Once again we have been living our mission statement of developing global citizens with a Vietnamese perspective, and it’s been a really exciting week.
On Thursday we welcomed our Year 6 students into the Secondary school as part of our ongoing transition programme to help the Primary students get used to working in the next phase of their educational journey. Like last year we had the Year 6 and 7 students working together on a global challenge day focusing on the UN Sustainable Development Goal of gender equality.
Prior to the day Year 6 and 7 students had been looking at the topic of gender equality in their tutor groups and class time, in order to prepare for the day.
The day itself started off with an inspirational speech by Ms Nghia Phan, who spoke of her experiences of gender equality growing up in Vietnam. We then welcomed Ms Thanh from Blue Dragon who gave a presentation on why some girls, in particular, are vulnerable to exploitation and the work Blue Dragon is doing in the field of gender equality.
Following that the students, who were working in mixed gender and age groups received ‘master classes’ from several members of staff on the topics of the role of the campaign manager, time management, video and web development, marketing and copywriting, to give them all the project management skills they needed to be successful.
The students then spent the rest of the day working on a video presentation on the subject of gender equality. As I write the staff involved are looking through the final products, but so far the quality of the work has been seen as incredibly good.
My thanks to all the teachers who were involved in this day, but particularly to Mr McKie for organising it all. It was a great day, and I know that the students got a lot out of it.
On Friday we then turned to two more global opportunities. In assembly we were delighted to watch the application videos and hear speeches from the students who have applied to become this year’s BVIS UN ambassadors. The lucky two students who will be selected, and who I will announce next week, will be traveling to the UN in New York in July to take part in a high level political forum with diplomatic representatives from all over the world to debate ways in which we can help attain the sustainable goals. It is a fabulous opportunity and I want to congratulate all the students who felt ambitious enough to want to apply for this chance.
This weekend we are also sending our World Scholars Cup team to compete in the first round of the tournament, in Ho Chi Minh City. Last year, you will remember, we had a team make it all the way to the finals in Yale, so we wish all of our World Scholars the best of luck as they take the first steps towards this goal.
Finally, we advertised to all, of our Year 9,10, 11 and 12 students another opportunity to make a contribution to a global issue. In October we will once again be taking a group of students to Tanzania. They will be staying at the Nord Anglia camp and taking part in community projects to help the local people of the area. In addition to this the students will also being going on a safari as well. This really is an amazing opportunity for a once in a lifetime experience - as all the students who went on the expedition last year will testify too.
So many chances to get involved in global issues and make a difference.
I hope you all have a great week ahead.
