Key Dates | Pastoral Update | Learning Showcase
Dear Parents,
The most exciting update this week no doubt was the return of Years 8-13 to school campus, amid improving conditions broadly in the city. As a school we continue to put specific actions in place to minimise close contact status among pupils and staff, although these are not completely eradicable.
Alongside school return, which we hope now will be permanent, are the continuing efforts of Year 11 and 13 students, with the strong backing of their teachers, to prepare for final IGCSE and IB examinations, beginning at the end of April. Year 13s, in particular, have their focus set on these examinations and entry into their tertiary learning institutions. Shortly, attention will turn to graduation and all the excitement that the event brings. More to come on graduation.
As Easter break is almost upon us, please keep a look out for reports which will be issued next week. The most important aspect of the reports is the reflection and conversations they inspire. Parents, ask your child to take you through their report and articulate for themselves what they believe to be the next step in their learning development. Without their self-reflection there can be no improvement.
Yours sincerely,
Chris Newman
Head of Secondary
As always this is a busy time for the Sixth Form, and a time of change.
The Year 13 students have reached or are reaching the end of their IB coursework commitments. A huge amount of time and effort has been applied by our students to their various Internal Assessments, TOK essays, Extended Essay and group 6 coursework over the past eighteen months that it must seem unreal to many of them that soon their only focus will be the IB exams. For the majority of our students, who had their IGCSE exams cancelled by the exam boards in 2020, these will be the first formal exams they will have sat. Nerves and anxiety will likely play a large role in their near future, and being able to support these students at this time, helping them to focus, and to channel the nervousness into positive excitement, will be a challenge for all of us here at school as well as at home as families.
To this end the school provided a Parent Workshop on Wednesday, led by our IB Coordinator Ms Gemma Archer, for parents of students in Years 11 and 13, passing on advice about how to support children as they prepare for the rigours of formal examinations. We are hoping that we can persuade our students to see these exams for what they are; and opportunity to show off the content knowledge they have accumulated over the two year course. To help students perform to their best ability in the exams they need a secure and comfortable study environment at home, and a healthy regime for their mind and body; sleep, as always, is the most essential tool, though I have written extensively about that in the past!
With the exams so close our minds turn, of course, to the next stages in these young peoples’ lives and news is coming to us of applications to universities and offers accepted from schools all around the world. We are planning the Year 13 graduation ceremony, whilst also planning to teach students some of the lessons they need for independent learning (most recently on budgeting).
But we also look to the students themselves to see what we can learn from them. This Friday is a great opportunity for students from Years 10, 11 and 12 to meet with members of Year 13 and ask questions about what Sixth Form studies here at BIS Hanoi are like, what the university application process involves, and generally ask their advice, insights and regrets about how their Sixth Form time was spent. This Knowledge Sharing Assembly has been a highlight of Term 2 for many years now, and, though it is unfortunate that this year it will be spent online, we look forward to the younger students benefiting from the wisdom of their peers following these challenging two years.
The knowledge sharing conference is one way in which the Year 13s are passing over to the Year 12s. Year 12 are now poised to become the leaders in the school, the oldest, most responsible members of the student body. This week we launched the process for applications for student leadership roles, with the deadline being Thursday. The terminology and application processes are changing slightly, and we are aiming to involve more student voices from Key Stages 3 and 4 in the appointment process, but student leadership has always been an integral component of the Sixth Form. Though they have big shoes to fill, those vacated by the current Year 13 student leaders, there are many inspirational, compassionate, thoughtful, creative and charismatic leaders amongst the Year 12 students and we look forward to seeing what they have to offer and how they drive change in our school moving forward.
Mr Airdrie
Head of Sixth Form
English | Maths | Korean | Science | History
Celebrating Mars Day in the English Department.
After listening to some inspiring David Bowie “Space Odyssey’ and watching an astronaut sing this song whilst in his ‘tin can’ space capsule (watched also by over 53 million viewers), students spent independent inquiry time researching space and then enjoyed crafting poems based on top tips and examples written by NASA scientists.
Here’s a snippet of what they’ve written:
Joanna Shepley Clarke
Head of English
On 14th to 16th March, eight Year 10 students took on the challenge of representing BIS Hanoi in the Key Stage 4 FOBISIA Mathematics Competition.
This year the event was hosted virtually by The English School of Mongolia. Our two teams were competing against many other British International Schools from across Asia, so they were feeling the pressure a little! There was one 45-minute round on each day, with the first round on Monday being an independent round – luckily this did not scare our fantastic teams away as they came back on Day 2 and 3 for more collaborative team challenges, which they thoroughly enjoyed. They developed their maths, creative thinking and teamwork skills through this competition and took a lot of value from it! This is what Jimin had to say about it:
“It was really great experience even if the team rounds were running online. As we divided into two groups and were sent in the breakout room, it was an exciting experience! We could discuss and share our answers with our teams. I had lots of fun while doing this as it is a competition through Asian International schools. I didn't aim to win this competition but I did aim to enjoy it! Thank you so much for giving this experience to me!”
One of our team captains, Rie, also enjoyed the creative thinking aspect:
“Maths FOBISIA was very fun because questions made us think creatively to solve them, not do simple calculations. It was really different from the maths we do in class, so it was really interesting. Even if I found a lot of questions challenging, in team rounds, we all had different questions we are good at, so we were able to tackle a lot of questions.”
Yeeun, our other team captain, agreed with Rie that it was different from the Maths we do in school!
"I was quite nervous about entering the competition for the first time because I didn't know what kind of questions will turn up. FOBISIA was very different from my school exams and at first, I struggled with some of the challenging questions - I really had to think hard to solve them. But as we worked in groups in Rounds 2&3, I became more used to the Online format and were able to solve questions easier. I really enjoyed this new experience, and I hope I will develop my math skills more in future!"
Yeeun deserves a special mention for achieving joint 3rd place in the Individual Round. The Maths Department also want to give a huge well done to the other mathematicians taking part: An Duy, Trong Nhan, YeonJu Rebecca, Gia Linh, and Gia Bao .
Ms Cooper and Ms Thomas
Mathematics Teachers
During the Korean lesson, we created a certificate for the character who speaks out for discrimination in 1950s.
Year 7 students created an amazing certificate by using their inquiry and thinking skills. Some students refer to the certificate they have received and applied the same structure (even BIS school logo!). It was great to see how students interact with characters and improve their knowledge of 'discrimination' for a global significance.
Unju Song and Seyoung An
Korean Teachers
Year 8s this term have been looking into ‘Enslaved Peoples’. They have been discovering the causes of slavery, both during the Atlantic Slave Trade and in today’s context. Students have been studying life on plantations in the Americas and how slaves resisted slavery. This week they have been working in groups and each assigned a particular slave revolt or a person who made a contribution to ending slavery in the Americas, such as Harriet Tubman or the Stono Rebellion.
Students needed to assign each other roles and consider the causes, events and impacts of their factors. One group has presented this week and Ms Black was very impressed with their efforts- especially considering so many of them also had citations on their work! Other groups shall be presenting next week and I am sure will do an excellent job- well done all!
Designing Mars Rovers
Our Year 7s and 8s have been drawing designs of Mars rovers. They’ve had to think carefully about the difficult conditions that the rovers will face. How will the rovers navigate the treacherous, cratered terrain? Where will the energy to power the rovers come from? What equipment will the rovers need to perform experiments on Mars?
Here's a selection of some of their draft designs:
Thomas Somerville
Science Teacher
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