BIS Hanoi students take over the school for World Children's Day 2021

Every year in November, BIS Hanoi students come together to celebrate World Children's Day through a series of inspiring, student-led activities.

This week, students from across the school held several days of special activities in the run-up to World Children’s Day. The aims were to recognise the importance of empowering children's rights, to raise awareness about injustices that children in some parts of the world endure, and - most importantly - to cultivate understanding and empathy on the school campus.  

This year's activities took place over the course of a week, from November 15th to November 19th, and were led by our two UNICEF Ambassadors Gia Han and Linh Dan (Year 12). 

On each day of the week, different events were held to raise awareness of the Immunisation and Vaccination initiative (a Regional Objective by UNICEF), as well as to celebrate children and their ambitions. For the very first time, the activities and celebrations involved everyone at BIS Hanoi - from Primary right through to Key Stage 3, 4, and 5 students, as well as our staff and parents.

On Monday, the theme was "Health is Wealth”, where our students had the opportunity to learn more about the terrible diseases that impact children all around the globe. They also studied the importance of vaccinations and how they are critical to saving lives.  

On Tuesday, students were encouraged to 'Play Their Part’, and took part in a school-wide competition in which they created materials to raise awareness of a social issue of their choice. 

On Wednesday, Linh Dan, our UNICEF ambassador, prepared a brief informative video which featured two inspirational child figures. The video used their stories to explain the importance of an individual's own environment and having role models.  

On Thursday, our students had the chance to participate in a ‘Kahoot’ or ‘Quizlet’ to encourage them to reflect on what they had learned over the course of the week. They also had the opportunity to share their thoughts on a worldwide issue that was important to them, as well as their vision of an ideal world and what needed to be done in order to attain it.

Finally, on Friday our entire school were encouraged to dress in blue (the colour of UNICEF) and attended engaging and informative student-led assemblies. The fantastic assemblies shed further light on the importance of World Children’s Day and how it is celebrated around the world. Guest speakers from the Blue Dragon Children's Foundation, as well as BIS Hanoi staff, parents, and students, all shared their different perspectives on the significance of World Children's Day. 

Throughout this inspiring week, we were amazed by how meticulously the events were planned by our student leaders, as well as the clear and confident communication from both Primary and Secondary students. Even though we could not come together in person, the magnificent efforts of the students meant that the whole BIS Hanoi community were able to celebrate World Children’s Day together.