BASIS International School Bangkok eNewsletter

Message from Head of School & Head of Operations:

Dear TUSKERS families,

It has been a wonderful and energic week as all ECAs have started!!! We would like to thank you for your time in attending great coffee mornings where you met our Librarian, Ms.Erika.

Today is our “Wai Kru Ceremony Appreciation Day”. Wai Kru is one of the unique characteristics of the Thai people where students show their respect to their teachers. Students enjoy preparing their flower trays and proudly handing them to their teachers. Some photos are available here for you to get a taste of how things went!

There are also interesting activities next week, as shown in the School Events and Academic Calendar. Events include Parent Workshop, Pre-SAT Coffee Morning, Basketball and Football matches, and School 5^th Year Ceremony (listed below).

Meanwhile, wishing you all a great weekend!

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

Message from Head of Operations:

Dear Parents,

I am writing to formally introduce myself. I am Lyn, the new Head Of Operations. I want to thank you for the warm welcome during my first week at BASIS International School Bangkok and I am so excited to join the BASIS community.

Should there be any issues that I can be of help with, please do not hesitate to contact me by email at w.chalermsrisiri@basis.ac.th

Warm regards,
Ms. Lyn
Head of Operations

Celebrating 5th Year of Education Excellence at BASIS International School Bangkok

Dear BASIS Community,

We are excited to commemorate the 5th anniversary of our school, marking five incredible years since we welcomed our first class of students. The official opening ceremony took place on September 21, 2019, and since then, we have remained dedicated to our mission: “Raising the standard of education to the highest international level.”

In celebration of this milestone, we wanted to share some highlights of our growth over the past five years:

Over the years, we have introduced more than 50 sports, music programs, extracurricular activities, and clubs to enrich our students' experience. We are proud of the remarkable achievements of our students both inside and outside the classroom, and we look forward to the continued growth and success of our school.

Our community thrives because of the support and dedication of each one of you. Thank you for being a part of our journey over the past five years, and we look forward to many more successful years together.

Warm regards,
Dr. W
Head of School

P.S. On Friday, September 20th, we will celebrate with cupcakes for our teachers and students. To further mark this special occasion, a small gift of a Thai aromatic inhaler will be sent home with students, symbolizing joy and instant uplift.

Community News:

Message from BISB Parents Association

Support for Flood-Affected Families in Northern Thailand

Dear BASIS Community,

As many of you may be aware, Northern Thailand is currently facing severe flooding, leaving many families in urgent need of basic necessities. They are struggling with food shortages and a lack of essential supplies.

In response, our school will be collecting donations over the next week to support the relief efforts. All contributions will be delivered to The Mirror Foundation for distribution to the affected areas. We are requesting the following items:

- Cash donations

- Non-perishable food items (e.g., rice, canned goods)

- Toiletries, sanitary pads, and medicines, gloves, cleaning supplies

- blankets, towels, clothing.

*All must be in new condition.

Please bring your donations to the reception area by Wednesday, September 18th 2024.

Thank you for your generosity and for helping us support the families in Northern Thailand during this difficult time. The Parents Association will be taking the items up to “The Mirror Foundation” มูลนิธิกระจกเงา, who will be distributing the items and funds in Chiang Rai.

Information on the Mirror Foundation https://www.mirror.or.th/aboutmirrorf.php?m=about

Warm regards,
BISB Parents Association

Message from Director of Academic Programs:

Dear parents,

We have officially finished 1 month of school! As such, we have some important things coming up. As previously stated, we will be sending home Progress Reports on September 20th, and you can direct any questions to your child's teachers should you have them.

As the students progress, it becomes increasingly important to think about the next big steps they will take, such as going to university. In anticipation of this important milestone, Ms. Kate has set up a coffee morning to PSATs (and other questions you might have!) on Wednesday, September 18^th at 8:30 am. Please join this if you want to learn more about the university pathway and how to support your children as they pursue future studies.

On the topic of university studies, we have finally finished our first AP exams in May of this year! We wanted to congratulate all of the students who successfully took part in the exams and share a bit of information of how that experience went. We decided to conduct some student and teacher interviews to understand more about the experience of learning and teaching AP courses, and here is some of what we learned. We have kept the teacher and student information confidential for equity and inclusion.

Teachers:

"I was honestly blown away by the self-motivation and discipline the students exhibited throughout the year. The content is difficult, so seeing the scores I felt so proud that the hard work had paid off!"

"I think I was more nervous for them than they were for themselves. Considering it was all of their first times taking AP exams, I think they did very well. I'm planning to place more emphasis on revision this year."

Students:

"The class was very tough! But having a challenging class actually made the exam feel 'easy' my comparison. I think this helped my score."

"Now that I know more about the exams and what it's like to take them, I feel more confident to do well on the exams this year."

"The amount of content we needed to learn was a lot and we needed to be responsible for learning what we missed. This was a new skill I learned and hopefully it can help me this year, too."

Wishing everyone a nice long weekend!

Best,
Mr. Ian
Director of Academic Programs

Early Years Newsletter:

Message from Director of Early Years

Dear Families,

I want to take a moment to acknowledge the excellent communication I've been witnessing between teachers and parents. Thank you for your ongoing collaboration! The stronger our communication, the better we can support your children together.

Emergency Drills:

As part of our commitment to campus safety, we regularly conduct emergency drills, including fire evacuations. Your child may come home mentioning a long walk to the field and lining up, which is all part of our fire drill practice. These drills are an essential part of keeping everyone safe, though younger children might not fully understand their purpose just yet.

It’s always a good idea to discuss safety procedures at home as well. Consider reviewing your family’s emergency plan—where is your designated meeting spot in case of a fire? Talk to your children about what to do if they see or smell smoke.

Before any school-wide drill, we will practice with students to ensure they feel prepared, not scared. Our goal is always to promote safety and readiness in a calm and supportive way.

Thank you,

Ms. Annie Fletcher
Director of Early Years

Primary, Middle & High School Newsletter:

Message from Director of Primary & Upper School

Dear BISB Families,

With first-hand experience in classrooms comes the opportunity to observe the students' high commitment and interest and the BISB Teacher’s unique expertise and professionalism. The Teaching and Learning at BISB exemplifies the school’s mission: To raise the standards of our students’ learning to meet the highest international standards.

Weekly I will share with you manifestations of the mission in practice.

BISB delivers a curriculum of breadth and depth.

Grades 4 and 5 classes are practicing the Scientific Method and carry out authentic science labs. Students collaborate in small groups to observe solutions, properties of the states of matter, and barometric pressure. Students are encouraged to share their findings throughout the lab. Students can communicate in-depth knowledge through academic vocabulary in their conversations. “We made 3 observations and collected 2 data points.” In the Grade 5 math lessons, students are eager to find multiple strategies to work problems. The lesson encouraged them to apply their current knowledge of local currencies to convert to foreign currencies, challenging them to apply and extend their learning to new contexts.

BISB’s teachers are passionate and expert educators.

I frequently observe the co-teaching model in practice as the SET and LET collaboratively plan lesson structure and analyze student data. These conversations occur daily in the Teachers’ Lounge, classrooms, the LET Office and digitally and at grade level meetings. As the midterm student achievement data is completed this week and becomes available to us next week, the intervention specialist, Deans, SETs and LETs/Academic Coach are meeting regularly before, during and after school to ensure that plans are in place to meet the individual needs of every child. After many years of my career in education, it is gratifying to see that student achievement data is used effectively and efficiently to inform and target the teaching and learning that occurs every day. This practice directly correlates with higher student achievement.

BISB fosters a joyful learning culture.

Students have mastered the learning routines and understand the expectations. This allows for timely and targeted learning to occur every minute of the lesson. Because these routines and expectations are so well-developed, there is more attention paid to learning. Students often have the opportunity to collaborate in small groups, which enhances their language and communication skills. The TUSKERS values are intrinsic in daily learning.

Ms. Allison
Director of Primary & Upper School

NHS and NJHS News:

The BISB Candidate Information Form for NHS and NJHS closes on Thursday, September 19. Application to both the NHS and NJHS is a multi-step process. If your child meets the eligibility requirements, they are eligible to apply.

Eligibility Requirements:

A student at BISB currently in Grades 7-10
BISB average from last year of A- or above
Availability to attend all NHS/NJHS meetings that take place on the 1^st Monday of every month at 7:30 AM, beginning November 11
Participate in chapter and individual service projects to benefit the school and community
Commit to attending and participating in the NHS/NJHS Honor Society Induction Ceremony on July 17, 2025. (More details on this event will be shared later)

Interested students must formally apply to join NHS/NJHS. If you are eligible and interested in joining, please follow these steps in order:

Fill out the BISB Candidate Information Form. Submit the completed form by Thursday, September 19.
Complete the BISB NHS/NJHS application on campus at designated times. Dates and times will be shared will all students who have completed the Candidate Form by September 19, 2024.

Please see the attached letter for more information.

NJHS WELCOME LETTER

College Counseling Corner:

Greetings BISB Community,

Welcome to the September College Corner, a monthly snapshot of the College Counseling process at BASIS International School Bangkok. I am Kate Irving – your College Counselor.

These first few weeks of school have been amazing and enlightening. The more I work with the BISB community and talk with students, the more excited I am for the coming years. To date, I have met individually with 50% of the Grade 9 and 10 students, taught 8 writing and career exploration workshops, presented at 2 coffee mornings, and have much more planned in the future.

In my individual student meetings, we review current and future course selections, extracurricular activities and plans, standardized testing preparation, and summer interests. Parents, if I met with your child already you should have received a follow up email this week. If you have not received an email, please ask you child what day they have scheduled to meet with me. They all have my meeting calendar link in their emails.

Last week, I met with all Grade 9 and 10 students for career and college workshops. We discussed how personality types can lead to our future careers and the class took an online personality test to examine the results. Grade 9 students explored unique careers like Advertising Art Director, Astronautical Engineer, Land Surveyor, Paramedic, Sports Marketing Executive, TV Set Designer, and Medical Research Scientist. They dug even deeper into their individual interests by researching median salary, the societal purpose of their profession, the college major(s) required, colleges recommended for that career/major, and current employment opportunities. Ask to review your child’s Achieve Works Personality test results in Cialfo and discuss potential career fields.

Grade 10 students focused on how their personalities, career interests, and skill sets could lead them to a variety of college prospects. Selecting potential majors that fit both what they are good at and what careers they are interested in will go a long way to finding the right college match in the future. While students researched a variety of universities that cater to their interests, they are still just in the building stage of their college list. In class we examined potential careers through the Cialfo platform and found the colleges that match. The next step in their preparation for college applications is the PSAT which they will take on October 26. This exam is used for practice and preparation for the SAT they will take in August 2025. Next week, there will be a Grade 10 PSAT Coffee that will address the specifics of this exam and answer any questions families may have.

Have a restful and restorative break.

Best,
Ms. Kate Irving
College Counselor

ECA Corner:

ECA Taekwondo:

We are excited to announce that Taekwondo uniforms are now available for pre-order! If you need a new uniform or wish to upgrade your current one, please feel free to click the button below. :

Taekwondo Uniforms Pre-Order Form

Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to seeing you in your new gear!

ECA Spotlight:

Dear TUSKERS families,

As we embrace the first week of ECA, we are excited to see so much energy and enthusiasm from our tiny TUSKERS. You may visit the photo album below to see a review of our activities. And as always, we will keep you updated for each ECA class spotlight of each week here in this corner. We hope you will also be excited to see your child's learning journey over this semester.

We highly encourage everyone to dive into their chosen activities with curiosity, this is a great opportunity to explore new interests, build friendship and develop valuable skills.

Library Corner:

Hello from BISB Library!

I wanted to thank the wonderful parents that took the time to visit me in the library this week for our Meet the Librarian Coffee Mornings. If you weren’t able to make it, please feel free to visit the library anytime during my before or after school library hours.

I am available before school Monday to Thursdays from 7:30 a.m. to 7:55 a.m., and after school Tuesday to Fridays from 3:15 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. (4:30 p.m. on Fridays).

At both coffee mornings, I discussed some reading strategies to help young readers build their love of learning and literacy skills. My main tips included:

Read for 20-30 minutes every night, either together or independently
Sound out words together, reference dictionaries, write down new words
Ask comprehension and guided questions for words/pictures: What just happened? Why is this character sad? What do you think will happen next?
Incentivize reading and set goals/challenges (pick up the library’s Book Bingo sheets)
Visit the library and pick out books together!

Additionally, I discussed the library’s digital catalog, Destiny Discover – where you can request library books for both you and your child. You can also use this tool for audiobooks and research help for some class subjects.

To log in and for requests books, you must visit the library in person to register an account with a username and password, or you can email me directly at e.wigren@basis.ac.th and we can discuss the log in requirements. Please see the below graphic to help with log in steps.

Additionally, if you would like to access online books and resources, I have included some podcast story time recommendations and free online stories tools below as well.

Thank you and happy reading,

Ms. Erika
Librarian

Well-being Corner:

Dear TUSKERS Families,

It is with immense excitement that we 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

Interest Survey for School Bus Service:

Dear BASIS Parents,

Thank you to the parents who have shown interest in our School Bus service. So far, only two families have expressed interest in this. However, we would like to offer one last opportunity to see if we can arrange the school bus routing for families living in the same area who may benefit from this service. If you are interested, please fill out the form and submit it to us by Monday, September 30th, 2024.

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