BISB Weekly Update - November 8th 2024

Message from the School:

Dear TUSKERS families,

Next week, we have many exciting activities coming up and we look forward to meeting everyone at our events!

Tomorrow, Saturday, November 9^th, we are honored to host the BASIS Swim Meet 2024, welcoming athletes from 10 international schools across Bangkok! With over 200 swimmers competing on campus, it’s a fantastic opportunity for our young athletes to showcase their skills, gain confidence, and build lasting friendships with fellow swimmers. Join us to support our TUSKERS and show your BASIS spirit!

On Sunday, November 10^th, BASIS Bangkok will be hosting the American Mathematics Olympiad (AMO). For students who have registered, please arrive by 8:30 AM for the registration. Please note that latecomers will not be allowed into the exam room once the test has started. For more information, kindly refer to the section below. Best of luck to all our participants! GO TUSKERS!

Finally, we are thrilled to announce one of the year’s most anticipated events, our Loy Krathong FESTIVAL on Friday, November 15^th! This traditional Thai festival brings us together to celebrate, and we have an exciting lineup of activities planned for everyone! Please refer to the section below for detailed information. Please also note that there will be no ECA, Sport Academy, or Student Hours on the day of the event.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Warm regards,
BASIS International School Bangkok

LOY KRATHONG FESTIVAL 2024

We are excited to invite you to our annual Loy Krathong family event on Friday, November 15th! Loy Krathong is a beautiful Thai festival that celebrates gratitude and renewal. Students and families gather by the water to float handmade “Krathongs”, symbolizing the release of negative energy and the welcoming of good fortune.

To honor this tradition, we encourage students and parents to dress in traditional Thai costumes and join us for an evening filled with culture, and community spirit. Don’t miss out on the festivities, which include:

• Food Vendors - Enjoy a delicious variety of Thai food, snacks, desserts, and drinks
• Student Thai Dance Performances - Our talented students showcase authentic Thai dances
• Choir & Whole School Thai Dance (Ram-Wong)
• Traditional Thai Dance & Rock Bands Special Performance
• Launch your Krathongs into our beautiful reflection pond
• Games and Activities - Fun stations and fun games for kids of all ages

This is a wonderful opportunity to experience an authentic Thai festival and connect with other BASIS families. Admission is free! Tickets for game stations will be available for purchase at the event, and cash is accepted for food vendors.

Come join us in celebrating Loy Krathong. Let’s make great memories together!

Save the date for School Events and Academic Calendar:

American Mathematics Olympiad (AMO) 2024 on Sunday, November 10th ,2024

Dear Parent of AMO Participants,

This is a gentle reminder that your child(ren) are scheduled to participate in the American Mathematics Olympiad (AMO) 2024 on Sunday, November 10th ,2024 at BASIS International School Bangkok. The registration will commence from 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. We kindly request that your child(ren) be present prior to 8:30 a.m. We will call students for a line-up at 8:30 a.m. Any student who comes later than the time indicated will be declined to join the competition.

Upon arrival, all recipients will sign their name on the “Attendance Register” and receive their "Candidate Card.".

Please be mindful of the test times as outlined in the American Mathematics Olympiad (AMO) 2024 regulations.

• The exam will start at 9.00 - 10.30 a.m.
• The total exam time is 90 minutes.
• Students are not allowed to leave the exam room before 10.30 a.m.

For the competition, participants must bring:

• Water bottles.
• Students are encouraged to wear their BASIS polo shirt.
• The stationery, including two pencils, an eraser, a sharpener, and a ruler, will be provided upon their arrival.

Note: Students are not allowed to bring any math-related materials, such as revision notes, a multiplication table, calculators, or mobile phones, into the examination.

Thank you for your cooperation, and we look forward to seeing you and your children at BISB on Sunday!

Regards,
BASIS International School Bangkok

Message from Director of Academic Programs

Dear BASIS Parents,

Last week of the trimester! The students have been working and progressing steadily and I'd like to congratulate each of them for their work during Trimester 1. As we come to the end of term, I want to remind us of a few changes that have taken place throughout the school on the academic side.

• Early Years has a slightly modified version of their Academic and Social Emotional Reports. You will see that there are some new yearly and trimester goals, and that the yearly goals have 3 trimester boxes to help track the progress in those long-term goals.
  
• Primary school Grades 1-4 are rolling out new Social Emotional Reports, as I mentioned last week. These are brand new reports that represent BASIS global best practices and we hope that these SERs help provide a more intentional and clearer picture of how your child is progressing through their social emotional development. I'd like to give a bit more detail on the reports here:
• • Please remember that the benchmarks listed are where we expect your student to be by the end of the year. Because of this, we fully expect students to not be receiving passing (P) or superior (S) grades in all of the categories at this point in the year. This is because our students all need improvement. By formatting our SERs this way, we aim to provide an honest and complete look at your students' progress this year in reaching their social emotional goals. So, when you are reading your student's SERs and they have received "needs improvement" (N), this is not a cause for concern. 
    

• In the upper school, we are making good progress toward the Pre-Comprehensive exams (Jan 28-3) and Comprehensive exams (June 4-6) for Grades 6-8, and look forward to AP exams in May for our Grade 9 & 10 students. This is a marathon, not a sprint, so the students have been working methodically in preparation as we approach these important assessment checkpoints as they progress toward university.

We are also in the midst of next year's academic planning! An important part of this is forecasting your interest in elective courses and collecting feedback on the workload and study balance that students are experiencing, especially in Grade 6-10. I will be arranging a Coffee Morning in December to discuss the new process for elective offerings and enrollments, and I welcome your comments and suggestions leading up to that time. You are key stakeholders in the educational lives of your children and I always welcome the opportunity to learn from you and the students.

Sincerely,
Mr. Ian 
Director of Academic Programs

Early Years Newsletter:

Hello Families,

Our children are mark makers at every age.  Here are some simple ideas that you can do at home to encourage writing.

• Keep markers, pencils, and crayons available. Children develop skills that prepare them for writing through their normal play — like drawing, painting, and tracing objects. This kind of play helps prepare the brain and the muscles for holding a pencil and forming written words.
• Help them learn to write their name. This is an empowering experience, and allows them to begin to identify themselves as writers. As they get older and know how to write their name shift the focus to penmanship and appropriate size of the letters.
• Involve them in your writing activities. Make a list together and point out the words that start with the same letter as the child’s name.

And most of all…

Read books with your children. Early and frequent exposure to letters, sounds, words, and stories helps children learn to read and write.

Sincerely,
Ms. Annie
Director of Early Years

Primary, Middle & High School Newsletter

Message from Director of Primary and Upper School

Dear Parents,

We would like to remind you of the afternoon pick-up hours and we kindly request that you pick up your child promptly.

• 3:30 - Grades 1, 2, 3 and 4
• 3:40 - Grades 4, 5, 9 and 10
• 3:50 - Grades 6, 7 and 8

Once students exit the turnstiles at the end of the day, they should not reenter the campus unless they are accompanied by a parent or guardian. In this case, students are expected to remain with their parents and guardians at all times. 

Students who attend after-school activities, such as Student Hours, Mandarin, sports and arts activities are expected to leave campus promptly at the end of the activity. The school does not offer supervision of the Town Center or Playground after 4:00 pm,

Only students who are enrolled in Student Hours, Mandarin, and school sponsored activities are provided with snacks.

We ask for your cooperation in ensuring the health and safety of the BISB community.

Thank you,
Ms. Allison 
Director of Primary & Upper School

College Counseling Corner:

Greetings BISB Community,

Welcome to the College Corner, a snapshot of the College Counseling process at BASIS International School Bangkok.

This week, I am focusing on Australian Universities because they are a popular destination for pursuing education for international students. According to the Australian Government Department of Education, there are currently about 23,000 Thai students studying in Australia.

STUDY IN AUSTRALIA

Content gathered from Cialfo’s Study in Australia Country Guide

Why study in Australia?

Australia has 15 universities in the Times Higher Education “Top 100 Under 50 Universities” for higher education and 7 universities in the top 100 in the 2022 QS world ranking list. Every year, over 500,000 international students enroll in Australian universities. Over 30% of people living in Australia were born overseas, and as a result, the country has ethnic and linguistic diversity.

Many Australian universities provide individual scholarships for students based on academic merit. Some popular scholarships for international students include; Australia Awards scholarships which are awarded by the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Education and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research and the Destination Australia scholarship which is provided to national and international students to study in regional Australia.

FAST FACTS ABOUT AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES IN THE TOP 20 QS WORLD RANKING:

The University of Melbourne

• The University is like a self-contained village, with its own theatres, art galleries, book shop, sports facilities, sushi bar, coffee lounges, shops, banks, post office, travel agents etc. A five-minute tram ride can take students to the heart of downtown Melbourne.
• The university’s research expenditure is second only to that of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. With over 100 research centers and institutes, they tackle society’s complex problems in innovative ways.
  
  

The University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney)

• UNSW Sydney is a world-leading teaching and research university recognized by employers and organizations around the globe. UNSW is dedicated to shaping forward-thinking graduates who make a positive impact in the world.
• UNSW ranked number one in Australia for 10 subjects- Civil & Structural Engineering; Electrical & Electronic Engineering; Mechanical, Aeronautical & Manufacturing Engineering; Materials Sciences; Mathematics; Accounting & Finance; Business & Management Studies; Marketing; and equal first in Statistics & Operational Research and Performing Arts.
  
  

The University of Sydney

• As Australia's first university, the University of Sydney has a proud history of global leadership in education and research and continues to be named as one of the top universities in the world for accelerating the pace of positive environmental and social change.
• The University of Sydney invests heavily in interdisciplinary research, in areas including obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease; inequality; nanoscience; mental health and brain science, and deepening understanding of Southeast Asia and China.
  
  

Cialfo has an informative video on how to START PLANNING YOUR STUDIES IN AUSTRALIA. You can also learn more about studying in Australia by visiting the https://www.studyinaustralia.gov.au/ website.

Thank you,
Ms. Kate Irving
College Counselor

Library Corner:

Hello from BISB Library! 

This month is Dinovember! This month we will celebrate and explore all things related to dinosaurs and paleontology. Be sure to mark your calendars for the library’s Dinovember story time event, Dino Discovery, after school on Wednesday, November 20^th.

This week students in Grades K – 3 continued with our Global Read Aloud reading the story Lift, by author Minh Le and illustrator Dan Santat. This week’s story focuses on imagination, the joy of reading, and sibling relationships. Every class loved this story and its creativity. If you have been following along with our Global Read Aloud Reads, check out Lift from the library, or watch a storytime read aloud here on Youtube.

Additionally, this is a final reminder to join us in Connections on Tuesday, November 12^th for So You Think You Know Books, a book trivia competition! This after-school event will test our best BISB bookworms knowledge of all things books. So You Think You Know Books will take place after school on Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. in Connections. Parents are invited to attend as audience members to cheer on your competing students. We have over 16 students signed up to compete!

Our contestants will have the chance to earn 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes with house points, and the top 12 contestants will go on to represent BISB at the Kids Lit Quiz Competition on March 14th at Harrow International School! Kids Lit Quiz is a book trivia competition held amongst participating international schools in Bangkok.

Lastly, please note that the library will be CLOSED after school on Friday, November 15^th in celebration of Loy Krathong.

I look forward to seeing you all on Tuesday for our competition!

Happy reading,

Ms. Erika
Librarian

BASIS Winter Camp 2024 is Now Open!

Give your child an action-packed holiday filled with creativity, fun, and new skills! From exploring arts & crafts to mastering gymnastics, swimming, archery, dance, Taekwondo and even cooking and many more, there’s something to ignite every child’s passion!

Let’s help them grow, make new friends, and build confidence this winter!

Camp Dates: 23-27 December 2024 & 6-10 January 2025

 Age Groups:

•  CUKI TOTS (3-5 years old)
•  CUKI (6-12 years old)

Don’t miss out! Call or LINE to register today:

CUKI TOTS (Coach Joey): 081-143-6792 or LINE @cukitots

CUKI (Mineyo): 080-240-3330 or LINE: cukimineyo

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 Dr. Golf and a distinguished guest host for our final session.

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!

Gentle Reminder – Term 2 Tuition Payment

Dear Tuskers Families,

We would like to remind you that Term 2 tuition invoices for the 2024-2025 school year had been sent to your email on Friday, October 25th, 2024. Payments are due by Friday, November 29th, 2024.

For questions on payments, credit card fees, or installment options, please contact our Finance Office at bkk.billing@basis.ac.th or 02-415-0099.

Best regards, 
The Finance Office

Join our BASIS Community Sports Activities!

We invite all parents, students, family members, faculty, and staff to join our fun Community Sports Activities.

Here’s the schedule:

 • Tuesday: Badminton (5:30 - 7:30 PM)
 • Wednesday: Football (5:30 - 7:00 PM)
 • Thursday: Badminton & Basketball (5:30 - 7:30 PM)

Just bring a water bottle, and if you’re playing badminton, don’t forget your racket! No reservations needed, but please sign in at reception if it’s your first time using the facilities this year.

Students aged 14 and up can join without parents but must also submit the form at reception.

We hope to see you there!

Community News

Community Event: Charity Mini-Marathon – December 8th, 2024

Get ready, TUSKERS families and friends! We are thrilled to invite you to join us for the charity mini-marathon at Nakornthon Hospital on December 8th, 2024.

This year, BASIS Bangkok is proud to partner once again with Nakornthon Hospital for the "Run with Love for the Thai Red Cross" event, marking its 14th annual run and our fourth year of support. All funds raised from the event will be donated to the Thai Red Cross, helping to provide essential medical care and social welfare for those in need.

Sign up now by scanning the QR code on the event poster! Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to make a difference and bond with the community.

We can’t wait to see you there!

Weekly Menu Updates:

Community Health Updates

This week our records cut-off time for is Friday at 3:00 P.M.  There is one case this week. 

ECA Timetable

Photo of The Week

Kindness Ninja :

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1wNwLOvdeRJcoSfAl_Csi2oxBB9PF9h5S?usp=sharing

Grade 9 - Thai Class (Cooking) :

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1glLyqpdknsjBQbptJcBrcOBWTDd13sBc?usp=sharing