STMARKS NEWSLETTER 11 (2 JUNE 2022)

COVID-19 UPDATE

With the number of infections of COVID-19 continuing in a daily decline, beginning Monday 6 June we only require students to provide ATK tests on Monday mornings. We are happy to announce this policy which will lower the expense and the burden born by parents by testing 3 times per week. Along with this change in policy, we will also send lunch boxes home on Thursday 2 June. Students will continue to eat snacks and lunch in their respective classrooms, but we will switch to using plates and utensils available in the canteen.

UPCOMING HOLIDAY - FRIDAY, 3 JUNE

Please be reminded that Friday 3 June is a holiday as there will not be an Annual Function held this semester and we will be observing the Queen's Birthday. We hope that our community will be able to take advantage of this long weekend for some much need enjoyment.

PARENT-TEACHER CONFERENCE FOR KINDERGARTEN, PRIMARY & SECONDARY

Please be aware that the last day of semester 2 is Thursday 9 June and that Parent-Teacher  Conferences are Friday 10 June. Please follow the schedule below.

Students with Last Name starting with:

Please note that Pre-Prep and Prep Parent-Teacher Conference will be held on Friday, 22 July.

PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION ACT

On June 1, 2022, Thailand's Personal Data Protection Act (“PDPA”) entered into force. St. Mark's International School has been preparing itself for this and strongly believes in safeguarding the well-being of our community and is respectful of the privacy of students, staff, and members of the school's community.

St. Mark's has obligations regarding the collection, use, and management of personal and health information under various pieces of legislation. Any person who deals with St. Mark's is entitled to expect that their personal information will be treated in accordance with the mentioned legislation.

The School's Data Privacy Policy is outlined below:

The School follows the six privacy tenets of EU GDPR.

1. Lawfulness, Fairness, and transparency

2. Limitations on Purposes of Collection, Processing, and Storage

3. Data Minimization

4. Accuracy of Data

5. Data Storage Limits

6. Integrity and Confidentiality

The Schools Privacy Officer is located in the Administrative Office and is responsible for the Schools Data Privacy Policy, guidance and advice on privacy obligations and responsibilities, and managing inquiries and concerns about the Schools collection and management of personal data. The Privacy Officer can be contacted at:  info@stmarks.ac.th

For this issue of our newsletter, we would like to share with parents our Privacy Policy on the use of CCTV below:

PRIVACY POLICY ON THE USE OF CCTV

St. Mark's International School uses closed-circuit television (CCTV) in and around our premises to monitor a specific space for the safety and security of our premises, assets, staff, students, and visitors. This privacy notice provides information on the collection, use, and disclosure of your personal data collected in our use of CCTV. We may update this notice from time to time.

Please see details in the attachment below:

OPPORTUNITY FOR SUMMER VACATION WORK EXPERIENCE - SECONDARY STUDENTS

Radio Thailand under the supervision of the Public Relations Department of the  Royal Thai Government is looking for a student with a passion for news and, in particular, news writing, to attend a work experience programme with the English news outlet FM88.

Position: Junior Proofreader
Duration: 3 months (can be adjusted on a case-by-case basis)
Job description: The Junior Proofreader will receive the stories the night before and is expected to sub-edit them (edit the stories before handing them off to the editor/anchor for further editing) before 7 am the next morning when the scripts will be read out live on air.  The scripts are for the show called the Breakfast Bulletin, broadcast on FM88 from  Mondays-Fridays on primetime morning news hour, 7 to 8 am. 

This student will be required to 
• keep abreast of the daily news headlines (local and international)
• fix grammatical mistakes in the script written by a native Thai scriptwriter
• fact-check the stories in the script, and 
• pick out and fix other glaring mistakes found in the scripts.

Please note that this is a non-paying job but the student is certain to gain a wealth of valuable experience from the news team. In exchange for the student’s dedication,  he/she will receive a letter of endorsement from Radio Thailand confirming the work experience.

Those interested can send an email expressing interest in the job experience to  mimithinks@gmail.com

SRINAKARIN CAMPUS CONSTRUCTION SITE VISIT

On Saturday, 28 May, a group of St. Mark's parents had the opportunity to visit the Srinakarin Campus construction site.  Construction began about 10 months ago on 15 July 2021 and to date has progressed rapidly to Level 5.  It was an exciting moment for everyone since last Saturday was the first time that our school building became available for visiting.  During the visit, parents were given opportunities to walk and inspect different parts of the school building, from the underground car parks to the school cafe and restaurant, parents' waiting room in Level 1, the Technology and Design Centre, and the School's Meeting Hall in Level 2, as well as the classrooms.  It is expected that the building will be finished by April next year, and once it is finished, the 8-storey building will be home to over 10,000 square metre of modern and futuristic educational space.

ST. MARK'S HORTICULTURE LEARNING CENTRE

Recently St. Mark's has acquired a piece of plantation estate, conveniently located just off Rama 9 Road on Soi 66, which is just 1 km from Rama 9 Campus.  Last Saturday, we had an opportunity to bring a group of interested parents to visit this place.  We plan to turn this plantation estate into a Horticulture Learning Centre for our students.  Currently, there are lots of bananas growing on the property.  Last week was the first time that we had opportunities to serve freshly-cut bananas for our plantation to our students.