May 2012

Garden International School Newsletter IB World School May 31, 2012 From the Principal Dear Parents, Students and Frien...

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Garden International School

Newsletter IB World School May 31, 2012 From the Principal Dear Parents, Students and Friends of GIS, There are only a few weeks left before the end of the school year, but we certainly won’t have time to relax – check out the coming events on the next page. Our big event this term happens next week and is the hosting of the Primary FOBISSEA games. There will be 9 schools and around 250 children taking part, plus teachers and parents from the visiting schools. It promises to be a really exciting time for the children, and we will be able to read about the competition in the final newsletter of the year. The year 13 students have now finished their exams and are eagerly awaiting their results. They have been lucky enough to follow the International Baccalaureate diploma programme. I can guarantee to them now that when they start the next phase of their education, wherever it is in the world, they will realise the terrific advantage the IB has given them. Many of the year 11 students have also completed their IGCSE exams although some still have a few remaining. We do wish both year groups every success in their exams and hope that they get what they have worked hard for. Although there will be a final newsletter before we break up for the year, I will remind you now that the final day of term is on Friday 22nd June, and as usual we will finish school at 1200 that day. Kind Regards, Dave Moroney, BSc, PGCE, MA

Students that have applied for an IB scholarship should contact K Ann [email protected] to arrange an interview with Mr Moroney and Mr Fraser. Up-coming events: June 1: Fobissea raffle draw and ‘sporty’ mufti day June 4: Visakha Bucha Day (public holiday) June 5-9: Fobissea Primary Games at GIS June 12: Musician of the Year/Summer Concert, 7pm in the Secondary Hall June 16: Car Boot Sale at GIS June 22: End of Term 3 at 1200 (Primary only) June 11: Year 4E Assembly June 11-15: Yr 6 trip to Chang Mai June 13: Foundation Reports go home June 14-15: Parent Teacher Conferences in Foundation June 18: Yr 6 Moving On Assembly June 19: House Swimming Gala June 21: Primary Music Performance, 10.30am June 21: Primary Concert, from 10am June 21: Movie Afternoon with ice-cream June 22: Primary Reports go home June 22: End of Year Assembly (Secondary only) June 11: Slave Auction June 13-15: Year 7/8/9 trips June 15: Secondary Reports issued June 18: Parents' Evening June 21: Bandslam: Yr 6 and Secondary, from 2.20pm in the Secondary Hall

News from Primary and Foundation This week has been test week in Primary. All the children have been working hard in order to do their best at the tests. These results will form part of the reports that come out at the end of the academic year on June 22. In the next newsletter we will be saving farewell to seven members of Primary staff and welcoming seven new members of staff. FOBISSEA For the last three months we have been planning and preparing for the Primary FOBISSEA games which will be held at GIS next week. We are hosting a total of eight other schools. The participants will be representing schools in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Nepal. The 34 students who are taking part from our school have been building up their fitness and skills and we will have an in-depth report of our results in the next newsletter.

A very basic summary of the events being held on each day is outlined below. If you want to support us by cheering on the GIS teams, you are very welcome! Tuesday June 5 – welcome pool party at the Purimas Hotel. Wednesday June 6 – Swimming and Athletics at the Naval base in Sattahip. Thursday June 7 – T ball at GIS followed by a beach party at the Purimas Hotel. Friday June 8 – Football at GIS followed by a beach party and Gala Dinner at the Purimas Hotel. Being involved in organising the event has made me realise how much work and detail goes into arranging such an event and I would personally like to thank the following individuals for their hard work with the students or behind the scenes: James Abrahams, Dave Moroney, Khun Bussaba, Khun Pao, Khun Nim, Janette and all the Administration team, Martin Hambling, Khun Goi and all the maintenance team, Lucy Howett, Claire Gordon, Jenn Blais, Mark Beales, Bob Edwards, Doug Lynch and Patsy Smith. I am sure that after the event there will be many more people and sponsors to mention and thank but the persons above deserve a special mention.

FOBISSEA results With FOBISSEA being so close we have been training very hard and the results below are from the football matches played in May. FOBISSEA Practice Football Results vs. ISE – 3rd May 2012 Girls Year 6: GIS 3 – ISE 1 (Katherine scored twice, Shaniya scored) Girls Year 5 / 4: GIS 1 – ISE 0 (Jessica scored) Boys Year 6: GIS 6 – ISE 1 (Azim scored a hat-trick, Oliver scored twice and Simon Scored) Boys Year 5: GIS 1 – ISE 7 (Hazim scored) Boys Year 4: GIS 2 - ISE 6 (Jeffry scored twice) Results vs ISE – 15th May 2012 Girls Year 6: GIS 0 – ISE 0 Girls Year 5: GIS 0 – ISE 0 Girls Year 4: GIS 0 – ISE 1 Boys Year 6: GIS 8 – ISE 0 (Azim scored 4, Sang Hyun scored twice, Oliver scored one and Aakheel scored one) Boys Year 5: GIS 3 – ISE 3 (Hazim scored twice and Asha scored one) Boys Year 4: GIS 3 - ISE 2 (Jeffry scored one, Direk scored one and Kenjung scored one)

ESAC Tournament May 21 Girls Year 6: 0-1 vs. St Andrews; 2-0 vs. Regents (Shaniya and Jezabel scored) Girls Year 5: 0-4 vs. St Andrews 0-0 vs. Regents but won 2-0 at penalties (Kavisha and Lynsey scored) Girls Year 4: 0-1 vs. St Andrews; 0-0 Vs. ISE and 0-0 vs. Regents Boys Year 6: 1-1 vs. St Andrews with Azim scoring but won 2-1 on penalties; In the final we drew 1-1 with Regents but lost 0-1 on penalties. Boys Year 5: 1-1 vs. St Andrews with Nutt scoring but won 3-2 on penalties; 2-2 vs. Regents in the final with Asha and Hazim scoring and we won the tournament 1-0 on penalties with Hazim scoring and Sun saving 5 penalties. Boys Year 4: 0-2 vs. St Andrews; 0-1 vs. Regents There has been a huge improvement in the boys and girls football this term and we look forward to the FOBISSEA event with a great deal of anticipation.

House Music This month we had the annual Primary House Music competition. This was won by Gecko House with Cobra a close second. Then came Eagle and Tiger brought up the rear. The current ‘House’ situation is shown below but does not show the full picture as we still have the Primary Swimming Gala on the 19th as well as the merit points to add in from terms 2 and 3.

Current House Position Team

House Music 9

House Art

31st May points

18

342

12

27

311

6

25

308

3

24

299

Cobra Gecko Eagle Tiger

Positions 1 2 3 4

House art We had 21 children in Years 1-3 handing in their art and 21 children in Years 4-6 handing in their art. Well done to all the contestants, the standard of work was very high this year and as usual we will be framing the top three entries from both sections. Please come and look at the art, it will be on display for the remainder of the term in both the primary Hall (Years 1-3) and on the stairwell outside Mr. Grisdale’s office (Years 4-6). Below are the top 5 in each category. Results from Year 1-3 Year House

Position

Name

# of votes

#of House Points Won

1st

Hansika

2

T

43

10

2nd

Jahnavi

2

T

41

8

3rd

Radhika

2

G

30

6

4th

Ella

3

G

20

4

5th

Joanna

2

T

15

2

Results from Year 4-6 Position

Name

Year

House

# of votes

# of House Points Won

1st

Manau

6

E

65

10

2nd

Khushi

6

C

42

8

3rd

Lily

4

G

23

6

4th

Engila

6

E

19

4

5th

Sang Hyun

6

C

15

2

GIS Primary Has Talent Show The exciting finals of GIS Primary has Talent were held on May 28. We had 10 acts showcasing very different talents. The results were: 1st Radhika performing a beautiful Indian Dance (pictured right) 2nd Nupur, Hemakshi, Sammy, and Cheshta performing a synchronised Indian Dance (pictured below) 3rd Koustav who sang a song 4th Galatee who danced for us 5th Shin, Abhishek and Karan AKA The Nutty Boys who danced for us 6th = Riddhi who performed a beautiful Indian Dance 6th = Miriam and Lynsey who sang for us 6th = Mary who sang for us 6th = Veronika, Kamilla and Rachel who danced and sang for us 6th = Ashcharya, Nutt and Tachan who danced and sang for us Well done to all the contestants – it was a truly talented line up. I learnt afterwards that Radhika’s grandmother had taught Radhika the winning dance and had checked out of ICU in hospital in order to watch her granddaughter perform. Radhika’s grandfather had also flown over from India in order to lend his support. They were very rightly extremely proud of their granddaughter. Mr Grisdale Head of Primary and Foundation

Primary Performance: June 21 at 10.30am We are pleased to announce that this year’s Primary Performance will be held on Thursday 21st of June at 10.30am. Performances will include things the children have learned this session, as well as class and solo musical items and class highlights. As with last year there is a small fee for admission. The cost is 50 baht for adults, with children watching for free. Tea and coffee will be provided free of charge after the performance. All children will be expected to take part in the performance unless they have already notified their class teacher of an early departure. If you wish to take your child home after the performance, then please ensure you inform your child’s class teacher before taking them from the school grounds. The children have been working extremely hard to put an end of year performance together and would love to have as big an audience as last year to come and watch them. There cannot be a good performance without a good audience so we, the staff and children, look forward to seeing you on Thursday 21st of June at 10.30! The Primary Staff

Car Boot Sale A car boot sale is taking place on Saturday June 16 at GIS. Lasting from 8am to 12pm, it's a great chance to buy or sell goods - and help raise funds for the school. Book a space now to sell your new or second-hand items. Stalls cost 300 baht each but admission is free. Reserve a stall now by e-mailing [email protected] or by phoning the school on 038 880360-3.

Year 5 Visits Nong Nooch

By Mr Miller

The Year 5 students recently returned from an exciting residential three-day trip to the nearby Nong Nooch Tropical Gardens. Mr. Siv, Khun Birth, and Mr. Miller accompanied the students to the resort where everyone enjoyed the beautiful and natural settings. On the first day, the students enjoyed a tour through the petting zoo and amusement arcade before climbing aboard the "Train Car" for a meandering drive through the enormous park. Kamilla gets a helping hand, or trunk.

The students also walked through the Orchid Gardens, and fed the terrifying and enormous Arapaima fish. In the afternoon, the group visited the new resort adventure pools and enjoyed the water slides, waterfalls, and 150metre long "River Pool". After the evening meal, we were treated to an "interesting" Thai singing and dancing show in the restaurant. Sarah, Mr. Siv, Cheshta, Sammy, and Rachael on the skywalk.

Attack of the Ants!

On the second day, we visited the Global Warming Pavilion, where the children learned about the dangers of pollution and its effect on our delicate ecosystem. After a tour through the environmental protection exhibit and garden, the group took a walk on the overhead "Skywalk" system which winds throughout the entire resort. But the real highlight of the day was an hour aboard the Swan paddle boats where the students were free to explore the lake. Following that, we viewed the amazing French Gardens and Stonehenge from atop the Buddhist Temple hilltop. After visiting the exotic car museum, the children returned to the pool and water park to cool down. The evening's activity was "Quiz Night" followed by the traditional Y5 scary story telling session by Mr. Miller (with "jumping out" assistance by Mr. Siv). Everyone enjoying the beautiful French Gardens.

The third day began with a visit to the Elephant Arena before taking in the Thai Cultural Show with its exotic Thai dancers, drumming, and Elephant demonstration. After lunch, the students spent an hour 200 meters above the ground in the Treehouse and Cafe before boarding the school buses for the short ride back to school. Everyone had a wonderful time while learning a lot about our natural environment, and sharing, socializing, and taking personal responsibility for their belongings and behavior.

Nutt and Hazim close up with the Mastodons

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News from Secondary Wonderful Winnie wins top finance award! A former student at Garden International School has won one of the world's top finance competitions. A group of Thai undergraduate students, which included ex-GIS student Wimolnat Tanganurakpongsa, won the sixth CFA Institute Research Challenge global final, which was held in New York on April 11 Other team members included Panus Hongprapipat, head of the winning team from Thammasat University's Business School, Jackrit Bumrungtrakul, Sorawit Patumraj and Kittikiat Tantivuttikiti. Wimolnat, the only female in the team, said: "The competition is the most famous and acceptable among students studying finance." Wimolnat, or Winnie, sat her IB exams at GIS in May 2008. The Thammasat team represented the Asia Pacific region. To take the award it had to beat three other finalists from around the world. Although the other teams had more experience, the Thai team's simple but effective presentation impressed judges. Each team had to pretend to be securities analysts. Winnie's team looked at the stock of CP All Plc, which runs 7-Eleven stores, then compiled a research report, presentation and answered questions from a panel of judges. They had to work even harder than others as, during the floods in Bangkok last year, they could only keep in touch via Skype. Wimolnat and Sorawit worked on macroeconomic analysis and world market analysis, as well as studying the industry. After becoming national champions, the group won a regional competition in March held in Hong Kong before heading to the final in New York. About 3,000 students from 650 universities in more than 50 countries took part. The Thai winners were handed US$10,000, a trophy, and helped ring ring the Nasdaq Stock Market closing bell, a job normally reserved for celebrities and important officials. She is pictured above, eighth from the left. The Stock Exchange of Thailand also gave the team certificates to honour their achievements.

Ek sails into Olympic finals Former GIS student Ek Boonsawad will represent Thailand at the London Olympics. Windsurfer Ek qualified after a fantastic performance at the 2012 RS:X World Windsurfing Championships in Spain. He finished 57th in the Men's RS:X after four races, which means he is guaranteed a spot in the Olympics. Ek was the 26th Thai to qualify for the Olympic Games, which will be held in London from July 27-August 12.

Diving Delight Congratulations to Miss Lopez, pictured left, who has just passed her open water diving certification.

We have lift off! Reading instructions is a key skill needed to build a model from individual pieces. This is extremely helpful with all subjects studied in school. Boat (pictured left) is putting the finishing touches to her multi-coloured Gundam model. Once complete they can be either be put on display or played with until completely destroyed. This activity may be offered again for the next academic year by Mr Berry.

Model Home Expo at Garden International School Last term in the Year 7 Spanish Class, students learned about the topic “Houses”. To make it more fun, our Spanish teacher, Señora Cecilia, decided to set us a project in which we had to make a model of a house. We had to work in pairs or individually. The challenge was to make our house neat and beautiful from the inside to the outside. We also had to include furniture, a garden and maybe even a terrace or a garage. We had two weeks to submit our project. Everybody tried hard but only three teams could win.

Some teams were lucky enough to get extra points by labeling each room and feature in Spanish. All of the houses were displayed in the assembly hall and the teachers from secondary voted for the best three homes. After counting all the votes, we found our 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners. In 3rd place came Narisa and Shilpi, in 2nd place came Jignil and Amit, and in 1st place was Anushka and Srishti. All of the three homes were presented very well. The winning house was a duplex home, with all the furniture handmade and it was decorated very beautifully, which might have been the reason why it was chosen by the teachers as the winner of the competition.

Written by Anushka B and Srishty

IB Students Graduate in Style! This year's graduating IB students went out in style - with a party at the Hilton Hotel Pattaya. The students donned their best suits and party dresses for the night out on May 26. Joining them were dozens of proud parents and GIS teachers. Everyone enjoyed an excellent buffet dinner before students took to the stage to thank their teachers and parents for helping them through the two-year course, which is internationally-recognised and is a stepping stone to leading universities around the world. There were also several musical performances from the talented group of students. Students have now finished all their exams and will find out their results in early July. GIS has an excellent IB track record and we are confident this group of students will make the school proud this year. For more on our successful IB programme, visit http://gardenrayong.com/international_baccalaureate.html.

IB perform The Crucible IB1 Literature and Performance students performed extracts from The Crucible as part of their course studied. The young actors spent several weeks studying Arthur Miller's classic play. They directed the extracts by themselves and the performances were a part of their coursework. Several students and teachers, as well as Mr Moroney, were a part of the live audience.

New IB student leaders Congratulations to Ben Bartlett and Heta Shah. They have both been elected as the two new IB student leaders. They will serve as student leaders for the remainder of Term 3 and for Terms 1 and 2 of the next academic year. Their job is to be ambassadors for the school, represent the student body at functions, be a focal point for student concerns, be positive role models and be the representative for the IB student common room and student work room. * For our IB2 students, their exams are now all over. We will know their results on July 6.

Students concentrate on porridge and OJ in EAL

Mr Berry's Year 10 IGCSE ESL class learned some new vocabulary - and some new flavours in a special tasting lesson. The students came across the words 'dilute, diluted, concentrate and concentrated' in some old exam papers, but weren't sure what they meant. To solve this Mr Berry brought in some orange juice and porridge to demonstrate their meaning.

"By adding some water to will become less have to mix by stirring the a while and you will enjoy juice." Yeen added: "It was an tasting Mr Berry’s porridge is cooked by together and later on, other sweet ingredients. honey to make a sweeter really well - everyone

By Yeen and Poom (both 10C)

This is what Poom (10C) thought about it: "There is nothing as refreshing as freshly squeezed orange juice. However, it can have a bitter taste, if it is too concentrated. dilute the orange juice, it concentrated then you orange juice and water for a real taste of the orange unforgettable lesson, porridge. As you know, using rice and milk mixed adding some sugar or any In this case, we added taste. The taste came out loved it!'

Picnic in the Park Staff and students from GIS joined Regent's School Pattaya to raise money for the a children's charity. On May 13, Regent’s School and the Fr. Ray Foundation held Picnic in the Park 2 at the Father Ray Foundation Children’s Village near Lake Mabrachan. It was an afternoon of live music, entertainment, food and drink on sale, fun games and activities for children. This was the first joint musical event of its kind with family and friends from both schools in the audience. Pictured above and below are some of GIS's talented musicians and singers.

Sports News Sponsored Swim for FOBISSEA Games

A mammoth fundraising effort has helped support our students who will be taking part in the Fobissea Primary Games next month. Swimming, goalkeeping a sporting Mufti day and a raffle have all helped raise funds. A sponsored swim event was organized in GIS on May 16 from 3.30pm to 4.30pm to raise money for Fobissea. A total of 27 children took part. We had a lot of sponsors and the most number of lengths was done by a Year 6 student Sang Hyun, who managed an incredible 131 lengths! It was a big success and all the money collected will go to Fobissea funds. A big thanks to all the sponsors, organizers and the stars of the event the students who swam for an hour. Money raised will help cover the costs of GIS students who will representing the school at the games. Karan Y6

Keeper Comp Helps Fobissea Goal

Recently there was a fun-filled “Beat the Keeper” competition in secondary. Held over five lunchtimes, students paid 20B for the chance to take a penalty against our team of all-star goalkeepers. The rules were simple: put the ball in the back of the net and you have the satisfaction of beating a teacher and the chance to boast to your friends. Huge thanks to Mr Beales, Mr Elderkamp, Miss Morris, Mr Ball, Mr Baker and Miss Austin, who were the keepers. All the money collected will help the parents of GIS students who are representing the school at the games. By the end of the week, more than 1,000B had been raised. Overall it was a great event - thanks again to the teachers. By Abhi Khullar (Year 8)

PTT sponsorship event PTTCG is generously sponsoring FOBISSEA. Khun Choawanee Panpruk, Social Enterprise Manager from PTTCG, gave 300 water bottles to Miss Lucy. The presentation is pictured here.

Volleyball GIS took on ISE at volleyball on May 3. Watched by a large crowd, the results were: Girls GIS 14 25 ISE GIS 10 25 ISE GIS 10 15 ISE GIS played well in the last game and won the first half. Our downfall was the girls' return of serve. If we had been better at returning serves we would give them a real run for their money. Boys GIS 25 17 ISE GIS 12 25 ISE GIS 13 15 ISE Well done to the boys, who managed to take the first game against a strong ISE team. T-ball triumph The FOBISSEA T-ball teams played at St Andrews on May 14 and played very well. The Y6 team beat St. Andrews 12-11 and beat Regents 8-3. Y5 drew against Regents and lost by one run to St Andrews. The Y4 team finished up with the same results as Y5. Many thanks to Patsy and a big thank you to Richie from MIS.

If you have any articles or reports for the newsletter, please send them to [email protected]. Many thanks.