September 2018

Your choice. Their future. Our family. โรงเรียนนานาชาติการ์เด้นอีสเทิร์นซีบอร์ดบ้านฉาง September 2018
EXTREME
READING!
Find us at:
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Twitter: w w w .tw itter.com/ gisrayong
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From Mrs Hawtree: Principal
Dear GIS Community,
As I write this newsletter, I am heading to Kazakhstan as I’ve been invited to join a CIS (Council of International
Schools) accreditation team at a school in Pavlodar, which is in the far north of the country. As GIS is
a CIS accredited school (the only one on the Eastern Seaboard), I and other senior leaders at GIS can be
called upon to assist with accreditation visits to other schools. The last one I did was back in 2014, at a
school in Budapest, so it has been a while and I’m looking forward to getting re-acquainted with all the CIS
standards and processes. I’m also looking forward to the opportunity to delve into the workings of another
school. It is quite a privilege to get unfettered access to everything another school does, and being part of a
CIS team is often described as ‘the best professional development that money can’t buy’!
At GIS, our own accreditation will be due for renewal in 2021, and next year we will be starting the process
of putting together our documentation, and reviewing our own systems and processes, in preparation for a
visit of a CIS team similar to the one I’m joining.
Back at the ranch, student leadership is a big focus for us at GIS this year, and we are in the final stages of
appointing our student leadership teams for 2018/19. We have moved away from the old system of
‘prefects’ and have put in place a new, more inclusive system, which will provide formal leadership roles for
in excess of 60 students across the whole school. The leadership team will be headed by a Head Boy and
Girl, four Student Directors (in the areas of Culture, Global Action, Internationalism and Well-being) and
four House Captains (Cobra, Eagle, Gecko and Tiger). These students are all from IB1, and will work with
student councillors and House councillors from across the secondary school to run events and activities, to
raise awareness of issues, and to help myself and the leadership team move the school forward. In Primary,
House captains and a Student Council have been elected, and the Head Boy and Girl will provide a link
between all the different groups and ages. The student leaders will be formally announced in an assembly
next week, but I am able to share with you that our Head Boy is Ashcharya Kela, and our Head Girl is Liyana
Kamar – congratulations to these two students, and I very much look forward to working with them
over the coming year.
Further student leadership opportunities will be available shortly, as we are launching a ‘peer counselling’
programme. Such programmes are increasingly found in international schools, with students undertaking
training to be able to support other students who are struggling with friendships, school work, sibling issues
and other adolescent woes. Students often prefer to talk to another student, rather than a teacher or counsellor.
Applications for peer counsellor positions will open next week, and training will begin shortly after the
half term break, so we are ready to launch the programme in January. The peer counsellors are, of course,
supported and guided by our excellent counselling team, and we are excited to see the impact of this new
initiative.
So, from a chilly Pavlodar, I wish you a happy extended weekend with your children; as I’m sure you are
aware, the teachers are busy undertaking an array of professional development activities on Friday.
Kind regards
Ms Dinah Hawtree
Principal
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Upcoming Events
Whole School
Oct 1-4: U Smile school photos
Oct 1: Anti-bullying Day
Oct 5: World Teachers’ Day
Oct 10: World Mental Health Day
Oct 11: Friends of Garden monthly meeting, 7.45am-8.45am
Oct 12: Mufti Day
Oct 13-28: Half-term break (school closed)
Monday October 29: School re-opens
Primary
Oct 2: Year 1 trip to Greta Resort
Oct 4: Year 1 and 2 Phonics information evening, 6pm
Oct 9: Year 2 Forest walk at Silverlake
Oct 10: Reception trip
Oct 11: Year 6 trip
Secondary
Oct 6: SAT examinations (Main Hall)
Oct 8: Grade Cards issued
Oct 8: IB1 CAS interviews
Nov 1-5: FOBISIA U15 Games
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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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EXTREME READING!
GIS students spent their summer holidays taking part in an 'extreme reading' challenge.
Students had fun reading their books while on banana boats, horse-riding and even sitting on the back of
a crocodile! To see some of their amazing photos, watch a video of the best moments here.
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LEARNING TO COOK
Thai teachers are helping everyone create Thailand's most amazing dishes.
The teachers from GIS put on special cooking classes every two weeks, showing would-be
chefs how to create everything from som tam to tom yam!
ROALD DAHL DAY
Roald Dahl Day was celebrated at GIS with special ‘golden tickets’, quizzes and storytelling.
To celebrate the author who created Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The BFG,
there was a quiz for students and sales of chocolate bars — some of which had special
golden tickets hidden inside. There was a character quiz for Primary students where
they had to find clues hidden around school, and in the library GIS Principal Mrs Hawtree
led a storytelling session.
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Community Service
HAND TO HAND PRESENTATION
GIS has helped a Pattaya-based charity provide glasses to underprivileged children.
Students held a series of fundraising events, such as mufti days, to help the Hand to Hand
Foundation and other locally-based charities.
As a result, 27,000 baht was collected for Hand to Hand. On September 12, Ms Margaret
from Hand to Hand came to GIS to accept the donation. This will be used to provide glasses
to more than a dozen children in the Pattaya area who currently suffer from eyesight problems.
Ms Margaret also met with GIS students who will help Hand to Hand this year. She gave the
students the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the best ways that they could help.
Hand To Hand Foundation is one of the charity projects GIS supports actively all year long.
For more on Hand to Hand, visit www.handtohandpattaya.com.
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GIS HELPS LOCAL CHARITY
GIS students have helped provide an education for underprivileged children in the local area.
Bethlehem House was launched in 2010 by Christ Church Ban Chang to provide a safe home
for orphans and children who were at risk in the community.
It was built because there were many cases of children who had either run away from home
or were neglected or estranged from their parents. As a result, they turned to drugs or joined
criminal gangs.
The aims of the Bethlehem House Project are to help and support neglected children and
those from families with problems, to provide education so the children have a better quality of
life and a secure future and to enhance the children’s social life skills.
Bethlehem House currently has 9 children who live there aged from 9 to 14, and two full-time
staff.
GIS raised 32,750 baht from a mufti day, bake sale, Milo shoot (fundraising activities mainly
organised and lead by Mr Garth) and donations from K.Fon’s Swan Bakery. We have planted
fruit trees, and invited the children to participate in the Christmas Fair, where Santa brought
all the children Christmas boxes. The money will be used to help the children with their education.
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STUDENTS HELP WITH MEGA BEACH CLEAN
By Ms Lucy
Dozens of students and members of staff from GIS took part
in a huge beach clean operation at Phala on September 14.
This was part of the International Coastal Cleanup Day,
which was on September 15. All over the world, people did
their bit to ensure our seas are trash-free.
Well done to all the students and staff who went down to
help fill so many bags of rubbish.
Many local community organisations joined together in the
'Fight for Trash Free Seas', which was organised through
the Ocean Conservancy Project with the help of the Phala
Community Organisation.
The rubbish around the pier area is particularly bad as the
construction of the pier does not allow the water to circulate
and pull the waste back to the ocean. This gives us an opportunity
to remove the trash before it re-enters the ocean. It
was a horrifying sight, and one that had quite an impact on
students, who were heard to say "I'm never using a plastic
straw again!"
Last year members of our school community helped to clean
the area 3 times and this year we are aiming to go every
couple of months.
If you would like to become involved with Phala Community
and to help out with the clean ups, please contact Ms Lucy
(l.howett@gardenrayong.com) for more information.
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From Mr Walsh: Head of Primary
Dear Parents and Carers,
Time flies when you’re having fun! In that case we
must be having a lot of fun with our learning in
Foundation & Primary because we are approaching
the half term break at astonishing speed.
Every day is jam-packed with learning opportunities;
it’s great to see the students so busy, not just
with their class learning but also with their clubs,
projects, music tuition and social lives!
As well as the talented students visiting Hong
Kong for the International Math Olympiad (see
right), we have a range of other gifted and talented
students at GIS.
HONG KONG MATHS’ MEDALS
Three Primary students visited Hong Kong recently
to take part in the International Math Olympiad.
The students, who have extra tuition with the Singapore
Maths Group, were Tohom, who gained a
silver medal in Primary 2 Maths, Year 4 student
Namo, who gained bronze in Primary 2 Maths
and Namwan from Year 6, who achieved a
bronze medal in Primary 4.
The school noticeboard shows the students who
were elected or chosen to be House captains or
Primary Student Council representatives. These
students have shown natural leadership skills as
well as good speaking and listening skills. At our
recent Student Council meeting they shared some
very good ideas about the development of technology
in Primary.
Mr Walsh
Head of Primary
headpri@gardenrayong.com
STEM projects
The Wednesday afternoon activity in Primary for the past
4 weeks has been STEM (Science Technology Engineering
and Maths). In Years 1-2 this has involved exploring
how different materials behave and thinking of practical
applications. In Years 3-6 the STEM project has been to
work in a team to make a marble run.
Year 1 and 2 had a fantastic (messy!) time during the final
Primary STEM afternoon. We all made Oobleck. Most of
the time it seems liquid, but if you apply force, it becomes
a solid! We thought it could be used to fill a moat, put out
a fire or pack something fragile.

MARBLE RUNS
For the past few weeks Years 3 to 6 have been working on a Wednesday afternoon STEM project.
Using their engineering and collaborative skills the students have been busy building marble runs.
The goal was to produce the slowest marble run possible. The projects were built using recycled materials
collected by both the students and teachers. Teams were judged on speed, creativity, most
varied use of materials, and lastly, teamwork. The level of cooperation has been astounding and
classes have seen lots of smiles and head scratching.
Thank you to Mr Stan, Ms Kate and Mr Mark for organising and running this project.
GARDEN CENTRE VISIT
Year 2 had a fantastic time at the DIY Garden Centre in Ban Chang. We are learning about
plants as part of the topic 'Rainforest Adventure''. At the garden centre we made our own living
pictures by planting different types of succulent and cactus into a specially made frame. We
have written instructions for how to look after the picture, and can't wait to take them home.
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WORLD ROBOT OLYMPIAD COMPETITION
On August 30-31, Tan from Year 6 had the opportunity to participate in the World Robot Olympiad
(WRO) in Khon Kaen province.
The WRO competition is about designing, creating and programming a robot to complete a mission
by using Lego components and controllers. The aim is to enhance the robotic technology, programming,
problem-solving and teamwork skills. This year 212 teams competed with 86 at the Elementary
level (under 13 category).
Tan said he enjoys playing with Lego and creating robots with programs, so wanted to take part in
the WRO World Robot Olympiad Thailand, central regional competition.
He added: “The topic for this year was ‘Food Matters’. My team’s name was Apollo13 and we got
medals and a certificate of excellence for the 6th place in our category. It was a great experience
for me". Congratulations Tan, all of Year 6 and GIS are very proud of your achievement.
MARKETING MANAGER
GIS has a new marketing manager.
K.Dao, who will also be working with our sister schools
GIS Bangkok and REPS, has worked in marketing for
several years and is looking forward to helping promote
GIS.
She began her visits in the community at nearby Eastern
Star at a recent golf competition, the Singha Amazing
Thailand Pattaya Golf Club Festival.
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We have some great school blogs to tell you about life
at GIS. Click here to see all of our blogs.
FOUNDATION & PRIMARY BLOGS
Early Years
Nursery
Reception
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
SECONDARY BLOGS
Years 7-9
IGCSE
IB Diploma
Secondary ELS
WHOLE SCHOOL BLOGS
PE and Sports
The Arts
Library
Boarding
Friends of Garden
Global Action

From Mr Share: Head of Secondary
Dear Parents and Carers,
We have had a good start to the year and thank you to the many parents who have attended our “how
to be a successful...evenings”. In school, we are working hard at preparing our students’ knowledge
and course skills as well as improving their study skills and learning habits.
Our first parent conference has already given some feedback to our Year 11 and IB2 students about
how to prepare for their mock examinations in January and real external examinations next May. However,
whether you have a child in Year 7 or IB, how children learn and remember things is something
that should be worked on all year round. Our parent conference for Year 7 to 10 and IB1 is on November
1, and our first Grade Card is issued on October 8. See how your child is progressing and help
them at home to build their knowledge and working memory. I just wanted to share with you this month
a very simple picture that is based on the most up-to-date educational and medical research about how
children (and their brains) cope with learning and remembering things.
This very simple-to-understand infographic (see the following page) can help you support your child at
home by encouraging them to test themselves constantly on what they remember (retrieval). Students
should regularly look back at their notes, making flashcards but also mix up the written notes with visual
learning devices such as drawings, diagrams and mindmaps (dual coding). Students learn best by
mixing up learning time and not focusing on one subject for too long. Don’t have a single focus, do a
task of English followed by Mathematics on the same evening/afternoon (interleaving). Your brain likes
to switch between subjects otherwise it starts to learn less.
If you can see how you can apply what is being learned into real-life examples, then greater understanding
occurs (concrete examples). Then try to explain what you have learnt in written or spoken
style (elaboration). The reason to give this information so early in the year is the fact that students
learn best when they space out their learning over time. Every 2 or 3 weeks returning to test themselves
on what they think they learnt 2 or 3 weeks ago (spaced practice) is the most effective way of
ensuring when examination times come; your knowledge is in your brain ready to come out naturally
and quickly. I hope you encourage happy and effective year-long learning at school and home.
Regards
Mr Share
Head of Secondary
headsec@gardenrayong.com

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IB Diploma
TOK PRESENTATONS
IB2 students discussed everything from the power of the media to birthday cakes during their TOK presentations.
Theory of Knowledge (TOK) is an integral part of the IB Diploma. One of the assessments is a formal
presentation, where students talk about a real-life situation. They then discuss the various ways that people
believe something is true, which could be
based on emotion, faith or other factors. This
year's presentations were done in pairs, which
also encouraged collaboration and teamwork.
Well done to everyone for presenting a range
of fascinating talks, and thanks to TOK Coordinator
Mr Croft and TOK teachers Mr Hennigan
and Mr Whyte for supporting the students.
YEAR 11 AND IB2
PARENT CONFERENCE
Dozens of parents and students came to our
Parent Conference on Thursday September 28.
The event was for the parents and carers of
Year 11 and IB2 students. Year 11 students are
currently preparing for their IGCSE examinations
and IB2 students are getting ready for their
IB Diploma examinations.
The meeting was an important opportunity to meet with subject teachers and find out what
students have achieved so far, and what they need to do to get their ideal grades in IGCSE
and IB.

#GENERATION IB HELPS THE ENVIRONMENT
IB students have taken part in a global project to
raise awareness about the environment.
They have been running various campaigns as
part of #generationIB.
This is part of IB’s 50th anniversary celebrations,
where students can join online events working locally
or in global groups to showcase ways they
are working to find solutions for humanity's greatest
challenges.
At GIS we have been focusing on helping the local
environment in Ban Chang by raising awareness
about several issues.
The GIS project is ‘ONE point ZERO. This is because
we currently use 1.7-times the Earth's resources
a year. For the world to cope we have to
reduce this amount considerably, ideally to 1.0.
IB students helped in these ways:
Food reduction: measuring how much food is
wasted in bins and at the canteen. Since the start
of the campaign, the level of waste has halved!
Plastic reduction: saying no to straws and plastic
bags
Beach cleans: IB students took part in a beach
clean at Phala.
Energy Reduction: IB students have been checking
rooms in school to ensure they are being energy-efficient,
and checking devices are off when not
in use.
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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 Internationalism Director Samee.

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TREES, MUSICALS AND LUNCHTIME CONCERTS!
The Arts Department has been strangely quiet this
past month as we slow-cook our way to an explosive
performance season this November and December.
However, you can now see Mr Nolan’s new, colourful
Core Values’ Tree that proudly stands outside the
Principal’s office, filled with the handprints of GIS
students.
We have also recently launched the private music
lessons for more than 100 students this year. We
are waiting to welcome a new part-time teacher,
Khun Piano, who has been hired to teach, guess
what, the piano! If all goes well, we will be able to
accommodate more students soon.
Bubbling in the background are staff and students rehearsing scenes and songs, cutting and sawing
sets, sourcing costumes and preparing to launch this year’s Secondary musical: Holes. This show
promises to be a unique experience as Holes has been specially converted from a play into a musical
by our very own GIS artistes. In other words, this is the world premiere of Holes, The Musical!
Stay tuned…
Next week, the orchestra’s president, Amy Dowling, will be organising the first Live @ Lunch (L@L)
performance by a mixed group of Primary and Secondary musicians. We hope to give students
many opportunities to share their artistic talents with each other throughout the year, in both formal
and informal settings.
Finally, the school orchestra and choirs have already started preparing music for the Christmas season.
This year, we are planning to perform not only in school but also in public spaces, hence the
intensive rehearsals. You will see them in all their glory this December, along with many other ensembles
from different year groups.
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BOYS DOUBLE VICTORY!
Our Under 9 boys played Regents and, after only 4 training sessions, won 4-1.
Well done to them and thanks to Mr Hawtree for refereeing and Mr Stan being their
coach.
Our Under 15 boys played ISE at basketball and they also won, with a score of 20-7.
Thanks to Mr John and Mr Amuchou for coaching them.
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GIS GIRLS WIN 1ST GAME IN STYLE!
GIS’s first football game of the year saw the
Under 13 girls beat St Andrews 4-0 in a
stunning away victory. Thanks to Mr Man
for his hard work with the team.
EMILY COMPLETES FUN RUN
Emily took part in the “Run for Kids” organised by the
Camillian Social Center Rayong. She won 5th place for
girls in the under 15 years 3km fun run.
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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