News

News

imgpsh_fullsize_anim (2)
July 5, 2024

Empowering Student Leadership: Opportunities at St. Andrews Sukhumvit 107 International School

Here at St. Andrews International School Sukhumvit S107, we delve into the development of the young minds in our care in a holistic fashion, moulding them to become better people tomorrow so that they become future leaders and game changers.

Our holistic approach for our young learners includes enhancement of their skills intellectually, physically, emotionally, socially and so forth.

The advantage of holistic education is that it is designed to develop all parts of the child so that they become the sum of their individual parts instead of only having developed certain aspects of themselves.

The Importance of Leadership Development

With that in mind, St. Andrews’ holistic approach of learning has been specifically developed to empower leadership among our youths so that they can graduate from pupil to future corporate, social, community or political leaders.

A leader is someone who leads the group towards a common beneficial goal, meaning they have to at times earn the group’s trust, lead the way and take risks on behalf of everyone.

We focus mostly on developing self-management and self-awareness skills of our students. This way, they’re able to think for themselves, figure things out with just enough context clues and solve problems or issues on their own without an answer sheet.

St. Andrews Sukhumvit helps develop the leaders of tomorrow by teaching the young learners of today how to research on their own, have informed opinions backed by facts, not to get blinded by biases and to make calculated risks at times when necessary.

Our children are also taught how to learn on their own so that they’re able to investigate the unknown and test out logical hypotheses until their experiments net the solution they’re looking for.

Children Can Learn Leadership by Becoming Leaders at St. Andrews

Our teachers make it a point to make our children understand that they all have the ability and capability to become leaders no matter their age or involvement in our campus activities.

Even though they won’t necessarily become the president of a big company or the like, it pays to have leadership training at an early age so that they could become the masters of their own destiny or fulfil other leadership roles in their life, like breadwinner or head of the family.

In light of this, S107 provides a bevy of opportunities for leadership, from being a group leader, club leader, the captain of the sports team (extracurricular), or even class president.

Here at St. Andrews Sukhumvit, leadership is one of the characteristics that make up a child’s profile in the school. Leadership in class or school is quite crucial because they serve as the voice on how the school is run or managed.

What Leadership Opportunities are Available at S107?

Every child gets the chance to lead or, at the very least, every child can become leaders of their own selves through self-motivated studying and research. They learn the right way, which is on their own.

For example, in St. Andrews Sukhumvit, every class has a class representative on the school council. The school also offers other leadership opportunities for the youth such as environmental leaders, House Captains and Head of the Class.

These students can also learn leadership through the school’s sports clubs, our youth-led initiatives, our community service activities or programmes like The Global Issues Network or The Model UN.

Leadership is Learned by and Through Example

Children learn even at a young age by watching the behaviour and actions of adults around them. Grownups like parents and teachers serve as examples to how they’ll live and behave once they grow up.

Aside from formal leadership positions, the children of St. Andrews are also pushed to become school event leaders or group leaders in their academic endeavours. There are leadership opportunities in every corner of the school.

To be a good leader you need to be a good follower. What this means is that a follower can develop themselves to excellence in the group so that they get their turn to become leader.

Leaders are usually the most excellent and intelligent person of the group known to be considerate with every decision that affects everyone.

Why Should Children Be Taught Leadership at a Young Age?

Every child is taught how to be a leader in most aspects of their life the same way they’re taught the value of fulfilling their potential and becoming excellent, contributing members of society.

They should be taught to observe how others communicate to large groups, confront failure, practice accountability, respond to criticism and confront failure.

Why? It’s because becoming a leader or leading the way is a concrete and achievable goal when it comes to striving for excellence. You can also showcase your fulfilled potential by applying it in leadership positions.

Children can develop their own thought processes and good habits through observation and mimicking the examples of their leaders. This prepares them to become leaders themselves.

It’s not easy being a leader and becoming responsible for the wellbeing of the group as well as yourself. However, the best communities and societies are filled with great leaders and followers who have leadership potential themselves.

Summary

St. Andrews International School Sukhumvit S107 is fully committed to empowering children and giving them all the opportunities to become future leaders themselves.

Young learners in our school are taught in a holistic manner so that they can excel on their own and hone the ability to manage groups through excellent socio-behavioural and communication skills.

S107 is a proud member of the Cognita School Group, a respected international education group that operates world-class schools all over the globe, from the Americas to Asia and Europe.

If you wish to learn more about St. Andrews International School Sukhumvit S107, kindly just fill out our online form to book a school tour at our lovely campus. As an alternative, for your convenience and initial assessment of our school, you may also opt to take our personalised interactive virtual campus tour.

Exploring Environmental Education at St. Andrews Sukhumvit 107 Sustainability Initiatives and Learning
June 7, 2024

Exploring Environmental Education at St. Andrews Sukhumvit 107: Sustainability Initiatives and Learning

At St. Andrews International School Sukhumvit S107 in Bangkok, we help instil the value of ecological preservation and environmentalism among the children under our care to help them take care of the Earth once they themselves inherit the planet.

We do this by teaching them resiliency and empathy that develops every aspect of their character. It’s through our holistic approach to education that we’re able to ensure that the young minds entrusted to our care develop into successful leaders of tomorrow.

We’re not just focused on academics alone. We also wish to develop children to become more responsible for both themselves and the environment around them.

We wish every young learner under the wing of St. Andrews Sukhumvit to become well-rounded individuals capable of taking care of ecological issues as part of their societal and environmental responsibility.

What is Environmental Education?

Environmental education (EE) is ostensibly education regarding environmentalism and conservation efforts to prevent the youth of today from undergoing even worse environmental consequences than those we’re already facing.

As we speak, species after species have gone extinct, whole ecosystems had their worlds turned upside down due to capitalism, greed, consumerism, and overconsumption.

EE helps children learn about built and natural environments. It also teaches them of all the issues impacting Mother Earth or the planet we live in as well as the actions they can take to improve and sustain its wellbeing.

“As inheritors of this planet, the youth generation should be taught to value conservation efforts, environmental issues, and ecological activism to make up for the failures of their predecessors.” (Teacher Quote)

It’s unfortunate and unfair, but previous generations have failed the current youth in regard to preserving the health of the planet, leading to consequences like the depletion of natural resources, the increasing amount of garbage, wastefulness, and climate change.

It’s therefore in the best interests of today’s children to learn about taking care of Mother Earth early on in childhood so that they could do better than their predecessors in addressing this alarming turn of events regarding the wellbeing of the planet.

The Benefits of Environment-Friendly Programmes and Eco Community Service among the Youth

EE has multiple benefits for not only the youth of St. Andrews Sukhumvit but also for our erstwhile educators, the school at large, and for many communities.

Because holistic learning involves helping children from primary and middle school turn into dependable high school teenagers and college-aged young adults, it’s in their best interest to learn environmental responsibility at a young age.

We care about turning every generation of children into the best they could be, even to the point of making up for previous generations’ shortcomings when it comes to taking care of the world at large.

We’ll do things like take these young minds outside on field trips to learn more about the planet or find teachable moments on nature walks and community service cleanup sessions.

Our St. Andrews Sukhumvit teachers are coordinating with their parents, so they’d receive two-way support in fulfilling their academic, socio-emotional, and EE endeavours.

We here at St. Andrews are long-time supporters of EE. We’ve made it our passion to inspire future generations to become better than past generations when it comes to applying sustainability initiatives or being more consistent in waste management or recycling.

The Many Sustainability Initiatives Available in S107

There are a number of sustainability initiatives and EE programmes available in St. Andrews Sukhumvit British International School S107 that help the children learn the basics of taking care of the environment before them, which should extend to taking care of the planet at large once they’re older.

  • Tree Planting: The school campus of St. Andrews Sukhumvit is huge enough to allow ample space for large trees to be planted there. Many of the trees in the location were planted by the children studying there. Over the years, we’ve had every child add a plant to our covered walkways.

    Over the course of a number of weeks, every young person planted a tree, shrub, or some species of plant into environment-friendly coconut planters. This has resulted in spectacular, ecologically favourable results.

  • Paper Recycling: Every St. Andrews class has two paper-recycling bins. The first one receives reusable scrap paper and the other has crumpled or used paper sent for recycling purposes. Recycled notebooks are made by the Grow Green Committee from scrap paper.

  • The Secret Garden of S107: There’s a secret garden at St. Andrews Sukhumvit that serves as our school’s GrowGreen Eco committee’s focal point of activities. It’s available for access for all members of the school, from the children to the instructors.

    The youth of all ages work in this garden during different times of the school year. They’re taught how to take care of the garden as part of their annual extracurricular activities.

  • Animal Welfare Week: There’s a week every school year marked on the calendar as reserved for Animal Welfare Week. It helps spread awareness of animal rights and raises money to help take better care of them through animal welfare charities.

  • Food Waste Reduction: The school also has compost bins available. That’s where all organic waste of the school goes for conservation. Leftover food and spoiled dishes can be used in the Secret Garden of S107 as organic fertiliser.

    This is certainly a better way to manage such waste compared to just throwing it into garbage bins, landfills, and sewers. They’re also fed to the school worm farm for good measure. Food waste is also avoided via in-school waste reduction campaigns.

  • School Pond: After seeking feedback from the children on how to make St. Andrews more environmentally-friendly and sustainable, they suggested building a school fish pond, which was completed recently.

  • Recycling and Plastic-Free Canteen: We have recently joined the “Trash Lucky and Won” programme to encourage more recycling of reusable objects like soft drink bottles and cans in the campus.

    On the other hand, the canteen in St. Andrews has banned the use of plastic water bottles even though these are also recyclable due to their environmental impact. All children are told to use refillable bottles instead.

  • Worm Farming: Unlike other international, private, or public schools, we at St. Andrews also delve in worm farming (vermiculture) for several practical reasons. The worms help in our food waste composting programme so we can save money on compost bins. They also provide worm castings, which also serve as amazing organic fertiliser, among other things.

The Verdict

It’s our mission at St. Andrews International School Sukhumvit S107 in Bangkok to help our young minds to realise their full potential and become even more responsible adults when it comes to environmentalism and conservationism.

It’s their civic responsibility to do community service but also their responsibility as inheritors of the planet to take care of our ailing world to full rehabilitation, one generation at a time.

It’s not enough that they take the baton of responsibility from previous youth when instilling the responsibility of taking care of this planet. They should do even better than the ones before them as part of Generation Z, Alpha, and beyond.

St. Andrews Sukhumvit, like many other St. Andrews International Schools in the nation, is part of the Cognita School Group. They’re an international school management company with branches throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

If you wish to learn more about St. Andrews Sukhumvit, enquire now. You may choose to experience our in-person campus tour or you may opt to explore our campus virtually through our interactive virtual tour.