NEWSLETTER
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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