News & Views

We proudly introduce this month’s School Spotlight; St. Andrews International School Dusit in Thailand. Our School Spotlight series showcases what makes our global community so special, highlighting the individual strengths of our exceptional learning environments and understanding the benefits of being part of our wider community.

St. Andrews International School Dusit is a British international School set just outside the grounds of the Chitralada Palace in Bangkok. Dusit is an inclusive school for children aged 2 to 11. Since opening with five children in 2010, it has expanded to just over 360 children distributed throughout 20 classes.

Our guiding statement is to be, ‘the happiest community empowering every individual to achieve outstanding growth’ and this permeates the Dusit culture.

We encourage students to stay curious, explore new things and try their best. Students have many opportunities to do this in lessons through our broad curriculum and also through enrichment activities, such as after school clubs, sports and arts events and student leader groups.

We are proud of the achievements students make, with outstanding academic progress and personal development. Last year, we were awarded outstanding in our EDT report and this year, we received the Cognita Asia, “School of the Year’ award. These accolades not only help us to make sure we are meeting our high expectations but also drive us forward to become even better.

St Andrews Dusit is known as a close-knit community. Many of the staff and families here have been part of the school for a number of years, showing us great loyalty and trust as well as helping us stay true to our vision as we have grown.

Parents love to get involved with the learning at Dusit. During Science Week and International Week the parents help to plan events and support their child at home with projects and presentations. A firm partnership exists between the families and staff which enables us to support each child and gain valuable feedback from both perspectives to help us get even better.

Within the Bangkok community, Dusit has held various events to raise money and awareness for groups or causes, many of these planned by the student leader groups. Our Dusit values of responsibility, empathy, understanding and collaboration are key attributes to creating a happy community. This year alone, we have supported Operation Smile Thailand, Bangkok Community Help Foundation, Paintbrush Foundation and also the Rajivithi’s Girls Home.

This year, The Eco Warriors have been supporting our whole school sustainability goal of reducing our carbon footprint. They have been lucky enough to have been involved in a Cognita-run pilot programme, ‘Sustainability at School’, with excellent support given from Clare Garey.

The Eco Warriors are a student group led by two teachers, Ms Lottie and Ms Ana, from Year 1 to Year 6. They meet every week to discuss their goals, actions and to reflect on their progress and next steps.

Since the target of reducing food waste by 25% was set, they discussed as a team:
– What did we know about the lunchtime routines and behaviours?
– Did we know how to reduce food waste?
– How could we let people know to help change some lunchtime behaviours to help reduce the food we throw away?

We are so pleased with the responsibility and motivation our students have shown and the impact this initiative has had. Dusit will continue to work towards our goal to reduce food waste in the year ahead.

Learn more about our latest Spotlight School here.