Ms Deirdre Grimshaw - Weekly Update 31st August 2022

I read recently that in one school year children spend on average 1000 hours at school and roughly 3000 at home.

Education doesn’t stop at the school gate so it is vital that we continue to work in partnership as school and home to ensure all of our students flourish.  One of the key ways to do this is to actively engage with your child’s class teacher.  With PTSCs next week (Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th September) we would like to encourage all parents to ensure you have signed up for a slot to meet, along with your child and your child's class teacher.  A letter was sent to all parents on Monday 29th August with login details to make an appointment to see your child’s class teacher. 

It may have been a short week but it was still a busy one! Young Musician auditions continued as did High School Musical auditions for Year 5 and 6 students.  Year 3 students had an entry point and Year 6 an exit point as part of their International Primary Curriculum (IPC) units. Please scroll down to find out more about each.

New Facilities at the Junior Campus

Over the summer our Junior Campus was a hive of activity with builders flooding the site to carry out upgrades in key areas.  Most obvious is our new perimeter walls and gates and the painting of all the buildings.  I am sure you will agree it looks wonderful.

Our canteen has also undergone a big refurbishment and extension.  With floor to ceiling windows overlooking the big field, the light floods in and the new seating arrangements and muted colours provide a calming and relaxed atmosphere for the children to enjoy their lunch.

The top floor over the canteen and Year 6 classroom has been completely renovated.  It now houses our Music rooms, Art room and a brilliant Multi Purpose space that the children have been enjoying.  We are adding the final touches to this space and look forward  to using it for parent events and workshops and bringing more opportunities for our parents to engage actively in their children’s learning.

Additional upgrades have also taken place including a wonderful staff room refurbishment for our staff and the office and reception area has also had a facelift! As we celebrate 25 years of BIS, this campus has certainly changed since the first children entered the site many years ago.  The BIS community has changed too but the spirit and what we stand for remains unchanged. As our Aide Memoire states, we want to provide a nurturing environment where our children can be Global Citizens Learning Together, demonstrating Integrity, Respect and Care while fostering the attributes of Enquiry, Reflection and Perseverance.

Settling in Workshop for New Families

Starting a new school or a new job is stressful. Moving countries is stressful.  Doing both is very stressful, so it is so important that we take time to think about how we should be looking after ourselves in these moments.  At BIS, we have a great team of people ready to help and support families moving into Vietnam.  Our admissions team provide the support prior to arrival and then our teaching teams provide the general support, and our ASC (advice, support and counselling) team are ready in any circumstance.

It was so good to see many of our new families at the Settling in Workshop on Wednesday morning.  Some great advice was shared and you can review it once more by clicking on the link below;

Settling in Workshop Presentation - 31st August

We never know when we might need support, so please, if you are finding it difficult to settle, reach out to our ASC team and I know they will be more than happy to spend time to talk.  Ms Saskia can be contacted at Saskia.Dodds-Smith@bisvietnam.com.

Year 3 IPC Entry Point

It’s been such an exciting week in Year 3 as we received an important letter from The Vietnamese Institute for Palaeontology and Fossil Discoveries, asking us to excavate two sites on the Junior Campus to try and locate fossils. This was the perfect entry to our IPC topic ‘Footsteps from the past.’

As we carefully dug the sand, we found a selection of fossils, teeth and evidence. We were thrilled. But what could we do next? We had so many questions! Luckily, one of our Year 3 parents Ms Nha was available to aid us with our questions. Ms Nha is a geologist, who works with fossils and even brought some in for us to examine (with care), as they are millions of years old! We learnt so much.

Elaine Gillan, Head of Year 3

Vietnamese Classes for Vietnam Passport Holders

Vietnamese classes (2022-2023) from Year 1 to Year 6 will start on the 6^th of September after school.  On Thursday we held a very informative Parent workshop on the teaching of Vietnamese for Vietnamese passport holders and the changes to the programme that have come into place. If you were unable to attend, please find a copy of the presentation for viewing here.

The teachers will go through the class expectations and then the first lesson will be delivered.  We ask all parents to please check the Vietnamese Seesaw class for their child to find the lessons that will be taught every week on Tuesday and Friday afternoons. Homework will be set on Friday afternoons. Classes finish at 2.40pm at the Junior Campus and we would like to ask all parents to ensure they pick up their children on time.

Vy Bui, Primary Vietnamese Coordinator

BIS Young Musicians Auditions

More than one hundred students auditioned for this year’s BIS Young Musicians. We were so impressed with the quality and variety of performances, which included everything from Chopin to Guns n’ Roses. After careful deliberation, the following students have been selected to take part in our two semi-finals:

Year 3 and 4

Year 5 and 6

  Letters with further information will be sent home with these students. Congratulations to everyone who auditioned and especially to our semi-finalists.

Kate Gale, Music Teacher

Brainwave Exit Point Year 6

To finish off their short IPC unit, Year 6 students invited their parents and other family members to showcase what they had learned about the brain. This involved some presentations and then challenges for all to see how well they could put to use some memory techniques to help retain information. Well done Year 6 for learning so much so quickly. 

Mike Martin, Head of Year 6

Fundinotots

Do you know about our Fundinotots programme? Open to all parents and their children aged 0 to 36 months, it’s the ideal way to connect with the BIS community, enjoy time in a stimulating environment with your little one and make friendships and connections with parents of children of a similar age.  To find out more about the programme or to organise a visit, contact Sarah Bonner at Sarah.Bonner@bisvietnam.com.

Bring Your Own iPad Programme

The 'Bring Your Own iPad' programme is up and running in Year 4, 5 and 6. We will be hosting a coffee morning on Wednesday 7th September 2022 to give details about this programme and offer support to families.

To attend the workshop, please use this sign up link and request for questions here.

The session will include discussion on:

• Why we use iPads at BIS Primary
• Safety when using an iPad at school and home
• How parents can monitor and support their children as Digital Citizens
• Support for parents with technical issues

We hope to see a great turn out of parents at this event.

Neil Gorton, Assistant Headteacher

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. 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 

JC Mr Chris McKelvie Christopher.McKelvie@bisvietnam.com.

Sarah Curran and Chris McKelvie, Deputy Headteachers

PTG Update

A short week at school and we hope you all have some lovely plans for the long weekend.  Just a couple of quick reminders from the Primary PTG this week.

We are really looking forward to next weeks Primary PTG Coffee Morning! It is a great opportunity to meet other parents, whilst learning more about the PTG  what the Primary PTG team do and different ways parents can get involved (if you want).

We will share 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…

Class Parent Representative

We have had a wonderful response to our request for Class rep volunteers, but still have almost half the classes without a rep. Class reps are such an important part of our school community, helping the core PTG team connect with a greater number of parents, on a more personal level.  If you would like a reminder about what the Class parent rep does, watch the short video here.

If you are inspired to volunteer, please sign up here.

For any Class reps who have signed up, or if you are interested but would like more information, or to meet other class reps, then we invite you to our Class Rep Information meeting on Thursday 8^th Sept @ EYIC Small Hall (3^rd Floor).

Country Representative

Would you like the opportunity to share some of the things you love about your home country with our BIS community during our infamous international week? Are you passionate about a place you have lived? Would you be willing to offer support to other families arriving from your home country?  If yes, then volunteering as Country Rep is another wonderful way to support the PTG and parents in our BIS community.

Key Responsibilities:

1. Providing support to new families joining from your country.

• When there are new students arriving at the school from your country, they will be introduced to you.
• Support new families to introduce them to other families and provide any guidance that they may need setting into both the school environment and the local community .

2. Lead your Country group during the International Week (Start of Term 2) 

• Coordinating a food stall at the Global Cafe
• Coordinating any country specific performances

PLEASE NOTE: To take on this role, you do not need to have a passport of the country that you would like to represent. As long as you or your child/children have some connection to that country.

Please review the available slots here and click on the button next to your country to sign up.As always, for more information about the PTG, to connect with us 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

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…

We wish all of our BIS Community a wonderful long weekend. Celebrating Vietnam National Day, our host country is special and we hope that everyone enjoys the festivities.  It has been a busy start to the term so it’s also a perfect time to rest and recover ahead of a busy term ahead.

Warmest wishes,

Deirdre Grimshaw, Headteacher of Junior Campus