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Children and parents revel in a fantastic international day
South Korean students and
parents.
Ruth Greener
International Day is often referred to as the best day of the year
here at St Andrews, and this year it was one of the best ever.
The day began with the flag parade with all students, of 36 nationalities in
total, representing their countries with flags and showing off their
beautiful national costumes. The students then had a super morning, full of
exciting international activities, run by parents and school staff. The
Primary children got to try activities such as Indian Mehandi hand painting,
Korean Origami, Irish dancing, Australian Football, and Maori Stick games.
Some of the favourite activities in Secondary this year were African
Drumming, British Sarcasm, Mexican Bingo and English Carnival Games, which
included the legendary English sport of Sock Wrestling.
Students and parents
representing the USA.
There were also (unsurprisingly!) lots of food based
activities where students got to prepare, create and, most importantly,
taste a selection of traditional foods from all over the world. Just a few
examples were New Zealand mince pies, English Tiffin, and Thai sweets and
spring rolls. Many students agreed that the French crepe making, run by one
of the parents, Mme Serre, was a real highlight of the day.
International Day has become famous for its international lunch and this
year was an absolute feast. Many parents volunteered time, effort and
considerable skills to share some absolutely delicious national dishes and
delicacies with us. Children, parents and staff enjoyed an amazing array of
food, and enjoyed the opportunity to try new tastes.
A great turnout of Russian
families.
The day concluded with the International Day assembly, including music and
dancing from around the globe, that students, with the support of several
staff members and parents, had been working hard on in the weeks leading up
to the day. There was a Tae Kwon Do demonstration, a Bollywood Fusion Dance,
a Jazz music performance and a Maori Haka to give just a few examples of the
assembly’s outstanding performances.
We all had an excellent, enjoyable and rewarding day, and look forward to
doing it all again next year.
Children representing Germany
fly the flag.
Students tried a wide variety
of traditional Thai crafts.
Students drawing Maori tribal
tattoos.
Activities included
international arts and crafts.
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P.E. department making strides
at Regents International School Pattaya
All new gymnastics equipment.
Alex McInnes
Regents International School Pattaya’s P. E. Department has gone through
a real shake-up in the last year. A facilities makeover, coupled with a new head
of department in Roslyn McConnell, has started to turn heads, both within the
school and across the wider community.
Clearly someone who thoroughly enjoys their job, Mrs. McConnell is effusive when
explaining her teams’ ethos of ‘love sport for life’.
“It’s our way of encouraging our students to embrace an appreciation of physical
activity that will allow them to find either elite sporting success or a love
for sport as part of a full and healthy lifestyle,” she said.
The brand new Early Years (Kindergarten) and Primary (Elementary) ‘Fundamental
Movement Programme’ is putting this statement into practice from the word go.
“I wanted to expand curriculum time for Early Years and Primary students to give
them a taste of what P.E. offers, as I believe a healthy body equals a healthy
mind. Our department can be equally important as anything else in the
development of our children,” Roslyn said.
A Saturday programme is another way in which sport is permeating deeper into the
culture of Regents International School Pattaya. With already 300 kids signed up
to sports such as gymnastics, judo, tennis and badminton, to name a few, life in
Regents’ P.E. department has never been busier.
Through generous investment by Nord Anglia Education, a new all-weather running
track has been installed and new sports and play equipment is now being put to
good use by students of all ages.
“We have certainly been well-looked after by Nord Anglia Education in the last
few months or so: the running track is amazing and will add to the training our
sportspeople are already doing. Of course, as a teacher I always want more and I
have a wish-list that includes a brand new fitness centre,” she added.
These changes have already brought about success, with the both the girls’
senior football team claiming the silver medal at the annual Phuket tournament
and the boys’ team reaching the semi-finals. Regents’ cross-country runners had
a competitor on the podium for every one of the boys’ and girls’ age groups in
its most recent fixture and the first rugby match in a long time was held at
Regents, resulting in a narrow loss to the Thai Barbarians.
Mrs. McConnell has high hopes for her charges at the up-and-coming Federation of
British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA) tournament, with football,
swimming, rugby and basketball all in line to do great things.
“FOBISIA will be a good yardstick to see how we are going as a school against
some of the bigger schools in South-East Asia, but we also want to continue to
get competitive action for our sports teams and individuals all year round by
promoting games with schools in Bangkok and elsewhere.”
The Idea of a Nord Anglia Education games is an idea that Mrs. McConnell likes
the sound of, “Over 30 schools from the group competing in somewhere like Dubai,
New York or Switzerland would be the ultimate, but first we have to concentrate
on getting our systems right, offering as many opportunities as we can and
striving to make Regents International School Pattaya the school with the best
physical education programme in all of Thailand.”
By the sounds of it, this task is overwhelmingly underway.
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