April 2017

Your choice. Their future. Our family. โรงเรียนนานาชาติการ์เด้นอีสเทิร์นซีบอร์ดบ้านฉาง April 2017
SONGKRAN!
Find us at:
Website: w w w .gardenrayong.com
Twitter: w w w .tw itter.com/ gisrayong
Facebook: w w w .facebook.com/ pages/ Garden -International-School-Rayong-Thailand/128699487157809
Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/gardenrayongthailand
Accredited by
Affiliated to
1

From Mrs Hawtree: Principal
From the Principal
Dear Parents, Students and Friends of GIS,
As the March Newsletter went to press, we were anticipating the Primary School production of ‘Porridge’ –
and what an outstanding production it was. Fast paced and funny, it had something for everyone, from
young to old. The quality of the acting, singing, dancing and directing was exceptional – I’m proud to say
that it was one of the best Primary shows I have seen in over 20 years in education. Huge congratulations
to Ms Jenn and her team and to all the students involved in this amazing show.
Over the holiday, the government announced changes to some public holidays, including that 5 May
(formerly Coronation Day) would no longer be a public holiday. We decided, however, that school would
remain closed on this day as we are aware that many families have already made plans for the long weekend.
The government also announced an additional public holiday for October 13, and we have already adjusted
our calendar for next academic year to reflect this – please see the school website for details. We are
aware of further possible public holiday dates being considered by the government, and will amend our
calendar accordingly once any further changes are confirmed.
With IB and IGCSE examinations now in full flow, and just over 7 full weeks of school remaining, we are
quickly heading towards the end of this academic year. As I have mentioned previously, we have a lot of
developments planned for next academic year, and management and staff are working very hard to get
everything in place for August. More details on these developments as well as a number of staff changes
will follow in the end of May issue of the Newsletter.
I hope that you are able to enjoy the forthcoming long weekend, and also the Visakha Bucha holiday on
May 10 when school will also be closed, but please note that international examinations continue on both of
these dates.
Kind Regards,
Mrs Dinah Hawtree
Principal
2

Upcoming Events
Whole School
Mon May 1: Labour Day (school closed)
Fri May 5: School closed (formerly Coronation Day)
May 8: Friends of Garden coffee morning, canteen, 8am
Weds May 10: Visakha Bucha Day (school closed)
May 12: House T-Shirt Day
Primary
May 2-3: Year 2 trip to the Tie Dye Cooperative
May 4: Nursery trip to Siam Country Club
May 12: Swimming Gala
May 18-22: Primary FOBISIA in Malaysia
May 22-26: Assessment Week
Secondary
April 28-May 18: IB final examinations
May 2-June 9: IGCSE final examinations
May 3: IB1 Extended Essay Day
May 22-26: IB1 3rd meeting with Extended Essay supervisor
May 29-June 2: Secondary Examinations’ Week
Sat Mar 27: IB Formal Evening, Hilton Pattaya
Many thanks to our generous GIS sponsors:
Platinum
Aditya Birla
Encounter Church
Indorama
3

SONGKRAN CELEBRATIONS
Students and staff from Garden International School
(GIS) took part in a Songkran celebration to mark the
new Thai year. It was a great way to end the term with
traditional Thai games and, of course, some water
splashing! Thanks to the Thai department for organising
this event. For more, see our Facebook page.
4

Head to our Facebook page for the latest news on
what’s been happening at GIS. This month, you
can read about:
www.facebook.com/gardeninternationalschool
You can also watch our latest videos about what’s
been happening at GIS by going here:
www.youtube.com/user/gardenrayongthailand
Follow us on Instagram! Find us at
garden_international_school or search for
#gistitans
Check out our Pinterest page and see the dozens
of photos showcasing life at GIS.
Follow our tweets on Twitter!
https://www.twitter.com/gisrayong
See our snaps and stories on Snapchat!
Our username is gisthailand
5

From Mr Walsh: Head of Primary
Dear parents and carers,
CURRICULUM MAPS
If you would like to know more about what your children will
be studying as part of their class topics, please go to the
class blog (links below) and select the Curriculum Maps tab.
We have had some very positive feedback about these in the
past few weeks. The jigsaw maps on these links show the
main learning objectives for this term for all of the curriculum
subjects.
We hope that these curriculum maps enable as many parents
as possible to engage with their child’s learning. Now, if your
child comes home and can’t remember what s/he has been
doing at school, you will be able to prompt them! The maps
can also be used to prepare the children for their learning later
in the term, as well as being used to guide out-of-school
tuition so that it fits in with our curriculum.
Early Years Blog
Nursery Blog
Reception Blog
Year 1 Blog
Year 2 Blog
Year 3 Blog
Year 4 Blog
Year 5 Blog
Year 6 Blog
PUNCTUALITY
Some students have been
arriving at school very early
and some have been arriving
rather late. Please note
that students should arrive
at school after 7.30am and
before 7.50am when the
bell goes. There is no adult
supervision until 7.30am.
If a student arrives to
school late it can be disruptive
not only to them, but to
the rest of the students in
the class. Thank you for
your co-operation and
understanding with this.

STUDENT COUNCIL
The Primary Student Council met to discuss ideas for ways to further improve some of the
school events. They had the following ideas for future House T-Shirt Days: Building challenges;
a thinking skills quiz set up around the school - designed by students ; a photographic competition
possibly about life at GIS; a beach clean-up with each house covering a section of beach; a treasure
hunt; an art exhibition; Thai games.
Some representatives from the Primary Council also attended a House Council meeting with Mrs
Hawtree and the Prefects to share ideas about how the Prefects could help the Primary students
at break times and lunchtimes. The Principal was impressed with how the Primary students conducted
themselves and how sensibly they presented their ideas.
Happy Earth Day to you,
Don’t forget to re-use
Save water and plant
trees,
To keep the sky and sea
blue.
EARTH DAY
The GIS Global Action team (including students from
Global Action club) did an assembly to promote Earth Day,
which was on Saturday 22 nd April. They shared some
information about the environment and gave some good
tips about practical ways of helping the environment
including how to say ‘No plastic bag, please’ in Thai.
All of the Primary students wrote a song together to be
sung to the tune of Happy Birthday:
ASSESSMENT WEEK
At the end of May there will be an assessment week in Primary. Teachers make use
of assessments every day, of course, to see how well the students are doing and to
guide future learning. The tests and assessment tasks in assessment week will be a
more standardised snapshot of how well the students are learning and how well we
are teaching. They are not high-pressure, stressful tests, but they will inform the
grades in the end of year Reports.
7

CULTURAL TRIP
As part of our "Where in the world are we?" topic, Year 1 went to Thai Thani Cultural
Village to learn about Thai traditions.
It was an amazing trip! We did lots of fun activities like making paper lanterns, watching a
Thai shadow puppet theatre show and painting a Thai-style fan. We also explored oldstyle
houses, played with some traditional toys and looked at some beautiful Thai artwork
in the art gallery.
Our favourite part was eating traditional Thai food while watching dances that represent
the four regions of Thailand. They even invited us to join in their dance!
MOVIE NIGHT
Thank you to Mr Josh and to the Secondary House Council for organising an
awesome movie night for Primary and Secondary students. It was a very wellattended
event with about 80 students present and all enjoyed watching a film
together.
8

To celebrate the end of our unit on Aztecs,
we had the opportunity to apply our
knowledge of Aztec cuisine by making our
own xocolatl and tortillas.
AZTEC DAY
TORTILLAS, CHOCOLATE AND CHILLIES!
We also applied our carving skills by
making sacrificial knives. We used the
cuttlefish bones collected by Mr Michael on
Pala beach.
To make our xocolatl (hot chocolate) we
followed an ancient recipe. We first ground
different spices (cinnamon, cardamom,
star of anise, pepper corn) and then we
mixed the powder with cacao powder and
hot water. It was soooo bitter, ewwww! We
should have used chillies as well but we
didn’t feel brave enough!
For the tortillas we simply mixed flour,
water, oil and salt and flattened the dough
into round crepes. We cooked them on a
hot plate and got lucky enough to try them
with Nutella instead of avocados.
To start, we designed our knife on a piece
of paper as it was easier to rub out. Then
we applied the drawing on the bone and
used skewers or carving knives to replicate
the drawing on the bone.
Finally we spray-painted them to give them
the look of obsidian or turquoise, semiprecious
stones the Aztecs used when making
jewels or ornaments.
It was a very busy, fun and dirty day!
SOCIAL MEDIA
You can find out more about all of the trips and events by going to our
Facebook page. To keep up with the learning as it happens, please see
the class blogs.
Kind Regards,
Matt Walsh (Head of Primary)
9

PRIMARY’S PORRIDGE PRODUCTION
PROVES POPULAR
Primary's big musical performance, "Porridge" was a huge
success. With a full house in to watch, the children gave
star performances as they worked their way through
scheming bears and billy goats, silly police officers, a kidnapped
cow and a host of happy nursery rhyme and fairy
tale characters. Our choir sang with enthusiasm and everyone
had a great night. For highlights, see our YouTube
channel.
10

GOODBYE AND THANKS
MR MARTIN!
GIS staff and students held a
testimonial football match for Mr
Martin Hambling, the GIS Site
Manager who is leaving after 12
years at the school.
In a tightly-fought contest, the teachers
won a penalty shoot-out. Afterwards,
Mr Martin was presented with
a gift by General Manager
Mr Abraham and everyone tucked
into pizza.
Many thanks to Mr Martin for his
tireless work in improving GIS for the
past 12 years.
11

From our Head Boy and Girl
Good Luck With Your Exams!
Welcome to Term 3. We hope you have had a splendid Songkran holiday and are ready for
the term ahead. As this term starts, so do the stresses of final examinations for Year 11 and
13 students. We wish everyone the best of luck and hope that the hard work of two years finally
pays off.
We said a final goodbye to our Year 13 students, who will be soon taking a big step into the
real world, in the leavers’ assembly. After a warm welcome from Year 12 students, the Year
13 students looked back on some memories and some volunteers shared their personal stories
with them. Some of the students also had surprise video messages from older siblings
who graduated from GIS in recent years.
Meanwhile, as well as their revision, the Year 11 students have started thinking about Prefect
positions. At GIS, students in Year 12 get the opportunity to apply for a Prefect position. We
strongly encourage all Year 11 students to consider this option, as it will not only challenge
them, but also help them develop many different skills that will be useful in the future.
We look forward to an exciting term ahead. Until next time!
Head Boy – Jignil
Head Girl – Shilpi

We have some great school blogs to tell you about life at GIS. Click
on the links below to see what’s been going on!
PRIMARY BLOGS
Early Years http://earlyyears.gardenrayong.com/
Nursery http://nursery.gardenrayong.com/
Reception http://reception.gardenrayong.com/
Year 1 http://year1.gardenrayong.com/
Year 2 http://year2.gardenrayong.com/
Year 3 http://year3.gardenrayong.com/
Year 4 http://year4.gardenrayong.com/
Year 5 http://year5.gardenrayong.com/
Year 6 http://year6.gardenrayong.com/
ESL Blog: http://primaryels.gardenrayong.com
SECONDARY BLOGS
Year 7-9
IGCSE
IB
ELS
http://year7to9.gardenrayong.com/
http://gisigcse.gardenrayong.com/
http://ib.gardenrayong.com/
http://secondaryels.gardenrayong.com/
WHOLE SCHOOL BLOGS
Extra-curricular Sport
Extra-curricular Music
http://gissport.gardenrayong.com/
http://gismusicblog.gardenrayong.com/
Extra-curricular Drama http://gisdrama.gardenrayong.com/
Library
http://library.gardenrayong.com/
Community Programmes http://communityprogrammes.gardenrayong.com/
Community Service
Friends of Garden
Boarding
http://gisserviceprojects.gardenrayong.com/
http://friendsofgarden.gardenrayong.com/
http://gisboarding.gardenrayong.com/

From Mr Share: Head of Secondary
Dear parents and carers,
Memory is something we are either proud of or need to work on constantly. At this time of year, with students
cramming for examinations, memory is of course a vital skill needed for success.
While we always encourage students to learn and use flexible thinking skills, there are times when there is no
substitute for having learned and remembered key information.
Students are taught memory skills in various ways, ranging from mnemonics (remembering key words that
have associated meanings eg the musical notes in the scale are: E,G,B,D,F.
Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge), chunking (breaking big problems into smaller more digestible pieces -
think of how you remember a phone number), or by smell, touch, taste, hearing and seeing.
Aiding and training your brain to improve its ability to remember things is something we can all do. I have
listed below some key tips to help improve memory.
We don’t need our brains to remember every piece of information about what happens every day. The
key to memory is to transfer the details of what you want to remember from what is known as short term
memory, to long term memory. It is better to build up memory with repetition and by checking the learning
over longer and longer periods of time. First, focus on remembering something, and then test yourself 10
minutes later. If you forgot anything, test yourself again in an hour and then again a day later. This is
known as the spacing effect.
A key part of how our memory works is that we remember what we find difficult. This is a well-respected
piece of research underlined by the psychologist Daniel Willingham, who researched and wrote the book
‘Why don’t students like school?’ His analysis of brain and memory concluded that anything that is too
easy to understand, the brain effectively does not bother to store into long term memory, as there is no
need. This is important for revision, as simply re-reading notes is too easy, there needs to be an element
of challenge and thought that goes into ‘working’ things into memory.
A lot of memory tips seem to contradict what you might think is the best way of doing things. When trying
to remember information it is best to interweave content from different areas. Instead of having a day
simply studying History, it is actually better for students to have 50 minutes on history, 50 minutes on biology
and 50 minutes on English.
A simple and successful motto for successful people is related to asking ‘Why?’ Getting yourself to explain
why things happen helps to create a chain of understanding in memory. Asking your children to explain
why something is as it is, challenges and reinforces the understanding of a piece of knowledge.
It is a well-worn technique to reflect, review and plan ahead. Reviewing regularly the things that you find critical
to remember or know, will ensure that in the long run you will remember these key things.
Do remember this last, and simplest, of memory rules, especially in Thailand’s hot weather — STAY HY-
DRATED. There is undeniable scientific proof that your brain being hydrated increases brain function and
boosts memory. Therefore, drinking plenty of water helps you and your child to function more effectively.
Regards
Mr Share
Head of Secondary

IB
GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK
GIS said farewell to its oldest students at the IB2 Leavers'
Assembly.
The outgoing IB2 students were greeted with a guard of
honour and party poppers by the IB1 students. Principal
Mrs Hawtree then welcomed the students, who are in Year
13, to the whole school assembly.
IB Coordinator Mr Beales introduced several speakers who
paid tribute to the IB2 students, including some brothers and
sisters in the US, Canada and India. The Year 13 students
are about to sit their final examinations for the International
Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, the world's largest and
most-respected course for 16-18 year olds.
FINAL
EXAMINATIONS
The final examinations
for IB and IGCSE have
now started. Please be
extra quiet if you are
near the Main Hall.

We continue to celebrate all the countries represented at GIS by flying a different nation’s flag each
week. Here are the countries that have recently been recognised at the front of the school. These are
organised by our Head Girl and Humanities’ Prefect Shilpi.

17

HIP HOP CREW HIT TOP 5 SPOT
Two GIS students have been impressing judges at a national hip hop contest. Da Seul in
IB1 and Natalie in Year 11 took part in the HipHop International Thailand 2017 event. Their
Thappaya Megacrew impressed judges at the M Theatre in Bangkok and landed a spot in
Thailand’s top 5 dance crews. To see some of their moves, check out their YouTube video.
Garden International School
Your choice. Their future. Our family.
Find us at:
Website: www.gardenrayong.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Garden-International-School-Rayong-Thailand/128699487157809
Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/gardenrayongthailand
Twitter:
www.twitter.com/gisrayong
Accredited by
Affiliated to
18