In search of Siam

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Ready for class Grade 5 students show respect to Master Owen "Show me the money!" Siam's kids work out the maths. Members of the ninth grade student committee left to right: Stephanie, Som, Luke, Puy. Peach is sitting on the floor.

In the seven months since Siam International School opened in Rangsit, the school community has already developed a sense of identity and purpose. "We’re trying to get at the whole child," explains Nonie Du Chatelier, Siam’s enthusiastic Academic Director. "Because we are new, we are not shackled by pre-conceived notions of what a school should be. We are trying to operate on a consensus. A lot of the faculty are here because we are a new school and they get to put their own ideas into practice instead of having to follow established order."

Thai principal Bupha Pinwanit

But building a school from scratch is no easy task. Bupha Pinwanit, the Thai Principal, remembers the trepidation felt by everyone at the outset. "We approached it all with a bit of fear to begin with," she recalls. "If you work in an environment where everything is established, you feel very secure. Here, we were a new place and we never knew if we were going to be successful." Naturally, everyone was under a lot of pressure and some have since moved on. "But the good thing is that we have a strong set of goals," adds Pinwanit, "and everybody wants to work towards those. If you are determined, you take that pressure as a challenge."

"A lot of the major challenges were tackled by my predecessor, Ron Anderson," says Du Chatelier. "He had to get the students here and work with a highly educated faculty who have a vast range of opinions about what education should be. Balancing what teachers feel they need with the limitations of the resources available means having a lot of balls to juggle."

Initial worries over recruiting enough native speakers willing to risk their careers on unknown territory soon proved unfounded and, thankfully, there were enough interested parents to make opening a viable proposition. In the space of only 8 months, Siam International went from being a bare plot of land to a set of purpose-built classrooms, an auditorium, play-area and a canteen. Work is ongoing to build a gymnasium, more classrooms for the developing High School and a swimming pool.

There are currently around 160 students enrolled from Kindergarten age to Grade 9. Whilst the majority are Thai, SIAM has managed to attract a handful of Japanese, Korean, American and Australian students and is hoping to expand on their international credentials. They work within the American Curriculum, although it is a movable feast as far as structure goes. "We don’t follow the model of any of the other schools," says Du Chatelier. "Instead, we get together a group of people who have good ideas about what education should be and constantly adjust our programmes to fit needs."

Everyone at Siam is keen to provide a wide-ranging education for their charges. Du Chatelier believes that, in order to become well-rounded individuals, students should be exposed to a "buffet of experiences". It is proposed that four afternoons a week will be dedicated to extra-curricular activities, run by faculty members, encompassing both sport and the arts. "This will also allow students and faculty to interact on a different level so that students see another side of the faculty members. For example, they may have a Maths teacher who is doing Landscape Architecture," she suggests.

Other initiatives have already been introduced. On entering the school, each non-native English speaking student is assessed on their language competency and then begin their education at Siam with some intensive English training. The focus here is on becoming confident speakers and writers, although students still learn the basics of other subjects such as Science and Maths alongside the ESL programme. "From observation, children who come in with less than proficient language skills don’t make friends as easily because they are reluctant to speak and they feel that they are not as good as the other kids. So we are hoping to address self-esteem issues here," says Du Chatelier. Continual assessment will determine the length of time a child stays within the ESL programme and, once their English is deemed good enough, they join the mainstream.

It is often said that a healthy body is conducive to a healthy mind and it is this adage that inspired SIAM to make the martial art of Tae Kwondo compulsory for all students, even the little ones. ‘Master’ Robert Owen, Siam’s professional Tae Kwondo expert and coach, is a strong believer that his art can be enormously beneficial to the process of education. "If you allow body and mind to work together, making them one, then you become a better person totally," he asserts. "Physical fitness helps to attune the mind." Focus is an important challenge for all students, especially teenagers, and Master Owen considers Tae Kwondo a strong motivator of self-discipline, respect for others and good character.

Educators at Siam are mostly native English speakers with the majority hailing from America, Australia and the UK. All are eager to make their contribution to the founding principals that may eventually establish SIAM as one of Thailand’s leading international schools.

English Teacher Peter Mills is impressed by the maturity of the older students. "We gear our teaching towards quite a high level and students appreciate this because it helps them with communication," he explains.

Joe Bryer, Siam’s Music teacher, has worked all over Asia. "I’ve established music departments in India and Indonesia, so I was attracted to do the same here," he says. "The kids are enjoying it and that makes our work easier. We have a couple of talented violinists and pianists and already have an ensemble, recorder consort, rock band and choir. We’re also looking at setting up a Marching Band." Furthermore, the school is hoping to gain accreditation from the AMEB (Australian Music Examination Board) which will make them eligible for visits by professional Australian musicians to give master classes and workshops.

It isn’t just the adults who have a say in how the school runs. Du Chatelier is keen to involve older students in the decision-making process too, with a view to making them act more responsibly.

At the beginning, it seems there were a few growing pains as far as behaviour was concerned. Because those in Grade 9 found themselves at the top end of the school, some saw their new relaxed international environment as an opportunity to behave ‘freestyle’ as opposed to how they would act in a Thai school.

"So what we decided to do with Grade 9," says Du Chatelier, "was throw it right back at them and say ‘these are the issues that we have. Instead of imposing a disciplinary code on you, we want you to form a committee and to decide how to best address these issues. We want to see what solutions you come up with by polling the student body and coming to a consensus’."

The results were surprising, she recalls. "The members of the student body elected to the committee were not necessarily the class leaders but students who represented the core of these problems. We thought that was great because they have a better understanding of solutions that would work. And they came up with wonderful solutions – a very mature and well presented. Normally I don’t think that a ninth grade class would display that kind of self-determination. But they did here and it was an example of how they live up to our expectations if we treat them in a mature fashion."

The students are very motivated by this approach. Peach, one of the student committee says that the initiative helped to "improve communication between students and teachers." Stephanie, an articulate ninth Grader and another committee member notes the recent results. "The teachers haven’t been yelling at grade 9 for a whole week so I think there’s been a marked improvement! The reaction of the student body has been positive. Because we in the ninth grade are senior in the school, we see ourselves as role models for the rest. Giving us an opportunity to right the wrongs that are going on here is empowering," she says proudly.

Such a display of maturity has gained the students some trust and they now have a forum to bring their own complaints to the fore. "They are not superficial complaints, either," notes Du Chatelier. "They are well-thought-out legitimate concerns such as labeling. It’s very important to get structures in place where they understand the responsibilities of growing older as well as the perks. Here, you have to deal with the odd dichotomy that in the West they are treated as young adults whereas in the East they are treated as older children."

The consensus initiative, she says, is a clear example of how the school will develop its own distinctive philosophy. "I think it is all based on common sense. We are preparing kids to go out into a world that is unbelievably complex and confusing. This is a microcosm of that world and we are like a safety net catching them as they fall and saying ‘hey, get up again’. You often work as team and not everybody’s good at the same thing. It’s partly about recognising the other’s strengths to make a good whole as well as recognising you own limitations, coming to terms with them and finding someone who can fill the gap. That’s the culture of the school."

It will be interesting to see where SIAM goes from here. There is much work ahead for the school community in order for them to gain a firm foothold in Thailand’s competitive international school industry. Many of the initiatives already in place will help and, as the school grows, so should its confidence and identity.

Next year, the school will begin Grade 10 and develop both an IB programme for high-ability students as well as a regular senior programme for others suited to something more mainstream. There is also a desire to reach out to their neighbours. "We feel it’s very important that the school not be an ivory tower but also be part of the community," says Du Chatelier. "We want the school to be a cultural resource for the students but also for the people of the area around Rangsit. There is no cultural resource at present for people in this area. Community service is another thing we stress throughout the whole school."

As far as growth is concerned, Siam are taking care to get it right. "We don’t want to be the biggest," says Du Chatelier. "We don’t want to grow so fast that we can’t continue doing what we do well."