HoS Highlights: October's News and Updates

By Ryan Persaud / October 27, 2023 / Head of School Highlights

Dear VERSO Community,

I hope that everyone had a restful break and took the time to recharge as we begin our next quarter. During the break the Leadership Team was able to gather at VERSO to reflect on the first quarter and continue working on the schoolwide action plan. I want to thank the Leadership Team for giving up their time during our break to come into school and continuing to work on making VERSO an even better place for our community. This work will guide us to even greater success in the near future.

On 12 October, we had our first Professional Learning Day which was dedicated to our ongoing preparations for the upcoming WASC accreditation visit. Time was also spent working towards our schoolwide action plan, gathering feedback and insights from the Learning Design Team. Soon families will have the opportunity to provide feedback on the schoolwide action plan. We also took the opportunity to bring the Operations Team together with our Learning Designers and Learning Assistants to better understand how we can work together

This past Monday and Tuesday, we partnered with International School Services (ISS), to host a job fair at VERSO. This was an opportunity to highlight our campus and build brand recognition for VERSO. We hosted almost 40 schools and over 100 candidates. In all there were over 150 participants. I want to thank our amazing facilities team for doing such a wonderful job of organizing the event and allowing us to shine. The feedback was extremely positive, with participants commenting on the deep, rigorous, and interdisciplinary learning they saw taking place during their tours.

I also had the opportunity this week to attend the American Chamber of Commerce Annual General Meeting to network with their members, allowing us to build the VERSO brand. This event included a talk by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin who shared his vision for the Thailand economy. The highlight for me was hearing his vision for a commitment to Thailand’s environment, including sustainability, reduction of carbon footprint, and electric vehicles. Since many of our students are interested in this topic, it was interesting to hear his stance.

This week, the Leadership Team attended the East Asian Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS) professional learning event in Bangkok. It provided us with the opportunity to understand how we can improve our practices, keep abreast of any changes in the field of education, and, of course, share our story. I would like to thank our Cohort Leaders for their leadership as we were off campus for this event.

Over the past two weeks there have been several other educational events and conferences in Bangkok that have brought many guests from around the world to the city. This has allowed us to welcome a variety of visitors to our campus and highlight all of the progressive and innovative learning that we are doing.

Next week I am very excited to see the students dressed up for Halloween! There are several events planned for the day, including a costume parade for the Lower Loop, a haunted house for the Middle Loop, and activities planned for the Upper Loop. Please check your VERSO Line for the details. Also, remember the Halloween dress code, which can be found here.

Lastly, I would like to share about the upcoming coffee mornings in November.

1 November, we have a UniVERSOtea session on applying to North American schools.
8 November, we have a very special event hosted by our learner-led Environmental Club, with the Trash Lucky founder coming in to speak about the recycling program.
15 November, we have an EAL session with our EAL Specialists Maria and Munira.

We hope to see you at these valuable events!

Best regards,

Ryan Persaud
Head of School