7th November 2025

Dear Samakee Community,

Our school community came together this week in a special assembly to remember Her Majesty Queen Sirikit, the Queen Mother of Thailand, and to celebrate the beauty of Loy Krathong.

Students shared a touching tribute through biography reading, a singing and piano performance of “Lao Duang Duen”, and a graceful Thai dance by Year 1 and Year 2 in “Lao Siang Tian.”

Thank you to our community for your participation and the children for their beautiful performances.

Public Speaking Camp - A Resounding Success!

We were delighted to host our first Public Speaking Camp last Saturday, bringing together 36 enthusiastic young speakers aged 10-14 from St Andrews Samakee and neighbouring international schools.

Working in small groups with an experienced team of group leaders, the children explored speech structure, mastered delivery techniques, and discovered how to engage an audience effectively. The camp atmosphere was fantastic—children had fun, developed valuable new skills, and formed friendships across schools.

We're incredibly proud of all the participants for stepping out of their comfort zones and embracing the challenge of public speaking with such enthusiasm and courage.

A huge thank you to Chris Wright, the organiser, and the team for making this event such a success, and to every student for their bravery and positive engagement throughout the camp!

King Pin

At Samakee, we listen to the voices of our children, and many have shared thoughtful feedback about the changing nature of the game during break and lunchtimes. To ensure that King Pin continues to be a fun, fair, and inclusive activity for everyone, Mrs Monica, Ms Alyssa, and Ms Nicky invited each class to nominate representatives to attend a special meeting.

Together, the children are redesigning and clarifying the game’s rules — focusing on, SMKE, and the positive spirit of play that makes Samakee such a great community.

We look forward to reintroducing King Pin on Monday morning break time — refreshed, fair, and fun for all!

Upcoming Events: A Quick Guide

Einstein House Event – Relativity Smart Quiz

Get ready for an exciting challenge! The Einstein House Event, Relativity Smart Quiz, will take place next week on Tuesday 11th November. Students will put their knowledge, teamwork, and quick thinking to the test in this fun, brain-boosting quiz. Don’t forget to wear your House shirt!

Schedule:

Upper School: 8:00–10:00 a.m.

Middle School: 1:15–2:30 p.m.

Year 1 & Year 2: In their classrooms (at teachers’ discretion)

Upcoming Sports Days

EYFS & KS1 Sports Day is Friday 14th November, 8:50am-10.30 am.
Year 3 - Year 9 Sports Day is Friday 21st November, 8.30 am - 12 noon. A fun Swim Relay gala follows this in the afternoon. This will consist of more leisurely fun house relays in the pool, and the main individual event will take place at the second Swim Gala on 22nd May.

We hope to see as many of you as possible at both of these events.

Parent Workshop

The Power of the Pause: Stepping Back to Build Your Child's Resilience

Join us for an engaging parent workshop with Dr Jom, exploring how taking a step back can empower your child to grow stronger, more confident, and more independent. We look forward to seeing you on Monday, 17th November at 8:30 am - 9:30 am in the school Hall

Relativity Smart Quiz

EYFS & KS1 Sports Days

Parent Workshop

Samakee Library : New Arrivals

Teaching and Learning Highlights!

EYFS - PSHE

In PSHE this week, our Reception children became hygiene scientists!

We read the story Something Really Smells! and carried out a hands-on experiment with pepper, soap, and water to explore how soap helps wash away germs. The children were amazed to see the “germs” scatter as soon as the soap touched the water, a powerful reminder of the importance of clean hands!

Clean hands, happy hearts, healthy learners!

Year 3 - Under the Sea

This week the children in Year 3 have started our new topic of Under the Sea. They begun by researching and finding out some information using different resources such as atlases and online search engines. They had some interesting discussions about what they thought we could do to help protect our oceans as well as some of threats that the ocean faces.

Year 5 - Spanish class came alive this week

In our unit on describing people, students took their notebooks outside and observed the world around them, describing (with a little help!) the appearance and personality of people they saw around school.

֍They noticed playful primary students, friendly security guards, and the smiling snack shop staff, all while starting to think and speak in Spanish.

֍Back in class, we introduced vocabulary about la ropa (clothing). Soon, students will begin combining what they know to make simple descriptions.

Try this at home: Ask your child, “¿Qué palabra nueva aprendiste hoy?” (What new word did you learn today?)

Safeguarding Focus: Staying Safe Online — Top Tips for Families in November!

For our November Safeguarding Corner, our focus is on Online Safety. As children spend more time online for learning and play, a partnership between home and school is essential. Here is our second tip:

Know the Platform (and the Password)

Age Matters: Check the minimum age limits (e.g., 13 for most social media) and stick to them. If your child is using an app, you should know what it does.

Check Privacy Settings: Work with your child to ensure all games and social accounts are set to the most private settings. Know the login and password for all their devices and accounts.

Upper School Credits & Celebrations

Artist of the week

Artist of the week goes to a year 6 student who has continued to show great creativity and skill whilst working on his print work inspired by Romero Britto. Great job!

Calendar of Events

November

8th & 9th - ISB Swimfest
8th - U13 Football SISB NR
11th - Einstein House Event - Relativity Smart Quiz
13th - Farmers Market
14th - EYFS & KS1 Sports Day (9:00-10:30)
17th - Parent Workshop
21st - Y3-Y9 Sports Day (8:30-12:00) Swim Relay (PM)

School Events

SAS LINE Communication Platform

LINE is a widely used communication platform in Thailand, and it's a platform that Samakee has been utilizing for quite some time. We encourage all our families to connect with our official SAS LINE account to ensure we can easily disseminate important school-wide updates to our entire school community. Click to add

Monica L Sudhirak

Head of School

Head of School, Monica L Sudhirak: msudhirak@standrews-samakee.com

First School Lead, Tabietha Sudhirak: tsudhirak@standrews-samakee.com

Key Stage 1 Lead, Alice Munenge: alice.m@standrews-samakee.com

Key Stage 2 Lead, Alyssa Pay: alyssa.p@standrews-samakee.com

Upper School Lead, Nicky Page: npage@standrews-samakee.com

“Samakee is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare and safety of all students and expects all staff and visitors to share this commitment.”

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