Community Spirit in Action

Last Sunday, 27th May, hundreds of our students, parents and staff from our BIS HCMC community turned Sala into a vibrant sea of red and Union Jacks!  This was the return of the popular BritCham Charity Fun Run!

Once again we were delighted to be a Diamond Sponsor of this annual charity British Chamber of Commerce Charity Fun Run event and greatly welcomed it’s return in 2022, post the pandemic.

With the biggest turn out we have ever had from our BIS community, with over 800 students, parents, families and staff, the sense of community spirit and passion was clearly evident in this family orientated event.  Our community, from our youngest Foundation Stage students to their grandparents and even BIS pets, wore our special edition 25^th anniversary T-shirt with a sense of pride.  We must say a huge congratulations to our design team for creating such an outstanding shirt.  As one BIS parent said ‘the best one yet’!

This charity fun run first began in 2000 and has since raised 12 billion VND for charities across Vietnam with 120,000 participants joining the race over the years. BritCham (formerly BBGV) have worked with a number of charities across Vietnam, including Saigon Children’s Charity, The Christina Noble Foundation and Blue Dragon’s Children Foundation.

The BritCham charity Fun Run is also very much an embedded event in the BIS community calendar with thousands of our community completing the 5k year on year, having fun, getting active and supporting those in need across Vietnam.

This year is a special year for us as we celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the British International School Ho Chi Minh City.  For 25 years BIS has provided a holistic approach to education, balancing academic excellence with personal growth and wellbeing.  Our teachers inspire children to be their best, achieve success and develop a lifetime love of learning.

We enrich students learning through exceptional experiences outside of the classroom, nurturing strengths and passions and developing socially and environmentally responsible global citizens.  The BritCham Charity Fun Run provides just the opportunity to do this, inspiring children to get moving, opening their minds to new challenges and boosting their confidence.  This is why we are absolutely thrilled the Fun Run came back with a bang, in a fantastic new location in Sala for 2022.

Our community of students, teachers, parents and staff donned their Fun Run shirts and were excited to take part. Some have taken part many times before and others were new to the event.  Some were runners, many were not, but all were excited for the challenge of the 5k Fun Run.  One of our Year 13 students, Rosie Battersby is a regular “I have taken part in the Fun Run, alongside my family and friends, for many years. I feel it's a great way to support charities, and there is a real sense of community which only gets stronger each year, noticeably this year seeing my friends perform on stage. I think it's important for BIS to be involved in events like these to allow our community to have a positive impact in quite a significant way.

As Rosie quoted above the sense of supportive community that this BritCham event brings is key to it’s success and matches the values of BIS HCMC and our Community.   Inclusive, inspiring, fun, fostering a healthy active lifestyle, strong character development and supporting those most in need across Vietnam.  The charities supported by the FunRun are also community partners close to our own heart and we are very happy to have the opportunity to support them further through this event and is another reason why BIS HCMC is thrilled to be a sponsor year after year.

This support is very much appreciated by BritCham and it’s community partners.  “We were thrilled that once again BIS HCMC was a Diamond sponsor for our Charity Fun Run. It was amazing to see so many of the BIS community taking part on the day and lots of happy smiling faces crossing the finish line donning their Union Jack shirts.  BIS places the same emphasis on the community as we do at BritCham and their continuous support with the events we organize is greatly appreciated.” Matt Ryland, Executive Director of BritCham.

This year our very own BIS student Jazz Quintet made their Fun Run debut performance on stage in the Fun Run Village.  They took over the stage for a 20 minute set much to the delight of our community and all Fun Run participants.  They gave a thrilling performance and their peers and friends cheered with pride as they performed in such an exciting and fun environment.  We are sure they will be warmly welcomed back for next year!

We would like to say a huge congratulations to everyone for taking part, showing a huge amount of perseverance and support for each other, and crossing that 5k finish line on a very hot and sunny day.  You all 'smashed' it!  To support our core social purpose value of sustainability we were so happy to give all of our finishers a special 'BIS 5K edible cookie medal' which we hope you all enjoyed!

We look forward to seeing you all again next year.