KID’S CORNER
HEADLINES [click on headline to view story]:

A demure man in the Happy Valley

Jesters Pub Night: “It’s The Final Countdown!”

Jesters Grand Auction Lots

What a water week

ESBEC sponsors new table and chair set for Baan Khao Hin School

A demure man in the Happy Valley

George Benedikt

St Andrews International School is set in a luscious, verdant, rural idyll adjacent to Rayong Green Valley Golf Course, within reasonably easy driving distance of Pattaya, Jomtien, and Rayong. Visually, the site is absolutely captivating. An extension to the secondary building was being finished off – completed in a remarkably short space of time. The office staff are genuinely friendly. Head of School David Lowder is a handsome, well groomed 50ish man with an easy, gentle manner, seemingly unruffled by the start of another school year. I began by asking him what in his view, constituted an “international school?”

David Lowder, Head of St Andrews, Rayong. “Children are made to feel important – because they are.”

DL: Good question. There are several schools that can have the actual name, “international school” but you might find that they are not. An international school to me is a school that will embrace in its student body and faculty a wide selection of nationalities and will have a curriculum that will incorporate not only a national system but will certainly plan to accommodate curriculum programs that reflect the region and the locality where it’s based. An international faculty is important so that you do feel that you’ve got a good selection of professional views and teaching approaches.

GB: As one of five St Andrews International Schools in Thailand, what is particular about the St Andrews group?

DL: We call ourselves a “British Style International School” because we are still committed to using the English National Curriculum as a framework for our curriculum program, but we are developing and we are certainly open-minded – I think people equate a “British Style” education with something that has certain standards.

GB: A lot of parents look to accreditation as a rubber stamp of a school’s pedigree. What are your views on this?

DL: I agree. Quality assurance is very important for parents to feel confident that their children are going to receive a good education. We’re very conscious of having both internal and external accreditation. We’re a member of ISAT (International Schools Association of Thailand), we are preparing for external accreditation through a company called ‘World Education Services’ (WES) and the Cambridge Examination Board has authorised us to offer IGCSE courses. All of this is an assurance that we are serious about what we are involved in and that we want to maintain a high quality professional level of education.

GB: Your philosophy is not really what one might expect to find in England, is it? Perhaps more importantly and something our readers would like an answer to, is “How do you teach your philosophy?”

DL: Well, our philosophy has certainly evolved over the last eight years. The St Andrews group wants to be “British Style International Schools” that are not selective in the sense of excluding children who may be at different levels of academic ability. We want to work on a small school basis so that we keep a family, community type atmosphere so that we are dealing with personalities – with people. People know each other here. We want to ensure that all the children realize that we live in a global community. Even though we call ourselves “British Style” we take many international and different cultural celebrations to enrich the program.

GB: How long have you been Principal and what is your background?

DL: This is my third year as Principal of this school. Prior to this I was vice principal of a large primary school in Northern Ireland and Principal and acting Head of the British International School of Stockholm. I have nine to ten years of senior administrative experience. I have a Masters Degree from Bath University in Educational Administration and I have completed the National Professional Qualification for Headteachers (NPQH) which is now mandatory in England - if you want to be a Headteacher you must have this qualification or be registered on the course. Once again, I think this is a quality assurance process and I am sure will be currency internationally as well.

GB: What do you think are the most important characteristics of leadership?

DL: I certainly think you need to be in touch with the people you’re working with, to have a clear idea of where you’re aiming the organisation to go and to ensure that you’re prepared to try different approaches that appeal - certainly in an international setting - to different culture groups so you don’t make people feel that you’re exclusive to one group. I think as a leader, you’ve got to be open-minded and very flexible.

GB: Would you regard yourself as visible and accessible?

DL: I would and I do. I like to meet all new parents and children. I never make myself unavailable to parents, even at short notice. When parents walk in without an appointment, I’ll meet them and I’m always prepared to listen to points of view and any sort of constructive criticism that might make the school better or more efficient or add to the quality of the school.

GB: Why should parents and students choose St Andrews ahead of other International schools?

DL: Well, in this area we believe that we are competing against four other international schools. I think the “British Style” curriculum is embedded here, we are a very friendly small school and I think parents who come here will feel that they’re getting very individual attention, from the moment they arrive to the time that they leave and they’re not one of five or six hundred who are ‘lost’ in the system. Their children are made to feel very important - because they are. Personally, I feel that I am lucky to be able to meet the children on a daily basis and be able to call them by name - I don’t think this occurs in a larger school. I think children feel very secure and safe here.

We could have carried on talking for hours but dusk was falling and there was an interview to transcribe. As for my avowed intent of finding holes in his school, I came away empty handed. Clearly, David Lowder knows his stuff.


Jesters Pub Night: “It’s The Final Countdown!”

Lewis Underwood

Our final event to raise money for the kids this year will be the Jesters Pub Night, this Saturday September 18 at Shenanigans. We will do so through the sale of Grand Raffle tickets for many wonderful prizes, and the auctioning of valuable sports memorabilia, various pieces of art and other interesting items.

It will be a celebratory evening featuring a theme of ‘70’s Sights And Sounds’ orchestrated by the two big emcee guys, Nigel and Neil, and punctuated with ‘Lots’ professionally auctioned off by the inimitable Eddy.

The all-action program will start at 7 pm. with 70’s era music and entertainment, and be interspersed with auctioneering sessions, back and forth, until our Grand Raffle drawing at 11 p.m. Following that, we have professional impersonators to entertain; followed by Pop’s Pattaya All-Stars to keep everyone rocking till the pub closes.

So, get out your 70s gear, put on a 70s look and come on down to Shenanigans for an evening of fun, and be part of the ‘Care for Kids’ effort at this last event in the 2004 Jesters Charity Drive.


Jesters Grand Auction Lots

* New Zealand All –Blacks shirt signed by team (Darren Snow)

* Euro 2004 shirt signed by David Beckham (Mike Axford)

* Photo from movie, “Escape to Victory” signed by Michael Caine, Mike Summerbee
and Pele (Mike Axford)

* Man U shirt signed by Sir Bobby Charlton (Ray Matti)

* Football signed by Sir Bobby Charlton (Ray Matti)

* Cricket shirt signed by 12 international players (Mike Axford)

* Burmese antique set of carved wooden monks (Deva)

* Thai antique 90-year old wooden wheel (Kalae)

* Teak bunk bed (Ursula’s Antiques) (note: silent auction)

* Martin Johnson book signed autobiography (Neil Smith)

* Oil painting reproduction of Paul Gauguin’s “Tahitian Women” (Art Beat Gallery)

* Aussie Pkg (includes tickets to Australian Open Tennis tournament)

* Americana Pkg (includes MLB All-Star Game memorabilia)

* Thai pkg (includes bejeweled elephant from ACD)

* Brit Pkg (includes warm beer)

* Golf Club: Taylor made, 3 wood, 19 degree “Rescue Club”, graphite, stiff shaft,
RH (Hog’s Breath Golf)

* Ben Shield’s original painting “Pattaya Nightlife” (self)

* Frentzen and Heidfeld signed Jesters polo shirts (x 2)

* Reading Abbey FC shirt from special match in memory of Chris Kays last year

* Pattie Little original painting (self)

* Fountain of Life Center’s children’s paintings, framed (x 2)

* Console from Concorde w/ official flight certificate (Peacock Place/ Mike Franklin)

* Framed painting “Night Rider” (Bill Freeman)

* Frentzen and Heidfeld signed photo

* Hand made quilt (Our Home)

* Giant Teddy Bear (Pattaya Trader)

* Large lacquer dish from Vietnam (Diane Connelly)


What a water week

Students and teachers with master boat builder Prasert Gerdchangwat (left).

Primary students and teachers from Rayong English Programme School rounded off their week of water projects with a trip to the beach at Ban Phala.

Having learnt about the water cycle, pollution and uses of water, they decided to clean a section of their local beach and managed to collect 10 sacks of rubbish in one hour.

The pupils were delighted to meet with local boat maker Prasert Gerdchangwat who showed them how traditional teak fishing boats, called Tanguay, are made. Prasert is a master boat-builder whose work is famous all over Asia.

K2 enjoy floating their own boats.

Primary students and teacher Nico also made a water rocket that can fire up to about 120 feet in the air!

Kindergarten students enjoyed making their own boats, which they floated at the beautiful beach pool at Eastern Star Golf Course.

Rayong English Programme School is located in peaceful countryside near Ban Chang, only 2 km from the beach. It is a modern bilingual school that currently accepts children from K1-P3. Please call 038 631167-8 if you would like to know more about this new school.


ESBEC sponsors new table and chair set for Baan Khao Hin School

The community fund of Eastern Seaboard Environment Complex (ESBEC) and Waste Management Siam Co., Ltd. (WMS) recently sponsored 23 sets of new tables and chairs for Baan Khao Hin School. Shown here: Community fund committee representatives Kanit Jearlim - Kamnan’s Bowin, Chookiet Thepareenant - mayor of Bowin, and Sutthida Fakkum - WMS’s communications manager hand over a new table and chair to Thep Thepjairak, deputy mayor of Chaopraya Surasak municipality, Suphap Intaraksa, member of Chonburi council, schoolmaster and community leaders as witnesses.