Si Ri Panya News | 2026–27 Issue 7
9 October 2026
Growing Minds, Finding Our Voice and Building Our Community
As we approach the halfway point of Term 1, it is a good opportunity to reflect on what education is really about. Of course, academic achievement matters enormously, but education is also about developing curious minds, finding the confidence to express ideas, learning to listen to others and discovering what it means to be part of a community.
Across the school, we see these qualities developing in different ways. In Year 9, pupils have been studying George Orwell's Animal Farm, exploring its deeper themes of power, leadership and responsibility, and writing thoughtful letters of rebuke to Napoleon, one of the novel's central characters. Meanwhile, Year 4 demonstrated their own growing confidence and creativity by leading an assembly and sharing their beautifully written mythological stories.
These are very different learning experiences, but both remind us that education is about much more than remembering information. It is about learning to think, question, communicate and understand the world around us.
This same philosophy has been at the heart of our discussions about developing a whole-school House System.
Our vision is to bring Primary and Secondary pupils together through four houses, creating opportunities for children of different ages to collaborate, compete, support one another and develop friendships beyond their own classes. Whether through sports competitions, charity fundraising, creative projects or student leadership, we want our houses to strengthen the connections that make a school feel like a community.
But rather than simply deciding what the houses should look like, we wanted our pupils to be part of that decision.
We began by discussing our vision with school leaders and staff, gathering ideas about how the system could work and what it should represent. Our school founder, Nicola Bunchuay, then visited both Primary and Secondary assemblies to share these ideas with pupils, invite their opinions and encourage them to consider which themes best reflect our school. Classes have since discussed their preferences, with feedback gathered through voting and our Student Council representatives.
One of the most interesting outcomes so far has been the strong preference for the four Elements – Earth, Water, Fire and Air/Wind. When pupils explained their choices, many spoke about nature, our beautiful island of Koh Phangan and the connection they feel to the environment around them. It was lovely to hear how thoughtfully they connected their ideas to the identity of our school.
We are still gathering feedback, and no final decision has been made. We hope to share more next week as we consider the next steps.
Perhaps the most valuable part of this process is not simply the decision we eventually reach, but the conversations taking place along the way. Our pupils are learning that their opinions matter, that listening to different perspectives is important and that being part of a community also means helping to shape its future.
After all, a strong school community is not simply built for its children, but built with them.
🌼 Year 1 Admissions – September 2027
Year 1 admissions for September 2027 are beginning.
Current Si Ri Panya families:
If you have a younger child who will be five years old by 31 August 2027, you can now register for our November sibling-priority group pre-assessments.
Sibling priority applies to the November round only.
New families: We are also now welcoming expressions of interest from families considering Year 1 for September 2027. Families can book a tour of Primary now, with group pre-assessments taking place in January 2027.
📧 To register your interest or arrange a tour, contact admissions@siripanya.com.
heir water track together.
Reading Buddies: Year 2 & Year 5
Friday afternoons bring Year 2 and Year 5 together for Reading Buddies, where our older pupils patiently support their younger partners as they share and enjoy books.
But Reading Buddies is about much more than reading. It is an opportunity to build friendships, develop patience and responsibility, and strengthen the sense of belonging that makes our school community special.
A lovely example of our school value of being Community-Minded in action!
Secondary Study Skills - Learning by Teaching
Years 7 to 9 have all been looking at how we learn with Teacher Jeanne this half-term, exploring different ways of learning and active learning techniques that can help them build understanding and develop skills.
This week, Years 8 and 9 worked together to practise a key study technique – strengthening our learning by teaching. Having to teach something forces us to think through what we know or can do in order to explain it to someone else, and is a key way to embed our knowledge and skills.
For this exercise, students chose something they felt confident about – things like a language, a hobby or a skill – and taught it to a partner from the other class. Everybody learnt something new, and they all had a chance to understand how important it is to present and explain things in different ways so that anyone can understand.
Possibly developing some empathy for their teachers along the way!
Bugsy Malone! - Dates For Your Diary
This week, we provisionally allocated parts to the students for the school's upcoming show, Bugsy Malone! Now its all hands on deck as both our secondary and primary students come together to put on their biggest show yet!
We are very excited to announce the dates of the show. The first performance will be made to primary on the 28th of April for the dress rehearsal, and then on the 29th and 30th for our wonderful parents (and possibly a Saturday show too - watch this space!).
We are really going for it this year, in the hopes of building on the skills the team developed over the last two years, so our student team will need as much support as we can give them as a school community. If you would like to help out in some way, please let T. Rupert know - the more, the merrier!
We look forward to welcoming you all soon!
Precious Plastic Enrichment
Our Precious Plastic Enrichment sessions are developing every week, with students taking on more responsibility and becoming increasingly confident using the shredding machines, heat press, hammer and punch to create our latest cookie-cutter keyring designs!
Through this process, students are learning how discarded plastic can be transformed into useful new products, developing practical skills while exploring the importance of recycling and sustainability.
📣 Join Our School Board
We are looking for a new parent representative to join the Si Ri Panya Executive Board.
We particularly welcome interest from parents with children in Years 1–3, to help ensure our Board represents families across all age groups and backgrounds.
If you would like to get involved in helping shape the future of our school, please email nicola.b@siripanya.com to express your interest.
Designing Cat Fashion in Year 3 Art!
Year 3 have been having a wonderful time in Art with Teacher Simon, who enjoys finding quirky ideas that encourage students to be creative, experiment and have fun while making art.
For this lesson, Teacher Simon gave students an unusual design brief: using pictures of cat faces as their starting point, they had to imagine and draw the cats' bodies, complete with their own clothing and accessories.
The results are highly entertaining, full of personality and a wonderful example of the originality and imagination of this age group!
📅Have Your Say, the Si Ri Panya Way ☕️
We warmly invite all parents to the Term 3 Parent & Friends Committee Meeting on Tuesday 13th Ocotber 2026, 9:30–10:30am at Baan Manali Resort (map link: Baan Manali Resort).
This is an opportunity to share ideas, raise questions, and stay connected through your Parent & Friends Committee — a key link between families, staff, and the Executive Board.
Your current parent representatives are:
Mr. Doron Yariv (Y5 & Y7)
Ms. Phavika Palsingh (Rupa) (Y9)
Mr. Brian Jay (Parent of former pupil)
Thank you to all our dedicated parent reps for their continued support. We hope to see many of you there—your voice matters!
Leaps & Beats October Holiday Camp⭐
Leaps & Beats Kids Camp returns this half-term for five days of active, creative and outdoor activities for children aged 5–11.
📅 19–23 October
🤸 Daily or weekly bookings available
Children can enjoy a varied programme including multi-sports, cooking, arts and crafts, outdoor adventures, STEM activities and more.
Spaces are limited.👉 Register here
For further information, contact kimberley.f@siripanya.com.
Scholastic Book Club
Our new Scholastic Book Club is now open.
Families can browse the latest books and place orders directly online here:
For every £1 spent, Si Ri Panya earns 20p in Scholastic Rewards, which we can use towards new books for the school.
Order deadline: 15 October 2026.
Bottle Cap Challenge!
We are excited to launch a special Bottle Cap Challenge as part of our school’s Precious Plastic programme! Over the next two weeks, we are challenging students to collect as many plastic bottle caps as possible and bring them into their class.
Every bottle cap counts, and students can bring caps from home, friends, family and the wider community. The caps will be collected and weighed, with the class that collects the greatest weight of plastic winning a special prize before we break up for half term!
The competition will run until October 15th, so there is plenty of time to start collecting. So, start saving those bottle caps, spread the word and let’s see which class can make the biggest contribution to our Precious Plastic programme!
🎃 Halloween Dress-Up Day – Friday, 30th October
When we return from half-term, pupils are invited to celebrate Halloween with a day of imaginative costumes, creative activities and a little spooky fun!
Costumes don't need to be scary! Pupils can dress as their favourite book or film character, superhero, animal, wizard, fairy, pirate or anything else that sparks their imagination. 🧙♀️🦸♂️
A few costume guidelines to keep the day enjoyable for everyone:
No excessive blood, gore or frightening effects.
No fake weapons of any kind.
No violent or horror-themed costumes.
No inflatable costumes, for safety on our stairs.
We'll also enjoy a light-hearted assembly, with small prizes for the most creative costumes in each class.
We look forward to seeing everyone's creativity and celebrating a colourful, fun-filled day together! 🎃✨
♟️✨ Reminder: Chess and Jewellery Clubs
A quick reminder about our two popular after-school clubs!
Junior Chess Club (Years 1–4) started this Monday with Teacher Simon, giving younger pupils the opportunity to learn and develop their chess skills.
Jewellery Club (Years 2–6) returns with Little Fon on Thursday 29 October, after half-term.
Interested in joining? Full details and sign-up information are available on our After-School Activities page.
Key Dates at a Glance
Parent & Friends Committee Meeting 13-Oct
Bottle Cap Challenge Deadlien 15-Oct
Halloween Costume Celebration 30-Oct
Bugsy Malone - Secondary Drama Performance 29 & 30 April
View all important school dates and events for 2026–27 on our homepage.
🌟 Weekly Reminders
🚗 Drop-off & Pick-up
Drop-off: from 8:30 a.m.
Primary pick-up: 2:50 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. for ASA
Secondary pick-up: 4:00 p.m.
Please be punctual.
🤒 Absence
Please inform your child’s class teacher (Primary) or form tutor (Secondary) if they are absent or unwell.
👕 Uniform
Please ensure your child wears the correct uniform each day.Primary Order Form | Secondary Order Form
🍎 Healthy Routines
Please send healthy snacks only, check regularly for head lice, and keep long hair tied back.
📖 Library Books
Please return any school library books to the Primary or Secondary library.
🎂 Birthdays
Primary birthdays (Years 1–6) are celebrated on Fridays at 2:00 p.m. during Enrichment Time. Secondary birthdays (Years 7–11) are celebrated during tutor time.
♻️ Bottle Caps
We continue to collect bottle caps for our Precious Plastic Project. Collection point: outside the Primary gate.Find out more about the Precious Plastic Project
🌬️ No Idling
Please switch off engines while waiting outside school.
📘 Family Handbook
For full school guidance, routines and expectations, please refer to our Primary and Secondary Family Handbooks.
Si Ri Panya News — Previous Issues
Explore earlier issues of Si Ri Panya News via our school blog archive.
