30th October 2026

Dear Samakee Community,

We are excited to invite you to join us for some valuable parent workshops this November. Whether you are looking for practical strategies to support your child through adolescence or want to learn more about our plans for Key Stage 4, these sessions are designed with you in mind.

Key Stage 4 Information Sessions (Year 10 & 11)

Thursday 5th November, 3:00pm

Are you curious about the Key Stage 4 plans at Samakee? Join us for an informative session where we'll share details about Year 10 and 11, and how we'll support your child through this important phase of their education. This workshop is particularly suitable for parents and carers with children in KS3 (Years 7-9) but all parents are welcome.

This is your opportunity to:

Learn about the Key Stage 4 curriculum structure
Understand the qualifications and pathways available
Ask questions and share your thoughts

Whether your child is approaching KS4 or you're planning ahead, we'd love to see you there.

Supporting Your Child Through Adolescence - a Two-part workshop with Dr Jom: 11th & 18th November, 8:30am - 10:00am

Navigating adolescence doesn't have to mean awkward silences or high-pressure sit-down chats. Join us for a practical and supportive workshop designed to help you build open, ongoing communication with your child during one of life's biggest transition periods.

What we'll cover:

Breaking the Ice at Home - Moving from intimidating big talks to natural, everyday conversations
Understanding Puberty & the Teen Brain - Normalising development, understanding risk-taking and peer pressure
Building a Healthy Body Image - Helping children filter online media versus reality and teaching respect for boundaries
Practical Parent Toolkit - Actionable conversation starters and strategies you can use immediately

These workshops are designed with busy parents in mind - practical, supportive, and focused on giving you tools you can use straight away. Your input and engagement help us create the best possible environment for your children to thrive. We hope to see you there!

Light refreshments provided.

Learning and Sharing with Mahidol University

We were delighted to welcome students and teachers from the Occupational Therapy (OT) programme at Mahidol University to St. Andrews Samakee, accompanied by Mr Neung from SevenSense.

During their visit, they had the opportunity to listen to Ms Tabietha share her knowledge, experiences, and insights. It was a valuable opportunity for learning, professional exchange, and sharing ideas to support children's development and wellbeing.

Thank you to our visitors for spending time with us.

Safeguarding Spotlight

Stay Safe Update: Support your child's mental wellbeing at home

This week's focus: Sleep, Screens & Wellbeing!

✓ Sleep needs by age:

Ages 3-5: 10-13 hours per night
Ages 6-12: 9-12 hours per night
Ages 13-14: 8-10 hours per night

✓ Thailand-specific sleep challenges:

Heat and humidity: Can make it harder to sleep – ensure bedrooms are cool (air conditioning or fans). Blackout curtains can also help with early sunrise
Noise: Traffic, street vendors, and urban sounds may disturb sleep. Use white noise machines to block out street sounds if needed
Seasonal changes: Monsoon season thunder and lightning can disturb sleep

✓ Screens and sleep: Blue light from screens suppresses melatonin (the sleep hormone).

Recommend:

No screens at least 1 hour before bedtime. Calming activities are recommended (reading, gentle music, cool bath/shower)
Keep devices out of bedrooms overnight
Use "night mode" settings if screens are unavoidable in the evening

Action for parents: Review your child's bedtime routine this week. Are they getting enough sleep despite the heat and busy schedules? Make one small change to improve their sleep quality.

Teaching and Learning Highlights!

Little Discoveries, Big Imaginations!

Our EYFS children turned a simple discovery of sand near the monkey bars into an exciting learning adventure! They worked together to investigate where the sand came from, then let their imaginations run wild as they collected natural materials to create their own pretend soup.

A wonderful example of how curiosity, teamwork, problem-solving and creativity can grow through everyday discoveries and playful learning!

Y3-Y5 SMARTs Showcase

Today, a SMARTs Showcase celebrated some of the imaginative homework the children in Years 3-5 created. Children at SAS complete blocks of Samakee SMARTs Homework (Self Motivated, Ambitious, Reflective Tasks) each term, which links to their topic. We aim to promote children's creativity and develop their skills to become life-long independent learners. With a choice of different tasks to complete, SMART activities may be in the form of a written piece, a recipe, a video, photographic evidence, a game, artwork, a model or other 3D item, etc. Well done, everyone!

Democracy in Action!

In Thai Social and Culture lessons, our Year 3 students explored the concept of democracy in school through a fun and engaging mock election!

Students created their own campaign posters, chose their candidate numbers, and developed ideas to improve their classroom. They then presented their election campaigns to their classmates, sharing their promises and encouraging their peers to vote for them.

The activity ended with a mock election, giving students the opportunity to experience the democratic process firsthand.

Through this hands-on learning experience, students developed a deeper understanding of democracy, the importance of voting, and how everyone's voice matters!

Enrique el erizo: Spanish comes to life!

This week, our students followed Enrique el erizo (Enrique the Hedgehog) through the days of the week while learning to talk about the weather in Spanish.

As Enrique woke up each day, students discovered a different weather condition: está nevando (it’s snowing), está nublado (it’s cloudy), hace frío (it’s cold), until finally... ¡hace sol y hace calor!

After learning the story together, it was time to bring Enrique to life! Students worked in groups and took on the roles of the narrator, Enrique and his mum, acting out the story and using the Spanish they had been practising.

A fun way to combine days of the week, weather vocabulary, listening and speaking while building confidence using Spanish in context.

Smartphones for 11 & 12-Year-Olds: Essential Tool or Digital Distraction?

Our Year 7 students have kicked off an exciting five-week persuasive writing unit, exploring whether young people should own smartphones with internet access. Students are sharing opinions, discussing personal experiences and organising their ideas before learning to use persuasive AFORREST techniques, from emotive language and statistics to rhetorical questions, to create compelling magazine articles.

What are your thoughts on smartphone access for tweens?

From Digital Design to 3D Printing!

Our students have been designing their own desk tidies using Tinkercad and have now started bringing their creations to life through 3D printing!

But great design is about more than getting it right the first time. Students are learning to reflect, troubleshoot and refine their work, discovering how mistakes can lead to new ideas and better solutions.

Year 1 - Year 9 Awards & Achievements

Congratulations!

We are so proud of 3 students in Year 7. They continue to consistently display perseverance across their chosen passions: Music, Tennis and Badminton.

They are excellent role models to the student community, demonstrating a Growth Mindset attiude in all their endeavors.

Well done!

Lunch Menu for Next Week

Calendar of Events

October

31st - Basis Swim Meet

November

4th - SISB Football Match
5th - Key Stage 4 (Year 10 and Year 11) Parent Information Session - 3PM
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)
12th - Farmers' Market
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.”