Weekly Updates on 04/10/2024

Dear Families

We have had another wonderful week here at BVIS.

On Tuesday we hosted our very first Grandparent Day with the Primary School to celebrate and thank them for the enormous contribution they make to your families and the school. It was a wonderful heartwarming event. I hope we can do many more similar events in the future.

A huge thank you for all your efforts with our relief efforts. Together with our sister school BVIS HCMC we have collected an enormous amount of products and received an eye watering amount of donations. Our team is now working tirelessly to purchase important items and liaising with our community partners to deliver these much needed goods to the communities badly affected by the storm. I will keep you updated as the huge logistical operation unfolds. But, thank you so much for your support.

On Wednesday evening I hosted an information session on the International A Level curriculum that we deliver here at BVIS. A huge thank you to all those who attended, I hope you found it useful.

We continue to further develop our homework strategies and I hope you are finding the planners useful.

As in previous years, NAE are investing huge amounts of money to ensure our teachers have access to some of the best training resources to ensure they are well prepared for your children. This includes, leadership courses, Kings College Masters program, MIT training, Julliard Performing Arts training and Nord Anglia University to name just a few. This will have a direct impact on the quality of teaching and learning your children receive.

I wish you all a very relaxing weekend ahead.

Community Spirit

This week in Early Years the children participated in two wonderful community events. On Tuesday, the Early Years welcomed grandparents into the classes. What a wonderful event to demonstrate the children's love for family through song and activities together. On Wednesday, the Fire Service entered the BVIS gates, with Firetruck and Fire Officers. This was a very exciting experience as the children were able to see the uniforms, the equipment and the flashing lights. The community is very important to the children – they said a big thank you!

Love and Creativity

This week, our Year 1 students engaged in a variety of meaningful activities to celebrate and honour their grandparents. They participated in a "Show and Tell" where they shared delightful memories and favourite activities with their grandparents.

Additionally, students created beautiful paper flowers and crafted thank-you cards, expressing their gratitude and appreciation.

On Tuesday, the highlight was the "Thank You Tree" activity. Students and their grandparents came together to create a stunning tree adorned with handprints. Each handprint featured heartfelt messages.

It was a wonderful week filled with love and creativity, allowing our students to celebrate their grandparents in unique and heartfelt ways!

Traditions and Celebrations

Year 2 students are engaged in some exciting learning activities to prepare for our Exit point. They work very hard to create a lapbook to summarize their IPC topic about holidays with various traditions and celebrations in Viet Nam.

Human Impact on Animals and their Habitats

Year 3 have loved having Archie, Hujan and Nami in their classrooms these past few weeks. We have been learning why some orangutans need to be rescued from the wild and kept safe in rescue centres like Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre in Borneo, Malaysia. It has been wonderful to see updates in our Orangutan Journals about what Archie, Hujan and Nami have been getting up to when they go home to spend an evening with our Year 3 students. This orangutan project is teaching Year 3 children about the impact that humans have on animals and their habitats.

Smiling Faces

Year 4 were very happy to welcome their Grandparents into their classroom. Together, they completed a variety of activities including singing songs, making herbal foot bath gifts and sharing the stories which they have written during their literacy unit. It was wonderful to see so many smiling faces in one room.

Observation

This term, Year 5 have been learning about the impact humans have had on the environment. In English and English IPC, they have been learning about Greta Thunberg, who has advocated for protecting the environment. In Vietnamese IPC, last week, Year 5 created posters about endangered animals, using their fine art skills to draw the animals’ eyes.

Chemical Reaction Demonstration

This past week the 6B students had the opportunity to attend a science lesson led by two Year 13 students! They visited the secondary science labs and had hands-on experiments while learning essential lab safety skills. They learned about the four different disciplines of science – physics, chemistry, biology and maths, had some hands-on discussions and then completed the practical. They made lava lamps, getting them to consider how liquids can behave differently based on their density and how they react to heat. They also got to watch the elephant toothpaste experiment completed by the Year 13 students which demonstrated a chemical reaction that creates a lot of foam very quickly. It shows how chemicals can change when mixed, and how gas (oxygen) can be created. They displayed mature learning attitudes and were showed many important skills which will help them thrive in secondary school next year.  

Secondary Weekly Update 04/10/2024

An update from Ms Claire

Half term is rapidly approaching, and things are extremely busy here at BVIS Secondary. Our Year 11 and 13 students are completing assessments and receiving feedback prior to the mock examinations. Students are busy and fully engaged in their lessons and I am pleased to see how well they are participating in extracurricular activities and experiences. The newsletter this week will include details of some of these fantastic wider experiences as well as an insight into the work in our classrooms.

Bo De Orphanage

Thi Thanh Hang (Anna) in Year 12 has been volunteering at Bo De Orphanage for some time. She cares so much for the children and endeavors to support them in any way possible. On Sunday 29th September, she organised for 24 students and 3 staff from BVIS to visit the orphanage and spend the morning playing games with the children. She also arranged for a large donation of food and resources to be collected from the BVIS community and given to them. Her leadership and sense of care and commitment to this cause is extremely impressive and all who attended really valued the opportunity.

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Multilingualism Week

This week we have also celebrated Multilingualism Week which featured a diverse range of languages, including Afrikaans, Dutch, Arabic, Turkish, Japanese, German, Irish, Sign Language, Korean, Italian, and Chinese (Mandarin), with Arabic and German being included for the first time. It was fantastic to see students take the lead, demonstrating leadership in action. Their enthusiasm was evident, especially during the Carl's German lesson where he found himself inundated with all questions directed at him from our students. A big thank you to all the presenters for their outstanding contributions!

Year 6 Transition Event

It has been fantastic to welcome our Year 6 students to the Science department this week. As part of their transition programme, they attended an ‘Introduction to Science’ lesson which was led by Van Khue and The Bao and involved both practical experiments and demonstrations. The students had a great time and we gained an insight into the enthusiastic and talented scientists who will be joining us in Secondary next year!

Respect Month

In October, BVIS has dedicated the month to the school value of Respect. During this month, the BVIS community will focus on the importance of Respect, Responsibility and Relationships. We will all show respect toward others in many different ways. The more often we have the opportunity to observe and experience positive interactions the more likely we will be equipped with the skills necessary for appropriate social interactions in our daily lives

What’s been happening in Art?

In Year 12 Art, diploma students are learning how to use acrylic paints. They painted beautiful A3 gradients of a Vietnamese sunset. Great job, everyone!

What’s been happening in English?

Year 8 English have been studying Macbeth this term, and they have fully embraced the supernatural elements of the Shakespearean tragedy. They have recently completed their assessment, and students took their books home to revise for this independently. One brilliant example of student revision was completed by Hoang Van NGUYEN in 8I, who created question and answers for herself, a checklist of things required for a successful response and wrote practice answers. Her independent work epitomizes the fantastic work ethic of our KS3 students and the independent skills that they develop over their learning journey at BVIS.

What’s been happening in Computing Science?

Year 10 Computer Science students have been putting their knowledge to the test in an exciting pop quiz.

University Visit

Primary

Secondary

We wish you all a very relaxing weekend!

Senior Leadership Team from BVIS Hanoi