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After two long years of the pandemic, there are signs that we are returning to a state where we can re-engage with the activities that we previously took for granted; international travel, going to work or school if you are healthy (not having to isolate because you are a close contact of someone who is not well), celebrating family events together, etc. We are hopeful that school events will also be able to resume.
The decree this week has allowed for those who are vaccinated or who have recovered from Covid-19 in the last three months, to be able to go to school or work if they are a close contact with someone with Covid. We are hopeful that further decrees will be announced that will allow us to run our Co-Curricular Activities (CCA) programme in Term 3. Often referred to as ‘clubs’, these activities allow the children to develop a deeper range of skills and experiences outside of the classroom.
The CCAs are into 5 categories; art, community, language, sports and technology. We encourage the children to engage in a range of activities during their school career. On Friday 25th March we sent out the CCA Booklet - one for the Early Years and Infant Campus and one for the Junior Campus. At this stage, we are planning to run the programme so are encouraging everyone to sign-up (using the Schools Buddy system), but need to stress that it depends on decrees from the Department of Education and Training (DOET) to allow them to happen.
We offer free clubs, which are run by our teachers and paid clubs which are run by external providers. Payment for clubs will begin the week beginning Monday 4th April. We will confirm if the clubs can go ahead at the start of Term 3.
On Wednesday morning we welcomed members of the BIS Parent Teacher Group (PTG) and our ‘International Parent Reps’ to the Early Years and Infant Campus to continue to plan for International Week, which will be held during the week beginning 13th June. Having parents together for a meeting is another sign that we are coming out of the pandemic and it was wonderful to see the enthusiasm for what is one of the highlights of the school year.
If you were not able to attend, please click on the link below to see the presentation that was shared on Wednesday:
International Week Presentation
For those who are new to the BIS community, or if you would like to re-live the experience, Mr Chris has put together a short video with photos of last year’s International Week here.
Get Involved
Jana, the country rep coordinator, along with Mr. Chris took to the stage to talk in detail about International Week. A week-long celebration including 2 days when the Junior campus gym is transformed into the Global Cafe. The country reps go above and beyond to put up the best show for the students, teachers, and parents. So far, we have 22 reps signed up and if you would like to join us then please do sign up here.
A huge thank you to the volunteers who have signed up for the Global Café’s core team. The spots were filled within two days and it shows the excitement the parents have for this event. To all the country reps, please remember the key dates and please submit the forms, dancers list, music, and food ingredients soon.
Thank you,
Gayatri Shankar and Jana Capek
Primary PTG
On Thursday and Friday last week, two teams of four children from BIS competed in the FOBISIA Maths Competition, which was held virtually for the second consecutive year. The competition was hosted by Haileybury International School, Kazakhstan and thirty eight schools from across Asia entered one hundred and fifty two children. The children faced a variety of mathematical challenges, including an individual challenge, a game of mathematical dominoes and a series of live matches against other schools. The children persevered and collaborated with dedication and determination and continued our extraordinary success in the competition, with both teams finishing in the top five. We would like to congratulate Jeong Woo, Rachel Lee, Ben Pham, Junseo (Alvin), Hannah Nguyen, Dakyeom Lee, Junyi Chai and William Song for their hard work and the way in which they represented the school with distinction. We would also like to give a special mention to Junyi Chai for his incredible achievement of attaining the highest score in Asia in the Individual Challenge and to Isabella Tran who, having trained for the competition for two years, was diagnosed with Covid hours before the competition began.
As part of our PSHE programme of study, students in Year 3 to 6 follow a programme of study for Relationships and Sex Education (RSE). These lessons are age appropriate in content and are delivered by the class teachers. On the 29th and 30th of March, we will have webinars for all parents so you can learn ahead of the lessons what the content of the lessons will be and how it will be delivered. Please look out for letters for each Year Group early next week which will give you the opportunity to add any questions you may have to a Google Form and confirm your attendance.
In their IPC lessons, our Year 5 Students have been finding out about recent missions to Mars and have been comparing the conditions on Mars to those on Earth. The topic is truly cross-curricular and has close connections to our Science unit ‘Earth and Space’, and this week we even linked it in with our Swimming lessons too.
Our students have completed their very own astronaut training programme with the help of our amazing swimming teachers. After all, surely being in the pool is the closest we can get to experiencing weightlessness on Earth? Students faced a variety of team challenges including space walking (somersaulting and floating) and spaceship repair tasks.There were also obstacle courses involving the retrieval of objects from the depths of ‘outer space’. Fortunately our talented trainees succeeded in all tasks and have made it through to the second round of astronaut training!
Ms Jude Handscombe
Year 5 Leader
The Junior Campus has been filled recently with the warmest kind of music - music shared between friends. Students from Years 4, 5 and 6 have performed for wonderful audiences of friends and teachers during our Live Lunch sessions.
The fantastic range of performances featured singers, violinists, pianists and drummers, as well as a stunning ukulele and vocal rendition of ‘Riptide’. Edward (Y4) played the beginning of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and the audience enjoyed recognising the ‘famous four notes’, Oliver shared his new-found double bass experience, and our Year 5 band took the opportunity to further develop their ensemble skills and performed ‘Faded’ for the impressed onlookers. Our violinists entertained with a range of genres, from Mozart to Bruno Mars, demonstrating the true breadth of the musical experience explored and enjoyed on the Junior Campus.
As Mr Chris said in our assembly, it wasn’t only our talented musicians that shone. The moment that everyone started to sing along to support a performer who had a technical problem truly demonstrated the wonderful teamwork and care we aim to foster.
Thank you to everyone involved in these performances. We look forward to more Live Lunch opportunities in Term 3!
The BIS Young Musician of the Year competition will begin on March 21st, culminating in a Final on April 28th. This event is a chance to celebrate the achievements and hard work of our school's many excellent student musicians.
Here are the most important dates and details. If you are thinking of entering, please read the Frequently Asked Questions below for a lot more information.
Any student from Year 3 to 6 can enter the competition.
There will be two divisions:
Performances will be judged on musicality and technical proficiency. However, judges will also take into account the relative difficulty of different instruments, as well as differing constraints on progress. For example, at what age it is possible to begin learning the given instrument.
Who can enter?
Any BIS student from Years 3 to 6.
Will there be any categories or divisions?
There will be two divisions in the competition, one for students in Years 3 and 4, another for students in Years 5 and 6.
Where will the competition be held?
This competition, including the finals, will be held at BIS.
When will the competition be held?
Round 1 Auditions will be held over two weeks during lunch times, from March 21st to March 31.
Autism Awareness Week is a collaborative effort between Saigon Children’s Charity (CIO) and the British International School (BIS) and will be held during the first week of April. The event serves to equip students, teachers and parents with the basic understanding of this complex, lifelong developmental disorder and encourage all stakeholders to participate in our “Steps Challenge” – a month-long campaign to fundraise for early intervention programs and other autism-related projects.
In addition, we have established resources to raise awareness of Autism for young people and families. These include two sets of information slides tailored to two different age groups – one for Primary and one for Secondary-aged children – and a Myths and Facts leaflet on Autism for parents in both English and Vietnamese. The resources can be found here and are accessible to all.
Ian Young
Director of Additional Education Needs
Keeping our community safe – Lightning season
For those that were around BIS at pick-up time on Tuesday, it was a stark reminder that the rainy season here in Ho Chi Minh City is almost upon us. Now is a good time to remind you all of the importance of staying safe during those afternoons where lightning is a definite hazard. At BIS HCMC, we have recently installed a top-of-the range lightning detection unit which services all three campuses. The Kumwell Lightning warning system is used in other premium international schools across South East Asia, as well as leading golf courses in the region. What this offers us as a school and a community, is a good understanding of when lightning will be at its most dangerous. To ensure the safety of all of those who enter our campuses, we have a clearly defined Lightning Procedure document which highlights risk at either a green (no-risk), yellow (increased risk) and red (high risk) level. For those that collect students, there will be some impact depending on the risk level. Please take a look at the following procedures, and be prepared for a slight disruption if there is a need to minimise risk. The following procedures will be applied according to the conditions:
Green: No risk, continue as normal. There is no warning announcement for Green, and all outdoor activity continues as normal.
Amber: Proceed with caution. Pick up and departure from the campus is still possible, but be aware of the conditions at all times and get home as quickly as possible.
At the Early Years and Infants - F1 and F2 pick up will be from the classroom doors as usual. For F3, Year 1 and Year 2 pick up will be from the classrooms. There will be a warning announcement over the loudspeaker system saying we are Amber.
At Juniors - pick up will be from the classrooms for Years 3, 4 and 5, and from the International Walkway for Year 6. There will be a warning announcement over the loudspeaker system.
Red: All pick-ups will be postponed until amber is reinstated. Students and those picking them up will be required to remain under cover until the warning is lifted; leaving the campus will not be permitted. Buses will be held back until warning is lifted, or it is deemed safe to leave.
At the Early Years and Infants - At red level, F1 and F2 parents wait in the parent hall and F3, Year 1 and Year 2 pick up will be from the classroom doors. This alert will cause disruption, but is essential to ensure our students and community remain safe. There will be a warning announcement over the loudspeaker system.
At Juniors - At red level, pick up will be from the classrooms for years 3, 4 and 5, and from the International Walkway for Year 6. This alert will cause disruption, but is essential to ensure our students and community remain safe. There will be a warning announcement over the loudspeaker system.
If you are not the designated pick-up person for your family members, we ask you to please share these details with those that make the pick-up. Thank you for your continued support in ensuring the safety of every member of our BIS HCMC Community. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us on Christopher.mckelvie@bisvietnam.com or sarah.curran@bisvietnam.com. Stay safe everyone!
Symptomatic (Any Cold/Flu/Covid Symptoms) - stay off school until symptom free.
Any concern you have at home with the health of your child, and include the Health and Safety Leads of each campus (EYIC Ms Sarah Curran sarah.curran@bisvietnam.com and JC Mr Chris McKelvie Christopher.mckelvie@bisvietnam.com .
It is vital, also, that you inform the office of any positive case within your family – these are called ‘household close contacts’ and children of a household close contact will be required to remain off school until such a time as a negative PCR is provided to the campus nurse. Whilst we do not expect this, it is highly recommended that you have a supply of Rapid Antigen Tests at hand and that you use them regularly within your family.
Ms Sarah Curran and Mr Chris McKelvie, Deputy Headteachers
We are pleased to inform you that school photographs for students and class groups at the EY&I Campus will be next week, March 25th to April 1st . We are happy to advise that we will be partnering with Pret a Portrait this year for school photos. To find out more about Pret a Portrait please follow the link here.
https://www.pret-a-portrait.net/our-services/a-fresh-approach-to-school-photography/
https://www.pret-a-portrait.net/our-services/siblings/
Please check your child’s learning letter/Class Seesaw Page that will state what day your child’s class and individual photograph will be taken. Please ensure your child is wearing the correct uniform at all times.
Uniform Expectations
A reminder about the expectations for uniform and shoes as we are back on campus;
Many thanks for your support.
24/03/22 - 01/04/22 EY&I School photos
25/03/22 CCA Booklets sent out
28/03/22 CCA Sign-up begins
28 & 29/03/22 RSE Webinars for Year 3 - 6 Parents
01/04/22 CCA Sign-up closes
01/04/22 End of Term 2
There are a lot of books that have still not been returned to both the EY and I and Junior libraries from last school year. Can you please have a look at home to see if you can find any books that need returning to school? If you find any library books, please send them back to school with your child.
Thank you for your help
Sarah Bonner, Acting Primary Librarian
According to a US study helmets cut the risks of severe traumatic brain injury by half, when riders suffer a brain injury. The report, in the American Journal of Surgery, also concluded that riders with helmets were 44% less likely to die from their injury, and 31% less likely to break facial bones.Dec 9, 2020. This is a great video clip on why helmets are important.
In 2019 we introduced Helmet Hero and asked all parents to buy and wear a helmet that fits well and meets international standards; ECE 22.06 standard (Economic Commission for Europe) or equivalent.
This week on the way to school there was an accident involving a motorbike colliding with a push bike that resulted in the child falling off. Fortunately the child is well but it was a reminder to us all of the importance of wearing a helmet.
If you currently do not have helmets please can you purchase them so we can keep safe.
Next Friday is the last day of Term 2. We will continue with staggering the times so please note the pick-up times for the different Year Groups:
F1&F2 - 11.30am
F3 - 11.40am
Year 1 - 11.45am
Year 2 - 11.50am
Year 3&4 - 11.20am
Year 5&6 - 11.30am
Wishing you a restful and relaxing weekend.
Kindest regards,
Ian Battersby & Dee Grimshaw, Headteachers
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.