16th October 2026

Dear Samakee Community,

A Week of Celebration and Connection

What a wonderful week it has been at St Andrews Samakee International School!

We've had the pleasure of connecting with many of you during Parent Consultations on Wednesday and Thursday. These conversations are invaluable in supporting your child's learning journey, and we're grateful for your engagement and partnership.

On Thursday, our school community came together beautifully to celebrate the Wai Kru ceremony, honouring the special relationship between students and teachers. It was heartwarming to see students, staff, and families participate in this meaningful tradition.

The week concluded with Einstein House's exciting Crystal Maze event – the energy and enthusiasm from our students was fantastic!.

Half-Term Break: After such a busy and rewarding week, we're all ready for a well-deserved rest. School will be closed for half-term and will reopen on Monday, 26th October.

We hope you all enjoy a pleasant and relaxing break with your families.

Parent Consultations

Thank you to all our parents for joining our Parent Consultation meetings, both face-to-face and online! It was a valuable opportunity to discuss students’ academic progress, share insights, and work together to support each child’s learning journey. We truly appreciate your time, support, and partnership. We look forward to welcoming you again in February for our next Parent Consultations!

Wai Kru Ceremony: Celebrating Our Teachers

On Thursday, our school came together to celebrate Wai Kru, Thailand’s traditional Teacher Appreciation Day, a special occasion for students to show their respect, gratitude, and love for their teachers.

The ceremony was filled with joy and laughter as students sang songs, performed beautiful Thai dances, and took part in a fun quiz featuring interesting facts about their teachers! One of the most meaningful moments was when students presented flowers to their teachers as a symbol of appreciation and respect.

A heartfelt thank you to all our parents for your support in making this special day so memorable. It was a wonderful time to celebrate the meaningful connections between our students and teachers and the strong sense of togetherness within our Samakee community.

Safeguarding Spotlight

Stay Safe Update: World Mental Health Day - 10th October: Support your child's mental wellbeing at home

This week's focus: Model healthy emotional expression

✓ Talk about your own feelings in age-appropriate ways (e.g., "I'm feeling a bit stressed about work today, so I'm going to take a short walk to help me feel calmer")

✓ Show your child that all emotions are normal and acceptable - it's what we do with them that matters

✓ Demonstrate healthy coping strategies like deep breathing, taking breaks, asking for help, or talking about problems

✓ When children see adults managing emotions in healthy ways, they learn that it's okay to struggle and that there are positive ways to cope

Teaching and Learning Highlights!

Einstein House Event - The Crystal Maze

Today's House event brought high energy and team work as students tackled our very own Samakee version of The Crystal Maze. Competing across a series of physical, mental, skill, and mystery challenges, House teams demonstrated their problem-solving and athletic talents to win vital time earning crystals. The competition culminated in a great final phase where quick movement and collaboration paid off in crucial Crystal points. Massive congratulations to all participants for bringing spirit, determination, and sportsmanship to an unforgettable event!

Why is Forest School so beneficial to our students?

Just look at them choosing, exploring, learning, and collaborating every single day! Every week brings a brand-new adventure-built and led entirely by their curiosity.

Albert Einstein famously said, "Play is the highest form of research." Whether they're 2 or 15, our children still need time and space to play, discover, and grow!

Building Confidence in English!

In English, we have been creating a story map to help us practise writing a diary entry. We identified the key vocabulary and phrases, then created actions to help us remember the language. We built our diary entry together, one sentence at a time, bringing it to life through movement, repetition and discussion. Working with partners gave everyone the opportunity to practise and build confidence. To finish, a few brave individuals challenged themselves to have a go independently. We are so proud of the children for working together, developing their vocabulary and showing growing confidence. Every sentence is a step towards becoming a more independent writer.

Maths Is Everywhere!

Our Year 7 students explored the maths behind everyday objects, discovering that maths is all around us when we take a closer look! From observing real-life objects to creating their own mathematical questions, students developed their curiosity, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Lunch Menu After Half-Term Break

Calendar of Events

October

19th - 23rd - Half Term Break
30th - SMARTs Showcase
31st - Basis Swim Meet

November

5th - Key Stage 4 (Year 10 and Year 11) Parent Information Session
7th-8th - ISB Swim Fest
11th - Part 1: Parent Workshop: Unpacking Puberty with Dr Jom - 8:30-10:00 (AM)
11th - Nightingale House Event (PM)
18th - Part 2: Parent Workshop: Unpacking Puberty with Dr Jom - 8:30-10:00 (AM)
20th - Y3 - Y9 Sports Day (AM)/ Swim Gala Relays (PM)
24th - Loy Krathong Day
26th - Upper School Production

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

Lower Phase Lead, Tabietha Sudhirak: tsudhirak@standrews-samakee.com

Upper Phase 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.”