STMARKS NEWSLETTER 1 (11 AUGUST 2022)

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

HOLIDAY

• 12 August - Mother's Day

IMPORTANT DATE

• 22 August - Start of ECAs/Support

COVID HEALTH AND SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

With the COVID variants BA.4 and BA.5 dominating the rising infection rates in Bangkok and surrounding areas, St. Mark’s will continue to observe the precautionary requirements we had implemented during the previous semester.  Please read and understand our protocols relating to COVID below:

1. ATK Testing: will require to be performed by students 3 (three) times per week, on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings.  Only students with negative test results will be allowed to enter the school premise.  Students who are tested positive will be required to quarantine at home for a period of 10 days or until the ATK test result turns negative.   Please note that our school is no longer selling ATK test kits. These test kits are readily available from most shops.  If a student forgot to bring the ATK test result, our school will administer the ATK testing at the school gate.  A fee of 50 Baht will be charged to the parent later during the week.
2. Masks: will continue to be worn at school.
3. Bubble Classroom Grouping: Students will remain in their own classes for the periods they study at school to minimise the risks of contracting COVID from students of other classes.
4. Snack and Lunch: will continue to be served within the classroom.  Students will no longer be required to bring their own lunch boxes/utensils to school.  The school will provide plates and utensils of high hygiene standards.  All utensils will be rinsed in hot water before we hand them to be used by our students in the classrooms.      
5. Online Classes: will be offered concurrently as an alternative option to onsite face-to-face learning for Early Years and Primary until Covid situation improves.  Students who are home quarantined due to COVID will be able to access our online classes readily.  To assist us in managing the learning program more efficiently, we would advise that parents who choose to have your child study online, please continue the online studies for the whole period of that week, finishing on Friday.  We would appreciate it if parents can inform the school at least 3 days in advance before the student reverts back to onsite face-to-face learning. Students reverting back to onsite learning will start from the Monday of each week.  With this arrangement, our teachers will be aware of which students will be learning online or face-to-face and will be able to effectively prepare their lessons and assessments.

   
   

TIMETABLE, SPELLING LIST & OTHER INFORMATION ON THE STUDENT PORTAL

In the first week of school, please allow our school administration to make adjustments to the timetable, spelling list, or other information. This semester’s final information on the timetable, spelling list, and others will be published in the Parent Gateway by Tuesday, August 16 at 4.30 pm.  Prior to this time, please bear in mind that any documents in our Parent Gateway may still be subject to change.    

NEW STAFF

EXCELLENCE AWARD THEMES AND DATES

UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA SCHOLARSHIP OFFER 2022

On Wednesday, 3 August, it was our honour to welcome Mr. Callum from the University of Western Australia (UWA) to speak at our Parents' Orientation.  

UWA is one of Australia's Group of 8 Top Universities. In 2022, the university is ranked the 7th best universities in Australia, and is a leading global university, renowned for excellence in education and research. UWA holds a strong academic reputation, especially in the field of science, namely: 

• Anatomy and Physiology
• Earth and Marine Sciences
• Civil and Structural Engineering
• Mineral and Mining Engineering
• Geology
• Geophysics
• Psychology
• Sports-related Subjects

UWA is also well-known for its business discipline, especially in the MBA program. 

St. Mark's International School is a Priority School for UWA's engagement with Thailand, and St. Mark's is the only approved international school in Thailand to provide the Year 12 Australian ATAR program. 

It was good to hear from the University that once our students have graduated from St. Mark's, the University will offer Scholarships to continue their studies at UWA. 

Students who complete the ATAR program automatically receive admission offers to Australian universities, without the hassle of having to complete any further assessments, nor proficiency tests.  The Year 12 ATAR program is a convenient educational pathway to gain acceptance into all Australian universities.    

As St. Mark's International School is a Priority School for UWA's engagement with Thailand, the University of Western Australia has offered 2 types of scholarships to our students, who have completed their ATAR course with St. Mark's:

1. GLOBAL EXCELLENCE SCHOLARSHIP* - OFFERED THROUGHOUT THE COURSE OF STUDY (NO LIMIT ON THE NUMBER OF SCHOLARSHIPS BEING OFFERED)

For students who achieved ATAR of 99.00 and above - a $12,000 AUD per year
For students who achieved ATAR between 98.00-98.95 - a $9,000 AUD per year
For students who achieved ATAR between 93.00-97.95 - a $7,000 AUD per year
For students who achieved ATAR between 88.00-92.95 - a $5,000 AUD per year
*Australian citizens will not be eligible for this scholarship.

2. UWA INTERNATIONAL STUDENT AWARD (THAILAND)*

A scholarship of $5,000 AUD per year will be offered unconditionally to Thai students.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

Welcome Back to School!

This week almost 100% of our students came through our doors to start our new academic year 2022-2023, learning on-site.  Students in every level were back in the classroom on Monday, 8 August, refreshed from the summer holidays and ready to learn.  After a long period of online classes during the previous academic year, there seems to be a good vibe of anticipation that this year will be a good year, where students will learn more effectively since they are present at school. 

Prior to the first day of school, we also held Parents' Orientations to welcome all of our new parents joining St. Mark's for the first time.  A week prior to the first day of school, we also held our Year 1 and Secondary Parents' Orientation to familiarise parents with what to expect, when moving to the next phase of higher learning.  

MOTHER'S DAY ACTIVITY

We would like to wish all mothers a happy Mother's Day this Friday, 12 August.

During this week, our students were engaged in making Mother's Day cards. May those little rays of sunshine - your children – bring you great joy for the day, and for every other day of the year too! 

A special thank you to all our Thai teachers, who were involved in organising our Mother’s Day activities with our students this week.

Happy Mother's Day!

PRE-PREP ENGLISH: SIGHT WORDS

The ability for students to recognise sight words is an essential skill for reading, which our Early Years teachers try to focus on during the English learning activities.  In this activity, sight words were placed at different locations around the garden, and students were required to read them as they saw the words. 

YEAR 5 PHYSICAL EDUCATION

During our physical education activity this week, Year 5 students were challenged with various tasks, which really put them to a test on endurance and wit.  Students were divided into 2 teams, competing to win this ultimate physical and mental challenge. Well done Year 5!      

YEAR 7 SCIENCE: INTRODUCTION TO SCIENTIFIC EQUIPMENT

This morning the Year 7 class was introduced to scientific equipment, commonly used in the laboratory. They learnt how to label and draw the equipment, and also how to measure the volume of a liquid in a measuring cylinder. This included the concept of the meniscus. All the students worked safely, wearing their lab coats and handling the apparatus with care. Well done Year 7.

BOOK REVIEW: "WHY WE SLEEP" BY MATTHEW WALKER

Research shows that regular reading improves brain connectivity, increases your vocabulary and comprehension, and empowers you to empathise with other people. Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic recommend that parents read with their children beginning as early as infancy and continuing through elementary school years. Reading with your children builds warm and happy associations with books, increasing the likelihood that kids will find reading enjoyable in the future. Reading at home boosts school performance later on. It also increases vocabulary, raises self-esteem, builds good communication skills, and strengthens the prediction engine that is the human brain.

In this issue of our newsletter, we would like to recommend to parents an excellent book titled, "Why We Sleep" written by a neuroscientist, Matthew Walker. 

This book provides a revolutionary exploration of sleep, examining how it affects every aspect of our physical and mental well-being. Charting the most cutting-edge scientific breakthroughs, and marshaling his decades of research and clinical practice, Walker explains how we can harness sleep to improve learning, mood and energy levels, regulate hormones, prevent cancer, Alzheimer's and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity. He also provides actionable steps towards getting a better night's sleep every night. 

Parents and students will greatly benefit from this video summary of this excellent book.

For a video summary of this book in English please follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXflBZXAucQ

For a video summary of this book in English please follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOzQ-vOVizI

SRINAKARIN CAMPUS UPDATE

We are excited to share with you some of our video clips on the construction progress at our Srinakarin Campus.  The construction, which started in July last year, has progressed rapidly, and to-date, we have completed all of the 8-storey structural work for the building. 

Brickwork and plastering have progressed up to the 6th floor, while water pipes and drain pipes have been installed for most parts of the building.  Piping of air-conditioning has commenced and at this rate, we would anticipate being able to move into our new building by August 2023, a year from today.