Global Citizenship and Service at BIS Hanoi

Global Citizenship and Service at BIS Hanoi Service projects can be local or international. They can range from small scale action groups working at a micro level to collaborative groups involving multinational agencies that ambitiously strive to solve problems on a global scale. British International School Hanoi is home to a full range of service projects as the following examples illustrate.

Global Citizenship and Service at BIS Hanoi

Encompassing our Aide Memoire are the words “global citizens learning together”. This phrase is fundamental to the ethos of our school. We want our students to be internationally minded citizens. Helping the students to understand what phrases like “global citizenship” and “international mindedness” mean is best accomplished by encouraging students to act as global citizens through service projects. Service projects can be local or international. They can range from small scale action groups working at a micro level to collaborative groups involving multinational agencies that ambitiously strive to solve problems on a global scale. British International School Hanoi is home to a full range of service projects as the following examples illustrate.

Year 12 IB CAS Residentials

This week I attended two presentations given by Mr Toner, our excellent CAS coordinator, to parents of Year 12 students. The presentations explained how our Year 12 students would be helping communities in Mai Chau and Tanzania during the period 15-24 March. It was interesting to think that our students would be learning from each other’s experiences and reflecting on the needs of local and far away communities. In the future, no matter where we settle, internationally minded citizens can find a way to make a difference to the communities to which they belong.  

Collaborating with the United Nations

Congratulations to HA Dong Ae (Susan), TRAN Hong Phuc and LE Thai Phuong who have won a competition for Year 10 and Year 11 Pre IB students to represent the school at an international service event. The three students will have the pleasure of convening in New York City in July, during the summer holidays, with other students from all around the Nord Anglia Education network. This amazing opportunity, based at the United Nations and working with representatives from UNICEF, will see the students focus on two of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals – “Zero hunger” and “Good health & well-being”.  They will take part in workshops and debates in order to tackle these issues and to design practical solutions for the needs of their community.  Some of the Nord Anglia Education students will then have the opportunity to present their projects at an event during the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. This is when many governments and charities will meet to plan projects for the future.  They will hear the students’ ideas and give feedback – hopefully some of their ideas will be adopted.

This is an extraordinary opportunity for the three British International School Hanoi students and goes to show the benefits of BIS being a part of the Nord Anglia Education family and having access to portals such as Global Campus. We wish them well in their preparations and hope that they enjoy an experience of a lifetime!

Working with Blue Dragon in Hanoi

A group of our students have collected together under the name of Project Impact to support children within the Hanoi community. This, week, Chau Anh and Ha Ngan (both of Year 11) visited the Blue Dragon orphanage to deliver resources raised by the work of their community action group.

If international mindedness is about engaging with your community, collaborating with others and taking action to solve social and economic problems, then more than 50 BIS global citizens have been at work this week.

Tim Webb, Head of Secondary