Si Ri Panya News Highlights (issue 35)
- Nicola Bunchuay
- 3 days ago
- 9 min read
Jan 23, 2026 - Learning Beyond the Classroom
This week marked the start of our two-week cycle of 1:1 Parent–Teacher meetings across both Primary and Secondary. These conversations are a valuable chance to connect with your child’s teacher, hear feedback on progress and wellbeing, and look through the range of work your child has produced so far this year.
If I “turn the microphone on” for a moment, this is what we are noticing across school: when we bring together what families share in parent meetings and what teachers discuss in our Primary and Secondary Headteacher meetings, we get a fuller picture of each child. It is not just attainment — it is confidence, friendships, resilience, effort, and those small turning points that show real growth.
Thank you for making the time to meet with us. When home and school are aligned, children feel supported from both sides — and that is when they are most likely to thrive.
Talent Show – Audition Sign-Up Now Open (Years 3–9)
Auditions are now open for our SRP Talent Show 2026 for students in Years 3–9. This is a wonderful opportunity to share talents with our school community—music, dance, singing, comedy, magic, gymnastics, and more.
Talent Show Audition Sign-Up Form: Sign up here
Important deadline: Sign-up closes on 4 February 2026 (no late entries).
Key dates
Auditions: Wednesday 25 February 2026
Talent Show: Wednesday 25 March 2026
Performance guidelines (please read carefully)
Maximum act length: 2 minutes (strict).
Music exception: Up to 3 minutes is permitted only for instrumental/classical pieces where the set piece (as written in the score) cannot reasonably be presented within 2 minutes. (This does not apply to pop songs or other acts.)
Group acts are welcome — include the names of all participants when registering.
Audience: The whole school will watch the Talent Show, and parents/carers of performers will be invited to attend.
SRP Music Academy – Optional Instrumental & Vocal Tuition (Starting 1 February) 🎶
We are pleased to introduce SRP Music Academy, offering optional on-campus music tuition for students who would like to build confidence, develop technique and enjoy steady progress in music.
Lessons are delivered by Rupert, our school Music Teacher, so students will be learning with someone they already know and feel comfortable with.
Join SRP Music Academy ✅
We have up to 12 student places per week. To enquire or register interest, please join the SRP Music Academy WhatsApp Community: https://chat.whatsapp.com/FCz2PTdKaZS1rSL4CtVvLq
Inside the Community, join the relevant group (Piano 🎹 / Drums 🥁 / Vocal 🎤) and post your child’s details. Rupert will reply directly with available days and times. Places are secured once payment is received (10-lesson block).
Instruments available: Piano | Drums | Singing
Lesson times (during the school day)
Tuesday–Friday, 08:30–10:00
30-minute lessons (scheduled within this window)
Lesson formats and pricing (per 30 minutes)
1:1 lesson: THB 500
Paired lesson: THB 300 per child
Not ready for 1:1 yet?
Students are very welcome to join our after-school music programme with Rupert, including School Band and School Choir: https://www.siripanya.com/primary-after-school-activities
After-school music is group-based (Band and Choir). SRP Music Academy offers focused 1:1 or paired tuition for students who would like more personalised progress.
From Garden to Cup: Students Harvest Herbs for Our Dried Tea Blends
This week, our students took another step forward in our school garden project by harvesting a range of plants to use in our dried herbal teas. Working carefully and collaboratively, they gathered fresh leaves and flowers before hanging them up to dry — learning first-hand how patience and good practice turn a harvest into something that can be stored and enjoyed later.
We were also pleased to see that our previously dried lemongrass is now ready to be stored, marking a lovely milestone in the process from planting to preparation. Everyone got to taste the tea that they have grown and prepared this week - and it was a hit!
Alongside the practical work, students explored the science and judgement behind when to harvest. They learnt that timing matters: for example, basil can be harvested when it begins to flower, and lemongrass is best harvested once the stems reach a suitable size. These small decisions are an important part of growing well — observing closely, responding to the plant, and choosing the right moment.
A highlight for many was tasting butterfly pea flower and discovering that the stem is surprisingly sweet — a simple, memorable learning moment that sparked great discussion about plant parts, flavours, and how we can use what we grow.
We’re proud of the students’ care and attention throughout the session, and we look forward to sharing more as the teas continue to develop.
Year 6 Inner Dance Workshop at The Yoga House
Last week, our Year 6 pupils took part in a calm and thoughtful Inner Dance workshop, kindly hosted by The Yoga House in their welcoming space.
The session focused on wellbeing — supporting relaxation, self-awareness, and emotional regulation through stillness, gentle sound, and guided reflection. Pupils experienced the workshop in two roles: half the group began as participants while the other half acted as facilitators, before swapping over so everyone had the opportunity to try both sides of the process. This approach helped pupils build empathy, confidence, and a deeper understanding of what it means to support others.
The feedback afterwards was overwhelmingly positive, with many pupils saying they would happily do it again. We are grateful to The Yoga House for providing such a calm environment for this enriching experience.
This visit formed part of our Primary Curriculum Day RE excursions, giving pupils a first-hand opportunity to explore traditions linked to spiritual life and wellbeing-oriented practices. Rather than focusing solely on religions and doctrine, the aim was to deepen pupils’ understanding of inner experience and reflection.
Inner Dance has similarities to Yoga Nidra, encouraging attention to turn inwards and supporting self-awareness and emotional balance. It was a valuable and enriching experience for the group, and a meaningful extension of our learning beyond the classroom.
Muay Thai for Primary and Secondary Students
This week saw our first session of Muay Thai offered as an After-School Activity for Upper Primary and an addition to our Enrichment Programme for Secondary. See our students in action, guided by the wonderful trainers at the Martial Arts Academy in Hin Kong.
3D Cartoon Drawing - Year 7
The Year 7s have been learning to us four different techniques to create their own 3D cartoon drawings - and judging by the look of concentration on their faces, they are loving it!
Ice Melting Experiment - Year 4
This week our Year 4 Scientists have been busy at work trying to figure out some very cool things about states of matter. In this case, they wanted to find out about liquids and solids, what might affect them, how it might and why?
"Our Year 4 class carried out an ice melting experiment to find out how temperature affects how fast ice melts. We placed ice into beakers, added water in one of them and left the other without water. Then we used thermometers to measure the temperature before and after the experiment began. We carefully observed the changes and recorded our results as the experiment continued. The class worked together to compare temperatures and volume of melted ice. From this experiment, we learned that water makes ice melt faster than without water,"
-- Teacher Charles.
To do this experiment, the class needed the following tools:
Thermometer
Glass beaker
Stop watch
Materials used
Ice
Water
You can read all about our White Rose Science approach to learning and states of matter HERE. Students have learned how this topic is relevant to our daily life, because everything around us is made up of different states of matter, whether its solids, gases or liquids we are talking about. While it might seem like an easy experiment, the depth of learning is about understanding bigger concepts that directly relate to our world and how we live in it.
The Importance of Socialising - Scenes Captured of Primary Breaktime
This week, a lot of interesting learning has been taking place across school. In assembly, students from Year 1 to Year 6 shared things that they'd learned about this week and talked about what they were excited about.
One Year 2 student said she was learning about odd and even numbers, another talked about the scientific discoveries of Marie Curie, the women who discovered elements such as Polonium and Radium, subsequently coining the phrase "radioactivity.' The student told the school about how this is used to produce X-rays that detect broken bones, which was very impressive!
Elsewhere during break, two Year 3 students could be seen digging and doing a spot of archaeology on the school grounds! When asked what they were doing, they said they were digging for fossils and that they'd been learning about another bright woman, Mary Anning, a palaeontologist who became known for her discoveries in the facinating world of jurassic marine fossil beds. If you're ever in London, you might consider visiting the Natural History Museum, where you can see her amazing discoveries for yourself.
Every playtime there is a mixture of unstructured things going on, and real learning is evident everywhere. It's when our students get the chance to have freestyle fun, collaborate, learn to share, communicate, work together, learn about each others likes and dislikes and much much more.
On this trip around the school gardens at break time, I saw a Year 6 student with a plastic bag picking up bits of trash. Others joined too, and helped keep our school environment nice and clean, without being asked to do so by an adult.
On any day of the week, you can see football underway, FourSquare, circles of children laughing and chatting together and a lot of examples of healthy relationships. Break time also give students a chance to work out the hard times, when they get involved in disagreements. Break time, it seems, is a microcosm of real life, where we get a long most of the time and have to work on the difficult moments, when for some reason, we don't.
Well done to all of our students for their commitment to working things out positively at all times and by doing so, creating a happy and safe environment for us all.
We celebrate these good examples of the social side of school life, where students get to embody our six school values together: Community-Minded, Balanced, Honest, Resilient, Respectful, and Courageous—Keep up the good work Si Ri Panya!
Last Minute ***Sign-up*** Primary Parent/Teacher Meetings - using the links below
Next week, there are still some places available if you'd like to sign up for our Primary Parents/Teacher meeting on Tuesday 27th January at 3-5pm, just click the relevant link and sign up:
Si Ri Panya International SchoolWeek 3-4 Term 2 Parent/Teacher Progress Meetings | ||
Year 1 Teacher Olivia | ||
Year 2 Teacher Devon | ||
Year 3 Teacher Amy | ||
Year 4 Teacher Charles | ||
Year 5 Teacher Matt | ||
Year 6 Teacher Simon | ||
February Half-Term Holiday Camp: Leaps & Beats Returns
A quick reminder — Leaps & Beats Holiday Camp is back this February half-term, with five lively days of activity, creativity and connection for children aged 5–11.
Monday 16 February – Friday 20 February 2026, each day includes a balanced mix of sports, arts and crafts, drama, games and team challenges — with plenty to look forward to, whether your child loves being active, making, performing, or working as part of a team.
Camp details
Location: Si Ri Panya International School
Dates: Monday 16 February – Friday 20 February 2026
Time: 9:00am – 2:45pm
Ages: 5–11 years
Spaces are limited, so early booking is recommended.👉 Register here
🎥 Video highlights from previous camps: Click here
For questions, please contact leapsandbeats@siripanya.com.
Key Dates at a Glance
Looking Ahead: Key events and special days for the school year are published on our homepage.
Year 1 September 2026 admissions
See Newsletter Issue 26 for full details
Term 2 Talent show
See Newsletter Issue 35 for full details
SRP Music Academy
See Newsletter Issue 35 for full details
🌟 Weekly Reminders
🎂 Birthdays: Primary birthdays (Years 1–6) are celebrated every Friday at 2:00 p.m. during Enrichment Time. Secondary birthdays (Years 7-11) are celebrated during tutor time.
📖 Library Books: Please check at home for any school library books and return them to either the Primary or Secondary library.
♻️ Bottle Cap Collection: We’re collecting bottle caps for our Precious Plastic Project. Collection point outside the primary gate. Find out more about this exciting long-term project here: Precious Plastic Phangan Facebook.
🐞 Head Lice Checks: Please check your child’s hair regularly and treat if needed. Children with long hair (boys and girls) should keep it tied up.
👕 Uniform Orders: Please ensure your child is wearing the correct uniform each day. Uniform orders can be placed online:🔗 Secondary Order Form 🔗 Primary Order Form
🍎 Healthy Snacks: Healthy snacks only at break times. No sweets, crisps/chips or cakes.
🚗 Drop-off & Pick-up:
• Drop-off: from 8:30 a.m. only
• Pick-up:
– Primary: 2:50 p.m. (or 4:00 p.m. for ASA)
– Secondary: 4:00 p.m.
Please be punctual, as some children have been waiting for extended periods.
🌬️ No Idling Zone: Please switch off engines while waiting outside school to support a healthier environment for all.
🤒 Absence & Illness: Please notify your child’s class teacher (Primary) or form tutor (Secondary) if they are unwell or absent.
Si Ri Panya News Highlights — Previous Issues
Explore earlier issues of Si Ri Panya News Highlights via our school blog archive.
