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Communication, collaboration and community. These are the three elements that I spoke about during the parents’ information evening in August. I believe they lie at the heart of a strong home school partnership that will enable our children to thrive and be successful at school.
The first PTSCs that were held this week had a pastoral focus. These provided an opportunity for parents and teachers (with their children) to have one-to-one conversations about how children have settled, to provide teachers with more information about the children and to discuss how learning is going to progress this term. Teacher feeding back to me has been very positive about the meetings. Please remember, this is not the only opportunity to talk to your child’s class teacher; if at any point you wish to discuss something, please contact them via Seesaw to make an appointment.
Headteachers’ coffee mornings have traditionally been held once a term. This year we have started them earlier than usual as we would like them to be more regular during this period of virtual school. Thank you to those of you who joined Ms Dee and me on Wednesday morning as we welcomed our new teachers, looked forward to the year ahead and heard from Mr Tom (Year 2 Leader) who shared about the research a team of BIS teachers carried out with regard to effectively feeding back to children.
If you were not able to attend or would like to see the presentation again, you can watch the webinar by clicking on the link below:
Headteachers’ Coffee Morning - 08.09.21
F3 have been learning on the wild side! We packed our bags with our essential items (don’t forget your bug spray!) put on our hats, glasses and took our handmade telescopes on a Rainforest Adventure. We used our ‘good looking’ eyes to spot animals, listened to nature and made sure to duck when a cheeky monkey came along.
Jo Powell - F3 Leader
This week we have successfully launched our first ever ‘Talk for Life’ live sessions, an initiative developed to promote speech and language skills at home. These sessions are part of our wider program Stay, Play and Learn All Together (SPLAT) which focuses on building strong parent-teacher partnerships to enhance the children’s virtual school experience.
It is vital that during this time of virtual learning the children are given lots of opportunities to develop their problem solving, communication and language skills. Through ‘Talk for Life’ we aim to support parents in achieving this by offering pre-recorded and live sessions which explore fun play-based learning activities families can do together. We encourage the child’s use of language throughout by modelling and repeating age-appropriate vocabulary.
In our first week of ‘Talk for Life’, we have been delighted with the level of interest and participation in the ‘Virtual SPLAT’ sessions. Together, the families of F1 and F2 began to explore ‘water play’, a theme which we will continue over the next 5 weeks. It was excellent to see the children’s imagination at work as they set up their ‘water play’ areas and enjoyed scooping, pouring and mixing water with a range of everyday items from home.
Assistant Head of Primary, Maria Shooter said, ‘It was so great to see joyful faces with children meaningfully engaged in water play. Some children were having such a great time they continued after the session. This is how we see children learning through their own play and exploration, and it was great to see in children’s own homes. I know teachers (and parents!) had as good a time as the children!’
Starting next week:
In order to get the most out of these sessions, we encourage you to let your child take the lead. Talk to your child throughout; comment on what they are doing; ask them questions; and make eye contact with them to show your interest and engagement in what they are doing. This will support your child’s speech and language development and make the experience much more enjoyable for both of you.
We are very excited to meet more families next week and continue these meaningful interactions.
Luke Neville - Assistant EAL Leader
Sasha Greenwood - EAL Teacher
A huge “Thank You” to all the children and parents who are getting so excited and involved with all the tasks and challenges we are teaching you! Over the past month, we have given the Primary Campus an Olympic theme; getting the students to learn the history of the Games; techniques and rules of athletic events; train with real Olympic athletes; plan a circuit training routine; and create their own awesome pictogram videos just as we saw in the opening ceremony.
At the EYI Campus, our students have been going GUGA in PE! Get Up and Get Active. They’ve been busting out their moves as Olympic athletes; jumping, ducking, and diving away from rocket ships and dinosaurs; and last week saw them as swashbuckling pirates dodging cannonballs, digging for treasure, and climbing the rigging! We have seen some outstanding and very creative work, and are so impressed that family members are joining in the fun and learning too!
The Primary PE Dept
Each week we will introduce some of the new teachers that have joined our team this year! This week we will learn more about Ms Josette Harris and Ms Chloe Barron who have joined the F3 team and Ms Amy Howard who has joined the Music Department. We wish them a warm BIS welcome!
Where have you moved to BIS from?
St George International School, Madrid (via the UK!)
Why did you move to BIS?
I have always heard such good things about BIS, the EYFS department and their facilities and I wanted to return to Vietnam, as I lived here previously for five years and it was like my second home.
What has been the best experience for you since arriving in Vietnam?
Drinking ca phe sua da again! And being around the lovely Vietnamese people again, even in lockdown they are showing their kindness and wonderful helpful community spirit. Also, everyone at BIS has been so supportive in guiding us through everything in this difficult time.
Tell us one fun fact about yourself (hobbies, interests, talents, etc.)
I tap dance!
Where have you moved to BIS from?
York, England
Why did you move to BIS?
To learn from more experienced teachers and to be part of a supportive international community.
What has been the best experience for you since arriving in Vietnam?
The support from everyone including my buddies and the school’s leadership team. I can't thank everyone enough.
Tell us one fun fact about yourself (hobbies, interests, talents, etc.)
I have been riding horses since the age of 4.
Where have you moved to BIS from?
Whitstable in Kent, England. I worked at a special needs school in Ramsgate.
Why did you move to BIS?
The school is fantastic, and so is Vietnam!
What has been the best experience for you since arriving in Vietnam?
How supportive people from the school have been, so warm and welcoming, and caring too.
Tell us one fun fact about yourself (hobbies, interests, talents, etc.)
I love swimming in the sea all year round, even when it's freezing cold and snowing.
We have accepted the challenge and we would like to invite you to do so too!
On the week beginning 20th September we will participate in the Blue Dragon Marathon Walk 2021, an international event which will see us going the distance to raise funds for our community partner Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation.
BIS HCMC has entered three teams, one for each campus, and we are looking forward to having the entire BIS community join us in helping vulnerable Vietnamese youth break out of poverty!
For more than 15 years Blue Dragon Children’s foundation has been providing holistic care for those in need, whether a rural child who has found themselves alone on the streets of Hanoi searching for work, or a young woman who has been trafficked into China as a bride.
Please be on the lookout for more information on how to accept the challenge, which we will be sharing shortly.
Tracey Brownrigg
BIS Community Service Project Manager
13/09/21 Virtual Co-Curricular Activities: Block 1 Begins
20/09/21 Blue Dragon Walk a Marathon beings
21/09/21 Moon Festival celebrations
22/09/21 EAL Webinar for EY&I Parents @ 1.30pm
06/10/21 Phonics Coffee Morning
13/10/21 Headteachers’ Coffee Morning
15/10/21 Virtual Co-Curricular Activities: Block 1 Ends
16/10/21 Half-term break begins
25/10/21 Term 1.2 begins
Please remember to keep hydrated when working during the day and drink plenty of water.
Please remember the 5K to keep safe.
It was wonderful to see many parents joining us for the coffee morning. In this event we presented our core team as well as updated everyone about roles and responsibilities of class and country reps and upcoming events of Term 1.
The key role of the class rep this year would be to form a WhatsApp group for their class and build a class community for supporting the parents. The class rep will not be collecting any class funds and PTG will help with the Teacher’s Day gift, Christmas, and Tet. We are currently away from home and forming a ‘class family' will give a sense of comfort for the new parents as well as the existing parents. Many parents have signed up for class rep but we are still looking for a class rep for the following classes.
F1- B, I, S, V,
F2- B, I, V, H
F3- I, S,V,N,H
Y1-B, I, V, C
Y2- B,I,S,V,N,H
Class rep sign up here.
The key responsibilities of country rep are to help the new parents in settling in. They will set up a stall to represent their country’s culture and food during Global Café. This will be a two-day event during the International week. You need not hold the passport to represent a country. If you or your child has a strong bonding with a particular country and you would like to showcase its culture and food to the BIS students, please click the link below and sign up. If you can’t find the country’s name on the list, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Country rep sign up here.
This month, the PTG team is planning a workshop related to the upcoming Moon Festival. If you would like to be part of this workshop or have ideas to share, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Our email address is primaryptgbis@gmail.com.
Enjoy your weekend and hope to see more sign ups.
Thank you,
Gayatri Shankar
A reminder that our virtual co-curricular activities (VCCAs) or clubs will begin on Monday. We hope that these will enrich your child’s BIS learning experience and help you to engage with your children in a wide range of activities. Please check in SchoolsBuddy or your email for the Google link.
Have a safe and restful weekend.
Ian Battersby
Head of the Early Years and Infant Campus
Joining BIS HCMC in Foundation Stage 2 (F2) is a fantastic age to begin a lifetime love for learning, encouraged and nurtured by our experienced and committed class and specialist teachers, who personalise learning unique to every child. We look back at what our F2s have experienced in less than one term already at BIS HCMC.
The weekly update from Ian Battersby, Headteacher of the Early Years and Infant Campus highlighting some of the events that have taken place this week.