Announcements
School bus service: good news!
We have good news for the families who have been waiting for a vacancy on the school bus! HeadStart will be purchasing an additional van for pick up’s and drop off’s as well as general school transportation needs. We will notify you once we have a final starting date for this service.
HeadStart’s own safety logo!
Here is HeadStart’s own safety logo to be placed in all school buses starting Monday next week. Teachers and assistants in the bus will not allow the driver to depart until all students have buckled up! Help us to reinforce this by implementing this policy in your private car as well!
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www.facebook.com/headstartphuket?ref=hl for daily news and pictures!
Message from the Head of Secondary
Dear Parents,
The start of a new academic year brings many changes and much excitement. One of the great things about being a teacher is watching the students grow up, progress through the school and eventually ‘fly the nest’ and leave us for Higher Education. It is sometimes with some surprise that I look up and see what were my students in Year 5 are now in Year 9. How time flies!
As a child, I was brought up in the era of TV with just two channels (Two ! Imagine that), the ‘internet’ was called an encyclopedia and your home telephone was only mobile if it had a long cable on it. We made our own fun, and for many of us that meant going to the library to get books out on loan for two weeks to read at home. Reading for pleasure is a skillful pastime that seems to have taken a backseat to computer games and social media – but not at HeadStart!
We are currently rolling out our Secondary School reading programme. HeadStart students will be taking specially selected books home to read either alone or with parents, for 20 minutes per day. We aim to put the fun back into reading for our students, and who knows, maybe some parents will rediscover reading too.
We have made great progress in all departments for this new academic year and I would particularly like to mention the changes we have made in the way we teach science to all classes. We have moved from teaching Coordinated Science to teaching the 3 individual sciences – Biology, Chemistry and Physics. HeadStart students can now enjoy learning the sciences in their own dedicated Biology & Chemistry lab and the Physics lab. One day we hope to be reading about a famous scientist that was once part of the HeadStart family.
Our goals this year are too numerous to mention in one short weekly update though there are one which spring to mind. This year’s Year 11 class is the biggest and strongest Year 11 class HeadStart has ever seen and we expect to be reporting some amazing results to you in August 2014.
Language Department News
Saturday Thai Culture Club
If your child signed up for Saturday Thai Culture Club this coming Saturday, please drop them off before 9 am and pick them up by 12 pm.
***poster***
French Class Fun!—Francoise Laosuwan, French Teacher
This week, Lapasaporn, Eduard, Naris, Ryan, Till, Anna and Mika had a little cultural experience when they picked up and discovered, in my souvenirs bag, a lot of traditional French things like “la baguette” (long bread), le croissant (croissant), le fromage (cheese), le vin (wine), le drapeau (French flag), “La tour Eiffel” et “les châteaux” (monuments), le parfum (perfume).
I then asked them to draw some typical things from their home country and then it will be my turn to be very excited to see the results!!!
Sports Department News
Basketball sessions for girls:
Girls Basketball training will take place on Tuesdays from 4:45-5:45 pm and on Thursdays from 3:45-4:45 pm. The cost is only 200 Baht per week. This enables all academic extra curricular activity students to sign up and participate as well.
Any questions please contact Mr Dean Jackson at dean@headstartphuket.com
Girls Volley Ball Team is well underway!
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Art Department News
Year 5A Learns marble art!
Primary News
Greetings to all,
I hope everyone has settled smoothly back into the school routine after the summer holidays and your students are off to a strong and positive start.
This months “Kids Talk” article is about some of the more common Learning Disabilities that are often encountered in school aged children. Next month’s article I will follow up with with some tips for engaging kids with different learning styles.Click to Download – Kids Talk
I hope you find it helpful, and as always, if you would like to be removed from this mailing list please let me know.
Kind regards always,
Karen
Parents Phonics Initiation Session 1
On the 23rd of September Ms Els, Head of Primary, gave a presentation on Phonics Initiation. 16 parents attended the program with a full booking for 3 more sessions! We hope all attendees found this presentation helpful and informative. The You Tube link for the meeting will be uploaded next week.
Year 2B Plays Hangman!
Year 2B love playing Hangman during homeroom time! It is a great game to practice spelling.
Julie Cousineau, Homeroom Teacher
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Year 2B Learns about motion and Force!
Year 2B students are learning about forces in Science. We played a “Blow Slalom” game in class to learn about pushes. Using a straw, children had to blow a ball and travel through a course. They timed themselves using a stopwatch and tried to improve with each turn! They learned to control the force and direction of their blows. A lot of laughter and a steep learning curve!
Julie cousineau, Homeroom teacher
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Secondary News
Message from the Head of English
Dear Parents and members of the HeadStart International School community,
I am delighted to have joined such a vibrant school. Though it is still a young school, its future looks bright and assured and I have been particularly impressed by the support that I have already received from senior managers in implementing initiatives that I am confident will benefit student attainment both at the end of Key Stage 3 and at IGCSE.
For example, the English Department is planning to launch a Key Stage 3 monitored reading programme after half term that will help to improve students literacy levels. We have also revised all schemes of work to enhance the study of English Literature at Key Stage 3, in line with the Cambridge Curriculum, so that students will gain an in depth understanding of writers’ craft with a view to improving their own writing. Indeed, what better way to improve own writing than to recognise, study and discuss what is good about the writing of others?
Once we have laid this important foundation, we plan to introduce IGCSE and ‘A’ Level English Literature to the range of subjects available for study to our students from the beginning of the next academic year.
These are just a few of our plans for the future of English at HSIS; we will inform you of other initiatives as they move beyond the planning stage. As I have said, the future is bright.
Richard Theze (Head of English)
Year 7 Science
Y7 students find out how much energy is stored in food. By using the formula
Head Boy and Head Girl are on the radio!
Y10 Learn about the impact of birth control and over population during their Geography class
***This is the caption for the picture of the blue future board and displays***
ข่าวประจำสัปดาห์ ที่ 5 - Thai version (Coming Soon…)
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