Retaining the Best Characteristics of BIS Hanoi

At BIS Hanoi, we successfully retain staff through our “Grow Your Own” philosophy.

Dear Parents

Today, Ms Hill announced the teachers who will be leaving BIS Hanoi at the end of this academic year (July 2018). It is always a sad occasion, when we have to accept that not all of our great teachers (and colleagues) will return to BIS Hanoi, after the summer.

It’s Sad to Say Goodbye to Wonderful Teachers

Our sadness stems from many sources. For students, they might be losing a teacher, who has helped them improve their work, more than in the past. Almost certainly, one or more of the teachers will have helped the children to build up their level of confidence in using English. Sports teachers might have taught them new skills or helped them to feel part of a a team culture, whilst form tutors  will have made the children feel safe and secure. Our high quality teachers help the children in so many ways, it is inevitable that we all lose something, when they leave our school.

Teacher movement is a defining characteristic of all international schools. Our retention rate of secondary staff for the last two years has been more than 90%, which is above average for an international school. High quality staff move on to promoted posts, seek challenges in new countries and, sometimes, return home to be closer to friends and family and, therefore, good retention is around 80%, commonly.

Our Grow Your Own Philosophy

At BIS Hanoi, we successfully retain staff through our “Grow Your Own” philosophy. Existing staff receive high quality professional development in order to prepare them for future leadership in our school. Consequently, Mr Trett will take over the leadership of Key Stage 3 from Mrs Wild and Mrs Stevenson will take over the leadership of Key Stage 4 from Mr Westropp. Mr Westropp will stay at BIS Hanoi, as he will be joining our senior leadership team in the role of Assistant Head of Pastoral Care. Mr Westropp will lead a very strong pastoral team, which will also include Mr Airdrie and Mrs Fairbairn.

Other beneficiaries of our grow your own philosophy have been Mr Schofield (our new Theory of Knowledge coordinator), Mr Hoare (our Extended Essay coordinator) and Mr Forster, (our Global Campus coordinator). Next year, they will join leaders like Mr Duckett, Mr Minchin, Ms Wilson and Mrs Fernandes, who have all been promoted in the last twelve months.

A Quality Future is Guaranteed

Ensuring that we recruit replacement teachers with excellent qualifications, skills and commitment is always one of our priorities. Recruitment began in October 2017 and we are confident that we are bringing to BIS Hanoi, a team of new teachers, who will inspire the children to excel in the next academic year. They will bring the same level of care and academic excellence that parents have come to expect from us.

We will always be grateful to our departing teachers. Each one makes their mark and contributes a layer of quality to our growing school. Their contribution is too great to summarise. The children will no doubt show the departing teachers their appreciation and rightly so. Reassuringly, I know that the departing teachers have been working hard all year to ensure that they hand over systems, resources and information, that will enable the new teachers to continue moving BIS Hanoi forward towards its outstanding future, as an inspiring and caring school, where academic excellence is never compromised.

Tim Webb, Head of Secondary