Term 2 - 27 January
Matters of Principal
Whole School News
RST wins ISA award
We are delighted to share that we have won the 'Innovation and Creativity in Learning' category for this year's International School Awards!
A fantastic achievement that recognises RST's advanced use of AR technology within D&T to support the development of student work. Mr Douglas introduced the AR technology initiative across D&T in both our Prep and Senior Schools. RST has since embedded AR in the D&T websites for use with students across the many year groups.
The inclusion of AR technology is utilised as a way to honour the usual process of reviewing real-life manufactured designs, which had been disrupted by COVID-19. With the support of AR, our students could virtually test product designs, gaining a much better insight into how effectively they worked in an intended environment. It is an initiative that has altered the landscape of design testing for our D&T coursework!
Congratulations to all involved, and a special thank you to ISC Research.
RST Make a Difference (MAD)
BAAN JING JAI FOUNDATION
On Tuesday, representatives of the RST Parents' Association, Angélique and Ben, delivered a cheque to the supervisors of the Baan Jing Jai Foundation, Sunanta and Piangta. The money, which totalled 120,000THB, was raised from the successful charity golf day held by the RSTPA in November. This money will be used to support the annual care sponsorship of five vulnerable children at Baan Jing Jai.
During the visit, Piangta shared information about the specific needs of each child, including four boys who have recently been taken in by the foundation. To meet the basic needs of each child, such as food, clothing, housing, and care, the foundation needs 2,000THB per child per month. While most of the 90 children at the foundation have an external sponsor, not all of them do.
In the second part of the RST-MAD English language programme at Baan Jing Jai, nine Senior School students spent a happy hour playing word games and sport with the children there. Nicky (LXX Tudor) and her team are developing valuable leadership and communication skills, while also serving as inspirational individuals to young, underprivileged people. Sunanta and Piangta provided glowing feedback about Nicky’s team: “Our children love your students coming to our premises. They want to grow up to be just like them.”
HOPE FOR STRAYS & FALKO DUWE
This week, a group of students from MAD visited two charities, Hope for Strays and Falko Duwe. They spent time interacting with the dogs and made donations of 10,000THB to each organisation. Both charities are known for their efforts to sterilize dogs in the Pattaya area. Falko Duwe's work alone has resulted in the sterilisation of nearly 11,000 dogs in the region.
Funds were raised through various activities run by the seniors, such as sports day tuck shops, bake sales, raffles etc.
If you would like to find out more about these charities, you can view their websites:
https://www.facebook.com/HopeforStraysThailand/
https://falko-duwe.blogspot.com/ Daily reports
https://streetanimalprojectpattaya.blogspot.com/ Monthly reports in English
Lunar New Year Celebrations
It was great to have the School come together as a community to celebrate Lunar New Year this year.
Pre-Prep students had a fantastic time with their mummies, daddies and family members celebrating Lunar New Year this week. They watched the lion and dragon dances with the Prep students and then took part in our own classroom activities and 'Wake and Shake' with Miss Chloe:
There were some wonderful performances from our Prep and Senior students:
And some wonderful attire:
Our Senior staff are known for not shying away from having fun, and they recently showcased this by recording a cover of a traditional song for Lunar New Year:
Thank you to all involved for making our Lunar New Year celebration special, however, we would like to recognise our talented Senior School student, Grace Fan (XX), for her exceptional contribution to this year's Lunar New Year celebration.
With her digital artwork, she was able to colour the RST Admin Building and provide adorable cartoon RST students as backdrops for the Pre-prep, Prep, and Senior assemblies. These backdrops, which were printed out for the stage, are now proudly on display at the entrance of the senior and pre-prep building. We congratulate Grace for her stunning artwork and thank her for her contribution to the celebrations.
Senior News
Announcements & Reminders
BOARDING WEEK
We are delighted to let you know that our annual ‘RST Boarding Week’ is taking place from 13th to 17th February. Boarding Week is a celebration of our award-winning boarding provision and a chance for us to remind you just why RST is Thailand's leading boarding School.
As part of this year’s Boarding Week, Year 9-13 students who aren’t currently boarding can enjoy a sleepover, including supper, fun activities and a chance to relax with some current or new friends. The sleepover is on 16th February and is free of charge for those considering moving from day to boarding. To sign up, just complete this short Google Form by the end of January at the latest - it’s first come first served, so please hurry!
Open INNO-vation 2022
During the Christmas holidays, Jiew (Danuwat) (E block – School House), entered a competition called Open INNO-vation which was organised by the Mediator Cooperation in collaboration with Thai Union Company where he was awarded a Corporate Award and collected this in person at the Japanese Embassy this week.
In total, Jiew submitted three design entries, and it was his ‘Tuna Paste’ idea for which he received an award. His idea was inspired by wasabi in small packets and the notion that people often forget breakfast, this is deemed to be the most important meal of the day by many. By using ‘Tuna Paste’ he says people can apply this quickly to bread and have a nutritious breakfast, with the protein of tuna giving a morning energy boost.
He is particularly pleased as he was the youngest at 14 years old to receive an award with all the others being adults. He is, also, thrilled at being given 30,000THB for his excellent innovation by the Thai Union Company. This experience has made him want to continue to think innovatively and he is very much looking forward to the next design competition.
Dates for your Diary
29th JANUARY: U18 Girls' basketball trip to Chiang Mai returns
30th JANUARY: School closed for Exeat
31st JANUARY: A Level Art coursework deadline
31st JANUARY – 2nd FEBRUARY: D Block Virtual parents' evening, 16:00 - 18:00
3rd FEBRUARY:
- Lunchtime concert in the Veraphan theatre, 12:30 - 13:00
- D Block in-person parents' evening, 16:00 - 18:00
4th FEBRUARY
- Varsity and Junior Varsity football at Bangkok Prep
- Saturday Enrichment Programme
Sports Day
The Senior Students' Interhouse Sports Day brought together students from different houses who competed in sprints and relay races, long jump and javelin.
The day was filled with excitement and friendly competition as students showcased their athletic abilities and house spirit.
The day concluded with the Senior teacher relay race, which is a highly anticipated event among the students as it gives them a chance to see their teachers in a different light, and to see the competitive side of their educators.
Learning
CHEMISTRY
This week, E-block started a new topic in Chemistry on metals. They learnt to predict reactions by looking at the reactivity series and planned an investigation to put 5 different metals in order of reactivity. They conducted their experiments safely and evaluated their results afterwards.
DRAMA
IGCSE Drama students in the D Block have continued their practical exploration of Dracula this week, developing their understanding of 'Bedlam', a Victorian hospital in London, and the conditions faced by patients who stayed there.
BIOLOGY
F Block students are learning all about DNA. Last week, they made their own models of DNA molecules by using Haribo bears – they did an incredible job, and even managed to hold off eating their DNA structures until the lesson was finished!
E block students are learning about digestion and how the biological molecules in food products are broken down. In this practical investigation, they are testing various food sources for the presence of carbohydrates, lipids and proteins:
Prep News
Announcements & Reminders
SUNCREAM
As the weather gets hotter, please don’t forget the importance of suncream for your children. Please ensure that you put suncream on your children before the start of the School day and put suncream in their bags so that they can reapply before PE.
Dates for your Diary
27th – 29th JANUARY: FOBISIA Swimming Event
30th JANUARY: School closed for Exeat
31st JANUARY: U11 Girls and Boys Football v St Andrew's (Away)
Teams have been notified
1st FEBRUARY: Year 8 Outdoor Education Centre Morning
2nd FEBRUARY: STEM Fair at St Andrew's - participants have been notified
4th FEBRUARY:
- Saturday Enrichment Programme - please sign-up on SOCS
- U8 & U10 Football v Planet Football (Home)
- U13A Girls & Boys Basketball (Home)
Year 4 Science
Year 4 students have been learning about food chains this term. This week, they had to search through the ‘organic remains’ of suspected animals who might’ve snuck into our campus last night! Year 4 successfully found all the culprits and had plenty of fun in the process.
*brown clay was used to make the 'organic material' ;)
Year 5 French
In French this term, some Year 5 students have been learning about a famous French poet called Jacques Prévert. We focused on his poem called "Le Cancre" and over the past couple of weeks, we have discussed the meaning of the poem and used the Talk for Writing method, which uses images and action, to help memorise or internalise the structure and content of the poem.
They then performed their recital from memory in our Poetry Extravaganza assembly on Friday, paying close attention to their intonation, clarity, confidence and interpretation of the poem. All of the Learner Profile characteristics were developed throughout the topic too!
Y6 Science
Year 6 science have been learning all about different types of forces. Using the scientific method, we spent a lesson investigating what happens to a parachutist if we changed the weight. The third floor of the Veraphan made for an excellent drop-off point!
Year 6 English
This term has been a celebration of Poetry throughout every Prep year group.
Year 6 students have studied, recited, created and performed tanka poetry. 'Tanka' is a Japanese poetic style consisting of 31 syllables giving a complete picture of an event or mood. The learning objective was to create a specific 'mood' or 'sentiment' which includes ambitious vocabulary, literary devices (such as metaphor, simile or personification), whilst following the tanka syllable pattern of 5/7/5/7/7.
The video below is a compilation of some of the Year 6 work created for the English Department's Poetry Showcase event.
STEM Leaders
After a term of planning for our STEM Leaders, they are now in full flow with delivering their planned sessions to the Year 5 & 6 STEM Activity.
They have organised a variety of experiences for those students, centred around problem-solving and teamwork. The STEM Leaders have had to plan, resource and organise each session, which in turn has developed many of their life skills in preparing them for the next step at RST.
Thai Calligraphy Competition
In our poetry lessons, Thai students have learnt children's poems and participated in our Thai Calligraphy House Competition. The criteria were challenging with a high standard of handwriting required. Students put in their best effort and were also resilient. We are proud to announce the winners of the competition as follows:
1st place winners:
Year 3: Daisy 3H (Webb Ellis)
Year 4: Groya 4F (Beauclerc)
Year 5: Oscar 5F (Hardy)
Year 6: Atom 6S (Arnold)
Year 7: Na 7O (Webb Ellis)
Year 8: Atom 8S (Beauclerc), Tian Tian 8M (Arnold), Guang 8P (Arnold)
We also have many more winners in second place, third place and those who showed excellent resilience. Everyone did a fantastic job.
Pre-Prep News
Announcements and Reminders
GENTLY USED BOOKS
We are working to diversify our library collection by acquiring children's books in different languages. In line with our commitment to recycling and reusing materials, we are seeking donations of gently used books in other languages that your children have outgrown. If you have any such books that you no longer need and would be willing to donate, please bring them to the office.
Our goal is to build a collection of books in various languages so that children can read stories in their native language and have access to books in their own language during playtimes. It is widely acknowledged that a strong foundation in one's first language is essential for fluency in a second language. As such, before we purchase new books, we thought it would be worth checking if there are any gently used books that we can recycle.
READING VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
KOALA WAY
Here is a reminder of our Koala Way which we follow at Pre-Prep. We are happy for parents to use this at home too!
SCHOOL COUNCIL BAKE SALE
Next week the Pre-Prep School Council will be holding its first Bake Sale to raise money for the Hand to Hand Foundation.
It will be held on Tuesday, 31st Jan at 3:15pm for Pre-Nursery, Nursery & early pick-up Reception parents and 4:30pm for Reception, Y1 and Y2 parents.
If you have time to make or buy any cakes, doughnuts, cookies, biscuits etc. that you could donate to the sale it would be much appreciated. Please drop them off in Miss Kirsty’s office on Tuesday morning.
Thanks for your support in advance.
ASSEMBLY PERFORMANCE
Ellie (Y2 Chimps) and Yejin (Y2 Hedgehogs) have both performed for us in assembly this month. Ellie played the piano and Yejin the violin and both entertained us beautifully with their music. They were very brave to play in front of a tough crowd of Reception, Year 1 and 2 children and they impressed everyone with their talent. Well done to both of you. We are already looking forward to the next pieces you play for us.
Dates for Your Diary
30th JANUARY: School Closed for Exeat
31st JANUARY: Parent Workshop on Safeguarding in THAI language by Khun Natt and Khun Bui
1st FEBRUARY: Reception Coffee Morning 8:30am
6th FEBRUARY: Reception Bikes or Scooters to School - don't forget your helmet
8th FEBRUARY: Teamwork Tiger Day - come dressed as a Tiger or in yellow and black clothes
15th FEBRUARY: Nursery Coffee Morning 8:30am
Reception
GECKOS
Reception Geckos went on a trip to the Veraphan theatre as part of our topic 'Our Wonderful World'. We had the full cinematic experience (with yummy popcorn treats) whilst consolidating our knowledge of our key text 'The Snail and the Whale' by Julia Donaldson. We are learning all about the world we live in and this week we took a closer look at Thailand.
This week, the Geckos have been learning all about 'capacity' and how much liquid or sand each container can hold. We learnt to use the words full, nearly full, half full, nearly empty and empty in a sentence correctly.
We read about a small mouse who tried to fill a paddling pool but only had a very small bucket to use to fill it up. Luckily, with the help of his friends, he was able to carry enough water to fill the pool and he and his mouse friends had a lot of fun splashing around.
TOUCANS
As part of our new topic, "Our World," this week, we read the story of "The Snail and the Whale."
The story teaches us about the power of friendship and how it can bring us to new and exciting places. We were inspired by the beautiful friendship between the snail and the whale and decided to take a virtual trip to China to celebrate our Lunar New Year. We packed our bags, looked at maps, and set sail on our journey.
This week, we learned a lot about China and its culture, including how to use chopsticks and say "hello" in Chinese. We even sent postcards from China, a great way to make the experience feel real. It was a fun and educational week for our Reception Toucans class, as we could connect the story to real-life experiences and learn about a different culture.
Year 1 Chicks
This week in chicks class we have been looking at making and counting in groups of ten and looking at identifying tens and ones:
Year 2 Chimpanzees
The Year 2 Chimpanzees have been very creative, active and busy learning new things! We have been putting together and building a collaborative art piece puzzle by Vincent van Gogh, we are also trying to persuade our crayons to come back from hiding by acting out a letter we wrote to them!
The Chimpanzees are math masters, especially when we can measure and draw on the tables. While getting ready for sports day, we have also been measuring our long jumps during maths.
We have been learning about adjectives, and we can describe ourselves as funny, cool, productive and kind. We also went on an adjective hunt in Pre-prep where we described different people, places and things.
Year 2 Football
A big shout out to the Year 2 football team who played their first competitive games this week. They showed great heart and determination and ended up winning one game, drawing one game and losing one game. The children had a fantastic time and showed great sportsmanship throughout.
Intensive English
This week in pre-prep Intensive English, we learnt about the topic ‘transport’. We looked at all the different types of transport, and made our own vehicles in soft play. We made a car, a boat, an aeroplane, a helicopter and a spaceship.
Music
Our Pre-Prep young musicians are learning music by using multiple senses: they sing with the Makaton signs to help them remember the words and the melody; they play percussion ensemble and movements to learn the beat and rhythm; they also play in an ensemble that allows students to develop team skills, using hand actions to help them recognise the notes.
Makaton Signing
This week we learned the signs for: come, look and listen.
Thank you to the Pre-Nursery Rabbit class for their help in making the video. Even our youngest students in the School are keen signers!
Useful Links
Enrichment & Sport
Enrichment
PRE-PREP EXPLORING AND ENGLISH ACTIVITY
In Mr Roger's Exploring & English Activity this week, we circumnavigated the West Lake, stopping off to test a variety of objects as to whether they would sink or float and who could throw a stick the furthest. We saw shoals of fish, a big water snail and lots of dragonflies...a fun trip!
PRE-PREP NETBALL
In Pre-Prep, we are having lots of fun with Miss Lurica learning about a new sport, netball! The KS1 boys and girls are introduced to new skills, especially focusing on their hand-eye coordination. We are practising our chest and one-hand throws, catching and freezing, and we are learning how to use quick feet and be 'Teamwork Tigers' in this team sport!
We are excited to play our first netball game soon!
PREP COOKING ACTIVITY
In the Cooking Activity on Monday, students were challenged to research and design their favourite recipes. They had fun discussing and analysing their favourite recipes with their friends. Students were reflective thinkers by looking at the ingredients and equipment necessary to make it happen. Some students introduced creative twists, like a Strawberry Cinnamon Roll. Yum! The most detailed, creative and delicious recipe will be prepared by the class in one of our future lessons. Will it be the cheeseburger, cupcakes, or ice cream? Stay tuned to find out!
PREP CHINESE ARTS ACTIVITY
During Chinese Arts activity, we wrote Chinese calligraphy to celebrate Chinese New Year. We posted "Fu福" character as a sign of prosperity "arriving" to us, and "Duilian对联“- Chinese Couplets as a New Year's decoration that expresses happiness and hopeful thoughts for the coming year.
PREP STEAM CHALLENGE
The Year 7 STEAM Leaders have designed mini-lessons to deliver to their Year 5 and 6 peers as part of our STEAM Challenges Enrichment: Teamwork, problem-solving and engineering skills are hard at work!
Some of the STEAM students also participated in Citizen Science by tackling a litter pick to tidy up our local area.
SENIOR GARDENING ACTIVITY
Some of the E block boys have been helping map out the School’s Eco Garden in order to plan produce that can be grown across the different parts of the School. They have been taking accurate measurements and then using these to draw a scaled-up drawing of the various areas in the garden. They’ve also been harvesting some of the tomatoes and chillis that are thriving in the garden and have been looking after Ruby and her babies.
SENIOR ECO GARDEN ACTIVITY
The group is currently working on a project to invite members of the community to join them in growing vegetables at their eco garden, which they have named "Grow Your Food with Us on Tuesdays and Wednesdays."
The goal is to demonstrate to the RST Community that it is possible to grow their own food. Students will be using produce from the eco garden to prepare meals in the food technology lab, showcasing various home recipes. They also plan to create a cookbook featuring recipes that use vegetables and herbs grown in the RST Eco garden. The cookbook project has just begun, and this week they prepared dishes such as "Braised Chicken Breast in Tomato Sauce with mixed vegetables" and "Seasoned Chicken with Magic Scrambled Egg."
Sport
RUGBY FESTIVAL AT RUGBY SCHOOL THAILAND (RST)
"Promoting and developing the game of Rugby Union, in a safe, fun and positive environment".
Last Saturday 21st January, we hosted, for the first time, a Rugby Festival for U9, U11, U13 & U15 rugby teams.
Coincidently, this coincided with the 200th anniversary when William Webb Ellis picked up a football and ran with it giving birth to the game of Rugby.
On the day there were five schools/rugby clubs, eighteen teams and around 200 young rugby players who were involved in a fantastic display of teamwork, resilience and sportsmanship.
Needless to say, it was a very successful day for all players, parents, family members and coaches. The level of commitment and dedication to support and take part in this event was in keeping with the spirit of rugby widely known to be a gentleman’s game.
It was fantastic to see the open and creative style of play that is developing in Thailand, where we hope this is the start of something very special at Rugby School Thailand in partnership with the wider community in Thailand.
FUTSAL U9 and U11 A & B BOYS @ NIST
RST took 4 teams across the U9 and U11 ages to NIST to participate in an indoor futsal festival. All of the teams played well and the students showed great team spirit throughout the morning. Within the U11 category, the A team won all of their games and met the B team in the final whose only defeat was against RST A. The final was a hard-fought 0 - 0 tie with the A team narrowly winning on penalties. Within the U9 category, the B's registered 3 draws and 2 losses with the A team being crowned champions winning all of their games.
BASKETBALL VARSITY, JV, U13A AND B BOYS AND GIRLS
U13 boys and girls, JV boys and girls, and Varsity boys and girls all had multiple games in a friendly basketball festival held at RST that included ASB Sukhumvit, KMIDS, and LFS. RST teams played a total of 15 games that finished with a combined result of 10 wins, 4 losses, and a tie. The friendly games included lots of close, competitive games. One of the highlights of the day was our Varsity girls game vs ASB which saw the RST girls come back from down 4 points with just over a minute left to win the game on a last-second shot.
Boarding Life
Over the weekend the Marshall House boarders went to the Rayong Botanical Garden, where we went kayaking around the beautiful marshlands, exploring the lotus flower pools and the Old Paper Tree Forest. We also went bike riding, through the lush jungle trails, and around the wetlands. We then all enjoyed a well-earned cold drink. We are so lucky to have such a beautiful part of Thailand right on our doorstep!
This week, some of our Marshall house boarders had a great time utilising the tools and equipment in our amazing D&T room with Mrs Douglas.
One of the benefits of being a boarder is having access to our amazing facilities in the evening. School House took advantage of this in the lead-up to Sports Day, with boys choosing to spend their evenings practising a range of track and field events.
There are so many opportunities to develop leadership in boarding! Here is Tetsuo (Head of House) and Raiki (Sports Sixth) talking to the School House boys, building their confidence ahead of Sports Day. We are so proud of all of them!
In senior boarding, this is just one example of the sorts of leadership positions our boarders can get involved in. This group of students from both Rupert Brooke and School House meet regularly to plan social events for our boarding community, they are currently working on an exciting Valentine's event... more details to follow soon!
There are so many reasons to become a boarder, but these School House boys think that this one is pretty near the top of the list: after supper floodlit football with friends.
All of our boarders enjoyed a delicious meal on Thursday evening to celebrate Lunar New Year! Thank you to our wonderful catering staff and Matrons for organising such a fantastic treat.
Community Offers & Events
WISDOM SPORTS CAMP
RST SPRING CAMP
Date: 8th – 12th April 2023 (Full boarding)
Age: 7 - 12
Price details:
- Early bird (10% discount) 20,700 BHT
- The Early bird ends on 17th Feb 2023
- Full price 23,000 BHT
HOLIDAY INN- RST COMMUNITY DISCOUNTS
We’d like to thank our friends from the Holiday Inn, who are offering our RST Community preferential hotel rates and discounts in their restaurants for 2023:
