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Dulwich International College participates in Clean up the World campaign
“80% of the polluting waste that washes up on our
beaches, poisons our water and kills marine life comes from the land. Half
the world’s population live near the sea but keeping our sea and oceans
clean, our drinking water drinkable and our environment beautiful is a
responsibility we all share,” Ian Kieran AO Chairman Clean Up The World.
With this comment in mind, a number of Phuket’s most
popular beaches are now safer, cleaner places to visit, following the 5th
annual beach cleanup campaign organized by students from Dulwich
International College (DIC).
A
number of Phuket’s most popular beaches are now safer, cleaner places to
visit, following the 5th annual beach cleanup campaign organized by students
from Dulwich International College.
It’s amazing what you can find on the beach besides
sand. Umbrellas, chairs, tires, car parts, strip lights, fishing nets,
shoes, vinyl flooring, tarpaulins, glass, and string are just some of the
objects found during the cleanup event, which was part of the worldwide
Clean up the World Campaign.
This is a community-based environmental project aimed at
making the world a cleaner, healthier place to live in. This year it
involved around 40 million people in 120 countries. The DIC students
organized Phuket’s cleanup project as part of their Community Action
Service (CAS) programme. They focused their campaign on five of the
island’s main beaches, with the intention of raising awareness of the
state of Phuket’s beaches and their effect on the local environment. These
were Nai Harn, Mai Khao, Nai Yang, Kamala and Surin. The cleanup started at
10 a.m. and lasted around 2 hours.
The 300 students and staff from Dulwich were joined by
over 300 people from Phuket, including over 80 staff from the Marriott
Resort and Spa who helped with the cleanup at Mai Khao.
Mai Khao has over 10km of beach and it was great to see
local people, hotel staff and students from Dulwich making a difference
together. In total 180 people cleaned up there.
Another student who helped clean up on Nai Yang
commented, “The atmosphere on the beach was great. There were people young
and old, owners of beach restaurants to dive operators helping out.”
In total, they collected over 400 large black bin bags
full of rubbish at the five beaches targeted. These weighed in at a hefty
5000 kg and filled nearly six rubbish trucks. Michael from Aqua Divers Nai
Yang, one of the sponsors of the event, commented, “Everyone in Phuket
needs educating on how to dispose of their rubbish, and this cleanup helps
the local community take care of their own environment.”
Clearly the annual CAS campaign is beginning to get its
message across to people about not throwing litter. When the students first
visited beaches such as Patong, Kata and Nai Harn four years ago, there was
so much rubbish on the beach that it was difficult to know where to start,
but this year there was very little by comparison, even if it did fill 400
sacks. That is why the students decided to target beaches further north
where they had never done a cleanup before.
Next year the students hope to make the event even bigger
and get other schools to join in, so they can clean up more areas as Phuket
is so big and growing as a tourist destination.
Claire Lester, the CAS coordinator and a teacher at Dulwich, was
delighted the event had once again been a huge success. “On behalf of the
CAS students here at DIC, I would like to thank everyone who helped on the
day picking up rubbish, our sponsors (Marriott Resort and Spa, Aqua Divers,
Andaman Seafood, Divers, Surin Bay Inn, Le Meridien, Thai Kamala Village)
and the Oborjors who collected the rubbish from each beach. CAS students
will continue to clean up the beaches in Phuket and continue to make the
community aware of the hazards of not disposing of litter properly. Let’s
hope that we can work together as a community to keep Phuket clean.”
St. Andrews International School opens Bangna Campus
St. Andrews International School is pleased to announce the opening of
their new Bangna campus, Bangkok, which was completed in September 2004.
The previous building was established in 1996 as the
first St. Andrews International School. Presently, St. Andrews
International Schools have expanded to five campuses, four in Bangkok and
one on the Eastern Seaboard in Rayong.
The new Bangna Campus is located on Sukhumvit 107 (Soi
Baring), and has easy access from Sukhumvit Road, Srinakarin Road and
Bangna-Trad Road. The school is in a beautiful purpose-built facility for
200 students aged 2-11 years. The 13 rai development will later expand to
include a secondary school phase and take students right through to
graduation.
The school follows the U.K. National Curriculum of
teaching and all teachers are native English speaking expatriates,
recruited predominantly from the U.K. The school’s educational programme
is based on six areas of learning which are language and communication,
mathematics, knowledge and understanding of the world, creative and
physical development and personal social and emotional development.
Everything is delivered in a very child-centred way and children there grow
and mature in a safe, warm and challenging educational environment.
Jon Heath, the new head teacher in Bangna, was also
recruited from the UK where he gained extensive experience in running
excellent schools. He invites all parents and visitors to come and meet him
and his staff and see the school in action.
Khao Kheow Open Zoo hosts nature conservation project
Suchada Tupchai
The Khao Kheow Open Zoo, in cooperation with Esso
Refinery Sriracha, organized the “Tigers conserve wood, Fish conserve the
sea” youth camp project as a means of educating youngsters on ecology
preservation.
(Second
row, seated center, L to R) Apidet Singhasaenee, chief planner and PR
officer for Khao Kheow Open Zoo; Taweesak Bunruang, assistant director of
the Khao Kheow Open Zoo and Sampan Anantamek, PR director and administrator
for Esso Refinery Sriracha pose with students that took part in this
year’s “Tigers conserve wood, Fish conserve the sea” youth camp
project.
On October 11, Taweesak Bunruang, assistant director of
the zoo presided over the opening ceremonies, along with Apidet Singhasaenee,
the zoo’s chief planner and PR officer, who initiated the project. The
camp was attended by 40 youngsters on the zoo’s premises from October
11-14.
Explaining the youth camp concept, Apidet said, “The
‘Tiger conserve wood, Fish conserve the sea’ project has now been held
for 4 consecutive years. Youngsters are given the opportunity to study in a
natural environment. This helps instill a love of nature and urges them to
appreciate the natural world and develop ideas on how to conserve it. By
attending the camp the boys and girls also have the chance to work together
as a team. We teach youngsters to appreciate nature and the environment,
especially wild and aquatic animals. This activity was the first one held
for this year and had cooperation from the Khao Kheow Open Zoo, Seas Science
Institute, Burapha University, Amphibious Craft Battalion, Marine Division,
Marine General Headquarters, and Esso Refinery Sriracha. The target group is
secondary class students, grades 4-6.”
Activities included lectures concerning the zoo and
conservation, study of wild nocturnal animals, bird observation, a visit to
the Seas Science Institute, diving at the Sattahip navy base, and time for
recreation.
Organizers acknowledge that participation in projects such as this will
help prepare young people to become good role models in society and join in
the nation’s efforts to preserve the environment and its wild animal
population.
St. Andrews Student Council Bake Sale
Steffi Floeth (Year 11)
On Friday 1st October, St. Andrews Student Council
organized a Bake Sale to raise money for the Secondary school. This Council
consists of students from years 7 to 11: Steffi Floeth (president), Jackie
Yang and Angela Hovi (vice president), Leo Pahl (treasurer), Sukintorn Pat
Saensradi (secretary), Alistar MacFarlane (events planner), Susan Kuiper
(events planner), Prarena Penu Grover (events planner), Somchai Tabellion
(photographer), and Panaruj Ruj Ampaporn (photographer).
 There
was a mad dash for the best desserts on sale.
All of these members are dedicated and committed to the
council, attending every Monday after school for meetings to organize such
events. They present a regular secondary school newsletter called
‘Stand’ (if you can get your hands on one it is a worthwhile and
entertaining read) to keep any student or parents up to date with St.
Andrews Secondary School social life.
 The
bake sale took place during morning recess.
The money that was raised at the bake sale will be used
for various things such as excursions and activates for the secondary
department. There were wonderful donations of fairy cakes, chocolate
cookies, soft drinks and many other mouth watering items.
The actual sale took place during morning recess and all
the Student Council were on hand to help with the selling of items. There
was a mad dash for the best desserts on sale and eventually almost all was
sold.
The
entire Student Council was on hand to help with the selling of items.
It was a great success, earning quite a sum of money. Congratulations and
thank you to all that took part.
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