BKK Prep, Event, News, Secondary November 5, 2021

The day began like any other; we logged in, we clicked our Zoom links and off we went.

But this time, the day looked a little different. It didn’t quite feel like we were online.

As all the tutors shared their stories and tribulations during period 1, of ways in which we deal with all the challenges in our life, we realised we had something a bit different to offer the class today. There wasn’t any Maths or Science or English. There were our own experiences and shared circumstances; a chance for the students to see that – although highly debatable to some of their minds – we are human and have all handed in work late, have forgotten things, have been ‘told off’. All of which led to us sharing our ways of dealing with hard times in our lives. It might not be the best thing to teach young learners about; life being hard. But at least we get the chance to teach them that there are endless ways to deal with it.

Which brings us to period 1 aka The Mr Jackson and Mr Fiddler show! They were wearing sunglasses, ironically, as it was us who needed some blue lens therapy after seeing their ‘outfits’. This was truly a spectacle! A live Zoom session that illuminated the Bangkok Prep community.

They got us on our feet and offered a wonderful differentiated class of workouts and warming up.

Another fantastic workout session was hosted by Mr Clark who managed to get a huge gathering of students and staff to his live Zoom workout session and he took us through a workout which really got everyone’s heart rates up and ready for the day.

Ms Burke and Mr Dally offered their expertise for an asynchronous warm-up and workout session which gave our community a more permanent reference point for workouts in the future – although I won’t be forgetting Mr Jackson’s and Mr Fiddler’s leotards for many a year!

Overall, it was just brilliant to see all the students and staff joining in together.

Period 3 brought us an array of mindful activities. Things we can be grateful for in Mr McIntosh’s live session, things we can become tolerant of and ways to self-improve in Mr Banbury’s live session, ways to break your back and say hi to your foot in Ms Cantrill’s yoga session… Of all the sessions held, the teachers offered so many ways to help us deal with stress, what it is, and the knowledge and methods to know how to get through those times that seem to be so overwhelming. Thank you to Ms. Rice, Kru Tum, Kru Tam, Ms Ireland and all the staff who offered their time and expertise on this essential element of Health & Wellbeing day.

Before lunch, in period 4 we had a plethora of cooking sessions available. The only burden in this session was trying to choose which one you wanted to attend! It was such a stress having to make a decision! This was a great way to whet our appetite for the upcoming Bangkok Prep Masterchef finals in term 2.

It is impossible to choose a ‘Head Chef’ out of all these culinary connoisseurs so please find their delicious menus available on the cooking page here and the effort these staff members put in to prepare, host and deliver a session of such high quality has to be appreciated. Thank you to Mr Reeves, Ms Wang, Mr Gosling, Ms Dand, Khun Diew, Mrs. Richard-Gourves, Mr Hasshim, Ms Flower, Mrs Dixon, Ms Croome and Mr Beynon.

Some questions came up during the period 3 session of mindfulness of other methods that could be helpful in dealing with stress.

That brings us to period 5: A Time to Relax.

This session was a little different, again. The teachers designed programmes of relaxation based on their own experiences; methods they use to overcome certain challenges.

As a student and staff member, you could attend a chess session, brought to us by Mr Richard-Gourves and learn the benefits and subliminal strategies chess offers us to categorise and compartmentalise – what appear to be – uncrackable equations.

The same could be said of all the opportunities offered in P5: Puzzles, delivered by Mr Tarr, Origami, by Mr Conway, Helping at home, by Mr Hyman – which initially seemed like it may cause stress but don’t knock sweeping the floor until you’ve tried it!

All of these asynchronous sessions will still be available to all staff and students after the event, so please do check them out. As well as sessions of Riddles, Art in Meditation, Topic Meditation and Music Doodling brought to you by Ms. Raper, Ms. Nacey and Mr. Bannister, Kru Nu, and Ms. Lucena, Mr. Green and Kru Wit respectively.

The final session of the day was a not-so-well-kept secret. It was a session developed and honed at Harvard University. They explored a notion that we, human beings, can fall in love with a stranger, based on 36 questions. The results from this first experiment were profound. Look them up online if you’re interested.

This session was designed for all members of our community to get to know each other a little better.

Lockdown has been hard; restaurants being closed, being unable to see family members, not being able to actually meet new and current members of our community.

This was a chance to simply have that interaction and conversation with someone new or someone you hadn’t spoken to for a while.

I hope you all had a fantastic Health & Wellbeing day and, I hope things don’t ever get too much for you, but if sometimes you feel a little like you’re carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders, refer back to this page and take that ten minutes out of your day to breathe, relax and simply, look after yourself.