Our teaching staff at the International School of Samui is dedicated to ensuring that every day they support students and parents in providing the best tools and techniques for their children's learning. The school hosts at least one information workshop yearly, usually at the beginning of the school year, to involve parents in classroom activities and discussions. Parents are also encouraged to attend regular parents' evenings throughout the year where they can discuss their child's progress and targets first hand.
Our information workshop has one simple goal: "Give parents more insight into the ISS Curriculum and how we teach the children". The workshops take the form of a short presentation and interactive lesson led by the class teacher, in which parents can observe and take part in typical classroom activities. This way, parents can discover new strategies to support their child(ren) at home.
ISS teachers use this is as an opportunity to introduce themselves, share their teaching experiences as well as impart the best practices they have developed in their teaching styles. We are proud of our teaching staff who not only come with a wealth of experience but also invaluable training and accreditation through the highly regarded UK education system.
It was lovely to see so many parents take such an active role in their children's learning, a known fact in children's success at school.
Below is a snapshot of our workshops this year:
18th September 2018: Year 2
Year 2 began the two-week series of information workshops. During the workshop, Miss Forte focused predominantly on literacy and numeracy skills.
First the parents were introduced to the day to day routine of her class. Her students are stretched in their learning and encouraged to learn numeracy at a higher level with many students already adding and subtracting double- digit numbers. Likewise, thanks to a sound knowledge of differentiation Miss Forte is able to challenge students' comprehension and writing skills. Miss Forte was delighted to share these invaluable techniques with the year 2 parents on this occasion. Click here to view full album on Flickr
19th September 2018: Year 4
Mr Andrewartha discussed his topic-based learning approach and how motivating this style of teaching is.
Topic-based learning structures have been part of the curriculum at ISS for nearly a decade. It gives students throughout the primary school a chance to study all subjects areas including mathematics, literacy, science, geography, history, art, music, computing and PE by focusing on one specific topic. Typically in a year students cover 5 different topics areas. This hands-on and practical method of teaching keeps children motivated and stimulated and has been a very successful strategy used by many independent schools in the UK.
Mr A. loves sharing his passion for reading and a book he recently stumbled upon in the library: Shackleton's Journey was the foundation of his workshop. Students and parents were given a literacy task based on Shackleton's Journey to annotate different grammatical terminology in the text.
Fun fact about Mr A's class: his differentiation groups are named after Koh Samui's main geographical areas: Nathon, Maenam , Chaweng and Lamai. Click here to view full album on Flickr.
20th September 2018: Year 6
Mrs Kriya's (formerly Miss Whelan) workshop was not only fun but also educational as year 6 students were able to play their homemade maths board game with their parents.
Students enjoyed showing off their original pieces of work, part of a classroom and homework project, to sharpen their knowledge and comprehension of mathematics. It was lovely to watch parents play games with their children and just have great fun whilst learning.
Year 6 students were also given Maths problems to solve which involved critical thinking challenges, these have been developed by Mrs Kriya in her lessons. These are all examples of brain exercises children can use at home, at the restaurant, in the mall to improve their knowledge of Maths. Click here to view full album on Flickr
21st September 2018: Year 3
Mr Hawkes in year 3 focused on key skills in Maths and English presenting students with activities and challenges to improve their thinking skills in both subject areas.
The aim of every school is to support each and every student no matter their strengths and weaknesses and Mr Hawkes did just that, by focusing on his enlightening differentiation techniques which play a key part in every part of his teaching.
On this day, Mr Hawkes challenged the Year 3 students to create a number sentence which equals 24. One student wrote '4 x 6 = 24' ... another one wrote '10 / 2 + 20 - 1 = 24' ... and finally Mark wrote '384 / 16 = 24'. For a 7 year old to visualise this equation is quite a gift!! Click here to view full album on Flickr
24th September 2018: Year 5
Mr Roberts' workshop was engaging and animated. He has a great rapport with his class and year 5's behaviour is always impeccable as they move around the school.
Year 5 information workshop gave the parents a good insight into the daily routines in year 5. Mr Roberts' information workshop was packed with information, activities and challenges in maths, reading and writing. Mr Roberts introduced his 'WAGOLL (What A Good One Looks Like)' method of learning which is an exercise in recognising other students' good writing and making their own good writing out of it. Click here to view full album on Flickr
25th September 2018: Year 1
Miss Ball invited parents to join the students in their classroom this Tuesday for their information workshop. The children sat beautifully on the carpet whilst the parents sat around them and listened with enthusiasm as Miss Ball shared their daily activities.
The workshop was a good combination of "information" and "teaching workshop". Miss Ball explained the Year 1 curriculum and prepared different areas of learning where her students' could learn and play with their parents. Forming words, finding words, solving maths puzzles and playing educational iPad games were just some of the activities they took part in. Parents and students alike had a happy successful morning! Click here to view full album on Flickr
27th September 2018: Reception
Last but not the least, our cutest and youngest students in the primary school had their information workshop with parents.
It was, once again, another successful workshop at ISS and the children were very happy to show their mums and dads the activities they undertake in school on a daily basis. At this age the children focus is with the EYFS curriculum combined with Tapestry which develops their daily learning.
Miss Vanhoeck is taking to being the Reception teacher like a "duck to water" in the first big teaching challenge. With a wealth of background in childhood psychology and a strong focus on teaching techniques, Miss VanHoeck brings her bubbly personality to the classroom making her a very popular teacher for this age group. Parents were delighted to learn hands-on about the strategies and ideas which are used to teach numeracy and literacy at this age. Click here to view full album on Flickr