GIS Newsletter February 2018

Your choice. Their future. Our family. โรงเรียนนานาชาติการ์เด้นอีสเทิร์นซีบอร์ดบ้านฉาง February 2018
SPORTS DAYS
Find us at:
Website: w w w .gardenrayong.com
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Facebook: w w w .facebook.com/ pages/ Garden-International-School-Rayong-Thailand/128699487157809
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From Mrs Hawtree: Principal
Dear Parents, Students and Friends of GIS,
It has been a busy and eventful end to this half term. On the sporting front, it was great to see students from
across the school take part in our Sports Days. Many thanks to our excellent PE and Sports Department for
arranging so many activities. I particularly enjoyed watching the teachers huff and puff their way through the
tug-of-war! Our sporting teams have already headed off to Phuket to take part in the U13 FOBISIA Games;
we wish them all the best and hope they come back with many medals.
I am currently away in a rather-chilly England as we complete the recruitment of new teachers for the next
academic year. Because of this, I wasn’t able to attend this year’s Chinese New Year celebrations, but I am
told the dumplings were as delicious as ever and the performances were just as good, so well done to everyone
involved in this.
As we come to the end of this half term, I hope you and your children will have a chance to relax over the
break. Our Year 11 and IB2 students will not be so relaxed, however, as their final examinations are now
fast approaching, so they will be making the most of the break to revise for these important assessments.
Extra revision classes are now taking place to support these students.
When we return to school on Monday March 5, there will be several internationally-themed events awaiting
us in the run-up to International Day on Saturday March 10, which will be a school day, so all students are
expected to attend. With around 40 different nationalities at GIS, I am proud that we are truly international in
many ways and International Day is just one of the ways we are able to recognise this. I look forward to
seeing you there.
Kind Regards,
Ms Dinah Hawtree
Principal
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Whole School
Feb 23: Half-term Break
March 5: School re-opens (Week B)
March 5-9: International House Activities
March 7: International Week Assembly
March 8: International Women’s Day
Saturday March 10: International Day (school day)
March 14: Pi Day
March 22: World Water Day
March 30: Mufti Day
Upcoming Events
Primary
March 5-9: Nit-busting week
March 13-14: Year 5 trip to Horseshoe Point
March 15: Year 1 trip to Thai Thani
March 15: U10-U11 mixed swimming gala at Regents
March 16: Primary Swimming Gala
March 19: Primary Cards distributed
March 20: Early Years trip to HarborLand, Pattaya
March 21: Nursery trip to HarborLand, Pattaya
March 22: Reception trip to HarborLand, Pattaya
March 26: Foundation Grade Cards distributed
March 26: Year 3 field trip
March 27-28: Foundation Progress Conferences
March 27: U10, U11 FOBISIA Mixed T- Ball vs Regents, Away
March 29: U11 Girls and Boys football vs MIS (home)
Secondary
Feb 21-25: U13 FOBISIA Games, Phuket
Feb 24: Model United Nations (MUN) trip
March 5: Business Management Internal Assessment due, IB2
March 5: Senior Girls/Boys: Football vs Regents: Away
March 8: Swimming vs Regents, U9-U11 boys and girls football (away)
March 13: U15 Boys vs MIS 5-a-side football (home)
March 14: IGCSE Drama devising day
March 15: Swimming Gala
March 19-21: KET and PET-style final examinations
March 19: Biology and Physics Internal Assessments due, IB2
March 29: U13 Girls football vs Regents (away)
March 22: Music, Art, Drama (MAD) Night
March 26: Chemistry Internal Assessment due, IB2
March 30: U15 Mixed Badminton vs ESAC: Away at Regents
Many thanks to our
generous GIS sponsors:
Platinum
Aditya Birla
Encounter Church
Indorama
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Head to our Facebook page for the latest news on
what’s been happening at GIS. This month, you
can read about:
www.facebook.com/gardeninternationalschool
You can also watch our latest videos about what’s
been happening at GIS by going here:
www.youtube.com/user/gardenrayongthailand
Follow us on Instagram! Find us at
garden_international_school or search for
#gistitans
Check out our Pinterest page and see the dozens
of photos showcasing life at GIS.
Follow our tweets on Twitter!
https://www.twitter.com/gisrayong
See our snaps and stories on Snapchat!
Our username is gisthailand
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CHINESE NEW YEAR
GIS welcomed the Year of the Dog with a spectacular Chinese New Year event.
The celebrations started on February 20 with a Chinese Lion Dance in Foundation. In
the evening, visitors headed to the Main Hall to enjoy traditional Chinese dumplings
and snacks before being seated for a show.
The show featured an array of performances and songs to welcome the new year,
including a fan dance, Chinese hip-hop, ballet and even a performance
from some teachers!
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HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!
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From Mr Walsh: Head of Primary
Dear Parents and Carers,
This has been a very busy but very balanced half term. We
have had a lot of events and activities to develop different
parts of the GIS students’ characters. Sports Day was very
physical, LAMDA was very expressive, House Art day was
very creative, Book Week was very academic and Valentine’s
Day was emotional!
There has been a lot of illness around unfortunately and I
would like to commend the teachers, the maintenance team
and the School Nurse for keeping the students and the site as
healthy as possible. On the topic of health, the half term
break is a chance for the students (and teachers) to have a
well-earned rest. There will not be a lot of holiday homework,
but we do have a House Art competition. The challenge is to
design a picture (or mosaic or sculpture) that represents International
Mindedness, the ability to be knowledgeable and
open-minded about different countries and cultures and customs.
The students have started some art work in their House
activity. The winner will get their picture put onto the front
cover of the Primary communication diary for 2018-19! The
deadline is Wednesday 14 March. Entries will be collected in
by the Primary House Leaders. Eagle – Ms Anna (Y1); Gecko
– Mr Mark (Y5); Tiger – Mr Paul (ELS); and Cobra – Ms Jessica
(Y1).
Also on the topic of health, the week after half term is Nit
Busting Week. Ms Yvonne, the School Nurse, will be checking
each child’s head for eggs or lice. Please check your
child’s head before Monday 5 March and treat any headlice
with medicated shampoo and a nit comb through wet hair.
RECORD-
BREAKING
PRIMARY
LAMDA
ENTRIES
We have just completed
our 6th year of LAMDA examinations
in both public
speaking and acting.
We had 94 students overall
taking the London Academy
of Music and Dramatic
Art (LAMDA) examinations,
with 25 primary students.
This was also the biggestever
number of Primary
students who took part. We
hope interest in LAMDA
continues to grow both in
Primary and Secondary.
More news to follow when
results and certificates
have been received!
Thanks to Mr Ken for organising
it and to Mr Jon
and Mr Matt for running the
LAMDA clubs.
Baby Group Time Changing
We are changing the time of the GIS Baby Group to 2-3pm every Monday afternoon.

NURSERY TRIP TO RAYONG AQUARIUM
The Nursery Class recently went to the Rayong Aquarium as part of our extended learning
experiences into animals and their habitats. Our experience at the aquarium was great.
The children got to see a wide range of aquatic animals such as sharks, groupers and turtles
in different kinds of tanks. We were also lucky to see a diver in one of the tanks cleaning it.
He was lovely and waved to the children. There was a range a brightly coloured fish and also
dangerous animals such as stone fish and sea urchins. In the shallow pool we saw starfish
and sea cucumbers.
Ms Jane was very proud of the children as they behaved very well and asked some great
questions connecting what they were seeing to what we had learned in class. It was a great
day out!
BABY AND TODDLER GROUP
We would like to welcome parents and their babies or young children to the GIS Baby and
Toddler Group every Monday from 2pm–3pm. This is an invitation to existing parents or
parent who are new to GIS. Please join us in the Early Years classroom. This is a great
chance for young children and their parents/carers to make friends and play in a large
group in a safe environment that is set-up to encourage the best play-based learning. We
look forward to seeing you all!
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SPORTS DAYS
This month we enjoyed two Sports Days; one for
Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, the other for
Years 3-6.
The theme was the 3 Hs: Happiness, Health and
Hearty competition! The students got very involved
in each of these. There was an excellent
display of enjoyment, teamwork, athletic skill and
determination on show. Each Sports Day involved
track and field events. Thank you to all of
the parents who turned up to cheer and support
this event. Well done to all of the students for
participating so well and making the day such
fun.
The total scores were compiled from all of the
track and field events over both sports day and
are as follows:
Eagle - 207 pts
Cobra - 199 pts
Tiger - 181 pts
Gecko - 158 pts
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SPORTS DAY PHOTOS
Year 1 trip to Thai Thani
The Year 1 students had an amazingly full day experiencing
traditional Thai culture at Thai Thani Cultural
Village. We enjoyed learning about traditional houses,
art, fruit carvings, candle making, games and toys,
puppets, fan painting, food and dancing.
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BOOK FAIR AND BOOK DAY
The Book Fair at GIS sparked lots of good discussions
between students about their favourite genres and authors.
There was a great selection of English and Thai
books displayed in the Primary atrium over the four-day
fair.
Book Day got off to a great start with parades in Primary
and Foundation. There was a whole range of heroes
and villains from Florence Nightingale to Spiderman.
Well done to everyone who took part. The day came to
an entertaining end with Year 6 performing a story that
had been written by all of the other Primary classes over
the course of the day.
Thank you to Khun Chon, our librarian, for organising
the book fair, and to Mr Paul for organising the Primary
Book Day.
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From our Head Student
HAPPY VALENTINE’S!
A big well done to the IB1 students who organised
Valentine's activities across the school as part of
their CAS programme.
In Primary there was a mixture of paid and free
events, and across the school students and staff
could order chocolates, roses and even memes for
each other.
Money raised from the event will go to the school’s
chosen charities.
SPORT, ROSES AND
DUMPLINGS
Can you believe we’ve reached the end of February
already?
We started this month off with a Book Fair held in
the Primary atrium - giving students, staff, and
parents a chance to expand their home libraries.
Alongside the Book Fair, Secondary students
were given the opportunity to attend the weird and
wonderful St Andrews’ science fair.
This year Valentine's Day was organised not by
our Prefects, but a group of IB1 students. We also
had a Primary Valentine’s Day, where Primary
students participated in many fun activities. IB also
students volunteered to help out with this.
Our PE and Sports department organised three
enjoyable Sports Days, jam-packed with a large
variety of activities that everyone took part in.
The GIS Chinese New Year celebration was held
on February 20 in the Main Hall, where we were all
treated with outstanding performances, such as
ballet, hip-hop and traditional fan dances, done by
students and members of staff. It’s so delightful to
see so many people in GIS celebrate and respect
a different culture.
Have fun over half term break!
Head Student Rachel

We have some great school blogs to tell you about life at GIS. Click
on the links below to see what’s been going on!
PRIMARY BLOGS
Early Years http://earlyyears.gardenrayong.com/
Nursery http://nursery.gardenrayong.com/
Reception http://reception.gardenrayong.com/
Year 1 http://year1.gardenrayong.com/
Year 2 http://year2.gardenrayong.com/
Year 3 http://year3.gardenrayong.com/
Year 4 http://year4.gardenrayong.com/
Year 5 http://year5.gardenrayong.com/
Year 6 http://year6.gardenrayong.com/
ESL Blog: http://primaryels.gardenrayong.com
SECONDARY BLOGS
Year 7-9
IGCSE
IB
ELS
http://year7to9.gardenrayong.com/
http://gisigcse.gardenrayong.com/
http://ib.gardenrayong.com/
http://secondaryels.gardenrayong.com
WHOLE SCHOOL BLOGS
Extra-curricular Sport
Extra-curricular Music
http://gissport.gardenrayong.com/
http://gismusicblog.gardenrayong.com/
Extra-curricular Drama http://gisdrama.gardenrayong.com/
Library
http://library.gardenrayong.com/
Community Programmes http://communityprogrammes.gardenrayong.com/
Community Service
Friends of Garden
Boarding
Global Action
http://gisserviceprojects.gardenrayong.com/
http://friendsofgarden.gardenrayong.com/
http://gisboarding.gardenrayong.com/
https://globalaction.gardenrayong.com/

From Mr Share: Head of Secondary
Dear Parents and Carers,
A caring school helps individuals and communities succeed
As many of you will know and hopefully you will see as you walk around the school when you visit for events, we have our
school Core Values. You can see them in the jigsaw diagram at the school entrance and in the stairwells as you head up the
stairs in Secondary, the ten values that we use are Caring, Balanced, Risk Taker, Communicator, Knowledgeable, Principled,
Open Minded, Enquirer, Thinker and Reflective. In school this month we have done many amazing things from performances on
stage, LAMDA examinations, mock examinations, science fairs and taken part in local and international sports competitions.
Many of our students take part in these activities that build resilience yet at the same time can cause some performance anxiety.
Ultimately we aim to provide a mix of skills and teach students about dealing with experiences that help them prepare them
for life beyond school.
After the mock examinations and with the real examinations in IB & IGCSE starting in just 3 months’ time and with all of our students
taking the end of year assessments in June, stress and anxiety are something that we are trying to remind students can
be managed. The first of our Core Values mentioned above is Caring. As a school that cares, we have emphasised in our form
times, in our school assemblies and in PSHE lessons how students’ wellbeing is part of preparing for a successful healthy life.
We are not telling students that they are going to be happy every day, but we are telling them there are ways that as individuals
they can manage their emotions and stress levels. In school and in life there are people to turn to when you feel that, for whatever
reason you cannot help or deal with a problem on your own.
Young people have pressures from each other, from school, from perceptions of the world around them as they are bombarded
with media campaigns and from their family life and expectations. In an assembly last week we pointed out that 1 in 5 people
will have some form of mental illness or disorder that ranges from depression to anxiety or a stress-related illness. Stress is believed
to trigger 70% of visits to doctors in the UK and stress is also responsible for being at least part of the cause in 85% of
serious illnesses. We are teaching students not to see personal problems as a weakness but as something that can happen to
anyone, especially when you are young. We try to make students aware of not using thoughtless, throwaway words like crazy,
mad, mental or addict and of course they are discouraged completely from using religious or gender choices as an insult such
as gay or girlie. Where a student has no choice in their life choices they should not be made to feel bad about it because of the
thoughtlessness of others and using words such as these only helps to undermine how real-world issues from mental health
through to inequality are covered over.
We have recently reminded our students that they can talk to any teacher in school if they have an issue they want to raise. Additionally
in Kuhn Renu and Mr Ken our professionally trained counsellors are available for private meetings or through a dedicated
(and anonymous if necessary) helpline email counsellors@gardenrayong.com. A safe and secure place to learn, with supportive
teachers is the minimum of what a child deserves from school. You will be even happier to know we are constantly looking
at ways that we can do this especially when world-leading psychologist on well-being, Martin Seligman said recently
'Teaching wellbeing in schools will improve the lives of young people and drive up test results' What could be a better education
for the future than that.
Regards
Mr Share
Head of Secondary
headsec@gardenrayong.com

IB Diploma
IB WORK ROOM
GETS MAKEOVER
IB1 students have been helping to give our IB work room a mini make
-over.
We have new book shelves, stacked with university leaflets from
around the world, which should help our IB students decide where
they would like to go for their higher education. There are also new
notice boards with information about universities and how to do well
at IB.
New IB page
Have you seen the
new IB Diploma page
on our website?
The new page has
lots of useful links
and information, as
well as the IB blog,
where you can catch
up with the mostrecent
IB events at
GIS.
You can see the new
page here:
http://
gardenrayong.com/
learning/secondary/
year-12-and-13-ibdp/

IB Diploma
TOP 5 THINGS THAT MAKE YOUR ONE MONTH PROJECT SUCCESSFUL
Each month, we take a look at what our IB students have been doing for their Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS)
work. This month, Srishti and Narisa give us their top 5 tips for running a successful event.
Diwali 2016
1. Principled
Check the progress of the event during your free time. For instance, we
scheduled meetings at least every two weeks with organisers and
performers. We also scheduled practices during lunch to keep track of
the progress. Help others to help yourself — create the best event, e.g.
making sure performers practise in front of you so that all the performances
are at their best on the day.
2. Balanced
Balance academics with organising the event. Think about the time needed. For example, we scheduled
auditions after school and practices during lunch time. Also, delegate work because we cannot do everything
by ourselves. In Diwali, we divided into 4 teams: performance, stalls, decoration and food. Srishti took performances
and Narisa took decorations, but we also made sure to help out throughout. Furthermore, teachers’
and parents’ representative were asked to help with auditions in order to make the selection fair.
3. Communicator
This is VERY important. This includes communication with parents, teachers, the students in school and
amongst each other in the organising team. For example, we reminded all performers, parents and organisers
by emailing them, visiting them during registration, and making WhatsApp groups. We had 3 WhatsApp groups
for each organising team that were stalls, games and food.
4. Open minded
You should be flexible about other people's opinions and need to be welcoming to
their ideas. For example in our first meeting with the organising committee, we
learnt that most of our ideas were not possible thus we had to be more supportive
of other ideas that came from experienced people.
5. Risk-taker
Don’t be scared of being in charge, take the challenge and take the risk. In the end,
it is what you learn from the event is what matters the most. During Diwali, we took
responsibility, we decided to MC one day before the event, when everyone was
busy, we did the decorations in the hall by ourselves. AND learn to say no when
you cannot manage things.
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WATER SHOES AND AIR ROCKETS AT SCIENCE FAIR
Students in Secondary have taken part in a Science and Technology Fair Competition. Some of the
students collected scientific data and analysed the results with a presentation of the outcomes. Students
also designed and made a life jacket from water bottles, a pair of water shoes and bottled air
rockets for the fair, held at St Andrews Green Valley.
A number of schools were involved from the local area and it was great to see the students discussing
and sharing ideas of their projects. All students enjoyed the experience and it was an ideal learning
environment for Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) projects for the future.
OPEN-AIR LEARNING
Years 7, 8 and 9 students who receive English
Language Support (ELS) have been learning outside
the classroom.
These students were given 20 minutes in a
different setting to write a story. The results were
impressive!
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We continue to celebrate all the countries represented at GIS by flying a different
nation’s flag each week. Here are the countries that have recently been recognised at
the front of the school. These are compiled by our Humanities’ Prefect Aniela.

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SECONDARY SPORTS DAY
Secondary students took part in an actionpacked
sports day.
Competing in their four Houses, students
began with track and field events, which
included the javelin, discuss and also
extra sports such as table tennis and
frisbee throwing
In the afternoon the fun events took
centre stage, with relays, three-legged
races and the ever-popular tug of war.
Well done to the PE department for putting
on another exciting event for
everyone.
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PRIVATE EDUCATION COMMISSION CELEBRATES A CENTURY
The Office of Private Education Commission (OPEC) celebrates its 100th Anniversary
this year and every province is organising ceremonies to recognise long-standing service
from schools and staff.
The Rayong Province celebrated the 100th Anniversary last Saturday February 17 and
a delegation of GIS and REPS staff attended.
Garden International School
Your choice. Their future. Our family.
Find us at:
Website: www.gardenrayong.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Garden-International-School-Rayong-Thailand/128699487157809
Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/gardenrayongthailand
Twitter:
www.twitter.com/gisrayong
Accredited by
Affiliated to
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