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Dear Parents,
This week was one of sound and colour, buzz and excitement, as we relaunched our in-person CCA programme on Monday, held our World Book Day celebrations on Thursday and ended today with the magnificent special Acoustic Lounge to mark the culmination of Black History Month.
The level of engagement from our students has shown us just how much value they place on enriching experiences beyond the classroom - connecting with each other, learning and forging relationships in the process.
This week has also been one in which we celebrate community. It was such a pleasure to welcome parent country representatives to begin the planning process for our International Day at the end of term. We will of course have an adapted event this year to reflect Covid guidelines, but we are determined, after so much time away from campus, to mark the many cultures that combine to form the richness of BIS HCMC. Watch out for further details in the weeks ahead.
Our Year 9 Scientists have displayed this very spirit of commitment and adaptation in working on a 2022 version of the Shoestring Science project, which sees them work alongside students from our Vietnamese Community Partner Schools in designing engaging Science lessons. Well done Year 9 scientists!
All of these activities took place alongside important academic components for our Y11 and Y13 students who are now entering the public examination phase of their IGCSE and IBDP journey, with the Group 1 Individual Oral Commentary and Theory of Knowledge submissions this week, leading into next week’s Modern Foreign Language Oral & ICT Practical Examinations. I would like to pay tribute to our teachers and students for the typically exemplary way they have approached this process against the challenges of the current context.
Along with highlights of the week on campus, please also find below the latest Covid guidance in line with the most recent government decrees. My thanks for your continued partnership in adhering to these measures. We will keep you updated as we work together through this period.
I would like to close by offering a huge congratulations to one of our Year 12 students, Bach, on behalf of our whole school community. Bach has received a huge accolade in being named as a member of the UN Children’s Advisory Team. Bach will work with 12 students from across the globe as part of the UN’s work on Children’s rights. Developing leadership to make positive change is a key part of our school aim and empowering our young people to believe they can, has never been more urgent than today. It is a great source of pride that Bach will take her BIS leadership to a global platform. We look forward to hearing from her in the months ahead.
My best wishes to you all for a restful weekend ahead,
Sean O’Neill
This week BIS celebrated World Book Day, with students and staff dressing up as their favourite characters from modern and classic literature. Students participated in quote hunts, searching for 100 quotes that were hidden around the school which they could exchange with teachers for house points- as long as they had found out which book it was from! In the curve there were treasure hunts and a competition inspired by an episode of Dragon’s Den. Students and teachers stood in front of a panel of intimidating judges and they were given one minute to justify why everybody in the world should read their books. Congratulations to Sacha in Year 9 who managed to score an impressive investment of (absolutely not fake) ₫3.5 million for her defence of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. We also had a second-hand book sale where over 200 books and calendars were sold in support of our community partners. It was great to be able to celebrate our love for books, but it was even better to celebrate having everybody back for a whole-school event.
Well done to everyone who took part.
Andrew Barry- Key Stage 4 English Co-ordinator
As part of our ongoing commitment to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, we have celebrated Black History Month across BIS throughout February.
The month culminated in today’s wonderful acoustic lounge which featured our students delivering a range of inspirational spoken word and musical items, including original compositions, for example Ellie, Jessie and Tony who decided to compose music for the poem ‘A Brave And Startling Truth’ by Maya Angelou as part of their IB HL Music course. The poem was read by Bella and the premiere was give as part of the Black History Month Acoustic lounge.
We will share a full review of the rich events of the past month and a recording of our Acoustic Lounge next week but in the meantime, click below a flavour of this fantastic event performed by Tea, Felicity and DongGue. Enjoy!
A few weeks ago, the Children’s Environmental Rights Initiative, a global organisation working to ensure children’s rights to a safe and healthy environment, put out a call for children to join a Children’s Advisory Team who will help to guide the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child to build new UN guidance for governments to protect children’s rights that are affected by the climate crisis. The Children’s Advisory Team is made up of 12 children from diverse experiences who are passionate about children’s environmental rights.
Out of applicants from across the world one of our Year 12 students has been selected to join this diverse group. We’d like to congratulate Bach Lam on her appointment to the role of UN Child Advisor; we’re incredibly proud of her!
Bach has been a key leader of our Global Issues Network (GIN), taking a leading role in planning the GIN Saigon Conference for the last two years. She is hugely passionate about environmental issues, working with our various eco-clubs to help make BIS a more sustainable school. We’re pleased that this passion and dedication has been recognised by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, and will be supporting her as she takes on this role.
Shoestring Science: Year 9 Scientists in Community Partnership
Shoestring Science this year took a slightly different route with us being unable to invite in our Community Partner schools. Traditionally our Community Partners would come in and our students would present to the students from those schools. Our students would share all resources so that the students from the Community Partner schools can engage with Science outside of the school environment as well. Due to COVID restrictions, our community partners were unable to come into school, but that did not deter our Year 9 students. The students worked over the course of three lessons, planning a mini lesson on a topic of their choice. Students had a budget of 120 000 VND and all materials had to be available through local shops. Within their groups the students trialled their experiments and prepared resources. In the final lesson, students taught their mini lessons to other students within Year 9. The Year 9 teaching team were extremely impressed with the quality of what was being taught and the creative nature shown by our students. Next steps include the Year 9 teaching team selecting resources to pass onto our Community Partners so that they can also enjoy some of the fantastic resources our students have made. Our Year 9 students completed a reflection after the final lesson, some very honest feedback about the challenges of trying to plan a lesson with limited resources and the appreciation of needing to think about how students learn.
A huge range of activities across Creativity, Activity, Service and Sustainability were back in full swing in our CCA prpgramme recommenced.
Well done to everyone for their enthusiasm and participation throughout the week.
To keep you up to date please find below a summary overview of the most recent Covid Guidance. Our thanks for adhering to these measures and maintaining close communication with us. If you have any queries please contact gareth.wills@bisvietnam.com
Gareth Wills, Deputy Head, Welfare & Guidance
COVID SUMMARY- Click here
In term 3 the Music and Drama departments are going to hold a musical theatre review. We are looking for singers who would like to perform solos in this concert.
Prepare a short (1min) solo excerpt from a musical of your choice to perform next Friday.
Auditions will be in room 202 on Friday 11th March after school.
As we have recently welcomed our students back to our Secondary Campus, we are now able to look forward to experiencing some of the events that really shape what makes BIS, BIS. The first of those, arguably our students’ favourite event of the year, is International Day.
Students dress in their national costume or a costume representing a significant person or event in their history. We use this day as an opportunity to celebrate the positive elements of our cultures and to educate our students and ourselves. Please talk with your child about how they would like to celebrate your family’s culture and history on International Day.
We are beginning our plans to hold International Day on Thursday 31st March and encourage any parent who would like to support, assist or take part to contact the school via our Secondary Receptionist, Katie Walsh or sc@bisvietnam.com
Event details
If you would like to sign up as the representative for your country, please use the link below and register your name using this link - Country Representative Link 2022
Did you know that over 50 nationalities are represented at BIS?
We already have country representatives for 7 of them and we want to sign up more countries in preparation for the event on Thursday 31st March.
International Day is not only a fabulous event for the students, but a wonderful day for parents and carers to participate and share their home traditions, food and activities.
Speaking parent to parent…running an International Day booth or activity is what you (the parents) want to make it. Don’t be put off if you are new to Secondary, we can guide you.
If you are on your own or only have a couple of helpers, consider doing a short activity or a small food stall.
There are no small ideas.
If you would like to sign up as the representative for your country, please use the link below and register your name using Sign Up Genius.
Country Representative Link 2022
Melanie Rowe
Secondary PTG Chair
We are pleased to advise that school photos will take place for all BIS campuses in March. The photos will be taken by Pret a Portrait who we worked with in 2019 and you can find more information about their company here.
The full details for Secondary Campus school photos week will be sent by parent email today.
Campus School Photos are as follows
Junior Campus - Monday 7th to Friday 11th March
Secondary Campus - Monday 14th to Wednesday 23rd March
Early Years Campus - Friday 25th March to Friday 1st April
In addition to Individual and Form Group photos which will take place during school time, it will be possible to book an appointment for Sibling Photos after school hours. Please check your emails for more information.
A reminder about the school’s uniform policy now that we are back on campus
In addition to this, all children should wear either: white, black or grey ankle high socks.
The UK is a world leader when it comes to Higher Education. This webinar will look at the huge range of opportunities available for those students interested in studying in the UK. Representatives from both Royal Holloway, University of London and the University of York and the University of Bath will give their expert advice to students and parents. There will be a workshop on “Making a Successful UK application” led by our expert guests. After the workshop each university will also give a brief presentation about the opportunities available at each of these very well regarded UK universities. Finally there will be a chance to put questions to our guests. Watch again here
In the coming weeks we will be hosting webinars with a specific focus each week on a different country. These will cover the Singapore, the Netherlands, Canada and the US. Details of the next two webinars and links to sign-up can be found below:
Did you know that there are over 2100 study programmes in Holland which are taught in English?
Oanh Trung of ‘Neso Vietnam*’ will be joined by at least two university representatives from universities situated in Holland. There will be an overview of studying at university in Holland then an introduction to two of the universities, followed by Questions and Answers.
*Neso Vietnam is the Dutch Education Support Office in Vietnam and is the official representative in Vietnam for all matters concerning Dutch Higher Education.
Have a wonderful weekend,
Sean O’Neill
Head Teacher, Secondary Campus
We are incredibly proud of our Year 11 class of 2024, for their impressive IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) results. This incredible cohort of 155 students, our largest IGCSE class in the history of the school, have significantly surpassed UK and international averages and were awarded 97% of all grades at A*-C. An incredible 62% of all grades awarded were at A*-A.
A whole world of possibilities awaits our graduating class of 2023. With 385 university offers so far, and many more still to come from Korea, Australia and Singapore, their remarkable IBDP achievements have opened pathways to some of the best universities and specialist institutions across the globe.