NEWSLETTER

Garden International School
Eastern Seaboard, Ban Chang
NEWSLETTER
Established 1994
Your choice. Their future. Our family. โรงเรียนนานาชาติการ์เด้นอีสเทิร์นซีบอร์ดบ้านฉาง November 2014
Find us at:
Website: www.gardenrayong.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/gisrayong
Facebook: www.facebook.com/gardeninternationalschool
Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/gardenrayongthailand
Accredited by
Affiliated to

From Dr Tasker: Principal
From the Principal
Dear Parents, Students and Friends of GIS,
As we approach the end of this long first term we have a chance to reflect on some of the
incredible achievements of the students and even anticipate some more as they work
towards what is next – not just inside the classroom of course.
Many students have made outstanding progress and achieved very well academically so
far this academic year – Grade Cards and Reports are being issued and there are
opportunities for parents to meet the teachers before the Christmas break.
In this first term many of the students have also grown and developed – some quite
obviously physically and many others in terms of their inter-personal and intra-personal
skill development.
The Secondary performances of Grease were stunning, our Diwali celebrations
spectacular and our Loy Krathong celebrations wonderful. The many sporting events the
students have been a part of have also been rewarding too. Special note should be made
of the first major competition – the Under 15 FOBISIA games which were held in Bangkok.
I was lucky enough to be there and coach the Girls’ Football team. I know how much fun
these types of competitions are and how much it takes out of the students. They returned
with many medals and stories, but also physically and mentally exhausted – but
exhilarated by the whole experience nonetheless!
The Primary Games are in Bangkok at the end of May and we will actually be hosting the
Under 13 Games in March. Mr Ball, Mr Edwards and the very large team of helpers are
well under way with the planning.
The Royal British Legion appreciates the support of anyone wishing to donate to the cause
of supporting the veterans and victims of conflict; this is highlighted each year with the
Poppy Appeal. In Thailand the Royal British Legion actually allocates 20% of the collection
to Thai military veterans and families. Mr Ronald Smith from the Royal British Legion was
once again astounded by the generosity of GIS when he visited to pick up the collection,
we raised 11,948 baht. Thank you to everyone who donated.
Christmas Fun Day was a wonderful success. The students performed so well, the
parents’ contribution to the food and drink was amazing and I hope everyone had a
wonderful time at the stalls and joining in with the events and even the singing. Santa was
very busy in his grotto, but I do hope everyone got a chance to see him!
Parents of students from Year 3 and above have been asked to agree to their child’s
commitment to use the school’s Internet, intranet or school network within the appropriate
guidelines by signing the ICT Code of Conduct for Students. Please do this as soon as you
can and return it to the school with your child.

With our internationalism awareness this month we have recognised Sweden, France,
Germany and Scotland. You can see below the posters which were on the notice board
next to the flag. This week is Thailand, in honour of His Majesty The King’s birthday on
Friday December 5.
Kind Regards,
Dr Stuart Tasker
PhD (Ed), PGDipEd (Math Ed), PGCertEd (Ed Admin), PGDipTchg, BSc
Principal
Garden International School
Many thanks to our generous GIS sponsors:
Platinum
Indorama
Encounter Church
Universal Plus
Gold
Aditya Birla
Thunder Cranes
Silver
Blue Sky Developer Company Limited

Upcoming events
Whole School
Dec 1: Friends of Garden PTA coffee morning, school canteen
Thursday Dec 4: All students to wear yellow to honour HM the King’s Birthday
Dec 5: HM the King’s Birthday – public holiday
Dec 9: Christmas Concert, 7pm in the Main Hall
Dec 10: Constitution Day – public holiday
Dec 12: End of Term 1, 12 noon
Jan 6: Start of Term 2 (Day 5)
Primary
Dec 3: Primary parents’ conference
Dec 11: Years 1 and 2 Christmas Play
Dec 12: Foundation Christmas Show and Feast
Secondary
Dec 1-3: English as a Second Language examinations (Years 7-9)
Dec 4: Extended Essay for IB2 – final deadline
Dec 8-9: Enterprise Events (various)
Dec 9: Grade Cards go home
Dec 11: Secondary Parents’ Evening, 7pm in the Main Hall
Follow us on Facebook!
Head to our Facebook page for the latest news on what’s
been happening at GIS.
ww.facebook.com/gardeninternationalschool
This month on Facebook:
Loy Krathong celebrations!
Grease the musical
Book Fair
House T-Shirt Day and Limbo Contest
On Youtube you can now see videos about:
Grease – listen to all the songs and watch the performances.
Loy Krathong activities – see our students making krathong and putting on a great
cultural show.

Remembrance Day
Students from Garden International School paid respects to victims of war during a moving
Remembrance Day service.
At GIS there was a special whole school assembly where a minute's silence was observed
and the Last Post was played on November 11. At 11.11am, students and staff stood for a
minute's silence to remember the fallen.
Students also read out several poems, including
one by a Vietnamese poet to highlight the fact
that Remembrance Day thinks about the victims
of conflict from all around the globe.
Several Secondary
students travelled to
Kanchanaburi to visit a
War Cemetery and take
part in a ceremony to lay
wreaths. Pictured above right is a Year 10 student with British
Ambassador to Thailand, Mr Mark Kent.
A Year 7 student, Liang Liang, used black and red rubber bands
to make a mini poppy. She then gave this to teachers to wear on
their identity lanyard. Students raised 11,948 baht for the British
Legion by buying poppies – an amazing achievement.

Loy Krathong at GIS
Students celebrated Loy Krathong at GIS with an array of cultural activities.
The school's Thai department organised an afternoon show on November 6 to mark one of
Thailand's most popular festivals.

Students from Primary and Secondary performed traditional Thai dances, gave a display
of Muay Thai boxing and made their own krathong using biodegradable materials. Parents
were invited to come along and watch the show.
Indorama was the Platinum sponsor and Blue Sky Developer Company Ltd was the Silver
sponsor for the school's Loy Krathong event.

Christmas Fun Day
Parents, students and staff from GIS had fun at an action-packed Christmas Fun Day on
November 29.
The day featured festive songs and dances from Primary students who performed in their
Houses (Cobra, Gecko, Tiger and Eagle) and also songs from our Secondary students.
Teachers arranged various activities and games, including a coconut shy, ‘pin the
moustache on Mr Garth or Mr Berry’ and the chance to throw wet sponges at teachers and
students!
Friends of Garden PTA arranged for some great food and drinks. Many thanks to everyone
who made the day such a success. Funds raised from the event will help buy even more
resources for our school.

From Mrs Gordon: Head of Primary
Hello again,
November has been an action-packed month for Primary.
We’ve been sporty
Our football teams had their first matches this year against REPS and ISE - with some
great results for all teams. A big thank you to our coaches Mr Amuchou, Mr James, Mr Joe
and Ms Natalie.
Several of our Year 4 students took part in the Cross Country race at ISE; well done to
them for their commitment and determination to keep running through the pouring rain!
Our 26 swimmers performed brilliantly at the Regent’s Swim Meet, all racing with great
determination. The total of 13 FIRST PLACES, 9 SECOND PLACES and 7 THIRD
PLACES reflects the strong performances from our Primary Swim Team. Thank you to Mr
Amuchou, Mr Garth and Mr Paul, who are our swim coaches this year.
Our Friends of Garden have been providing wonderful support for our sports teams by
providing them with drinks and snacks at each event. Thank you to the Sports Support
Committee.
We’ve been celebrating
Our Loy Krathong celebrations this year have been captured on our school YouTube
channel, please have a look to see our Primary students in action making and floating their
Krathongs and performing in the Thai Cultural Show. Our young Muay Thai Boxing Dance
team were a real treat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHPWH8Qn-ig
We’ve been generous
We donated 5,500 baht from our Primary Halloween Party to the Hand to Hand
Foundation. They will use it to buy a fire extinguisher for their new building. Our students
have been very generous with the Poppy Appeal and some of our students from Loom
Band Club set up their own stall at the Christmas Fun Day selling all the loom bands
they’ve made during club time in aid of the Camillian Social Centre Rayong.
We’ve been showing off our talents
This month saw our Garden Has Talent Dance semi finals, with lots of talent in evidence
from our Year 2, 3 and 4 students. Our judges Khun Ann, Khun Renu and Khun Bu had a
tough time choosing two acts to go through to the final in May. They chose the Year 3 Girl
Dance Team dancing to Let it Go and Ananya showing off her limbo skills.

We had our first House Activities Dance Off competition last week which was a great
success and lots of fun. Eagle were our first Dance Off winners – they may have found
their winning streak at last with Ms Natalie at the helm. We hope you enjoyed the re-run of
the performances at the Christmas Fun Day.
We’ve been working hard
Primary and Foundation reports are coming out this week and we look forward to meeting
you at the Parent Conferences on Wednesday to discuss your child’s progress. Please
book your appointment at http://parentconferences.gardenrayong.com/ There will be no
Baby Group this week due to the parent conferences.
We’ve been rehearsing
The Year 1 and 2 children are very busy rehearsing for their Christmas Show, The
Landlord’s Cat.
At a certain Bethlehem inn, the landlord's cat is so fed up with the hectic atmosphere and
being ignored by his owner, that he is on the verge of leaving town. However, with the
arrival of Mary and Joseph in the stable, as well as wise men and shepherds, the cat
(being a wily and intuitive creature), senses that something very special is about to
happen. Naturally he is determined to find out just what it is...
They will be performing their show on December 11 at 10am in the Primary Hall.
Our Foundation classes are also preparing their Christmas songs for the Foundation
Christmas Feast on the last day of term, Friday December 12. And Year 5 and 6 are about
to audition for parts in the production ‘Peace Child’ that will be performed next term.
We’ve been out and about
Blogs
Have a look at our class blogs to see where we’ve been and what we’ve seen
Early Years have been travelling on lots of different forms of transport this month
http://earlyyears.gardenrayong.com/p/photo-gallery.html
Nursery went on their first ever school trip to Supphatra Land to taste all their delicious fruit
http://nursery.gardenrayong.com/
Reception have been to the Chinese Temple; they’ve also had a Beebot coming to visit
them in their classroom
http://reception.gardenrayong.com/
Year 1 got to visit Dr Win in his Veterinary Clinic and found out how Ms Lucy baths a
hedgehog
http://year1.gardenrayong.com/

Year 2 are off to London to see the Queen. I wonder if they’ll send us a postcard?
http://year2.gardenrayong.com/
Year 3 have been out and about cloud spotting
http://year3.gardenrayong.com/2014/11/cloud-spotting.html
Find out what Year 4 enjoyed most about their trip to the mangrove forest
http://year4.gardenrayong.com/2014/11/mangrove-trip.html
Ms Julie’s class in Year 5 have been designing shelters for their next big expedition
http://year5.gardenrayong.com/2014_11_01_archive.html
Who got their head chopped off when Year 6 visited Art in Paradise earlier this month?
http://year6.gardenrayong.com
I look forward to seeing you at the Parent Conferences this week; the teachers really value
parental support and interest in their child’s education.
Kind regards
Claire Gordon
Head of Primary
headpri@gardenrayong.com

From Mr Ball: Head of Secondary
Hello Parents,
I have to start by congratulating the Under 15 FOBISIA sports teams with their fantastic
success at the Under 15 FOBISIA games. A great set of results that represented the effort,
skill, and commitment that students have put into their preparation for this event.
The trip by Mr Armstrong to Kanchanaburi was very successful; it is a serious trip about
serious issues. The students responded wonderfully to the Poppy Appeal and
demonstrated their support for those whom the Poppy Appeal supports. Last year Garden
International School raised the largest donation in the region, something to be proud
about.
This year we are organising our parents evening slightly differently. To ensure that parents
of students in examination years can maximise their time with staff we are having a
separate parents’ evening for students in Year 11 and IB2. The Secondary Parents’
Evening for students in Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and IB1 will be held on Thursday December 11,
which is fast approaching. The Parents’ Evening provides a wonderful opportunity to
discuss your child's progress with their form tutor and their subject teachers.
Please note that the parents’ evening for Year 11 and IB2 will be held on February 3, after
the IGCSE and IB mock examinations have been held and the students have received
their mock examination grades.
The Secondary Parents’ Evening for students in Years 7, 8, 9, 10 and IB1 will offer the
perfect opportunity to discuss the December Grade Card, which will be emailed to parents
and students on Tuesday, December 9. The Parents Evening will be held in the Main Hall
between 6pm and 8pm. We will start this year’s Parents’ Evening with a formal
performance by the students who attended the ABRSM music examinations. This
performance will start promptly at 6pm and finish at 6.10pm.
Our IB students will meet and greet you upon arrival. There will be a fine selection of
snacks and beverages available during the night, which will be ably organised by students
from Year 8.
We look forward to seeing the parents of students in Years 7, 8, 9, 10, and IB1 at the
Parents’ Evening on Thursday December 11. Please note that a translation service will be
available for Thai parents.
Sadly Mrs Bradley has moved on for personal reasons and we are currently recruiting for a
replacement.
Regards,
Sage Ball
Head of Secondary
headsec@gardenrayong.com

Did you know…?
Elvis Presley was offered a
part in the movie version.
In Spain, the movie was
called ‘Brillantina’
because Grease means
‘fat’ in Spanish!
The school in Grease,
Rydell High, is an allusion
to former pop star Bobby
Rydell.

Grease was the Word!
The classic musical Grease roared into GIS with its famous songs, Fifties' style costumes
and spectacular dances.
Grease was staged at GIS from November 5-7 in the school's Main Hall. The musical
tells the story of how Sandy, a new girl at Rydell High, struggles to be accepted by her
new classmates, while also having a crush on the school pin-up Danny Zuko. Danny tries
to retain his cool image among his friends, while Sandy feels she has to change in order
to be popular. Eventually the pair realise they just need to be themselves to be happy
and not worry about their friends or their image.
The show featured some great performances from the school's talented array of dancers,
and also some amazing singing performances as the cast sang 'Summer Lovin',
'Greased Lightning' and 'You're the One That I Want'.
The show’s Platinum sponsor was Encounter Church and Thunder Cranes was the
Gold sponsor.

Students Collect IGCSE Certificates
Students from GIS have collected their IGCSE certificates following this year’s batch of
hugely successful examinations.
Among the star students were Syuen Wei Tang, or Jason, who was awarded 10 passes,
including 4 A*s and 5 As. Arpan Ojha gained 9 passes, all ranging from A*-B, while Hui
Eun Park was awarded 8 IGCSEs - 7 of which were A* - and Pauline Gallemit landed 9 A*-
C grades.
John Caules gained 7 passes, Coco Atkinson
was awarded 8 IGCSEs, while Pornchanok
Pornthipsakul (Khing) gained 8 passes, of which
all but one were A* or As. Elsewhere, Vishal Iyer
had 9 grades between A*-B. Marisa Bodemer
gained 8 passes - despite only studying at GIS
for one year - and Bunluxsa Pisitpitthayaseree
(May), Patrick Van Der Poel, Polin Cercleron,
Tak Tirakayos and Piyaporn Doowa (Neha) also
scored 8 passes.
The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) is run by
Cambridge International Examinations. It is the world's leading examination for 16-yearolds
and is similar to the GCSE tests which UK-based students sit.
In addition to the Year 11 scores, there was good news this year for younger students. For
the first time, Year 9 students also took one IGCSE, in English as a Second Language
(pictured above). The 15 students had a 100 per cent pass rate, with everyone gaining
between an A*-C. This included Shomit Ghosh, who got an A* and Shilpi Dhar, who is now
the youngest student at GIS to ever pass an IGCSE. Several students, now in Year 11,
also passed their Mathematics IGCSE a year early (pictured above right).
Many of the successful Year 11 students have now started studying for the International
Baccalaureate Diploma Programme at GIS.

Teacher of the Month
This month we talk to Head of Mathematics, Mr Turagaiviu.
1) What was the funniest thing you did as a child?
Well, if you understand rugby then perhaps playing rugby using
scrambled, rolled, crumbled old newspapers taped up with
masking-tape and shaped as a rugby-ball was always fun. I was
always amazed at the improvisational skills I possessed when it
came to making rugby-balls quickly so that I could have a game of
rugby with my friends.
2) If you could swap places with anyone in the world for just a day, who would it be?
I would swap to become a student in the classroom again. I would like to experience
learning again. Being a student in this 21st century would be a lifelong experience for me.
The thrill of getting to become a student for a day would certainly benefit me in so many
ways as a person, a parent, teacher, a mentor and in particular a facilitator of knowledge.
3) If you could learn how to do something new next week, what would you choose? Why?
I would learn how to fly an aeroplane. It was always fascinating to see planes fly over my
house when I was little and always dreamt that one day I will fly an aeroplane. It still is a
dream though!
4) What do you do when you're not teaching?
Spending time with my family, especially my little boy who likes to keep me busy. I like to
travel to new places and meet new faces and whenever the chance.
5) What do you think of Thai food? Spicy but with vital ingredients. I have to say that
tasting som-tum and khao-man-gai for the first time has been an experience since arriving
here in August this year. My family continues to have these famous Thai dishes whenever
we have the chance.
6) Favourite singer/band? Singer: Well, I have always been a Bryan Adams fan and
really enjoy his songs. Band: I always follow 'The Eagles' and have always been
captivated by their music.
7) What's the best thing about Fiji? I suppose so the friendliness and relaxing
atmosphere is something that you can only experience in Fiji. The most common term
used in Fiji is 'Sega na leqa' meaning 'no problem'.
8) Favourite book? 'Things Fall Apart' - A Chinua Achebe novel which highlights the story
about the clash between the western world and traditional culture.

Student of the Month
This month we talk to Year 11 student
Natasha.
1) If you could spend your time doing only one
activity, what would that activity be?
Watching a series and Youtube videos because I
enjoy it.
2) If you could learn how to do something new
next week, what would you choose? Why?
I would choose to learn how to play the saxophone because I've been wanting to learn
how to play a new instrument for a long time.
3) If you could send an e-mail or text message to anyone in the world knowing that they
would in fact open it and read it, to whom would you send it?
I would send it to J.K. Rowling, asking her to extend the Harry Potter series because I’m a
huge fan.
4) Favourite book?
The Fault in our Stars and A Walk to Remember.
5) If you could have a super power, what would you choose to have? Why? What superhero
name would you choose?
Teleportation. Because that would mean free travel.
6) What's the best thing about studying at GIS?
Friendly students and teachers.
7) Who's your favourite teacher? Why?
Mr Shiells because he’s been my form tutor since Year 7.
8) What would you like to do when you leave school?
Travel the world.
9) You have IGCSEs soon - how are you feeling?
Terrified.

Front Office Flags
Here are the countries we are recognising this month at GIS. Many thanks to Humanities’
Prefect Renee for arranging these displays every week.

Sport
GIS Takes Gold in Under 15 Games
Sports stars from GIS returned home with gold medals after
a hugely successful competition against other British
schools in Southeast Asia.
GIS sent a team to Triall International School in Bangkok
recently for the FOBISIA Under 15 games. FOBISIA is the
Federation of British International Schools in Asia.
The boys and girls' teams both came home as swimming
champions, while the boys' also took gold for track and field.
The girls came third in their track and field contest.
After a toughly-fought football tournament, the GIS boys were
runners-up - and also came second in the basketball
competition. The GIS girls' team finished fourth in their
football competition.
The results again confirm GIS's position as a school that
produces outstanding young athletes who are capable of
competing at the very top levels.
Many thanks to Mr Edwards, Dr Tasker, Mr Elderkamp, Mr
Carson and Mrs Edwards for helping the students.

Queen 1 st Runner-up at World Golf Championship
Congratulations to ‘Queen’ who was the 1 st runner up
at the prestigious Singha Thailand Junior World Golf
Championships 2014.
The competition was held from November 6-9 Year 5
student Queen went to a play off, where she ended as
1 st runner-up with an impressive score of 76-78-74
(228).

Primary Football Stars
Our Primary Football season 1 was a huge success.
Our Under 9, 10 and 11s’ first match of the season was against REPS on November 10
and the Under 9 Girls won comfortably 5-0.
It was a great first match and I hope that we will win ESAC this year in season 2.
ISE on November 17. The final scores
were
Under 11 Girls: We beat ISE 2-1
Under 11 Boys: 3-1 to ISE
Under 9 Girls: 2-2 against ISE
Under 10 Boys: 4-4 with ISE
Under 11 Girls drew with REPS 1-1, while
the Under 10 Boys dominated their match
but the score line did not go our way with a
final score of 3-1 to REPS. Our Under 11
Boys beat REPS 2-1.
This was a good start to the season,
winning the first game against REPS. We
were enthusiastic but serious and had fun
while playing.
Our final match of the season was against
All the boys and girls who played in the matches deserve so much credit for the effort they
put in and the heart that was shown. Thank you also to all the parents who came to
support the footballers.
A huge thank you to the fabulous Primary football coaching staff
Well Done Primary Swimming Team!
It was a fantastic day of racing at Regent’s in the ESAC competition on November 20. Our
team did us proud, posting a huge number of personal bests in their individual events. The
relays were a highlight; our teams really fought for every point and showed our depth of
talent.
We ended with a of 13 first places, 9 second places and 7 third places, which reflected the
strong performances from our Primary Swim Team in the age groups of Under 8, 9, 10 and
11.

Our success in the event was a real team effort and we would like to make mention of the
following:
Year 3 Girls: Jo-Anna, Vanessa, Poppy, Pop-Pop
Year 3 Boys: Moji
Year 4 Girls: Maggie, Phailin, Mai
Year 4 Boys: Ronnie, Alex, Rajan
Year 5 Girls: Joanna, Issie
Year 5 Boys: Martin, Dev
Year 6 Girls: Fiona, Natalie, Jessica, Jan
Year 6 Boys: Nicky, Guy, Sofiane, Pat, Danai, William, Thomas
Thank you Maggie, Alex and Guy for swimming extra events at short notice to cover for
your team-mates who were not able attend the meet. We loved your team spirit!
A big thank you to all the parents who came to support the team. Friends of Garden PTA
kindly supplied snacks and drinks for our competitors at each event, which is much
appreciated. Well done to all our hard-working Swimming Coaches.
Amuchou Yumnam
Physical Education Teacher and Swimming Coordinator
Find us at:
Website: www.gardenrayong.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/gisrayong
Garden International School
Your choice. Their future. Our family.
Facebook: www.facebook.com/gardeninternationalschool
Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/gardenrayongthailand
Accredited by
Affiliated to
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
Bangkok Campus : 2/1 Yen Akart Soi 2,Yen Akart Road, Bangkok, Thailand 10120. Website : www.gardenbangkok.com
REPS Campus : 188/46 Moo 4 Pala-Banchang Road, Tambol Pala, Amphur Ban Chang, Rayong, Thailand 21130. Website : www.repsrayong.com