Weekly Updates on 22/9/2023

1. NAE annual Senior Leadership Conference in Switzerland

You will be receiving this message as I am attending the Nord Anglia Education annual Senior Leadership Conference in Switzerland. As I have mentioned before, this is an opportunity to share leadership experiences and good practice amongst 83 Principals within our organisation. This is unique to NAE and enables our leaders to stay at the very forefront of the latest innovations in education.

2. Recap of Hanoi University Fair 2023

This week BVIS hosted the largest University Fair in Hanoi. On Monday we had almost 140 universities from across the world visit the school. Our students from Year 10 to Year 13 were able to meet and discuss the many representatives from some of the top universities in attendance.

3. Launching residential trips

I am delighted to say that we will be running residential trips again this year for students across the school from Year 4 upwards. These are an essential part of our curriculum that help students further develop their independence, make new friends, build leadership skills and further challenge themselves in new environments. For those parents whose children are eligible, I hope you will take this opportunity and encourage your child to attend.

4. Professional development for staff

You may be aware, that all our staff have access to Nord Anglia University. This enables staff across the world to connect and develop their practice with like minded professionals. This is of huge benefit to our staff and our students. In addition, we have many staff who have completed the NAE senior and middle leader training courses through our organisation. In addition, there are some staff who have been fortunate enough to have competed a fully funded Masters in Education course with Kings College London. All of this means that our staff have access to some of the best professional training for the benefit of all.

As part of our commitment to ensuring the best for the students, our unique collaborations with Juilliard and MIT means we can train our staff to the highest level. This summer two of our staff spent one week visiting The Juilliard School and MIT respectively to receive high quality training for the benefit of the school.

5. Health and safety

As you know we take the health and safety of your children very seriously and over the past few weeks we have been practicing our evacuation and lockdown drills with the students. We will continue to do this throughout the year in case of an emergency situation. I am also pleased to say we now have in place 6 evacuation chairs and 4 automated heart defibrillator machines across the two campuses for enhanced safety of the school community.

Friday’s assembly saw the announcement of our BVIS Primary Student Leaders for 2023-24. The roles that students will be participating in this year are:

• Student Council – improving student life at school
• Eco Warriors – promoting sustainability
• Student Ambassadors – student wellbeing and school events
• Sports Leaders – increasing activity levels of students
• House Captains – fostering house spirit Dance Captains – promoting a love of dance
• STEAM Champions – celebrating STEAM and enquiry
• Student Librarians – promoting reading across school and at home

Student leadership fosters a sense of responsibility, empowerment, and community among students. It provides an opportunity for young individuals to develop essential skills such as communication, teamwork, and problem-solving. Student leadership also extends beyond formal roles and structures. It can be seen in everyday interactions, such as older students mentoring younger ones, or taking on responsibilities in the classroom. By assuming leadership positions, students learn to make decisions, manage conflicts, and promote a positive school culture.

Last academic year, student leaders successfully raised funds for local charities, one of which was Cancer Center of Vietnam National Children’s Hospital, supporting children with fees for their medical care.  Our school menus were reviewed, less popular dishes were identified, and replacement dishes chosen.  Playground morning games were run for all students to take part in, giving an active start to the school day.  Dojo points were counted, and classes could ‘cash’ them in to benefit from agreed rewards.

This year’s student leaders are going to continue last year’s great work and we know that they will make themselves, their families and BVIS proud!

1. School Value INTEGRITY, CARING and GLOBAL CITIZENS

At BVIS, we are invested in preparing our students to thrive in the world of their future. We are invested in encouraging them to be the kind of leaders that this world wants and needs. Our Student Leadership Program aims to increase the opportunity for Student Leadership across the school and to promote academic achievement of all students regardless of ability to increase motivation, resilience and confidence to enhance the input students have with rewards, whole school events and student well-being. Ensure that all students have excellent communication skills to allow them to access all areas of school life and to make sure every child feels safe and welcome in school.

2. BVIS Student Leadership Opportunities

* BVIS School Life Leadership

• Head Students

• Prefects

* BVIS wider School Life Leadership

• Student Led Extra-Curricular Activities (ECA)

We are so proud of our students and how they have grown as leaders. Many have now gained the confidence to run their own Extra-Curricular Activity. These are some of the student led ECAs that we are offering:

• Orchestra
• Battle of the bands
• Fashion
• Design
• Wellbeing
• School magazine
• Environment

Service learning ECA. Students are working with local NGOs to support our community.

Wellbeing ECA. Students are training to become wellbeing ambassadors and set up peer support groups.

Environmental ECA. Students are promoting environmental issues in school, including setting up an electronic waste collection.

* BVIS Academic Leadership

• Business Studies and Economics

Miss Goldie met with the new subject ambassador team for Business and Economics (pictured: Phu Khang, The Phat, Van Khue and Thanh Mai) as well as the new BusEcon social media team (Chuc Linh and Hang An) to set goals for the upcoming year and decide on the first student-led initiatives for Term 1. Congratulations to the students who made the team after an intense selection process last year, we can't wait to see your leadership in action! Keep an eye out for the new social media and ambassador-run.

• Science Subject Ambassadors

Jain (Year 13), Ahin (Year 13), Jihyo (Year 13), Chaewon (Year 12), Seunghye (Year 13), Bao Nguyet Anh (year 13), Kavisha (Year 12)

• Art Subject Ambassadors

Ngoc Anh, Tram Anh, Ellie and Xyo

• EAL Subject Ambassadors

I am pleased to introduce our two EAL subject ambassadors, Tran Nhat Nam and Woobin, who are making significant contributions to our upcoming information evenings and events. The ambassadors will share their own journeys, tips, and strategies for success with students and parents during these information evenings.

3. Leadership training opportunities

This week we have had Blue Dragon, one of our NGO partners, return to BVIS, this time leading a leadership workshop for our Key Stage 4 and Key Stage 5 students. Students were carefully selected based on their excellent learning attitude and leadership potential. The workshop topic was on Human Trafficking and students worked in groups to explore this topic further and come up with solutions to this global issue. Our students were fantastic and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Primary

Secondary

We wish you all a very relaxing weekend ahead.

BVIS Hanoi's Senior Leadership Team