Si Ri Panya News Highlights
- Nicola Bunchuay
- Oct 3
- 6 min read
Welcome to our Friday October 3rd 2025 Newsletter (issue 23)
In school, Class Teachers continually challenge themselves to find ways to challenge their students—a bit of a catch-22! They must adapt their teaching to stretch those who are ready to go further, while also lifting up those who need extra support. In doing so, they become true experts in balancing growth for every child.
But what about beyond the classroom? How else can we nurture growth, build critical awareness, and develop skills in our children? While there’s no single answer, we do know that giving children more responsibility, setting clear behaviour expectations, and allowing them to make mistakes helps them rise to challenges and do their best.
Here are a few simple ways parents can help foster a self-challenging mindset at home:
Manners – For younger children, this might mean practising “please” and “thank you” or polite introductions. For older students, it can mean learning how to disagree without being disagreeable: listening carefully, asking thoughtful questions, and engaging in respectful debate with family, peers, and teachers. These skills help them develop in confidence and to value the opinion of others.
Responsibility at home – Primary students can be challenged to tidy their toys, help pack away after meals, or care for pets. Older students might take responsibility for managing their own homework schedule, doing household chores independently, or helping with family tasks such as cooking dinner once a week.
Trying something new – encourage your child—whatever their age—to take on something outside of their comfort zone. For younger ones, this could be learning to ride a bike or trying a new hobby. For older ones, it could mean giving a presentation in front of others, volunteering,
Or how about tackling a challenging project in school? With practice, they’ll soon become a dab hand (expert) at it.
Let’s work together, at home and at school, to challenge our children to do their very best.
Learning Spaces - Nouns & Spelling and How to be Good Friend (PSHE) - Year 4's Learning Gallery...
English: Sound mappng, spelling words and locating nouns.
PSHE: How to be a good friend: kindness, helpful, sharing, supportive
Award-winning Novel Grips Year 7 - Holes by Louis Sachar
Recently, our Year 7's delved into the popular teen classic Holes by Louis Sachar. Teacher Kat put her student's oracy skills (spoken English) to the test by having them talk about the book and its topics twists and turns.
The award-winning book weaves a well crafted narrative together between past and present, touching upon themes of injustice, racism and even violence.
Sacher's book has been praised for its ability to hook readers in by offering strong messages about friendship and justice, as well as opportunities for literary analysis.
Students researched the background and context of the story before starting to read the class novel. They presented to the class with a focus on posture, eye contact, pace and speaking with an expressive, clear voice.
Year 7 Presentations on the book Holes by Louis Sachar
Year 8 Learns the Path of Buddhism—Mindfulness, Teachings, and Tradition
Learning from the past, learning about ourselves...useful lessons from the Buddhism tradition.
Community Beach Clean Success
Yesterday, our students, parents and staff joined forces with Trash Hero Koh Phangan for a hugely successful community beach clean. We’re grateful for Trash Hero’s continued support — they organise these clean-ups every month and play such an important role in keeping our island beautiful.
👉 If you’d like to get involved, Trash Hero meets on the second Sunday of every month at a different beach location. You can find details of the next event on their Facebook page: Trash Hero Koh Phangan.
Modern Foreign Languages - Fun with Spanish!
As part of our Secondary programme, students are given the opportunity to learn either French or Spanish, with an introduction to both languages in Year 7 and the a choice of their preferred language into Years 8 and 9. Languages are a skill that allows us to connect with others, and for our students who travel so much a basic level of different languages is sure to come in handy one day.
This week the Year 7 Spanish class has been learning about colours, and having a lot of fun in the process. Languages are for communicating after all, so using them in communication games is a great way to practise vocabulary and pronunciation.
*******Look who got caught reading!*******
A Year 4 student got caught reading this week, half way up a climbing wall! If you get caught reading, please send your photos to headprimary@siripanya.com
Key Dates at a Glance
Looking Ahead: Key events and special days for the school year are published on our homepage.
Parent Discussion Circle - every Friday
See Newsletter Issue 21 for full details
Links to our end of term event songs to practice at home
See Newsletter Issue 21 for full details
Get Caught Reading competition
See Newsletter Issue 22 for full details
Term 1 Parent & Friends Meeting
See Newsletter Issue 23 for full details
📅Have Your Say, the Si Ri Panya Way ☕️
We warmly invite all parents to the Term 1 Parent & Friends Committee Meeting on Tuesday 14th October, 9:30–10:30am at Baan Manali Resort (map link: Baan Manali Resort).
This is your chance to share ideas, raise concerns, and stay connected through your Parent & Friends Committee—a vital link between families, teachers, school management, and the Executive Board.
Your current parent representatives are:
Mr. Doron Lariv (Y4 & Y6)
Ms. Idit Reizner (Y3, Y7 & Y9)
Ms. Phavika Palsingh (Rupa) (Y8)
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!
Next Week's Parent Discussion Circle Topic
Friday 10th October: What helps children develop resilience, manage stress, and build confidence?
📅 When: Every Friday, 9:00am – 10:00am
📍 Where: Boardroom, upstairs at the main office
👩🏫 Hosted by: Pastoral Lead - Faye Reading
✨ Come as you are—whether to share your thoughts, ask questions, or simply listen in. Every parent is welcome.
Pre-Loved Uniforms Available
At the end of Term 3, our Parent and Friend Association kindly collected, washed, and folded pre-loved uniforms. These have now been sorted into labelled boxes and are stored neatly under the bed in the First Aid Room.
All of the uniforms are completely free. If your child has outgrown theirs, or if you would like to make use of a nearly new set, you are warmly invited to visit our new office and turn left into the First Aid Room to see what is available.
By sharing and reusing uniforms, we are supporting families in our community and helping the environment.
Leaps & Beats Holiday Camp is back
We’re excited to announce that our popular holiday camp returns this October half-term (20–24 October 2025).
Children aged 5–11 can enjoy fun-filled days from 9 AM – 3 PM at Si Ri Panya International School, with activities ranging from sports, cooking and arts & crafts to drama, music, water games and special trips.
Spaces are limited, so early booking is advised.
📍 Location: Si Ri Panya International School
📅 Dates: Mon 20 – Fri 24 October 2025
⏰ Time: 9 AM – 3 PM
👧 Ages: 5–11
👉 Register Here! or contact us at leapsandbeats@siripanya.com. Watch highlights from previous camps HERE.
We can’t wait to welcome your child for another unforgettable holiday adventure!
Ongoing Weekly Reminders
Library Reminder: Please check at home for any lost books and return them to the Primary or Secondary library so everyone can enjoy them!
Bottle Cap Collection: We're collecting bottle caps for our Precious Plastic Project! Please bring your bottle caps to the collection point located inside the Primary school gate on the left. Secondary students can bring theirs to the Design and Technology Lab. Find out more about this exciting long-term project here: Precious Plastic Phangan Facebook.
Drop Off and Pick Up: Drop-off is at 8:30 am (not earlier). Pick-up times are 2:50 pm for Primary (or 4:00 pm if attending an ASA) and 4:00 pm for Secondary. Please be punctual, as some Primary children have been waiting up to 30 minutes after 2:50 pm, which can be distressing for them.
No Idling Zone: Help make the area outside our school a NO IDLING ZONE which means switching car engines off while you wait for your child. We appreciate your action for the environment and health of all.
Absence and Illness: Notify your child's class teacher (Primary) or form teacher (Secondary) directly to inform them of absence and sickness.
Head Lice Check: Continue to check your child's hair for head lice regularly and treat accordingly. Boys and girls with long hair need to tie it up.
Uniform Orders: Ensure your child wears the correct uniform each day. Uniform orders can be placed online: 🔗 Secondary Order Form 🔗 Primary Order Form
Healthy snacks: Healthy snacks only. No sweets, crisps/chips or cakes at break times. Birthdays are the exception and dealt with per class policy.
