What a wonderful start to the Academic Year 2022 - 2023.

The buzz around the campus is palpable and we are excited to see what the year will bring for all of our BIS community in this, the 25th Anniversary year of BIS HCMC.

A warm welcome to all our new and returning families.  We hope your children have settled into their new classes.  Change does take time and please do reach out to class teachers, Head of Year or myself, Mr Neil or Mr Chris for any questions, issues or support you or your children may need.

We were also delighted to welcome so many parents to the Junior Campus canteen for our Welcome Back Coffee Morning.  After a number of years of not being able to host these events, it was wonderful to have so many parents join us.  The Primary PTG have lots planned for the coming school year, with the first event being a Primary PTG Coffee Morning taking place on September 6th. Please scroll down for more information from the PTG in their section below.

In the coming weeks we will be sharing more information about the new teachers that joined us this year.  They have settled in extremely well.  Please look out for some more information about them in the upcoming weekly updates.

Parent Information Evenings
 

Next Thursday, 25th August, we look forward to welcoming all JC parents to our Parent Information Evenings.  A letter with all the details was sent to all parents this morning at 10.30am.  Please read this carefully for more details of the evening.

Junior Campus CCAs

The CCA booklet was sent to all parents on Wednesday (17th August) and sign up begins on Monday. Please can we ask you to adhere to the timeline for sign up so we can allocate clubs to children as quickly as possible.  If you cannot find the email on Wednesday, this link may help you: Term 1 CCA Booklet. More details about Football and Barracuda trialis are below.

U11 Football this Season (Year 5-6)

Football club will start BEFORE other clubs

 Please sign up via Schools Buddy

We will be entering: 3 boys teams 2 girls teams (But if we have more than 30 girls we will enter more!) Please sign up to Football Club if you are interested in playing competitive sport for the School! This will be Wednesday 2:40pm - 3:40pm

Starting from Wednesday the 31st August

BIS Barracudas Selection 2023

With the return of sporting competitions this year we are delighted to begin the year with our BIS Barracuda Swim Squad Trials. These will take place from Monday 22nd August. All children are required to trial regardless of whether they were in the squad last year.

BIS Barracudas Selection Process

Squads

At BIS HCMC we have a range of swim squads to meet the needs and abilities of our swimmers.

EY&I Campus (Year 1 & 2) - Pre Squad

Junior Campus (Year 3-6) Blue, White and Red Squad.

Secondary Campus (Years 7-13) Senior Squad.

If you would like to understand more about the difference between the squads please read this document.

Term 1 Trial Schedule

*Parents are responsible for taking their child to the correct trial on time and collecting them.

Sophie Roberts | Aquatics Leader/ Primary PE Teacher
 

BIS Young Musicians Auditions

Next week, we will hold auditions for BIS Young Musicians, which is our annual chance to celebrate the achievements and hard work of our school's outstanding student musicians.

 Any student from Year 3 to 6 can audition. Auditions will be in Music Room 224. To take part, a student must put their name on the sign-up sheets outside the canteen doors.

Students can audition on any instrument, or singing. Singers in modern styles must use one of the microphones provided. Accompaniment is not necessary for the auditions but, if you do want to use a backing track, please email it in a file to katherine.gale@bisvietnam.com before the day of your audition. You will not be allowed to play the track from your own device at the auditions. Backing tracks or videos must not include lyrics or guide melodies.

 Students who succeed at the auditions will progress to the Semi-Finals, with a chance to continue on to our final Showcase concert. We will also be selecting a few performers from the Semi-Finals to represent our school in the city-wide Young Musician of the Year Competition on October 4th.

 You can find a lot more information about BIS Young Musicians on your Music Class Seesaw.

 Good luck everyone. We cannot wait to hear the music you make!

Seesaw Platform

Seesaw is a platform for student engagement that inspires students of all ages to do their best. Children can use creative tools to take pictures, draw, record videos, and capture learning in a portfolio.

Families see their child's learning and leave comments and encouragement. It is also our primary communication tool between parents and teachers.

New families will have received a QR code to allow you to connect to your child's Seesaw account. Existing families, remember to sign in so you can access messages from your child's teachers.

The 'Bring Your Own iPad' programme also continues in Year 4, 5 and 6. We will be hosting a coffee morning on Wednesday 7th September to give details about this programme and offer support to families. In the meantime, please check the BYO-iPad site for information about the programme including the apps required by children in each year group here.

If you have questions about Seesaw or the 'Bring Your Own iPad' programme, please get in touch with Mr Neil (Neil.Gorton@bisvietnam.com).

Health and Safety Updates – Junior Campus

Updated Medical Information Form

If you have not completed the ‘updated medical information’ Google Form that was shared by BIS HCMC on the 1^st of August, you will have received an email yesterday (Thursday) urging you to do so as soon as possible. This information is vital, especially in the event of an emergency. Your swift completion of this task is much appreciated and thank you to those families who have done so already.

Kind regards, Mr. Chris

Covid Precautions August 2023

Whilst as a school and a country we are in a much better place than this time last year, Covid-19 continues to be a disruption. Right around the world, we have seen 3rd and 4th Covid waves appear, and Vietnam is no different. To keep our entire community safe, we urge that you watch for any symptoms with your children, and conduct a Rapid Antigen Test if you have any concerns for their health. If a positive result is confirmed, please inform Mr Chris (Christopher.McKelvie@bisvietnam.com ) as soon as possible. Even if negative, we ask that if children have any any Cold/Flu/Covid Symptoms, that they remain off school until symptom free. 

If a positive case is recorded, your child will remain at home until such a time a negative result from a medical facility is returned to Mr Chris (email above), and to Nurse Shena (Shena.Nojor@bisvietnam.com). Symptoms are generally mild, and your child should be able to return to school within a week. Household/close contacts are able to return to school immediately if negative, but we urge

If at any time you have a concern at home with the health of your child, you are more than welcome to reach out to the Health and Safety Leads of either campus (EYIC Ms Sarah Curran Sarah.Curran@bisvietnam.com  and JC Mr Chris McKelvie Christopher.McKelvie@bisvietnam.com.

Sarah Curran and Chris McKelvie, Deputy Headteachers

PTG Update

A very warm welcome back to school! Whether you are an existing BIS family returning after the summer break, or a new family joining the BIS community for the first time, the Primary Parent Teacher Group (PTG) are here to support you!

The purpose of the PTG is to encourage the growth of the community spirit within our school by building close relationships between parents, staff and children.   Any parent who has a child at BIS EY&I Campus or Junior Campus, automatically becomes part of the PTG.  The PTG Core Team (pictured below) are here to welcome you all, support you to settle, and connect with others in the community. We are also ready to guide any of you who wish to get involved and volunteer, in any capacity, throughout the year!

To learn more about this years core team, please click here . We are a very friendly approachable group, so if you see us please stop us and say hello!

 Throughout the year the PTG, and all of the invaluable parent volunteers, organise social events, fun activities, and actively support school fundraising for our Community Service Partners.  In addition, we work hard to create a network of connected parents through Class Parent & Country Representatives, and a newly formed Dads Club (launching soon!), while communicating regularly to all parents via these Headteachers weekly Newsletters, regular seesaw posts, and Class Parent WhatsApp groups.

 To learn much more about the PTG while enjoying some social time connecting with lots of Primary parents, we invite you to our Primary PTG Coffee Morning (see below).

You will have the opportunity to learn more about

-          the Primary PTG – who we are and what we do

-          what events are happening over the next few months and how to get involved (if you wish!)

-          the Class Parent & Country reps, why they are important and how they can support you

-          Our ‘soon to be launched’ Dads club!

-          Upcycling Uniform initiative

and lots more…

For more information about the PTG, to connect with us personally and ask questions, or if you would like to support as a volunteer, please email us directly on  primaryptgbis@gmail.com

We look forward to meeting you all soon

Pamela, on behalf of the Primary PTG Team

Monday 22nd August 2022  >  Schools Buddy goes live for sign up for CCAs

Thursday 25th August 2022  >  Parents Information Evening 4.45pm - 7pm

Friday 26th August 2022  >  School Buddy closes for CCA sign up.

Wednesday 31st August 2022  >  Settling In Workshop for new BIS families

Thursday 1st September  >  Vietnam Public Holiday - School closed

Friday 2nd September  >  Vietnam Public Holiday - School closed

Wednesday 7th September 2022  > Parent Teacher Student Conferences

Thursday 8th September 2022  > Parent Teacher Student Conferences

Friday 9th September 2022  > Moon Festival at the Junior Campus

Monday 19th September 2022  > Term 1 Clubs begin

And Finally…

Learning Letters are sent each week from the Heads of Year.  They are posted on Seesaw.  These are a valuable source of information from your child’s year group.  They provide an insight into the learning that has taken place and what learning is coming up. They also have information on events and items related to the year group.  Please do take the time to read them each week.

Wishing all of our BIS community a wonderful weekend.

Deirdre Grimshaw, Headteacher of Junior Campus