term, and to all the staff for their hard work. I hope everyone has a well-deserved, safe and happy Christmas holiday.

Dates for Your Diary

4^th January 2023
- Term 2 Starts

Pre-nursery Panda Tea Party

We welcomed our new Pre-Nursery Panda class to a Tea Party on Wednesday so they could meet their class teachers. It was a fun session where everyone could meet each other, explore the classroom and play with some of the toys. Miss Jessica and Miss Yuu were both here to meet and greet families and begin the settling in process.

It was lovely to see so many families joining us for this familiarisation taster session. Miss Sophie and her team had been busy little elves in recent weeks setting up the new classroom so that it was ready. We look forward to welcoming everyone in January when the Panda class officially opens.

Pre-Prep hosted another successful Father's Day Breakfast last week; with lots of daddies and special family members attending. It was lovely to see everyone wearing yellow and celebrating such an important day. The children had all been busy making cards for their daddies or family members and were very excited to treat them to breakfast, and show them around their classrooms.

Year 2 Christmas Show

Our Year 2 children put on an amazing performance of 'Angel Express' for their families this week.
We are really proud of them and their singing and acting. Excellent work Year 2 and Merry Christmas to you all!

In Mr. Roger's Intensive English class we had a fun, but busy week, and really enjoyed making our Christmas Posters:

Makaton Signing

This week we learned the signs for 'happy', 'sad', and 'how are you'

Thanks go to the Toucan class for their help making the video.

Happy signing!

Useful Links

Learner Profiles

Enrichment & Sport

U11 FOBISIA BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Here are some photos from last weekend's basketball championships:

This week, all Marshall House boarders (day, weekly and full) were invited on a special Christmas excursion into Pattaya for bowling and pizza. The Year 5 & 7 boarders did the first trip on Tuesday, followed by the Year 6 & 8 boarders on Wednesday. Everyone had a great time!

Last weekend, the Marshall House full boarders had an action-packed weekend of festive fun, that included a bike ride around Lake Maprachan, ice-skating at Mega Bang Na, a trip up the MahaNakon Tower, Christmas shopping and go-carting!

On Sunday afternoon, School House boys gathered in the Common Room for some traditional Christmas snacks, including stollen, Christmas cake and pannatone. Complete with festive music and a roaring (television) fire, it really got us into the Christmas spirit!

We had great fun playing Pictionary in School House on Sunday night! Can you guess what film Pun (XX) and Seitaro (E) are drawing here?

Fantastic to see former Head of House Tim A back to visit us in School House. As a boarder, Tim thrived at RST and has always thought of his boarding house as his second home, wherever he is in the world. Great to see you Tim!

There was only one way that the boys in School House were going to spend their Friday night... Watching back-to-back episodes of Wednesday together! Crisps, hot chocolate and marshmallows were the perfect accompaniments for a relaxing evening.

School House XX and LXX enjoyed going out for their 6th Form Christmas Social on Tuesday evening.

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 Daodeymie Duval, Receptionist and Admissions Officer:

Community Events

FREE FOOTBALL CLINIC
Wisdom Academy is hosting a FREE football clinic at RST from 12^th – 16^th December, for boys and girls aged 7-15 years old.

There is a limited capacity of 30 people for each session, which will be as follows each day:

9-11am: Children aged 7-11
4-6pm: Children aged 12-15

For more information about this event and others, follow Wisdom Academy Thailand on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wisdomacademythailand

Term 1 - 9 December