Weekly Updates on 15/11/2024

Dear Families

Congratulations to all those families that attended the BritCham fun run on Sunday. It was a great morning and I hope there were not too many sore legs on Sunday afternoon!

Investing in high level training for our school leaders is a must for our school. This weekend several of the senior staff and I will be attending the FOBISIA Leadership conference in Bangkok. This is an excellent opportunity for leaders across our region to come together and discuss strategies for making our schools even better.

Next week you will receive our annual parent questionnaire to complete. Full instructions will have been sent via email to you all. I hope many of you will support the school and complete the questionnaire. In the meantime, last week we published our You Said, We Did video for you to view:

I am delighted to announce the BVIS Christmas Community event will be held on Saturday 7th December. You will find full details sent to you via email. I hope many of you will be able to join this great event.

  I wish you all a very relaxing weekend ahead

English and Vietnamese storytelling skills
Last week, our Year 1 students retold stories in both English and Vietnamese. They started creating their own story maps independently, adding detail. The children even began innovating and used their phonological knowledge to label their unique creations. This is fantastic progress for their English and Vietnamese storytelling skills.

Building a warm, supportive community
This week in Year 2, the children will be learning all about friendship! We’ll be exploring what it means to be a good friend, understanding the importance of kindness, and discussing how we can support and include one another. Through a range of fun activities, the children will practice sharing, listening, and cooperating in group settings. They’ll also engage in role-playing scenarios to work on resolving conflicts positively. By the end of the week, we hope to see the children strengthening their friendships and building a warm, supportive classroom community!

Spreading Kindness
During Friendship Week, the Year 3 students got to join many fun activities. They learned how to show kindness to their friends by helping and sharing. One of their favorite activities was making friendship bracelets for each other. They were excited to meet and read books with the Year 6 buddies. This helped them build stronger connections and learn from the older students. Everyone had a great time celebrating friendship and spreading kindness!

Nurturing and Caring
As part of our ‘Friendship Week’ activities, Year 4 buddied up with Year 1 classes to do partner reading. It was touching to see how nurturing and caring the Year 4 children were in supporting their younger peers.

Moon Landings
In the last week, Year 5 have been learning about the Space Race and the Moon Landings. During Guided Reading in English, they completed VIPERS comprehensions about Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong. During IPC the students researched the Apollo 11 mission further. They used this information to create newspaper reports.

Speaking and Listening
This term, Year 6 students are exploring how information is shared over time and space using various technologies, from ancient symbols to modern devices. This ties into their IPC topic, “Making the News.”
Children are learning about the evolution of written language from drawings to symbols to words, and studying encryption, decryption, coding, and decoding without modern tech.

Secondary Weekly Update 15/11/2024

An update from Ms Claire

Over the past few weeks Malcolm Wood and I have been visiting Year 6 and Year 7 classes to explore how our students make the transition from Primary to Secondary. It has been a pleasure to be welcomed into these classes and we have both been impressed with the inspiring teaching and motivated and eager students.

It was lovely to see so many parents at the Year 12 Parent Teacher Conference (PTC) on Tuesday and we are really looking forward to welcoming Year 10 parents next week.

This week our Year 8 students visited the Elderly Club as part of their Service-Learning programme. I was lucky enough to join them on Wednesday and was so impressed with how respectful and enthusiastic our students were. It was great to see them getting so involved and they loved learning new skills from their older friends. In next week’s newsletter we will include a full write-up about this.

Just a reminder that we will be welcoming Parents of Year 7, 8 and 9 students to come into school on Wednesday 20th November for a Special World Children’s Day assembly and activities. Full details have been emailed to parents. If you would like to join us, please fill in this form HERE.

Next week we also have the finals of the Case Code Competition on Thursday 21st November. This has been organised by Year 13 Students and promises to be a fantastic event!

Ignite Student Magazine

This week the Magazine group shared their first edition of Ignite Magazine for the academic year. It is a really super read with lots of fantastic articles written by our talented students. The full edition can be accessed HERE.

🌟 Trip to MIT - What an Incredible Experience! 🌟

Our recent trip to MIT in Boston was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for two of our Y12 students! They immersed themselves in the world of cutting-edge research at one of the most forward-thinking academic institutions in the world.
During this fantastic trip, our students participated in engaging workshops where they:
- Learned about the fascinating process of glass making.
- Practiced electronic soldering techniques.
- Engaged in thought-provoking debates on environmental issues.
- Programmed and built a camera/magnetoscope device set to accompany MIT researchers to Alaska for studying the formation of the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights). Beyond academics, the students forged strong relationships with peers from Nord Anglia schools worldwide, creating memories that will last a lifetime.
What a fantastic experience indeed — filled with learning, collaboration, and fun!

Basketball Update
Both our JV and Varsity Girls teams played Basketball against Olympia at BVIS on Monday.

We have the largest squads for each of our teams in recent history, with 12 players named on each squad, and additional reserve players training with us. We have a mix of well-established players and a lot of new players to the game who are working hard to gain the skills and understanding of the game.

Mr. Vinh and Ms. Laura are excited to work with them throughout the season and to prepare them for the HAC Cup in January.

Football Update
This week we have had boys and girls players from KS3 playing at BIS in football.

The girls played exceptionally well and won 10-0 with a number of the girls who are now experienced mixed with some younger year 7 and 8 girls, this squad will prove a handful for most that they play.

The boys went 3-0 up before halftime, but after a fight back from BIS and some tired legs we eventually lost the game 5-3. There is some talent in this squad and they showed some real glimpses of organisation and structure despite the very limited number of training sessions they have had.

Next week sees both squads playing 2 games, one on Monday against St Paul's and one on Friday against Concordia, both games away from home.

MIT Challenge 1: Designing Solutions with AI
This term, our KS3 students tackled an inspiring MIT challenge in their science lessons where they were tasked with exploring how AI can revolutionize product design. Let by MIT Professor Ahmed, a mechanical engineer from MIT, students dived into the possibilities of AI-powered creativity, unlocking their "inner designers" to make a real-world product. The challenge was to consider how AI could improve an everyday product and then use this technology to reimagine and innovate.

You can watch the challenge video here: https://youtu.be/i-oxlDK0VFc
Throughout the week, students were guided to think like professional designers and engineers. For some, this meant learning the fundamentals of design thinking—examining simple products to identify meaningful improvements. For others, it involved analysing what types of data AI might use to help a human designer make better choices. Our students also explored data collection methods, analysis techniques, and the ethics surrounding AI, fostering deep discussions about how to use AI effectively and responsibly in our rapidly evolving world.

The results were extraordinary! From a "Froven" (a combined fridge and oven) to glasses that display the news, and even a self-filling water bottle that captures water vapor from the air, students brought their inventive ideas to life. Some creations even went a step further, such as a medical bag that provides basic first aid guidance, and a smart basketball hoop that calculates shooting accuracy. By using AI as a design partner, students developed concepts, created prototypes using 3D software, and even built animations and models to showcase and advertise their visions for the consumer.

This hands-on experience highlighted just how adept our students are with emerging technology, and it was truly inspiring to see them create their designs.

Vietnamese Society in Oxford (VOX) Open Day

Nha Truc - Class of 2024 alumna will be hosting a virtual open day for Vietnamese students who are interested in applying to the University of Oxford. This is a great opportunity for our Secondary students to get tips and advice on university applications directly from our alumni.

About the Virtual Open Day

• Date and Time: 23rd November, 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm (Vietnam Time)
• Format: Hosted over video conference, the event will include panel discussions featuring current Vietnamese students from various disciplines who will share insights into the application process, tips for preparing a successful application, and personal experiences. This will be followed by an open Q&A session for students, parents, and educators.

Registration link: https://forms.gle/UoSZpKghmXQZCsnX6.

Primary

Secondary

We wish you all a very relaxing weekend!

Senior Leadership Team from BVIS Hanoi