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Day and Boarding school for ages 2 – 18.

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September 2015

Messages from our Heads – Week 5

From Mr. Brian Irving, Head of Secondary

 a-Brian_0002This week the students were as shocked as I was to hear that already we had passed the 12% mark of the year! It seems like only yesterday that we returned from the long summer holiday ready to begin another academic year. Tempus fugit.

Our current focus is on absence and lateness- both factors which can seriously damage the progress made and ultimate level of achievement made by our young people, so I urge all parents to help us help your children by getting them to school on time, every day. I shall be sending every family a letter outlining our new procedures and sanctions, in Secondary, for our persistent offenders.

Thursday was our annual Wai Kru ceremony a very humbling event and one of the highlights of the academic year.

Friday this week is a long weekend. Students are back in school on Monday 28th September.
Have a learning filled week.
Brian

From Mrs. Rachel Perkins, Head of Primary

a-Rachel_0002Dear Parent, as we come to the end of yet another busy week in Early Years and Primary we celebrated our teachers and teaching assistants in our annual Wai Kru ceremony.


It was a very humbling experience to receive such lovely flowers and good wishes from the children. Many of the staff particularly from the UK have never experienced this ceremony and they all told me what a wonderful event it was and how pleased they are to teach in such a wonderful and thoughtful school environment.


Please let me take this opportunity to wish you a lovely long weekend with your family.

with best wishes
Rachel

It’s Cool to be in School; plans in place to deal with absence and lateness

12042839_968696369838621_8909726282888931366_nStudents who do not come to school are, not surprisingly, not very successful at school. That is why in countries throughout the world it is a serious problem if children do not go to school. In England, at the moment, an attendance of less than 85% will see your child referred to the authority in charge of education. If a parent is found to be supporting their child in not going to school, then it is against the law. And there are only two ways in which a child is allowed to miss school. They are if the child is too ill to attend or if the parents have got permission from the school beforehand.


Lateness is a similar problem. Though we are sympathetic at the school to those students who have to get up very early in the morning to get to school, we cannot support it. By being late, a student not only misses the essential part of a lesson (the beginning), they also disrupt the other students when they go into class.


I have heard some comments from parents that they are happy for their children to be late for school or even miss school if it makes their children happy. I’m afraid this is a rather short-term view of happiness. I might choose to stay in bed tomorrow, which might make me feel very happy… but I won’t be happy when I get into work and realise the amount of work that I have to catch up. Students can very quickly get into a situation where they have lost control of their learning.
The school cares about your child. We want to give them the best possible chance in life – to achieve their potential and to realise their dreams. That is why we are going to get tougher on absence and lateness. Those who are late are going to be in detention more often. Those who are absent for more than 10% of the school year will be subject to review. If their absence has affected their education seriously, they may be asked to repeat the year.

By Mr Charles Barrow, Deputy Head Secondary

Reception Maths Workshop

Miss Helen hosted a very successful maths workshop. The presentation was about how the maths curriculum is covered with in class also how parents can support their children at home.
Miss Helen invited parents to her classroom, where she had set up maths activities.
Thus parents were able to see more practical activities – it was a very informative afternoon. 

Look out for more workshops in the future – we hope you can continue to join us!

U13 Boys Basketball off to a winning start!

A new team brings with it new challenges, and the Regent’s U13 boys Basketball team were no exception to this commonly found experience. With the addition of many fresh faced Year 7’s I was confident the strength’s of the big Year 8’s, namely, Tor, Jimmy, Auto and Dung would be able to influence them positively to guide us to a maiden victory. After much effort, persistence and hard work this target was achieved; each and every student played an effective role in ensuring success none more so than Captain Jimmy Park. His focus ensured the boys raised themselves during the last quarter to clinch a well won victory.

By Mr. Lee Burns, Head of PE & Sport

On Monday 14th September we had our first Basketball match against St. Stephen’s International School. A busy start to the term meant training was limited, so it was hard for us. Our basketball team consisted of Jimmy, Tor, Dung, Auto, Conc, Sam and Andy. Before we started the match I helped coach our new Yr 7 players how to do zone defence. In the first quarter we were losing by 4:0. In the second quarter we managed to draw the scores level at 4:4, and then we start losing again because of low levels of fitness. We found it hard to run and shoot properly. Before we started the final quarter of the game Mr. Burns encouraged us and said we were going to win if we continued to work hard. So in the last quarter we all tried our best and we finally won by 13:10! I was so happy because we won our first Basketball match. It was a hard fought battle with many new players but we all tried our best and we won the game. Scorers were Jimmy 9 points, Tor 2 points and Dung 2 points. I hope we will should good spirit and win the next game also.

Year 7 Basketball Captain Jimmy Park

Friendly Competition or Bitter Rivalry? Psychology of the House System

Written by By Mo Suwanwela, Year 13 Psychology Student

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Mo, Year 13, applies ‘social identity theory’ to her experience of the four different Houses

Social identity theory describes a human need to belong to a group. The groups we belong to help us figure out who we are and fulfills our basic need for self-esteem. This theory can be applied to The Regent’s House System. In our House group we are able to achieve positive self-esteem, such as receiving House points, which contributes to our self-esteem, while at the same time we support each other and work together in events such as sports day and swimming gala where we express favoritism towards in-groups by cheering on our House and trying our best to beat the other Houses.

Social identity theory describes how we categorize people in groups, identify with the group we belong to, and compare our group to others. These processes are called categorization, identification, and social comparison. This also happens in our House system. Firstly, categorization is used to divide people into 4 groups: the blue sharks, yellow tigers, green crocodiles and red dragons. In House events people are put into these groups to work together; the identification aspect is in choosing to become a part of the group. This is highly evident when a house wins an event such as Sports Day, Loy Krathong or when there are pizzas involved, people are more likely to identify themselves with their House, for example by wearing House colours. Much like Cialdini’s experiment to investigate the tendency to associate one’s self publicly with successful others, in which students tended to wear the jersey of their university’s sports team after they won a big match, students want to associate themselves with their House colour more when we have beaten the other Houses. Social comparison, on the other hand, is the idea of separating in-group members to out-group members, the division between ‘us’ and ‘them’, and trying to be better than the other Houses. Students would cheer for participants within their own House even if they didn’t know any of the competitors.

Being separated into different House teams arguably creates prejudice and hostility between the Houses, which I have experienced first hand. My close friends and I are usually very supportive of each other when we play team sports together or are assigned to do challenging tasks, but when we are scattered across different Houses, everyone becomes more competitive, which is understandable. However as House events progresses throughout the year, the competition can take the best out of people. Although there were no sabotages or serious intent to hurt one another, friendly insults become more uncomfortable and starts to hold more meaning, and this can provoke more conflict in our friendship outside of the House group context. After events would be finished, students would compare themselves through the performance of their House for weeks on end and occasionally mentioning their win in an argument to prove any point they make and that they are superior to everyone else because of their status in the House ranking; but luckily like all things in school the rivalry will blow over and eventually everyone would be back to normal.

Music Scholars perform at Siam Paragon

On Saturday 9th September the Music Scholar Group performed at the Lifestyle Hall in Siam Paragon for the International Education Fair. The students involved were Ken Y9, Sadhu Y7, Sally Y13, Sunny Y9, Poh Y12, Amon Y11, Toy Y11, Petch Y11, Remi Y9, joined by Miss Rachel Teague and ably conducted by Mr Gareth Ansell.

Mr. Hogan described the performance as “spectacular”.

We performed a variety of songs including Sun and Moon, Pie Jesu, I dreamed a dream, Sandpaper Ballet, Hornpipe, Handel’s March and Edelweiss.

By Ms Rachel Teague

Regent’s Buddy Reading Scheme

The Regent’s International School, Bangkok is famous for its friendly, inclusive atmosphere where all of the students are willing to help each other out. Especially when learning English! This month, our Year 12 students are spearheading the Buddy Reading Scheme to assist some of their younger counterparts with literacy skills. What better way to meet new friends than over a good book?

In a comfortable, relaxed setting, students can foster a love of reading together whilst helping to further their knowledge of both the teaching and learning process. Whether their assistance is through translation, explaining difficult words, or by asking comprehension questions; our Y12s are dedicated to helping their buddies become more confident with reading.

Our new IB cohort definitely have to be commended for giving up their time to such a worthwhile cause.

Developing a More Confident Mindset

The fruits of our students’ hard work were there for all to see at the latest Secondary School assembly. After just one week, there were an amazing 400 plus points recorded by the students across the school. Only 30 minus points were recorded across the same period.

From now on, we will be giving out rewards to those students who work the hardest. For example, 10, 20 or 30 plus points will result in students being given tickets to go to the front of the tuck shop queue. 40 points will result in a pizza lunch for the successful student. 50 points will result in a 500-baht book token.

Moreover, we are changing the way we grade students in their grades and reports. From now on, we will be rewarding students for their effort in class, their independent study and the degree to which they participate in lessons. We are hoping to encourage students to communicate more with their fellow-students and with their teachers.

Though quiet, hard-working students are great students, we also want our students to express themselves more openly, so that they become more confident in their ability to communicate.

Like any other skill, confidence is developed through practice, best summed up through the quotation, “Confidence is like a muscle: the more you use it, the stronger it gets.” A confident student is also a successful student. As one of my Year 8 students wrote in her essay this week, “Confidence isn’t about other people; it’s about you.” If we develop our confidence, we become risk-takers, we become leaders – and maybe, just maybe, we get the chance to change the world.

by Mr. Charles Barrow, Deputy Head Secondary

English Learning Environment Awards 11/09/2015

Well done to the following students who have demonstrated fantastic English speaking skills in and outside the classroom!

PN 1- Isabella

PN 2 – Archie

ND – KInn

RP – Danny

RN -Acre

1B – Su Hyun

1W – Shuqi

2T – Aimie

2F – Maranda

3V – Irene

3M – Aidan

4P –  Khrisnai

4G –  Pole

5T – Sunny

5D – News

6J –  Zen

6N – Hero

Mr Vosko – Noko

Mrs Sirisom- I-oon

Mr Rumple – Bell 5T

Mr Brown

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