Mr Simon Higham: Weekly Update 13/10/17

Our children across all four houses (Saigon Dragons, Hue Cheetahs, Dalat Dragons and Hanoi Rhinos) have been busy working and playing together this week in order to create even more learning opportunities.

We hope that you will take time to read through the many posts that have been linked in today’s Update and interact with each one of them to ensure that key forthcoming campus and whole school events are firmly noted in your diaries and busy schedules.

Student Council

In assembly today, our newly elected Student Council (SC) members were introduced to all Y1 to Y6 children. The Student Council represents all children within our school, giving them a voice and opinion on the way in which our school operates and the future events that are planned to take place. We are pleased to announce to all of our APP school community, the following:

SC – Executive Committee

SC – Year 5 representatives

SC – Y6 representatives

APP Book Week Celebrations

If you would like to personally connect with Ms Liz Million, last week’s resident author and illustrator, feel free to Tweet her a message on her Twitter account.

Don’t forget to use the following hashtag for all of your tweets: #BISHCMC

Reimagining Learning with Technology

Recently, there has been a lot of development within the ICT department and the curriculum has been reimagined to better meet the needs of our students and the world that they live in. This year we have added a lot of new technology, such as class sets of Robots for years 3-6, a 3D printer, and we have even created a Twitter account to share all the learning and creation. 

Photon Racing Reflect on the F1 in Schools World Finals 2017

As we mentioned in our Weekly Update dated 22nd September, Team Photon set off for their much anticipated trip to Malaysia to compete in the F1 in Schools World Finals 2017. 

#PhotonRacing #BeAmbitious #F1inSchools

A Chat with Ms Hazel, LS (Learning Support) Teacher

This week, we would like to introduce Ms Hazel, a new member of our Learning Support Department.

Please note that you can read about all of our teaching staff by using the staff profiles section on our main school website.

F3 EAL Lessons in Term 1

The extensive EAL Blog, asks the question: ‘What is EAL?’

EAL (English as an Additional Language) refers to children who do not speak English as their first language. As some families speak more than one language fluently, we prefer to call it English as an additional language (EAL) rather than English as a second language (ESL).

At BIS HCMC, children who receive EAL support are usually new arrivals to the school who have had little experience of speaking English at school before.

Research by professor Jim Cummins says that a child who is just beginning to learn English can develop social and conversational fluency quite quickly. However, it can take much longer for a child to develop the proficiency in English necessary to achieve academic success. This is why it is essential that children are supported throughout the different stages of English acquisition.

The EAL Department at BIS works to support children with identified EAL needs to promote their language acquisition and curriculum access.

You can find some helpful ideas here: http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/en/parents/helping-your-child 

Spotlight on Learning – Let’s Think in English (LTE)

Following the successful training that was carried out across Years 5 – 8 during the last academic year (post from February 2017), Michael Walsh returned from Kings College, London, to provide a second round of training for staff previously inducted into the Let’s Think in English (LTE) programme. New teachers in the department this year also benefitted from the introductory training too.

BIS Autumn Holiday Camps

At BIS HCMC we continue to develop the opportunities that our children have for learning both inside and outside of the classroom, during term time and during the holidays too.

We have the pleasure in sharing the upcoming holiday programme on this page. For all enquiries please email Mr Phil Husband at: Philip.Husband@bisvietnam.com

All payments should be made to Ms Dung, our APP Cashier.

Deadline for sign up: Friday 13^th October

Young Musician of the Year

Well done to all of our semi-finalists in this year’s Young Musician of the Year and further congratulations to all of the children from APP, TX and BVIS who have progressed into this year’s final. The representatives from APP Campus are:

• Harry Zang - piano
• Caitlin Chua - cello
• Jane Ryu - violin
• Jehee Shin - piano
• Brandon Pye - piano
• Vi Anh Nguyen - voice

We are all looking forward to final that takes place in the APS Theatre on Tuesday 17^th October at 6.00pm. Everyone is welcome to come and join us for what is always an amazing evening of music by our extremely hard working and dedicated young musicians.

Basketball Match Report

Primary PE teacher Mr Richard Soriano updates us on the latest results from our Boys and Girls Primary Basketball teams...

View match report

Uniform – Reminder

Following last week’s Update, we would once again like to reinforce the following points regarding school uniform. We would like to remind all parents of the following points taken directly from the Early Years and Primary Parent Handbook:

• Children should wear sensible black leather shoes (F1 and F2 exempt) or closed toe sandals, preferably without laces for the younger children (F1 and F2 children should wear sensible shoes or closed toe sandals that will aid the growth and development of small feet. These are not required to be black in colour). We do not allow novelty shoes with flashing lights, squeaking noises or shoes which have the roller ball facility.

• If your child usually wears earrings, for safety reasons please ensure that suitable studs replace these while she is attending school. No looped or dangling earrings are permitted. The PE department may require the removal or suitable covering of studs in PE lessons for safety reasons.

Thank you to all parents who actively support our school in this important matter.

Traffic Flow

In order to keep our children safe on the roads outside BIS, both before and after school, please can you spend a few minutes of your time discussing the following points with your drivers.

• Never stop on or near to a pedestrian crossing – in order to ensure that our families can cross the road safely, please instruct your driver to park as far away from the main gates as possible to avoid congestion. Try walking a short distance to keep cars down to a minimum.

• No cars should be parked for long periods of time outside of school – ask your driver to meet you at a convenient location away from the school gates and please ask them to never double park as this stops the flow of traffic at peak times.

Nhằm đảm bảo an toàn giao thông cho học sinh trường BIS ngoài khuôn viên trường trước và sau giờ học, phụ huynh vui lòng dành một ít thời gian để thảo luận các điều sau với tài xế của mình.

• Không dừng gần hoặc trên vạch dành cho người đi bộ – nhằm đảm bảo an toàn cho các gia đình khi băng qua đường, vui lòng yêu cầu tài xế đậu xe cách xa cổng trường để tránh tắc nghẽn giao thông. Xin vui lòng đi bộ một quãng ngắn để hạn chế số lượng ô tô xung quanh trường.

• Không đậu xe lâu bên ngoài trường – vui lòng yêu cầu tài xế đợi bạn ở một địa điểm thuận tiện cách xa cổng trường và không đậu song song với một ô tô khác vì sẽ gây tắc nghẽn giao thông vào giờ cao điểm.

Always remember to Stop, Drop and Go to keep the traffic flowing.

Safeguarding at school – it’s everyone’s responsibility

If, during your visit to school, you have any reason to be concerned about the safety of a young person, please contact the Designated Safeguarding Person (Ms Dee Grimshaw) or the Head teacher (Mr Simon Higham).

Please note that CCTV cameras are in operation at all times across the campus.

PTG Update

Family Evening: Change of Date:

Saturday 11^th November, 4.30pm – 7.30 pm at An Phu Primary Campus

Please join us for a Family Evening on 11^th November 2017. The family evening is a fun event and an opportunity for the parents, teachers and children to come together as a community. It is also a time for BIS to welcome all new families and children in an informal gathering.

The Family Event, that previously took place in the mornings, is well attended with numbers of 700 or more. 

The highlights for this evening will include Bouncy Castle, Sand Art, Face Painting and other Games and Activities, alongside a BBQ Dinner.

It is free for all new families and all other adults within the BIS Community. A child ticket costs just VND 50.000.

Tickets will be on sale after the Half Term break. 

We would like help before and after school to help sell the tickets for the Family Evening on Saturday 11 November, if you can help (even just for one session) then please sign up using the following link -

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c054eacae28a4f85-family

We look forward to your participation.

Please email us at bisvnptgap1@gmail.com if you have any questions or if you would like to help out at any of our events.

Football Boot/Trainers – Donations Needed

Currently, we are collecting used football boots/trainers for our community partners.

If you have any unwanted trainers or football boots, please donate them to a worthy cause by placing them into the box that is currently located next to the recycling uniform box near Gate A/PTG board. 

All of your donations will go to help our community partners play safely on the football field.

Many thanks for your support.

Saturday Morning Football (SMF)

This is a parent-led activity from 8-10 am on a Saturday morning. All age appropriate BIS children are welcome to join.

Venue: An Phu Primary football fields.
Times:
- Y4 to Y6 boys and girls: 8.00am – 9.00am
- Y2 to Y3 boys and girls from 9.00am – 10.00am

Saturday Football is now underway and our Yr2-6 players enjoyed a fun-filled session of football with our volunteer coaches, helpers and students. There is still time to join the programme and enjoy playing with friends. Saturday Football is run entirely by parent volunteers. We desperately need parents to help with the ‘behind the scenes’ administration work. Without the invaluable help that these volunteers provide the programme would not happen.

Please come along and give your child the chance to kick the ball around! There is no commitment to signing up, just come along and see if you enjoy it. We offer family friendly football!

For further information please email - bissaturdayfootball@gmail.com. 

Key Dates – Summary

• Family Evening – Saturday 11^th November (please note – change of date)
• Teacher Appreciation Day – Monday 20^th November
• Term 1 PTG Disco – Thursday 30^th November

October

• Tuesday 17^th: Young Musician of the Year Final. All welcome – 6.00pm AP2 Theatre
• Monday 23^rd : Half term holiday begins – school closed
• Monday 30^th : School reopens

November

• Thursday 2^nd: Headteacher’s Coffee Morning – 8.15am (MPR). Topic: Assessment and Amalgamation Update
• Thursday 2^nd: Headteacher’s Coffee Morning Presentation repeated for those who couldn’t make the morning session.

For all of the dates in this year’s academic calendar, please click here to take you to the front page of the ‘News and Insights’ section of our school website.

And Finally………

Keep up to date with all of the learning that is taking place across our campus by browsing through the year group and specialist department blogs.

All of the blogs can be accessed at any time through the APP Quick Links. These are located within: Home > New and Insights > An Phu Primary.

Take a look to see the amazing learning opportunities that are being shared with parents by teachers and children on a daily basis.

We wish you all a pleasant weekend ahead.

Mr Simon Higham, Head Teacher, An Phu Primary Campus