Bangkok Prep reopening in Term 3 & Supplementary Programme June 2021

Friday 28th June 2021

Dear Parents and Students

RE: Bangkok Prep reopening in Term 3 & Supplementary Programme June 2021

I hope you agree that the students’ resilience and fortitude during the enhanced online learning sessions has been very impressive. These online learning sessions have been (and will continue to be) implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic and we will continue to work hard with our students to ensure their efforts are meaningful and worthwhile. Also, I would like to thank the parent community for their unwavering support for our school during the pandemic.

At the present time, the Ministry of Education, CCSA and the BMA have directed that all schools in Bangkok remain closed due to the ongoing issues with the spread of COVID – 19. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and at the moment the most likely day that we will be allowed to reopen is Monday 14th June. Although, we all agree that the children learn more effectively when they are actually in school, we need to prioritise the health and safety of everyone in our community.

The Term 3 dates for Bangkok Prep will remain unchanged and we will continue to follow this year’s school calendar BKKP School Calendar . Changing the term dates is not possible due to UK curriculum and examination requirements, employment and contractual obligations and School licencing obligations. We will continue to communicate with specific year groups about applicable key dates in Term 3. We also remain hopeful that we will be able to welcome students back during Term 3 at some point. All teachers, staff members and, I should imagine, the children are desperate to be back in school with their friends.

Whether on campus or online, Bangkok Prep continues to offer a host of exciting and meaningful learning experiences. Please below some of the activities our students are taking part in:

Exciting events in Primary School!

In Primary, we are looking forward to the Year Six Graduation; Key Stage Prize Givings; Parent Workshops (about Transition); Primary Transition Day on Tuesday 8th June (Online); Weekly Year Group Assemblies (every Friday) etc. There will also be an Online Safety Workshop for parents shared with you all by the end of the term. Please do not forget, Parents can read all about our exciting events in the Primary Weekly Blogs where you can also see what we have been up to!

Click here to see the Weekly Blogs on Firefly

If you have any feedback for us about our Online Learning, please click on the Online Learning Feedback form within this week’s Weekly Blogs.

Exciting events in Secondary!

In our Secondary school the students in Year 10, 11, 12 and 13 should be safely celebrating today as they successfully completed over 2500 assessments for their IGCSE and A Level qualifications! They have been remarkable and we are already looking forward to results day in August. In term 3, we are adding to our university and sixth form ready supplementary sessions for Year 13 and Year 11 respectively. Year 12 will be back to lessons soon as we make a head start on their final year of academic studies. Head Boy and Head Girl campaigns will begin next week too.

Our Class of 2021 Graduation is on the 21st June and we will continue to try new ideas like our recent ‘Tacky Tuesday’ House dress up competition. Planning for our end of school year events is also underway and we really look forward to enjoying these together. These include Secondary Prize Giving ceremonies; The Sports Awards! Parent Workshops, online coffee mornings, assemblies and tutor time events for all students. We will also offer a second Online Safety Workshop for parents in which some of our students will be able to talk to you about digital citizenship and staying safe online. Our HOUSE captains continue to impress with competitions to participate in whether design, chess or the current HOUSE steps challenge; there is lots to do and more to come! You can see the weekly student shout outs here and we highly recommend following our social media

pages to see more of what our students and staff are doing beyond their lessons. If you do not follow them already, please consider adding our senior students’ page to your Instagram account.

Exciting events in Sports and PE

There are many opportunities to remain active and healthy every day with live Workout of the Day, specialist Sport sessions and our current House steps challenge!

An incredible 150 students attended the live Workout of the Day this week, in just 4 days, earning House Points and Dojos for their House.

Last week we had our phenomenal Primary PE Quadrathlon, which you can now find the results of in the Primary Blog. Here is the compilation video from the Quadrathlon. Can you spot your child participating?

We also bring you news of our move to the British International Schools Association (BISA), following the dissolution of BISAC at the end of this academic year. Full details from Mr McFarlane can be found here.

Stay up to date with all of the fantastic opportunities and news on our Sport social media: Instagram and Twitter, which currently includes A Diary with Coach Bo, who is currently at the Olympic Basketball Qualifiers.

Supplementary Activities

We are very pleased and excited to announce that, once we can return to school safely, our students will be offered a comprehensive programme of supplementary activities during the remainder of Term 3 (Subject to the State of Emergency in Bangkok). These supplementary learning sessions will be made available only to our Bangkok Prep students and will take place on our school campuses. This programme will be available free of charge for our existing school community members (EYFS to Year 13).

The addition of the Bangkok Prep Supplementary Programme 2021, is in response to the welcome and constructive feedback we have received from the parents and students who have completed the official Bangkok Prep Voice questionnaires. Thank you for helping us to offer even more to the community. We will continue to seek your feedback; please do take the time to complete the official school

questionnaires so that your voice can help ensure the very best in provision during this extended closure and beyond.

We are currently working with our fantastic Teachers, Sports Coaches, Teaching Assistants, Learning Mentors and Tutors to put together this high quality supplementary programme, fun, meaningful and engaging sessions for our children.

More details about the ‘sign up’ for these supplementary programmes (via CHQ) will be shared with the Bangkok Prep community once we are able to welcome students back to campus”? Please continue to stay safe, healthy and “keep up your guard’.

A final reminder, Thursday 3rd June is a Public Holiday.

Have an amazing weekend and very best wishes to you all.

Mr Duncan J Stonehouse

Head of School