Year 2 CAT

Children of the Forest Charity were established in 2005 and are a Registered non-profit Foundation based in Sangkhlaburi, an area close to the Thai – Myanmar border. They are nestled amongst a community of approximately 150,000 stateless refugees who have escaped from years of oppression in Myanmar. Significant numbers in the community were born in Thailand but being denied Thai citizenship means their access to education, legal support and healthcare is denied. This makes the community highly vulnerable to all forms of exploitation, and children are an especially vulnerable group.

Children of the Forest supports families (particularly children and mothers) to break the repeating cycle of poverty. Their ‘Free School’ offers kindergarten and elementary programmes for up to 250 children – resourcing them with educational supplies and a daily breakfast and lunch. Their preparatory education programmes enable children to eventually transition into the Thai education system. Additionally, Children of the Forest provide a child protection centre for abandoned, abused or orphaned children. They also provide a mother’s refuge and healthcare clinic providing free healthcare treatment for families.

Thanks to the generous support of the Patana School Community, and our fantastic fund raising efforts throughout the year, (in particular our Term 2 Spell-a-thon fundraiser), we have been able to help fund refurbishment works to the Children of the Forest Girl's House.

Improvements have included replacing the bamboo floors with high-quality wooden panels, building two new outdoor salas which provide some quiet relaxation space, seating areas in the gardens and upgrading a storage hut to become a brand new vocational training multi-purpose room. 

These important improvement works provide an excellent vocational space for the girls to practice cooking, hairdressing and beauty care, which supports them in developing the skills needed beyond their time at Children of the Forest. Additionally, this supports real-life skills for later in life. Making a real difference to the lives of these girls - such fantastic news to hear and see. 

Children of the Forest Challenge AKA Spell-a-thon

Year 2 held their Term Two Community Fundraising Event, the Children of the Forest Challenge, on Friday 31st March. This event proved to be very popular and highly successful. This was a non-competitive event with children encouraged to do their best and enjoy themselves whilst learning new spelling words.

The event raises important funds for our sponsored charity Children of the Forest, located in Kanchanaburi Province.

The 2022 Christmas Shoebox Appeal - bringing a little bit of Christmas sparkle to our charity - Children of the Forest. 

Thank you so much to the generous Patana School Community and children of Year 2 for their generous and kind donations. These Christmas Shoeboxes will make their way to the Children of the Forest School in Kanchanaburi Province, and give the children a small treat, where they would otherwise not receive a Christmas present.

We have managed to put together over 150 shoeboxes and that means 150 happy faces on Christmas Day. How wonderful!

A big thank you to everyone who helped to make Smile Day 2022 such a huge success. The Primary School raised ฿89,601 which is being donated to Operation Smile Bangkok to help pay for life changing surgery for children born with cleft palates.

Please look here for more information about Smile Day at Bangkok Patana School.

In the Primary School, the day was focused on spreading smiles, even under our masks, through jokes, laughs and acts of kindness. We were so grateful to everyone who helped make this funny video to get us in the mood for the celebration.