Lifelong Learning at BVIS
We talk a lot about giving students the skills they will need to be learners throughout their lives and not just when they are at school. I hope that the experiences they have in school will enable them to always be curious, always want to enquire and find out more and always want to learn.
I, for one, learned a lot by being involved in our wonderful Full Moon celebrations last Friday. A wonderful assembly was put on by many of our students throughout the age range of the school - directed by Mr Nghia Doan. It explored the way that the full moon festival is celebrated in Vietnam and Korea, and why it is still such an important time for all of our community. Thank you for all the efforts of our students and staff in making it such a wonderful event.
I was lucky enough to be at the Varsity Volleyball finals on Saturday where our Under 18 girls team were performing, having finished in the top four places during the regular season. They narrowly lost to UNIS in the final games - but I know they will have learned from this experience, and can be very proud of how much progress they have shown this year.
Also taking place this week have been two adult learning experiences. Last weekend, we were very proud to host a conference for EAL teachers from South East Asia. 30 teachers from 14 schools in the region came together to share their expertise and knowledge, and to learn from each other. My thanks to Debbie Murray- Smith and our EAL teams for putting on such a terrific event. The feedback we received was brilliant to read.
On Thursday, we hosted our second Parent Workshop of the year - on the Teenage Brain. Again, this was an excellent event that explored how the teenage brain affects the development and actions of children. The many parents that attended this workshop had lots of opportunities to discuss real life scenarios with each other, and together collaborated on understanding strategies to deal with their children during this amazing phase of their development. My thanks to Alex Larmour, Head of Psychology, for hosting this and to Ms Chi for the very scientific translation that she had to deliver.
Lastly, I had the great honour of chairing our first Parent Teacher Group meeting of the year. This group has decided that it should function to help support students, parents and staff in the school, act as a voice for parents in understanding more about the school, and look at ways that we as a school communicate with parents in an even better way. This will be a really important group and I am really excited that they are willing to give up their time to attend these meetings. I have already learned a great deal from today’s meeting.
So lifelong learning skills are so important. Our ability to stay curious, engage with each other, share and learn from each other and ourselves, and then commit to putting what we have learned into action is something that will help us not just pass exams, but enable us all to find new solutions for the everyday issues we find ourselves facing.
I hope you all have a great week ahead.
Nick Lee
