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Garden International School<br />

Eastern Seaboard, Ban Chang<br />

<strong>NEWSLETTER</strong><br />

Established 1994<br />

Your choice. Their future. Our family. โรงเรียนนานาชาติการ์เด้นอีสเทิร์นซีบอร์ดบ้านฉาง September 2014<br />

Find us at:<br />

Website: www.gardenrayong.com<br />

Twitter: www.twitter.com/gisrayong<br />

Facebook: www.facebook.com/gardeninternationalschool<br />

Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/gardenrayongthailand<br />

Accredited by<br />

Affiliated to


From Dr Tasker: Principal<br />

From the Principal<br />

Dear Parents, Students and Friends of GIS,<br />

The school year is now well underway and I hope that the newer members of our GIS<br />

community are feeling settled. The school continues to grow and develop, we are<br />

solidifying our position as the biggest school in the area (other than Regent’s, of course)<br />

and the investment in the development of the campus will continue as a consequence of<br />

the growth.<br />

The second swimming pool and grandstand should be ready for the U13 FOBISIA Games<br />

we are hosting in Term 2 and other maintenance and building programmes are being<br />

planned.<br />

The Prefects have been very busy, hosting a successful and fun-filled Family Quiz last<br />

week alongside a variety of other ways of advising, informing and entertaining the students<br />

– such as Roald Dahl Day, Literacy Day, Greenpeace Day and Talk Like A Pirate Day to<br />

name just a few.<br />

Our Diwali celebrations are not far away now, Mr Krishnan and the Prefects have been<br />

working on the auditions and performance scheduling with Ms Morris and Ms Clifton<br />

working with the IB students on the logistics. With Kru Nid and her team of IB helpers, the<br />

rangoli and decorations will, of course, be beautiful. This year will be different to the<br />

arrangements for previous years; the focus will be the student performances. Thank you in<br />

advance to FoG PTA for helping out with providing the snacks for the interval – a big thank<br />

you to Rashmi Raturi for her “Co-ordination of Mums” as she calls it. A poster with further<br />

information will be available and sent out to parents soon.<br />

Our celebration of nations continues; in September we have recognised with information<br />

on the notice board and the flying of the flag for the Philippines, Chile, Japan and South<br />

Korea. October will see Taiwan ROC (National Day October 10), India (Diwali October 23,<br />

celebrated at GIS on October 15) and Turkmenistan (Independence Day October 27).<br />

Friends of Garden PTA will be having its monthly ‘Coffee Morning’ at 8am in the Canteen<br />

at school on Monday October 6 – feel free to come along if you can.<br />

Kind Regards,<br />

Dr Stuart Tasker<br />

PhD (Ed), PGDipEd (Math Ed), PGCertEd (Ed Admin), PGDipTchg, BSc<br />

Principal<br />

Garden International School


Upcoming events<br />

Whole School<br />

Oct 1: World Habitat Day<br />

Oct 2: House T-Shirt Day (Primary), House T-shirt day (Secondary)<br />

Oct 3: Peace Day activities (afternoon)<br />

Oct 6: Friends of Garden PTA coffee morning, canteen 8am<br />

Oct 8: Thai language for adults, 3.30pm<br />

Oct 15: Diwali<br />

Oct 16: Dictionary Day<br />

Oct 18-26: Mid-Term Break<br />

Oct 29: Thai language for adults, 3.30pm<br />

Primary<br />

Oct 8: Year 2 Trip to Birds & Bees Farm<br />

Oct 31: (Foundation) Trick or Treat<br />

Oct 31: Primary Halloween Party<br />

Secondary<br />

Oct 3: House T-shirt Day<br />

Oct 7-9: Geography field trip to Ayutthaya<br />

Oct 13: Assembly, period 5<br />

Oct 17: Grade cards go home<br />

Oct 27: Assembly, period 7<br />

Many thanks to our generous GIS sponsors:<br />

Platinum<br />

Indorama<br />

Encounter Church<br />

Universal Group Thailand<br />

Gold<br />

Aditya Burla<br />

Thunder Cranes<br />

Silver<br />

Blue Sky Developer Company Limited


Follow us on Facebook!<br />

Head to our Facebook page for the latest news on what’s been<br />

happening at GIS.<br />

www.facebook.com/gardeninternationalschool<br />

Generous GIS raises thousands<br />

Big-hearted students from Garden International School (GIS) joined in the fun at Jesters<br />

Fair. The school's IB students helped out by offering nail-painting activities and also by<br />

holding a raffle to win soft drinks. In total, students raised around 12,000 baht, which is a<br />

great achievement.<br />

International Literacy Day<br />

Generous GIS students have helped less-fortunate Pattaya children by donating their old<br />

books. To mark International Literacy Day, GIS Prefect John Caules organised several<br />

events. One was to encourage students to donate their old books, which were still in good<br />

condition, to give to charity.<br />

Dozens of books were handed in to the school library, and these will be passed on to the<br />

North Star Library in Pattaya. John also made a PowerPoint to show ever class the<br />

importance of literacy around the world.


John said he was pleased with how many books had been donated, and added: "It was<br />

great to see generous GIS students donating their books to help other children in Pattaya.<br />

Not everyone has access to the excellent library and facilities that we have at GIS, so it<br />

was great to be able to help others."<br />

The North Star Library is a non-profit making project that is run under the umbrella of the<br />

Father Ray Foundation.<br />

www.youtube.com/user/gardenrayongthailand<br />

Video 1: Roald Dahl Day<br />

Hundreds of chocolate-loving students<br />

hunted for special golden tickets to mark<br />

Roald Dahl Day at Garden International<br />

School (GIS).<br />

The students bought more than 1,000 Kit-kat<br />

bars in the hope that theirs would contain the<br />

magical golden ticket, just like in Dahl's Willy<br />

Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.<br />

GIS's Prefects, led by Languages'<br />

Prefect John Caules, organised the<br />

event, which aimed to raise<br />

awareness of children's author Roald<br />

Dahl, and also raise money for a<br />

good cause.<br />

By the end of the day, several golden<br />

tickets had been found and<br />

exchanged for prizes, and GIS raised<br />

7,700 baht, which will be given to the<br />

North Star Library in Pattaya. North<br />

Star Library is part of the Father Ray<br />

Foundation.<br />

Pictured above are two of the lucky golden ticket winners! See our video on youtube.com.


Video 2: Pirates Ahoy!<br />

Eye patches, a skull and crossbones<br />

and pieces of eight all made up an<br />

action-packed Talk Like a Pirate Day<br />

at Garden International School (GIS).<br />

GIS's Prefects came up with a<br />

cunning plan to entertain Primary<br />

students on September 19. After<br />

gathering together the landlubbers,<br />

they led them on a treasure hunt<br />

around school, as students searched<br />

for their hidden prizes.<br />

At lunchtime, the 'pirates' found three<br />

scurvy landlubbers, in the form of<br />

teachers Mr Carson and Mr Beales,<br />

and GIS Principal Dr Tasker. After<br />

rounding them up, the pirates forced<br />

the trio to walk the plank - into the<br />

school swimming pool.<br />

Well done to the Prefects who<br />

helped organise the event.<br />

Visit www.gardenrayong.com to see<br />

a video of the events.<br />

Also on Youtube this month:<br />

Punctuation Day – see our kung fu punctuation experts at work!<br />

Primary’s Got Talent – semi-finals: who is through to the grand final?


From Mrs Gordon: Head of Primary<br />

Hello again,<br />

September is at an end already what a full and varied month we’ve had in Primary.<br />

We began the month talking about how we could “Be Kind’’ to other people and Primary took this<br />

to heart by bringing in almost 1,000 Bottles for the Jester’s Fair Charity event to help raise funds<br />

for those children less fortunate than themselves. Thank you for your generous support with this.<br />

We had our first class assembly where class 6JB made us think<br />

about “Being Honest’’ by performing a GIS version of the Emperor’s<br />

New Clothes.<br />

“Dr Tasker’s new suit”<br />

Aastha, Riddhi and Natalie<br />

The first of our Talent Shows happened this month too. There were lots<br />

of nervous contestants and judges. But yes, we do have "Talent".<br />

Congratulations to Ella singing "LOVE" and Aastha, Natalie and Riddhi<br />

(above right) singing "Really Don't Care''; they go through to the finals in<br />

May. Our next semi-final will be Dancing on Thursday November 27.<br />

Watch out for the sign up sheet after the October holidays.<br />

Ella singing ‘LOVE’


New Bikes<br />

Our brand new bikes for Foundation arrived this<br />

month from Denmark. The RABO bikes we ordered<br />

from funds raised at the Christmas Fair last year and<br />

are purpose-built for school environments, so we<br />

hope we will have many years of fun and pedalling<br />

from them. They are a huge hit in the Foundation<br />

Playground.<br />

Staying Safe<br />

Our teachers and TAs have also been back to school. A lot of our staff updated their EFR<br />

(Emergency First Response) Training with Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, in case there is ever an<br />

accident at school.<br />

Mathematics Workshop<br />

All our Primary Class Teachers were lucky enough to attend a workshop at REPS given by Dr<br />

Yeap Ban Har, an expert in teaching Singapore Maths, the Mathematics curriculum we have<br />

adopted in our Primary school. You can visit his blog here http://banhar.blogspot.com/<br />

Nit Busting<br />

Football in the House<br />

This year the weather was kind to us and we<br />

managed two days of House Football. There<br />

were some very exciting matches and<br />

excellent sportsmanship was shown by all.<br />

The Year 1s and 2s tested Dr Tasker’s<br />

refereeing skills to the full!<br />

Unfortunately our first after school football<br />

match at St Andrews was cancelled due to the<br />

rain. We had a lot of very unhappy players who<br />

were really looking forward to their first away<br />

game – next time.<br />

A reminder that after our half term break in October we will have our Nit Busting Week so please<br />

remember to check your child’s hair during the holidays. There have also been two cases of<br />

Chicken Pox at the school so please keep your child at home if they are unwell or have rash.<br />

Wishing you and your family a healthy October.<br />

Warm regards<br />

Claire Gordon<br />

Head of Primary<br />

headpri@gardenrayong.com


Primary Blogs<br />

There are now several blogs that let parents keep in touch with what is going on in their<br />

child’s class.<br />

Check out these blogs to find out the latest happenings in Primary!<br />

Early Years - have been out and about exploring their environment with their very own<br />

home made binoculars.<br />

earlyyears.gardenrayong.com<br />

Nursery - are learning about mini beasts this term, they have their very own ant farm<br />

(developed by scientists at NASA) which they are observing very closely<br />

http://nursery.gardenrayong.com<br />

Reception - have had a few visitors in their class this month to help them learn about our<br />

body and what's inside. One of our parents is a doctor and they came into help us listen to<br />

our hearts.<br />

reception.gardenrayong.com<br />

Year 1 - have also been out and about exploring shapes around our school<br />

year1.gardenrayong.com<br />

Year 2 - as part of their unit on Plants, Year 2 have been reading the story Handa's<br />

Surprise and tasting lots of different fruits in the process.<br />

year2.gardenrayong.com<br />

Year 3 - check out the patterns Year 3 have been making in their Mathematics class<br />

http://year3.gardenrayong.com


Year 4 - students have been learning<br />

about ants in their Thai language<br />

lessons. Students found an ant<br />

colony, tried to catch and keep them<br />

and also drew pictures of the ants.<br />

http://year4.gardenrayong.com<br />

Year 5 – have been putting<br />

their new beebots into action<br />

as they start a new computing<br />

curriculum and learn how to<br />

program. There was also a DT<br />

challenge - who can make the<br />

strongest columns for our very<br />

own Greek Goddess<br />

Year 5 students have also<br />

been learning about banana<br />

trees. For more, see their blog:<br />

http://year5.gardenrayong.com<br />

Year 6 - in Khun Nid's Thai class, the children learnt about water - how to save it, how it's<br />

used to make electricity and how to change its temperature. They had a small science lab<br />

set up where they were able to experience reading thermometers and taking the<br />

temperatures of water in its different forms. Later on, they will have a test to check their<br />

knowledge in Thai of what they learnt in their experimenting. Looks like fun!<br />

http://year6.gardenrayong.com<br />

Year 1 Helps Jester’s<br />

It wasn’t only IB students who<br />

helped at Jester’s Fair.<br />

Here are our Year 1 students<br />

counting up to see how many<br />

bottles had been donated for<br />

this year’s fundraising event<br />

in Pattaya.


From Mr Ball: Head of Secondary<br />

Hello,<br />

This has been a busy opening first full month in school. There is as usual much that is<br />

happening in many different areas. I would however like to take the opportunity to<br />

congratulate Mr and Mrs Shiells on the birth of their new daughter Maisie.<br />

Big congratulations to the IB2s who have, arguably, just completed the most difficult,<br />

allegedly, part of the IB syllabus, the Theory of Knowledge presentation. These<br />

presentations are ten minutes long, involve the students presenting on a topic of their<br />

choice, deconstructing the topic, and giving the presentation to a variable audience. At the<br />

end of each IB student’s time at the school they are asked what the most difficult thing<br />

they had to do whilst in the IB was. The answer is invariably the Theory of Knowledge<br />

presentation. Yet satisfyingly, when asked what one of their proudest moments was whilst<br />

in the IB Diploma course they also say the Theory of Knowledge presentation.<br />

The U-Smile photographs went along swimmingly. The students have had their<br />

photographs taken in a wide range of scenarios. I am always interested in the hidden<br />

curriculum that exists within schools. The U-Smile photographs are a classic example of<br />

this. In the UK, when I last taught there, the students stood nervously in front of the<br />

camera and grinned in a slightly awkward manner. Our students are given a wide range of<br />

instructions by the U-Smile photographers and it is clear to see the students who have<br />

been at the school for a number of years as they are, as a bunch, very confident in front of<br />

the camera. The development of confidence in all its facets is part of the development of<br />

our students and feedbacks into their education learning in the long term.<br />

We have Peace Day activities on Friday. These promise to be exciting, rewarding,<br />

entertaining, and challenging. Best of all they are designed by the students for the<br />

students. The students will be competing in Houses, so they will need to wear their House<br />

t-shirts. There will also be house activities at lunch time on Friday, for a double House<br />

whammy. These activities at the time of writing are a closely guarded secret, and I look<br />

forward to finding out what they will be.<br />

Regards<br />

Sage Ball<br />

Head of Secondary<br />

headsec@gardenrayong.com


A Night at the Opera<br />

Students went to see the opera La Boheme in Bangkok recently. This was a unique and<br />

wonderful experience and I would love to go again sometime. There was an orchestra, a<br />

performance on stage and English subtitles, which helped us understand the plot more<br />

easily.<br />

By Tara (Year 10)<br />

IB News<br />

Prefects Welcome<br />

GIS held a whole school<br />

assembly to welcome our<br />

Prefects for 2014-15.<br />

As well as six new Prefects,<br />

we also have a Head Boy<br />

(Patrick) and a Head Girl<br />

(Pauline) for the first time. All<br />

the Prefects and Head Boy,<br />

Head Girl positions are filled<br />

by IB1 students, but they will<br />

represent the whole school.


Teacher of the Month<br />

This month we talk to Primary teacher Ms Laurence.<br />

1) What's the best thing about working at GIS?<br />

The atmosphere, the community and Dr Tasker's sense of<br />

fashion and sense of humour (sigh)!<br />

2) What do you do when you're not teaching?<br />

I spend hours on Pinterest and I try to practise yoga. I also like<br />

to spend quality time with my family and friends.<br />

3) Best movie you've ever seen.<br />

I have a couple of movies that I watch over and over again...All<br />

the 007s before Daniel Craig (I don't like him) and Love Actually! I like movies that make<br />

me dream, laugh and cry (a little).<br />

4) What do you think of Thai food?<br />

Love it! Kao Soi, Som Tam, crab curry etc. I'd like to try some more but my culinary<br />

vocabulary is quite limited so I end up ordering the same dish.<br />

5) If you weren't a teacher, what would you be doing?<br />

I wanted to sell ice cream, then flowers and I ended up renting aircrafts...I'm not sure.<br />

Maybe something involving lots of travelling and discoveries.<br />

6) Have you ever met anyone famous?<br />

Quite a few when I was renting aircrafts...Famous people like to travel incognito and tend<br />

to avoid classic airlines such as:<br />

Rock star Mick Jagger, actor Jude Law and ex-footballer Zinedine Zidane.<br />

7) If you could have a superpower, what would it be? Taking over the school's computers!<br />

8) What kind of student were you? Studious and cheeky (though I always got caught as I<br />

was too loud)<br />

9) What's your favourite word? I have 2: Sugarcoated and Seriously!<br />

10) Favourite animal. Why? Hippos! They're simple, round and relaxed, unless you annoy<br />

them!


Student of the Month<br />

This month we talk to Year 10 student Ilya.<br />

1) Who is your favourite teacher? Why?<br />

My favourite teacher is Mr Berry because he shouts out<br />

random words during the lesson and that's really fun.<br />

2) Where are you from? What's it like there?<br />

I'm from Vladivostok, that's a city on the far east of Russia. It's<br />

really nice and cold there.<br />

3) What is your favourite activity in school?<br />

I'm doing GIS TV at the moment and I think that’s a nice one.<br />

4) What job would you like when you finish school?<br />

Something that involves modern computer technologies.<br />

5) What's the best country you've visited (apart from Thailand)? China, I guess.<br />

6) Favourite food? Russian dumplings.<br />

7) How many languages can you speak?<br />

I can speak 2 languages( Russian and<br />

English).<br />

8) Favourite animal. Gecko<br />

9) If you could be a superhero, who would it be? Mr Fantastic<br />

10) What book are you reading at the moment? Robin Hood


Sport<br />

Eliza is Taekwondo Champion!<br />

Congratulations to Eliza Lynn of Year 2LH.<br />

Eliza is the Rayong Province Champion in Taekwondo,<br />

in the 22.5 kg weight category.<br />

Get in touch!<br />

If you have any articles for the newsletter, please send them to<br />

markb@gardenrayong.com before the end of each month for inclusion in the<br />

following month’s newsletter.<br />

Find us at:<br />

Website: www.gardenrayong.com<br />

Twitter: www.twitter.com/gisrayong<br />

Garden International School<br />

Your choice. Their future. Our family.<br />

Facebook: www.facebook.com/gardeninternationalschool<br />

Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/gardenrayongthailand<br />

Accredited by<br />

Affiliated to<br />

Rayong Campus : 188/24 Moo 4 Pala-Banchang Road, Tambol Pala, Amphur Ban Chang, Rayong, Thailand 21130. Tel. +66 (0)38 880360-3 Fax. +66 (0)38 030805<br />

Bangkok Campus : 2/1 Yen Akart Soi 2,Yen Akart Road, Bangkok, Thailand 10120. Website : www.gardenbangkok.com<br />

REPS Campus : 188/46 Moo 4 Pala-Banchang Road, Tambol Pala, Amphur Ban Chang, Rayong, Thailand 21130. Website : www.repsrayong.com

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