Communication skills are important at BIS

Dear Parents,

Collaboration, creativity, critical thinking and problem solving are important skills for the 21^st Century and communication is the glue that binds these skills together. This morning’s Secondary assembly highlighted the importance of students being able to communicate in different languages in order to maximise choice of universities and for entry into future jobs. Many of our teachers offer fluency in more than one language and the students have been tasked with an MFL treasure hunt to discover more, for example, do you know which members of staff speak Russian, Arabic, Portuguese, Japanese, German, Irish or Spanish?

Improving communication skills in English features heavily in our curriculum at BIS. A structured reading programme is followed in Primary and the Secondary school are taking a new approach this year to prioritise understanding of text by allocating books at the appropriate ability level. In next week's article, Ms Davies will explain the rationale behind our new structured programme for Key Stage 3, Accelerated Reader.

Since returning to Hanoi on Wednesday, from the annual Nord Anglia Principal’s Conference in Switzerland, I have enjoyed catching up on the events held over the last few days. I would like to thank Ms Rachael Howarth, Head of Performing Arts and the Regional Lead for Juilliard, for welcoming teachers from the Middle East and South East Asia to BIS Hanoi. Specialists from our collaboration with Juilliard School, New York, visited our campus over a 3-day period to deliver an exciting programme of professional development. Opportunities such as these ensure our teachers keep abreast of changes and receive inspiration from other professionals which in turn benefit our students.

This weekend, BIS Hanoi will once again be performing at the British Embassy event, GREAT, held at Hoan Kiem Lake. On Sunday morning, at 9:10 am, our students will be performing on the main stage located at Dinh Tien Hoang Street. It would be lovely to see BIS parents and students supporting this event.

Next week, we have our annual Big Draw event which is on the theme of Mindfulness this year. I look forward to seeing our BIS creativity flourish as all members of our community are encouraged to take part.