October 2012

Accredited by CIS October 2012 Newsletter Inside this month's newsletter... Plus: Cyber Safety....Swimming Competition...

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Accredited by CIS October 2012 Newsletter

Inside this month's newsletter...

Plus: Cyber Safety....Swimming Competition...Talent Show...Halloween Party

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Garden International School

Newsletter Visit www.gardenrayong.comIB World School for a colour copy

November 1, 2012 From the Principal Dear Parents, Students and Friends of GIS, The Diwali celebration on Wednesday 17th October was a tremendous event. I was heartened to feel the real sense of community we have here at GIS. The student organization of the event was excellent, with the teachers involved doing what teachers should do – letting the students do it, but being available to assist and guide as necessary. The student performances were wonderful and the hosts most entertaining! Refer to the article in this Newsletter for more details. Friday 9th November will see us have a Whole School Assembly. There will be one each term for special events, with this one being to recognize Remembrance Day – parents are welcome to attend, starting at 10.50am in the Secondary Hall. We will also have poppies on sale in the Front Office next week. In Term 2 we will recognize the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on 21st March and in Term 3 we will have an assembly for Earth Day, which is 22nd April. Kind Regards, Dr Stuart Tasker PhD (Ed), PGDipEd (Math Ed), PGCertEd (Ed Admin), PGDipTchg, BSc Principal Garden International School, Rayong

Up-coming events: Primary Nov 5: Year 5CH Assembly Nov 6: Yr 5 Trip to Bangkok Planetarium Nov 7: House football Years 5 and 6 Nov 12: Joint Year 1 Assembly Nov 14: House football Years 3 and 4 Nov 16: Ice cream sale in Primary Nov 16: GIS Primary Have Talent Round 1 Nov 19: Year 6BL Assembly Nov 20: Football Tournament at Regents for Year 4 and 5 Girls Nov 21: House football Years 1 and 2 Nov 22: Football Tournament at Regents for Year 4 and 5 Boys Nov 26- 30: Mr Grisdale is in Bangkok Nov 26: Thai Assembly Nov 28: Loy Kratong making and party Nov 29: Football Tournament at Regents for Year 6 Boys and Girls Secondary Nov 5: Secondary Assembly (Period 3) Nov 5-9: House Environmental Speeches Nov 6: Senior Maths Challenge Nov 8: Secondary Swim Nov 9: Whole School Remembrance Day Assembly (Period 4) Nov 12: ABRSM Music Exams in Bangkok Nov 15: House Create a Song Activity Nov 21-23: Footloose Whole School Nov 27: Swimming Meet vs REPS Nov 28: Loy Krathong Nov 29: House Christmas Tree Decorating Dec 1: Christmas Fair

Special Visitors at GIS A group of 40 teachers from Wat Glang Municipal School, Khon Kaen visited GIS on 28 September. They came to observe teaching and learning methods at GIS in order to help them improve lessons for their 2,000 students.

Cyber Safety Students learned about how to stay safe while online thanks to a special presentation from a guest speaker. Margie Granger from the Hand to Hand Foundation gave a presentation on Cyber Safety to students from Years 4 and up on October 17. After school she also gave a presentation and led a discussion with all GIS teachers. These workshops were a follow on to the one she gave to parents at the Friends of Garden PTA meeting earlier in the month. The students learned about the need to be careful when on-line and with personal information in general. We had a Mufti Day on Wednesday October 17 which raised 20,680 baht to support this worthy charity. Year 6 students Ann and Nutt presented the money to a very happy Margie during their workshop at the end of the day. A big thank you to our community for the donation of goods for the foundation too, which included 100 handmade Thai blankets provided by Fairway (pictured below). The front office was packed with donated goods which we delivered to Hand to Hand Foundation during the half-term break. For more on the organisation, visit http://handtohandpattaya.wordpress.com/

Diwali Delights GIS's IB students staged yet another spectacular Diwali night as hundreds of guests came to school. After a fantastic buffet dinner served up by Zaika Restaurant in Pattaya, more than 300 visitors watched a fireworks display and then sat down to enjoy some spectacular performances.

(Rohit, Rain, Robert, Jiaxine, Ben B and Yogesh) who performed 'Socha Hai'. The whole evening was an incredible success and was brilliantly organised by the IB students, with help from Ms Morris, Mr Baker, Ms Lenz and John from MIS.

First up were Hansika and Jhanvi who performed a Rajastani folk dance, followed by a Nachle remix, put on by Apoorva, Gauri and Heta. Next came a performance by Lilly, Swamini and Tanya. IB students took to the stage for an energy-filled dance routine dubbed 'Modern Mix Up: Thug Le' that featured Arwut, Sopon, Maria, Sofia, Nan and Louis. Following this, Harshita, Vidooshi and Anvita danced to 'Gunguna Re', then Abhigyan, Anushka, Jignil, Shilpi, Srishti, Yash and Arjit from Years 8 and 9 performed their own 'Face Off'. To round off the evening, Parth, Harsha, Lalit and Azeez performed 'Dancing Duos, then Yogesh and Heta set the stage on fire with some eye-popping dance moves. The finale was left in the hands of the student band Hat-Trick

Diwali, known as the 'Festival of Lights', is a traditional Hindu festival that celebrates the time when the Indian sage Mahavira attained a state of nirvana. The following companies generously sponsored the event: Gold: The Camel Pub, Kon Tong Grill (Tex-Mex), Aditya Birla Chemicals Silver: Indorama Ventures Bronze: Lek Furniture Store, Dream Hygiene

From Mr Grisdale: Head of Primary and Foundation Trips We have had a number of exciting trips in October in both Primary and Foundation. In Foundation, Nursery took a trip near the Bira Race track in their unit on Transport – there are some wonderful trains, diggers and other vehicles in that area to explore. Year 1 visited Mini Siam to look at buildings and Year 2 went to the Turtle Sanctuary to learn about the environment and life cycles. This month we have Early Years going to Wonderfarm; Reception visiting the Chinese temple and Wonderfarm, Year 4 may be heading to the Mangrove Swamps while Year 5 is going to the Planetarium in Bangkok.

Halloween Party The children had great fun at the Halloween party and the Mufti part of this also raised 6,000 Baht for Dek Dee charity (see pics below). Well done and thank you to all the teachers and pupils (including spooky visitors from IB) who took part. Football training Below are the football matches that we have this term. We have arranged for teachers and IB students to be coaches to help our children and we will be starting training, every Tuesday. The training will take place from 3.20pm to 4.30pm. If your child lives in Pattaya they can catch the late bus from school. This training will be open to all children who wish to play football from Years 3 to 6. House Competition This term‟s events are hotting up – Tiger proved invincible at spelling – winning all of the Primary competitions. I must congratulate Ms Laurence for being the best teacher speller from those who volunteered in Primary. The House competition is all the better for Secondary having joined in with some exciting events - these are the current whole school standings. Mini Olympics

Spelling Competition

Secondary Limbo and Basketball

Secondary Soap box rants

Total so far

Cobra

14

10

13

1

38

Gecko

23

16

5

2

46

Eagle

20

10

12

3

45

Tiger

23

24

10

4

61

Team

House Recycling Gecko has taken the lead in this exciting competition - come on the other houses! The objects we are recycling are plastic bottles and metal cans, so please keep any plastic bottles or metal cans you have and give them to your child to recycle.

Seedlings Every Tuesday and Thursday from 2.20 pm until 3.10 pm there is a play group for children under the age of two which meets in the Early years Room (the yellow room). This club is called Seedlings and it is run by Ms Claire (Year 5) on Tuesdays and Ms Tara (Early Years teacher) on Thursdays. It costs 100 baht per session per child and parents and carers are expected to stay. More details from Khun Bonnie in the Front Office or Claire [email protected] or Tara [email protected] Activity Board Each month I will run an activity board in Primary where there are three activities a month with the results being given out in the newsletter. One activity will be a wordsearch, one activity will be an educational based puzzle or maths task and the third will be a colouring in competition. The results of these will be displayed in the Primary Hall each month. It is a House competition. Rob Grisdale Head of Primary and Foundation

Learning About Life Year 2 have been learning about living and nonliving things this term. First they raised baby snails in class, and now their eggs have hatched. They learned that the eggs need to be in the incubator for 21 days. We have also all been finding out the different things that a chick needs to survive, including a 'feather duster to keep it warm and snuggly'.

Book Fair GIS students snapped up hundreds of books at a special book sale in the school library. On October 3rd and 4th, the Books@53 fair was held, with many new titles and bargain books on sale. The library was packed on both days as primary and secondary students came to find something new to read. As a result we were able to select 15,000 baht worth of free books.

Having a Wicked Halloween!

IB students went to entertain primary to make sure they had a seriously-spooky Halloween. As well as some freaky-looking IB students, teachers and helpers also got dressed up. Activities included bobbing for apples, face painting and other traditional Halloween games.

From Mr Ball: Head of Secondary

Hello Parents and Students, I remember being in assembly about a year ago when a group of Year 10 students came onto the stage to play a song. I was surprised to see several of the students who walked onto the stage as I had no idea that they were in a band or that they could play the instruments they were setting up. I remember waiting patiently and looking forward to hearing a „starter‟ band play with „enthusiasm‟. What I heard was a well rehearsed piece of music by talented musicians. One of the aspects of Garden that always impresses me is just how much talent the students have, and often how modest they are about their talents. These talents seem to pop up out of nowhere for a single event and then don‟t resurface until much later, for another event. This newsletter is literally bursting with examples of the students' talents. It is in many ways a dedication to the consistent, and often silent hard work, they put into honing talents which then culminate in that short moment of performance which is so enjoyed by the audience, and hopefully the performer- if nerves allow it. Diwali (which was amazing), Garden’s Got Talent, members of the sports teams, the students who have written and contributed to this newsletter, the creative writing website that has been set up by students and features their work, are just great examples of the students‟ talent and hard work. This half term promises many events crossing a wide range of interests. There will be the international maths challenge competition, continuing house activities from Mrs Cooper, the House Swim meet, and Footloose. In the last assembly we were treated to a classic rendition of „Holding out for a Hero‟, from the lead female characters, whilst the boys demonstrated their dance moves. I am looking forward to seeing the full show. And like Mama Mia last year I may have to go twice.

Kind Regards Sage Ball Head of Secondary

Music Trips GIS Music department recently attended three fantastic performances in Bangkok. These were part of the Bangkok International Festival of Music and Dance, now in its 14th year. The performances we attended this year were: Carmen (the opera), a Symphony Concert, and BBC Planet Earth. Three students have written about the concerts for us all to see. By Sarah Chi, Year 11 Carmen On September 27th, IGCSE music students from GIS and teachers went to Bangkok to attend an operatic performance. The opera was „Carmen‟, composed by a French composer Georges Bizet, and was performed by a Russian group. The opera is set in the Spanish city of Seville. The two protagonists are Carmen, a beautiful gypsy, and a naïve soldier, Don Jose. Don Jose is at first told by his mother to marry a village maiden, Micaela. However, he later falls in love with Carmen. It ends dramatically when Don Jose eventually stabs Carmen after she claims that she loves another man, Escamillo. The first thing that grabbed the audience‟s attention was the marvellous decoration of the stage and colourful dresses. The orchestra sat at the front of the stage to accompany the singers. The act contained many famous arias – a musical term to call an expressive melody – that impressed the audience. In our class, the two favorite songs were „L‟amour est un oiseau rebelle‟, sung by Carmen, and „Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre‟, sung by the Toreador.

„L‟amour est un oiseau rebelle‟, translated as „Love is a Rebellious Bird‟, is sung when Carmen first appears in the opera. She teases the soldiers that desperately want her love. At the end of this scene, she drops a rose in front of Don Jose and leaves. The main interesting features of the song were the descending chromatic scales in the main motif, combination of major and minor keys, and rhythmic bass line from the cellos. The Toreador song, „Votre toast, je peux vous le rendre‟, is sung when Escamillo first introduces himself. The song describes various stories in the ring and the reputation followed after victory. When he sings the song, he gets attracted to Carmen‟s beauty, which leads to their further relationship. The catchy, repetitive melody was the main factor that made the song memorable. Overall, the combination of the spectacular setting of the stage and costumes, and wonderful singing from the actors made the opera a fantastic and unforgettable memory.

By Trisha (Year 11) Symphony Concert Everyone was well dressed, with ladies wearing long skirts or dresses and men wearing tuxedos. There was even a red carpet for the HM the King's daughter. My night listening to the Symphony Orchestra was lovely. I could see the whole stage and every movement that the musicians made, and how they felt the music. One of the pieces the orchestra played was Romeo and Juliet; in my own opinion they sounded amazing, everything and everyone was always prepared. During the Romeo and Juliet piece, I noticed a violinist moving in time with the music and this showed me how much passion he put into the piece he was playing. They were all brilliant and they even played three songs that were not included in the list. One piece was from Disney.

By HyoJung (IB1) BBC Planet Earth

riding a hot air balloon shooting some scenes, colliding with a tree.

On October 5th, some IGCSE and IB1 students, along with some teachers, went to see the concert: BBC Planet Earth, at the Thailand Cultural Centre in Bangkok

The second best moment was “Cave”, which started with showing the cave whilst the music created a mysterious mood, played by xylophone, and the strings played very quietly. Haley, the female vocalist, vocalised with vowel sounds, using melisma, which sounded like echoes in and from the cave. Afterwards, base jumpers appeared and jumped off from a cave that has a depth of 400 metres (1,300 ft), in Mexico's Cave of Swallows. When the base jumpers leap, the timpani played two untuned notes loudly, so then it made the audience much more nervous, and maybe surprised. Once the base jumpers had nearly reached the ground, they opened the parachutes and the music got gradually louder, creating a peaceful mood, with the orchestra producing a very soft and quiet mood in a major tonality. This carried on until the “cave”, and the creatures in the cave scenes ended.

BBC Planet Earth was composed by George Fenton. He also composed the previous BBC world-tour concert, BBC Blue Planet. There was a vocalist, Haley Glennie-Smith, and a recorded narrator, Sir David Attenborough, who told us what the music and film were based on, and where the film was shot. All the videos are from the BBC World Planet channel. In the concert, a big projector-screen showed around 10-20 minutes of short videos of animals and nature, filmed by around 40 cameramen across 200 locations, such as Nepal, Kalahari, and the Polar icecaps. Every piece of music played by the orchestra was accompanied by the singer, and videos. The concert began with the orchestra, accompanied by a short video of a meteor falling to Earth. After the short narration, creatures from the South and North Poles were introduced, such as polar bears and penguins. They also had rare footage of elephants lost in the Kalahari and walking through a sandstorm, a snow leopard who raced across a cliff to hunt dear, and a killer whale as it leaped from the ocean to eat seals. From all those fantastic music and videos, the best part was the music that accompanied each video, and the second best part was the video of the caves and creatures. Out of all the amazing music and videos, this was the best. It had humorous dialogue, and Haley sung Gershwin‟s “Nice Work if You Can Get It”, dedicated to all the cameramen who took amazing videos for BBC Planet Earth. This also brought fun and laughter to the audience by showing two cameramen, who were

The final piece was “Lucky Planet”. The video showed the endangered polar bears swimming and searching for food. The icebergs that bears can go on were hard to find as many had melted. The scene was accompanied by Haley, who made it much more powerful and emotional. “This was the best one out of the three concerts that we have been to,” said Teng, Year 11. “Haley‟s voice was amazing. She created music with much more emotion and power. The music left me speechless and always fitted well with the video clips. This was the best concert that I have ever been to. I want to come to watch again, added” Sofia Tan, an IB1 student. Another IB1 student, Jiaxin Lee, said: “This made me think how important it is to make our world cleaner. The music and video were marvellous. I really loved it!”

House Competitions House Activities, organised by Ms Cooper, are well underway this term at GIS with Limbo, the 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament, and Soap Box Rants all having amazing success. The limbo showed how low our students can go - which was AMAZINGLY low! Our Soap Box Rant event showed that our students have a voice. They had 30 seconds to talk about anything they wanted to. We had topics from why Indian food is delicious to why the death penalty should be abolished. No wonder a crowd formed so quickly! We look forward to Drama Skits and speech competitions in the future.

Garden's Got Talent By: Abhigyan Khullar (Year 9) On October 19th, GIS carried out a search for its most talented students. The show was held during the last two lessons on Friday and was a very entertaining way to end the half term. There was a lot of excitement and eagerness as the audience (including Year 5 and 6 students) took their seats, awaiting the performances. To start with there was a melodic duet performed by two gifted singers. Then we had a talented musician sing and play the guitar at the same time, then a fabulous dance by two awesome performers. Next we had a band play Cameo Lover, then there were some more dances and songs along with another band and duet. There were huge cheers for every performance but there could only be one winner. Although all performers did excellently the top 3 was chosen by the audience. In first place were Kim and Anna who got 70 votes, in second place was the Year 11 band with 46 votes and in third spot were the Boarding House Girls with 43 votes. In the end there was a special treat for the students as we had the excellent Mr Baker sing a song for everyone and to finish off we had a short speech from Dr Tasker thanking everybody for taking part.

Creative Writing website Garden has a whole host of budding writers. To help showcase their talent, the English Department (with help from Year 8's Abhi, Yash and Arjit) has created a website where we can post the best work. If you head over to https://sites.google.com/a/gardenrayong.com/creativewritingclub/ you can check out some of the students' latest work, which is very impressive.

Dek Dee mural IB students have been down to the nearby Dek Dee school to help paint a new mural to brighten up their walls. They have taken to the task with real enthusiasm and have done a great job!

Helping at the Special School IB students have been planning activities for children at a special school. Football, jigsaw puzzles and painting are organised by IB students during their lunchbreaks. The school is based in Pattaya and cares for children with autism.

Caring for Your Community - our CAS Star of the Month How did you spend your half-term break? For one GIS student it was an opportunity to put something back into her community and also do something towards her CAS activity. IB1 student Jia Xin (pictured left) went back to her home town in Malaysia and made a difference this half term with the elderly people at an elderly residential home in her community. She helped out in any way she could, washing dishes, sweeping floors and chatting to the elderly people at the home. An elderly lady at the home shared her story with Jia Xin. The lady has five children (three sons and two daughters) and all of them are working. She has problems walking and getting about but her children are too busy to take care of her and she is incapable of taking care of herself, so she lives in the residential home. Jia Xin said: "She feels very lonely sometimes. I felt really sad for her because I can‟t imagine myself being alone in a place and not living with my own family. I told her I will visit her whenever I come back to Malaysia. "After the three-day visit I felt as though as they were like my own grandparents. They are really friendly when leaving I told them to take care of themselves. I hope to see them again soon."

Poppies for Peace Teachers, students and staff at GIS are wearing poppies in the lead-up to Remembrance Day. Anyone who would like a poppy to remember those who have died in armed conflicts can make a donation at the front office and take one. Our guards (pictured left) are already proudly wearing their poppies.

Tango Legends By Sarah Chi (Year 11C) GIS students have been to see a special dance show in Bangkok. The secondary Spanish department organized the trip on October 14th to Bangkok to attend a dance show called „Tango Legends‟. The start of the show instantly grabbed the audience as it began with an instrumental music that created a calm mood. The stage was decorated as a ballroom with the instrumental group on the right hand side of the stage. This consisted of a piano, a Spanish guitar, a double bass, an accordion and a violin. As the music played, the dancers gathered with their partners and took turns to come to the middle to have small dances. It was unusual yet interesting to see a small male solo break in between the dances. He performed some songs that are famous melodies. As the show progressed, the performance became more eyecatching and attractive. The dances became technically extravagant, which made the audience burst into rounds of applause several times. The costumes added to the greatness of the show. The ladies dresses changed constantly, while the men kept their neat suits and yet managed to pull off spectacular moves. The most interesting part that our students noticed was the leg movement of the dancers. The legs of each partner would tangle and untangle accurately at speed, and do a swinging, kicking action without making contact. Other acrobatic movements from the ladies, such as jumping and swaying, gave a surreal impression. The finale was built up to the maximum by the dancers, expressing their professional tricks magnificently. Each couple of dancers ran into the middle of stage and performed a short yet amazing dance for the final. This show was an exciting and phenomenal experience for everyone. It impressed the audience and will stay in our memories. ¡Estaba muy fabuloso!

Teacher of the Month: Ms Claire Gordon (Primary) 1) Where are you from? Port Talbot (an industrial steel town in South Wales, UK) 2) When and why did you come to Garden? We came to Garden in August 2009. Mr Gordon, my husband, was worried that the rest of the family really wanted a pet dog and that would mean settling down in the UK for the next ten years so instead of a dog we decided to go on another adventure and that led us here. 3) What did you do before coming to Garden? We were living in Scotland where I was bringing up a young family and teaching part time in a local primary school. I also ran a small company called Eco Mama that sold 'people and planet friendly goods for Perthshire' and helped manage the local toddler and playgroups. Before that we were living and teaching in Botswana in southern Africa and going back even further I taught in both Wales and England. 4) Best thing about living in Thailand. Friendly people and beautiful places to visit 5) Favourite place you've been in Thailand One is tough: here are my top five magical places - Praya Nakhon Cave in Khao Sam Roi Yot - Chiaw Lan Lake in Khao Sok National Park - Talay Noi Lake Songkhla Phatthalung - The reef off the beach on Koh Ngai - A Tea Shop on Doi Mae Salong route 6) Favourite word: Perpendicular 7) Best thing about working at Garden: The family friendly atmosphere and seeing the children making the most of all the sporting and creative opportunities available to them. 8) Favourite animal and why? Gecko of course because they're the best! 9) Favourite song: Mae Hen Wlad fy Nhadhau - The Welsh National Anthem, it always makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up 10) What do you like doing when you're not teaching? My family would say I never stop teaching but a few favourite past times would be Friday night watching Dr Who with the family, singing and playing piano with my daughters, my weekly run round Eastern Star and chillaxing at the beach or by the pool.

Student of the Month Ashwini in 1JS

1) Where are you from? I am from India. 2) How long have you been in Thailand? I have been living here for 4 years. 3) What's your favourite subject? My favourite subject is Art because I like colour! 4) What's the best thing you've done in Thailand? The best thing I have done here is visit Mini Siam. 5) What do you like doing in your freetime? I love Hula Hooping so much! 6) What's your favourite colour? My favourite colour is yellow. 7) What's your favourite animal? My favourite animal is a cat. 8) Favourite food? My favourite food is egg. 9) What are you most scared of? I am scared of bees. 10) What's your favourite place in Thailand? My favourite place in Thailand is shopping in Pattaya.

Sports News

Strokes of Genius We had a very exciting swimming competition on Wednesday October 10th against Regent‟s and St Andrews schools. All three schools were leading the points at some stage during the afternoon, which meant that every single race mattered and was closely contested. Our Year 4 boys got us off to a good start by winning the Medley Relay. Lee (backstroke), David (breaststroke), William (butterfly) and Danai (freestyle) all swam well to give us our first win of the gala. William continued to outswim his opponents in the individual races by winning the butterfly and freestyle events.

Our Year 5 girls brought us the most points out of all the age groups. Our team of Jessica, Ann, Lily and Galatee won both their relays and Jessica continued to win all four individual events, setting an example to the rest of our swimmers that hard work in training sessions do produce results! Well done Jessica, Ann, Lily and Galatee, you did us proud! Another star swimmer emerged in the Year 7 boys section with Oliver winning both his butterfly and freestyle races. He also helped us out in the senior boys section as we were one swimmer short due to illness and caught up with Year 10 students from the other schools in both relays. The rest of our senior boys team – Jason, David and Teng swam brilliantly and all won their races. Well done boys!

Our top swimmer from the senior girls section was undoubtedly Coco. She won all four individual races with ease and it was a pleasure to watch as she stroked further and further away from her opponents in each of her four races. Keep up the good work and morning training, Coco! All in all, every single swimmer who competed for GIS swam well and contributed to us NEARLY winning the gala! In the end we tied for second place with St Andrews and Regent's won by just four points. We now know that we are able to compete with these bigger schools and have something to work for. So swimmers, keep up the hard work in your morning training sessions. We are proud of you and are looking forward to a great year ahead! Aletta Wilson Swimming Co-ordinater

Storm Suffer Loss The skies cleared and the sun came out but that was as good as it got for the Storm Varsity boys as they came out on the short end of a 4-0 loss to ISE on October 16th. Missed opportunities and injuries cost GIS dearly as Sony hit the post three times and Rohit and Robert each suffered injuries against the bigger ISE squad. The Storm's next match will come when they host Regents on November 13th at 4 pm. Mr Lynch Students Aiming for Gold at U13 Games GIS will be one of several schools competing in the next Fobissea U13 Games next year. We will be sending a team up to Bangkok International Preparatory and Secondary School to take part in the games from March 14th to 17th. The games will include swimming, athletics, football and basketball. There is an opportunity for local businesses to get involved and gain wider publicity through sponsorship of the GIS team. For details email [email protected]

Volleyball Victory! There was a clean sweep for all the sports teams on October 9th. The Varsity boys and girls volleyball team beat ISE and the U13 girls Basketball team beat ISE by one point to take victory. Well done to the players and coaches.

Cross Country Success Well done to all our students who took part in the Cross Country Race at St Andrews - . they were all a credit to our school. In the Under-11 girls' race Galatee (pictured left) came 1st. Oliver (pictured right) came 3rd in the Under 13 boys race and well done to Ms Cooper, who finished second in the ladies' teacher race, with other students finishing in the top 20. Thanks to Ms Wilson and Mrs Cooper for their help at St Andrews. The full results are below. Cross Country at St Andrews Monday 15th October 2012 Girls Under 11 Galatee Jessica Ann Miriam Rachael Mansha Lily Girls Under 13 Katherine Panittha Stefanie Shaniya Pao Pao Pop Mary Jezabel Ellie Lily Girls Under 15 Berenice Praw Ladies Open Mrs Cooper

1st 4th 9th 27th 34th 36th 44th 10th 12th 13th 15th 18th 19th 21st 22nd 24th 26th th

12 16th 2nd

Boys Under 11 Nut 10th Benjamin 26th Nicky 27th Lee 40th Alex 47th Direk 77th Chan 81st Boys Under 13 Oliver 3rd Azim 17th

Boys Under 15 Abhigyan 20th Pume 26th

Sponsors needed for Christmas competition The Christmas Football Tournament will soon be here and we are looking for sponsors to help with trophies and medals. If you are interested in helping out please email [email protected].

Swim Meet The Interhouse Secondary Swim Meet will take place on Thursday November 8th. All parents are welcome to come and cheer on their children.

Sports Fixtures

Date Mon 5 Nov Wed 7 Nov Mon 12 Nov Tues 13 Nov Thurs 15 Nov Tues 20 Nov Wed 21 Nov Thurs 22nd Nov Sat 24 Nov Tues 27 Nov Thurs 29 Nov Mon 3 Dec Tues 4 Dec Thurs 6 Dec

Who? B&G G G B B G Year 4 - 5 B B Year 4 - 5 B B&G B&G Year 6 B&G B&G B

Age Group Varsity Under 13 Under 13 Varsity Varsity Primary Varsity Primary Varsity All Primary Under 13 Primary Varsity

Sport Volleyball Basketball Basketball Football Football Football Football Football Football Swim Meet Football Basketball Football Football

Against REPS Regents REPs Regents St Andrews Tournament REPS Tournament Tournament REPS Tournament Tournament REPS ISE

Venue GISR GISR REPS GISR GISR Regents REPS Regents ISE GISR Regents GISR REPS ISE

Student Council Here is a message from the newly-elected Student Council president, Paul (IB1). 'I'm looking forward to this Academic Year and hope to make changes that will benefit everyone. One of my long-term objectives is to make the canteen food and facilities even better. To help achieve this, I've started an online survey for students, where they can tell me their thoughts and suggestions. For future activities, I'd like to arrange more after-school clubs and also increase the number of festivals GIS offers. This school already offers some excellent events, such as Diwali and International Evening, but we need more. We also have a Facebook page now for the Student Council. If you search for Student Council Garden International School Rayong you can join us! To help me I have got a very capable team. This includes vice-president Sofia, accountant Mona and Maria, who is the secretary. Together, I'm sure we will be able to make a difference.'

Get in touch! If you have any articles for the newsletter, please send them to [email protected] before the end of each month for inclusion in the following month’s newsletter.