As has been mentioned extensively in this edition of the weekly updates, this week has ended wonderfully with Teachers’ Day.
As has been mentioned extensively in this edition of the weekly updates, this week has ended wonderfully with Teachers’ Day.
I am not going to speak extensively about it, but for me it entirely encapsulates why I and the staff here love being part of Vietnam, sharing their lives with your children and helping them to achieve the most of which they are capable.
Teachers’ Day is not uniquely Vietnamese and it is certainly true that teachers in the UK are thanked and praised by their students and families. And yet there is something very Vietnamese in this. Looking around the void this week at the wonderful displays of artwork – posters, cards, notes – the warmth of feeling was dramatic and powerful. It speaks wonderfully of the way our students feel about their teachers, again picking up on the sentiment you as parents expressed in the Parent Survey last May that respect was at the heart of the relationships here.
It is very much a part of the Bi-cultural and Bi-lingual model that we are developing in school. There are wonderful values in both Britain and Vietnam that deserve to be nurtured, honoured and shared. We have seen this through various Vietnamese cultural events but also in the recent Remembrance Day commemoration. There is no loss of culture in this sharing but, rather, each is enhanced by the other. Here at BVIS, Hanoi, this biculturalism is at the very core of what we do. It is our reason for being, our way of thinking. It is why as teachers and as an institution, we want to be here, to see the children and the school grow. We are preparing your children to be catalysts of change in years to come, adept at understanding themselves, their own culture and yet also able to adapt to new environments, having learnt the necessary and crucial skills. What a privilege it is for us to be engaged in such a significant – and enjoyable – mission.
On other matters, it is wonderful to see the way our sport is developing. Last Saturday’s Basketball fixture, so well organised at BIS, gave our students a superb opportunity to show just how much they have grown in skill, teamwork, cooperation and sportsmanship over this term. I am proud of their achievements and congratulate them all as ambassadors for both the sport and the school.
I wish you a very happy weekend with your families.
Mr Mark Sayer - Principal of BVIS Hanoi
