BASIS International School Bangkok eNewsletter

Message from Head of School & Head of Operations:

Dear TUSKERS families,

As we host Coffee Mornings for all grades next week, we are honored to welcome Mr. Toby Walker, Vice President of BASIS Independent Schools, back to our campus. Together with our academic team and Mr. Toby, we will share valuable insights and will be available to answer any questions you may have. For more information about the sessions, please refer to Mr. Ian’s section below.

In addition, we are thrilled to host our ECA Fair on Wednesday, August 28th, 2024, at 3:00 P.M. This event will showcase the wide range of extracurricular activities and after-school clubs we are offering. Our students will have the opportunity to explore and even try-on the activities that interest them. Please refer to ECA Corner below for further details.

Please also be reminded that our Sports Academies and Music practices will begin next Monday, August 26th, 2024. Kindly recheck your child’s schedule and ensure timely pick-up arrangements.

We hope you and your children have enjoyed the semester so far. We look forward to seeing you on campus next week for Coffee Morning!

Best regards,
Dr. W and Ms. Kwan
Head of School and Head of Operations

Save the date for School Events and Academic Calendar:

School Bus Service:

Dear BASIS Parents,

As our school has grown, we have now a number of families that live in the same area and may benefit from the opportunity of having a bus system in place. In the past, we used to have a bus system however we found that many of our families were not interested in this program. Given the size of our school, we would be pleased to offer this program again to our students to see if there is sufficient interest in opening up some bus routes.

Below please find information and also a form to complete about the potential for having a bus route. We have a number of families who live in the same areas and many of you know each other so discuss amongst ourselves and see if there may be an interest in joining a bus in order to help save some of your time and improve the efficiency of our pick up and drop off procedures.

Please submit the form, or if you have any further inquiries, feel free to reach out to us at communication@basis.ac.th

Sincerely,
School Management

School Bus Service Registration Form

Message from Director of Academic Programs:

Dear BASIS Parents,

Greetings from the academic team! Thank you firstly for your attendance at Meet the Teacher Night, we hope you enjoyed meeting the teachers and learning about the exciting year of learning ahead.

As a reminder, the next chance to meet us, ask questions, and learn more about BASIS will be next week during the Coffee Mornings. In case you missed it, here is the schedule:

August 26th, 8:30am for Nursery and Pre-K 1
August 27th, 8:30am for Pre-K 2 and Kindergarten
August 28th, 8:30am for grades 9 and 10
August 29th, 8:30am for grades 6, 7, and 8
August 30th, 8:30am for grades 1 and 2
August 30th, 10:00am for grades 3, 4, and 5

As part of our back-to-school proceedings, we want to remind you that course syllabi will be sent home on Friday, August 30th. The course syllabi give you a window into the classroom and help you to support your children in their learning journeys.

As always, if you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact me.

Best wishes,
Mr. Ian
Director of Academic Programs

Early Years Newsletter:

A Wonderful Start to the School Year

Hello Early Years Families,

Thank you for joining us at Meet the Teacher Night. I hope you had your questions answered and enjoyed exploring your child’s learning environment. It was wonderful to see you all here!

Sincerely,

Ms. Annie Fletcher
Director of Early Years

Primary, Middle & High School Newsletter:

Message from Director of Primary & Upper School

Dear Families of Primary and Upper School,

It is a privilege to welcome you and your children to the new academic school year, 2024-2025.

The first 2 weeks have been an excellent start to the learning journey that your child is embarking on this year. As you have observed during Meet the Teacher Night, the BISB teachers are all highly qualified educators who deliver a rigorous curriculum with high expectations while maintaining a professional, respectful, and kind learning environment for all students. Through everyday conversations and activities, students demonstrate an elevated level of confidence, maturity, knowledge, and critical thinking skills. The BASIS curriculum is truly unique in this way! It is evident that academic achievement is highly valued by all: students, teachers, and families. By 8:00 am every day, students are in their classrooms, writing in their Communication Journals (CJs) and completing the first ‘Do Now’ task of the day.

We celebrate each week with assemblies in Primary School, Middle School and High School with an emphasis on the TUSKERS values of being Thinkers, Unique, Supportive, Kind, Exceptional and Sincere!

During the summer, your child was given a Summer Packet to review and practice skills and content learned in 2023-2024. If you have any questions related to the summer packet, please contact your child’s subject teacher.

We look forward to sharing more about the curriculum that your child will be learning this year during our Coffee Mornings.

Early Years and Grade 1 - 10 parents are welcomed to be on campus from next week Monday 19 August 2024 visiting the Library during the Library opening hours, 7:30 until 7:55 a.m. and again at 3:15 p.m. until 5:00 p.m. for parents. More information about our library you can find in this newsletter.

Grade 1 - 10 parents are welcomed to be on campus from Monday 26 August 2024 visiting the Sports Academies from 4:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m.

The course syllabi will be distributed digitally on August 30th, 2024.

We will also share information through our Monthly Newsletters

G1-5: Newsletters will be sent out monthly to parents. The LETs and Academic Coach will send a grade-level Newsletter. The first Newsletter will be sent to you on September 6th.

G6-10: Newsletter information for MS and HS will be sent out weekly through Schoolzine and/or emails.

Ms. Allison
Director of Primary & Upper School

Dear Parents,

The students have had a great start to the new year! They are settling in well, learning new routines and enjoying new friendships. Please be reminded that students should be arriving to school no later than 7.50am. This allows them time to organize themselves for the day at their locker and get to their first class on time. We begin classes at 8.00am. Students arriving late to class often feel stressed entering their class after it has begun, which does not allow them a positive start to their school day. This also disrupts the learning environment for the other students and the teacher. Students arriving to school after 8.00am will be marked tardy. They will need to check-in at reception to receive a tardy slip, which then delays them even further. Dean Jenny and Dean Andrew will begin consistent monitoring of late arrivals beginning on Monday, 26th. If your child is arriving late to school daily or on multiple occasions, we will reach out to you through email. Please review BISBs expectations about school attendance.

Best wishes,
Dean Jenny and Dean Andrew

Message from Dean Upper School

Dear High School parent,

This week, the high schoolers had their first assembly of the new school year. During the assembly, esteemed members of our National Honors Society arranged a talk and Q&A about AP (Advanced Placement) exams and their experience and lessons from last year.

They gave some excellent advice and motivation to the new 9th Graders. Some photos from the event can be found below

Please also find some photos from one the excellent activities taking place in the Grade 10 AP Human Geography class this week. Students had to collaborate to reconstruct a world map, displaying and reviewing their general knowledge of world geography.

Best wishes,

Dean Andrew
Dean of Upper School

ECA Corner:

ECA Announcement for Semester 1 2024-25

Dear Parents,

It is almost time to sign up for ECAs (extracurricular activities) and clubs for the first semester of 2024-25. Please find the catalog for this semester’s ECA programs attached to this email. Click Here to Read

This year our ECA Fair will be held on Wednesday, August 28, 2024, from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. at the gym. If you are interested in attending, please kindly review the guidelines below:

At the ECA Fair, we invite all providers/teachers provide all of the necessary information you need, as well as engaging activities for our students to participate in and nice highlights from our ECA instructors. How exciting!

For ECA Registration:

This year we allow for early registration, and ECA registration begins on Monday, August 26 at 9:00 a.m. until Tuesday, September 3 at 4:00 p.m.

Please kindly understand that registration for ECA programs is “first-come, first-serve,” and certain programs have limited availability. The activity cannot be changed once you have registered; therefore, please register early to secure your spot!

For ECA Platforms “Clipboard” and Help Desk:

We are going to utilize the same platform, which is Clipboard, which manages ECA sign-ups, ECA payments, and club sign-ups. For new parents, we will next send an invitation link to your email address that have registered with the school.

For new families, please check your email, and click "accept" on the invitation in the email. You may follow the instructions and graphics below as a guide.

There will be a help desk to support in registering a clipboard at the school reception area on Monday, August 26 to Friday, August 30 from 8:00 – 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

Regards,
Dr. W & Ms. Kwan
Head of School & Head of Operations

Well-being Corner:

Dear TUSKERS Families,

It is with immense excitement that I announce our upcoming "Parents Series," an engaging and comprehensive program designed to address a myriad of topics pertinent to parents throughout their journey. This event will be hosted in the Black Box, featuring Ms. Ked, Dr. Golf, and a distinguished guest host for our final session.

For those who had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Golf at last year’s event, we are delighted to share that this year, she will be collaborating with Ms. Ked, our new school counselor. Ms. Ked, a certified marriage and family therapist with a specialization in relational therapy, brings a wealth of expertise and a unique perspective, drawing from her dual citizenship in Canada and Thailand. Her dedication to raising awareness about mental health is truly inspiring.

Our series will commence in September with a compelling session on "Effective Communication with Teens," followed by a diverse range of topics each month. Please refer to the attached poster for a detailed schedule of this year’s topics.

We eagerly anticipate your participation and look forward to seeing you there!

Ms. Ked
School Counselor

Library Corner:

Hello from BISB Library!

I am so excited to welcome parents back to the library and it has been lovely to see all of you again, in addition to some new faces.

I have so many amazing events and activities planned for you and your students this year – the first being Literacy Day, on Tuesday, September 3^rd! Please encourage your students to dress up for their grades assigned genre, walk the runway in the Blackbox during the special assembly, and earn those house points! At the end of the day, please join me in the library with your students for a special Storytime and craft that they can take home! This year’s theme is Growth Mindset – what can’t I do yet, that I will work on and be able to do by the end of this year.

Check out my library video to learn more about Literacy Day, and my upcoming coffee mornings for parents in September.

Lastly, please note that the library will be CLOSED after school, Wednesday, August 28^th, as Ms. Erika will be at the ECA Fair representing BISB Book Club.

I look forward to seeing you in the library!

Happy reading,
Ms. Erika
Librarian

Academic Spotlight:

Celebrating Our Middle School Artists

The Visual Arts Department is proud to showcase exceptional artwork from last year's Middle School Visual Arts Elective. These talented students, inspired by the work of still-life photographer Paulette Tavormina—who draws on 17th-century Dutch, Spanish, and Italian Old Master painters—created remarkable still-life drawings that demonstrate both creativity and technical skill. Their artwork is now on display as the inaugural showcase of this school year, located near the face scan area. We encourage everyone to take a moment to appreciate their hard work and congratulate them on this well-deserved honor!

Featured Student Artists:

Fifi 7Ga
Meekhun 7Ga
Sunsun 7Ga
Ang 7Ga
Prince 7Ga
Poon 7Ga
Thee 8Ti

Message from English Teacher

Greetings again, parents!

It was an absolute pleasure to meet you in person on Wednesday evening, and I thank you for your support as we embark on the journey of another academic year at BASIS Bangkok. I am excited about the year ahead as students continue to develop advanced language and literacy skills in English.

Grade 7 and 8 students will practice their writing skills throughout the academic year. Students’ writings skills will progress by sharing their ideas about their preferences in term one, to then underpinning those opinions with relevant supporting details in term two, before having the chance to develop their persuasive skills in a bid to change the world in term three!

In Literature Studies, Grade 7 will be studying the American coming-of-age drama “The Outsiders”, and the trials and tribulations of a pre-teen Mexican girl growing up in Chicago in “The House on Mango Street”.

Grade 8 students will read and analyze texts including the dystopian classic “Fahrenheit 451”, and the 2003 mystery “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime”. In addition, both grades will explore the short story genre, responding to various entries in the anthology “One World, Many Cultures.”

One thing is for sure: I will be working closely with the students to help them grow in intelligence and hopefully make you proud!

Mr. Mark Crosby
English teacher (Grades 7 & 8)

Community Activities:

As part of National Science Week, we are thrilled to showcase a remarkable collaboration between our Grade 4 classes, BASIS Orchestra Ensemble, the Science Department, and the Music Department from the Academic Year 2023-2024.

Together, they created the "Periodic Table Song," which not only helped our students master the elements but also allowed them to express their talents by turning the periodic table into a musical masterpiece. This merging of science and creativity transformed learning into an engaging and unforgettable adventure!

Private Instrumental Lessons for Symphony Orchestra Essentials – Violin, Viola, Cello, Double Bass

Dear TUSKERS families,

We are happy to inform you of private instrument lessons after school. Students from primary to middle to high school may join this activity. There are limited slots available as the sessions are designed to work on individual development with our expert instructors.

Instructors:

Mr. Ben: Violin, Viola, Cello and Double Bass (contact b.detrick@basis.ac.th for all questions and inquires)

Kru Omkow & Kru Min: Violin, Viola

Kru Junior: Cello

The class aim is to create passion in music while helping young musicians develop their personal music spirit. Students will work on foundation skills such as correct hand positioning and note reading. They will receive personalized coaching as they develop their skills under an expert’s eyes. They will also enjoy our collaborative music theory and skill games and have the opportunity to showcase their performance at the ECA showcase in the spring. Tailored individual assignments will be given weekly so that they will learn to be responsible and accountable for their progress.

Learning Objectives:

Students will demonstrate the ability to hear, identify, read, and work with the elements of music – rhythm, melody, harmony, and structure.
Students will demonstrate understanding of a wide selection of musical literature representing principal eras, genres, and cultural sources.
Students will demonstrate the ability to perform a wide variety of musical styles in areas appropriate to the student’s needs and interests.

Grade selections: PreK-1 to Grade 10

Practice days and session: Tuesday: 14 sessions (start on August 27) OR Wednesday: 14 sessions (start on August 28)

BASIS Private Instrumental Lessons - 2024
Session 1	Week of August 26
Session 2	Week of September 2
Session 3	Week of Sept. 9
Session 4	Week of Sept. 16
Session 5	Week of Sept. 23
Session 6	Week of Sept. 20
Session 7	Week of October 7
Session 8	Week of Oct. 28
Session 9	Week of November 4
Session 10	Week of Nov. 11
Session 11	Week of Nov. 18
Session 12	Week of Nov. 25
Session 13	Week of December 2
Session 14	Week of Dec. 9

Activity Fees:

30 minutes private 1:1 (early years only) – 14,000 for 14 sessions

45 minutes private 1:1 – 17,500 for 14 sessions

60 minutes private 1:1 – 21,000 for 14 sessions – not suggested for beginners, and may not be available

A private lesson for two students is also available. For example, if you have a sibling or friend you’d like to join at the same time, please inquire.

Regards,
Mr. Benjamin Detrick
Music Teacher