All School eNews-The ISB Invention Center hosts… Scrimmage in Siam this Saturday!

The IASAS Cultural Conventions are almost upon us with the music team traveling to Singapore American School, Forensics and Debate off to Jakarta Intercultural School, and the Art.Dance.Drama.Tech.Film cohort hosting right here at ISB February 28 through March 2. Teams will be introduced at the upcoming Black and Gold IASAS CC assembly on February 21 with showcases for Forensics and Debate on February 4th and 5th, Music on February 6th and 7th, and Art.Dance.Drama.Tech.Film on February 25th. Look for announcements detailing the where and when soon and then come out and support the ninety-eight delegates and artists involved!!!

Contact:

Anthony A. Giles, Director of Arts & Activities 
anthonyg@isb.ac.th

Air Pollution in Bangkok – Helpful Resources

Dear Parents,

Understandably, the rising pollution in Bangkok this season has sparked concern, discussions and many questions among ISB community members. We take the situation very seriously and the health and safety of our students and our community is our highest priority. We have been monitoring the pollution closely and have taken steps to ensure we have the best equipment in place and that our policies are thorough and in line with best practice and research.

We have taken a leading role in this area among schools in Bangkok and are fortunate to have many experienced staff on campus – and expert advisors – to address this issue. We are also fortunate to be less impacted than the inner city areas. This being said, the impact is not negligible and we have policies and procedures in place to ensure we can safeguard our students.

Helpful Resources

On our website, you will find a number of helpful resources that explain the guidelines that ISB has in place, the way our GAMS Air Monitor on campus works, and articles that discuss the specifics of particles and measurements in AQI readings, health impacts and the balance of physical activity versus prolonged exposure to Air Pollution, some Frequently Asked Questions and more.

Removal of the Air Visual App

This week we removed the Air Visual App because the reading is a misleading representation of the current conditions on campus and was causing confusion within the community when comparisons were made with our GAMS air quality monitor.

The desktop style Air Visual unit had to be installed in a location protected from the outdoor elements and covered.  This limited it’s access to the outdoor environment and shielded it from wind, rain, and sun.  Data provided to the public was a two-hour rolling average that only updated on the top of the hour. Importantly, the Air Visual monitor did not provide real-time data.

GAMS Unit and Placement

The GAMS unit, which we have placed by the 25m pool, is elevated to ensure accuracy. As explained by the GAMS team: “Proper outdoor PM2.5 monitoring needs to take into account several parameters to provide reliable data. One of this parameters is height of measurement. To avoid ground level dust and particles to impact the reliability of measurement, outdoor monitors are usually measuring between 3m and 7m from ground level.” Stefan Berder, CEO and Co-founder, GAMS.

Please refer to the information on our website for more information about the GAMS unit and our Air Quality Guidelines: https://www.isb.ac.th/about/safety-and-security/.

Updates to the ISB Air Quality Website

The ISB Air Quality website has also been updated to show a 1-hour average of PM2.5 and a 24 hour comparison to Sukhumvit. This will provide you with readily available and accurate information about the trends in the pollution levels in the local area.

A meeting for interested parents was held last Friday. Thank you to the parents that participated and offered your concerns and feedback. We will be hosting another open forum, with visiting experts, in February. The date will be announced soon.

We hope the information provided here will be helpful to you and address some key concerns. For any questions, please feel free to contact our Director of Risk Management, Mark Hevland.

Mark Hevland, Director of Risk Management
Dr Andrew Davies, Head of School

This tennis program is for ISB parents, combining some tennis-specific conditioning with doubles strategies, along with playing games with the coaches. This is mainly a program for experienced players of various levels, not for beginners. The focus will be on playing doubles, including a variety of tactics and formations.

There will be an initial limit of 15 people, as the format will have three players with one coach on each court. The first 45 minutes will include warm-up exercises-movements, followed by a number of doubles drills. With only three players on each court with a coach, the drills move quickly as the players learn to execute various shots, while improving their conditioning also.

During the second half of each session, the three players will play doubles points/games with the coaches leading and instructing during the games. The coaches will play four games with each of the players as their partner, as the pairings switch after every four games. 

This program will be held on six Wednesday mornings on the following dates:

Feb. 6, 20; Mar. 6, 20; Apr. 3; May 1 (7:45 – 9:15am) at covered courts # 8 – 12.

(May 15 will be a make-up day in case of rainout)

Total Fee:  4,000 baht per person (600 baht per session, plus 400 CAO fee)

To sign up, please fill in your info at this link:

https://goo.gl/forms/17PrWExj6VzJS0zh2

AND then make payment in the CAO office. First 15 to sign up and pay will be registered to participate.

We look forward to some great fun together on the courts!!

Contact:
by Panther Tennis
Contact: panther@isb.ac.th