9th January 2026

Dear Samakee Community,

We are delighted to welcome everyone back to school for what promises to be an exciting and productive Term 2! We hope you all enjoyed a restful break and are ready for the wonderful learning opportunities ahead.

We began the term with an excellent INSET day on Monday, bringing our entire staff team together in a spirit of collaboration and celebration. The day began with a special Welcome & Team Building Activity where we took time to reflect on and celebrate:

Our School Story – Our Team and Our School!

Staff worked together in groups to create vibrant visual representations – posters, mind maps, and collages – showcasing:

What makes St Andrews Samakee truly special
Our proudest moments from last term
What we are most excited about this term

These colourful and encouraging creations will be on display in front of the hall shortly – we encourage you to take a look when you are next at school!

The day was incredibly productive, with staff working together to:

Map out this term's House activities, ensuring exciting opportunities for all our pupils
Review our Emergency Safeguarding Policy, reinforcing our commitment to keeping every child safe
Meet in subject teams to review and refine subject-specific policies, ensuring the highest quality education across all areas

The energy, enthusiasm and professionalism demonstrated by our staff team was truly inspiring. Their dedication to continuous improvement and to providing the very best for your children is at the heart of everything we do at St Andrews Samakee.

With such a positive start to the term, we're confident that Term 2 will be filled with excellent learning, memorable experiences, and continued growth for all our pupils. Thank you for your ongoing support and partnership – together, we make St Andrews Samakee the special place it is.

Here's to a wonderful Term 2!

Movie Night Magic 2026 - Save the Date - Friday 13th February!

Our Family Movie Night returns in early February – one of our most beloved community events where families gather under the stars in our beautiful school garden for an evening of entertainment, fun and togetherness.

This wonderful event wouldn't be possible without our incredible parent volunteers who bring it to life. From creative planning to hands-on setup, from running engaging activities to providing delicious refreshments, our parent community makes Movie Night truly special.

A huge thank you to everyone who attended our first planning meeting today – your enthusiasm and ideas have set us on course for our best Movie Night yet! Planning is now in full swing, and the excitement is building.

Join Us – Next Meeting Friday 16th Jan!

For our next planning session, we would love to see even more families get involved. Whether you can help on the day or contribute items now, every bit of support makes a difference.

We Need Your Donations!

Please start gathering these items at home – we'll be collecting them over the coming weeks:

The Book Nook

Pre-loved books in good condition that deserve a new home and new readers

The Treasure Trove

Gently used clothing, shoes, and accessories that your children have outgrown (all ages welcome!)

The Prize Emporium

New or like-new items suitable as game prizes – toys, stationery, small gifts, or anything that would delight our pupils.

Thank you!

Upcoming Events: A Quick Guide

Nightingale House Event

Making a piece of artwork with recycled materials

Date: Thursday 22nd January 2026

We are inviting our whole school community to support the event by bringing in recycled materials. These will be used to create a large, collaborative piece of artwork involving the entire school.

This is a team effort, with everyone’s materials coming together to make one big, whole-school piece of art while being kind to the Earth.

Please place recycled materials in your House box in Reception. Let’s create something amazing together!

A 2-Day Music Workshop with Doug Goodkin

Twinkle Twinkle Little Swing: From Nursery Rhyme to Jazz

Date: 26th - 27th January 2026 Time: 8:30 - 15:00

Venue: Music Room @St. Andrews Samakee

DOUG GOODKIN is an internationally recognised teacher of Orff Schulwerk, a dynamic humanistic approach to music education, training teachers in 45 countries worldwide. Alongside his teacher-training work, he worked with children from three years old to eighth grade at The San Francisco School for 45 years. His last year at the school is the subject of the documentary film, The Secret Song, now showing at some 10 different film festivals.

Doug is an author of nine books, a speaker at various Conferences and in a TEDx talk, a director of and teacher in the prestigious San Francisco International Orff Course, the SF School Intern Program, the Jazz/Orff Course and a frequent teacher at the Orff Institut in Salzburg, Austria. He is also the pianist and leader of the jazz quintet, "The Pentatonics", bringing jazz to people of all ages.

Teaching and Learning Highlights!

EYFS - Jump into Maths: Developing Subitising Skills

This week, the children have been having a wonderful time playing a fast-paced maths game with Ms. Tabietha. Using a large dice, the children were challenged to shout out the number as quickly as they could without counting the dots. As soon as the number was identified, everyone joined in the fun of jumping the corresponding number of times. The children have loved this challenge and have participated enthusiastically every day, learning that we can count actions just as easily as we count physical objects.

Middle School Assembly - Recycling and Reuse

During the Middle School assembly, the children shared their excitement about the upcoming Nightingale House event and discussed how everyday items from home can be reused to create a beautiful piece of art. This led to a thoughtful conversation about recycling, why it is important, and how our choices can help protect the Earth.

The children also explored which items should not be thrown in the bin, learning how waste can damage the environment if not disposed of responsibly. To support this learning, we enjoyed reading Michael Recycle and finished with a fun and memorable chant:

Reuse – use again!

Reduce – use less!

Recycle – make it new!

A fantastic assembly that encouraged everyone to think more carefully about how we care for our planet.

Upper School - Where Can Your Favourite Subject Take You?

In our Upper School area, this eye-catching display encourages students to think beyond the classroom and explore the many pathways their favourite subjects can open up. From Science and Computer Science to the Arts, Humanities, Languages, and Maths, each subject highlights a wide range of possible careers, helping students make connections between what they learn today and their future aspirations. This display supports informed subject choices and sparks meaningful conversations about skills, interests, and life beyond school.

Safeguarding Focus: Mental Health and Wellbeing Tips for Parents

Supporting pupil wellbeing at home and school...

Encourage your child to talk about their feelings and make time for activities they enjoy.
Help your child build healthy relationships by talking about what makes a good friend, how to be kind to others, and how to recognise when someone is being unkind to them.
Create regular family time where you can connect without distractions – this could be a family meal, a walk together, or a game night where your child feels comfortable sharing what's on their mind.
Watch for changes in your child's behaviour or mood, and let school know if you have any concerns – we're here to work with you to support your child's wellbeing.

Awards & Achievements

National Achievement

We are very proud to congratulate one of our Year 6 students, who was recognised as a child who brings pride and recognition to our country. He received this award from the Ministry of Education in celebration of National Children’s Day. This wonderful achievement reflects his dedication and the positive values he represents within our school community.

Piano Success

With his dedication, effort, and talent throughout the Rising Stars International Arts Festival & Competition Vietnam 2025, our Y3 student delivered an outstanding performance and was awarded Diamond Prize in Grade 1 – Festival Piano Solo

Swimming Success

Well done to one of our Year 6 students for their participation and performance in a Swimming Competition held during the Christmas holidays. Lots of Personal Best times acheived. Congratulations!

Upper School Credits & Celebrations

Calendar of Events

January

13th - Little Learners Begins
16th - Movie Night Planning - 8:30
17th - Amnuay Silpa Titans Swim Meet
19th - ECAs Begin
22nd - Nightingale House Event
24th - U13 Basketball @SISB NR
26th - 27th - Jazz Music Workshop
28th - Samakee Evening Concert in the Garden - with the Bangkok Consort Singers - 18:00
28th - 30th - Jazz Festival with HHIS

February

2nd - 6th Maths Enterprise Week
7th & 8th - Marlins Mayhem @STA Bangkok
11th - Soft Toy Event
13th - Movie Night

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.”