Weekly Updates on 12/12/2024

Dear Families

So, we are nearing the end of an amazing term here at BVIS. There has been so much to celebrate and I am so proud and delighted with everything the community has achieved over the past few months. BVIS continues to go from strength to strength.

Thank you to all those who attended our first ever Christmas Fair on Saturday. We had over 1300 people join us on the day. It was a really great, fun event and it was so wonderful to see our community come together and celebrate.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the secondary Christmas Market run by students. It was a great event and lots of fun was had. Well done everyone.

This week primary school has been busy with PTCs and IPC exit point invitations.

We are now starting our final preparations for the BVIS TET Fair and I hope you will save the date and many of you will join us for the event. More details will follow in due course.

Just a reminder that school finishes at 12.30 on Wednesday 18th December. Please ensure you make the necessary arrangements to collect your children on time. School buses will leave at 12.30. School will reopen for children on Wednesday 8th January.

An enormous thank you to everyone who completed the parent survey. This will give us an invaluable insight into your views and we will use these to plan for future improvements to the school. Thank you.

It just leaves me to wish you all a wonderful holiday and I hope you have a wonderful time with your friends and family. A very Merry Christmas from all at BVIS.

Have a very relaxing weekend ahead. 

Festive Fun

Early Years continued the learning through a Christmas themed week of activities; fine motor control skills were practised through craft, language development was consolidated through Makaton songs and stories and so much counting of Christmas presents around the tree was very exciting. We are very proud of all that the Early Years have achieved this term!

Creating Vivid Descriptions

Last week, Year 1 students completed their setting descriptions in both English and Vietnamese. They did a fantastic job applying their learning independently, using adjectives to create vivid descriptions. We are incredibly proud of their hard work and creativity! Keep up the great effort, Year 1!

Showcasing Learning About the Human Body

Year 2 amazed everyone with their incredible Exit Point, showcasing their learning about the human body. They sang three songs for the audience and had been practicing really hard to remember the lyrics. The students also demonstrated a range of experiments they had carefully conducted, such as showing how the hand muscles work, explaining about our sense of touch and smell, why our kidneys and heart are important, how our digestive system works and exploring how lungs work. They impressed their audience with their new scientific knowledge. What made the event even more special was that the children followed detailed instructions they had written themselves, showing off their developing writing skills. They confidently taught their parents how to carry out the experiments, creating a joyful and interactive learning experience for all. It was a celebration of hard work, creativity, and teamwork!

Finding out more about Dinosaurs

Year 3 have had a very busy week! The students loved welcoming their families into the Year 3 classrooms to show you everything that they have learned this term. Thank you to all of you who came along to watch the students perform confidently, participate in games and work alongside your children to complete dinosaur craft activities.

In addition to this, Year 3 have also enjoyed their visits to the Vietnam National Museum of Nature. It was so interesting to explore the different artefacts and find out more about dinosaurs. The children were amazed by the real fossils and dinosaur skeleton!

Speaking and Listening

Year 4 showed outstanding creativity planning their own instruction story. They used their planning to practice ‘talking’ their stories and used excellent expression in their voices. It has been wonderful to see everybody enjoying practicing English speaking and listening.

Learning about Space

This week, Year 5 welcomed their parents to celebrate what they have learned about space in Term 1B. In their English activity, they sang a song about the solar system, presented their learning, and used their scientific knowledge to pick an exoplanet. In STEAM, they designed and tested rockets. In Vietnamese, they presented their learning and performed a play linked to their IPC topic.

Enhancing Communication Skills Through Creative Innovation

Year 6 students have been challenged to invent, prototype, test, and improve a ‘telegraph machine.’ This project not only requires them to apply their knowledge of electrical circuits and mechanical concepts but also emphasizes the importance of speaking and listening skills. As they collaborate, they must effectively communicate their ideas, listen to feedback, and discuss potential improvements. This hands-on activity highlights that creativity and innovation are enhanced through strong communication skills, demonstrating that speaking and listening are crucial components of successful teamwork and problem-solving.  

Secondary Weekly Update 13/12/2024

An update from Ms Claire

Today we issued our Term 1b Reports for all students. An email was sent to all parents explaining these reports with details of ow to access them on the Parent Portal. Mr. Piers Roderick also led a very helpful session on Tuesday called ‘Reports Explained’ outlining the key elements of our reports and detailing changes we have made to improve them.

We are coming to the end of a very long, busy and action packed 18 weeks of term! This week we have had some fabulous festive and end of term events. On Thursday our students led our annual Christmas Market which raised an incredible 53,000,000VND for 3 charities – Operation Smile, Blue Dragon and Hanoi Pet Adoption. Today, we will also have our Year Group Celebration Assemblies led by the Heads of Year. We also have lots of lovely events planned for next week including the Academic Awards, Whole School Assembly and Staff Panto! Our students and staff definitely deserve some rest and relaxation over the holiday.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and healthy Festive break, and we are looking forward to welcoming all our students back on Wednesday 8th January.

Wizard of Oz

On Thursday and Friday last week we were treated to fabulous performances of the ‘Wizard of Oz’. The cast and crew spent months preparing and rehearsing and their efforts certainly paid off. The show was excellent in all aspects; staging, acting, singing, dancing and technical support. We are all extremely proud of our talented students.

Global Campus Writing Competition

A huge congratulations to this years’ BVIS internal Global Campus Writing Competition, Tuan Kiet Lai (Year 7), who was judged as the winner of the Key Stage 3 category, and Quang Anh Nguyen (Year 11) who was judged as the winner of the Key Stage 4 competition!

This year saw the most entries ever for this competition, and there was lots of stiff competition for the boys in winning the top prizes! Congratulations must go to the following students whose entries were shortlisted for the final round of judging:

Khanh Ngan Le (Year 7)
Bao Chau Ngo (Year 7)
Jihyeon Kim (Year 8)
Hoang van Nguyen (Year 8)
Suyeon Kim (Year 8)
Tung Anh Pham (Year 9)
Viet Tuan Kiet Ho (Year 11)

The winning stories will now be entered into the Global Competition, where they will compete against winning internal entries from Nord Anglia schools from around the world, and will be judged by renowned author Kate Peridot. The global winners will be announced by April 2nd 2025, and everyone in the BVIS family wishes Tuan Kiet and Quang Anh the best of luck in this stage of the competition!

Maths Olympiad

On Saturday 7th December, 20 students represented BVIS at the annual Hanoi Maths Olympiad at Olympia School. The students had to compete against the very best from schools such as UNIS, Concordia and BIS. We were hugely impressed with how well they displayed the schools values, in particular Respect and Perseverance in what was an exceptionally challenging competition. We are very proud of their efforts and look forward to competing again next year!

Basketball Updates

All 4 Basketball teams faced Concordia on Monday night, traditionally one of our toughest opponents in this sport. The Boys played away, and the Girls were at home. The KS4 Girls were unlucky to lose a hard-fought contest, whilst the KS5 Girls recorded their first victory of the season with a nail biting 2 point win.

The KS4 & KS5 Boys were both successful in overcoming their opponents with relative ease, to extend both teams' unbeaten records this season.

Preparations for the HAC Tournaments for all of our teams are well underway, and we look forward to our Dragon's facing this challenge during the first week back after the winter break.

Year 11 History Trip to HCMC

The Year 11 History trip to HCMC was a great success where students explored Vietnam’s history with its conflict with both France and The United States of America. The students visited the War Remnants Museum which displayed powerful images that conveyed the brutality of the war. The students had an excellent guide talk us through the exhibit and spoke with much passion and enthusiasm about Vietnam’s history. Each story told through the displays reminded us of the resilience and courage that defined our nation during those turbulent times.

On the Saturday, we headed to the Cu Chi Tunnels, where we experienced firsthand the ingenuity of the Vietnamese people. Crawling through the narrow, dark tunnels was a scary experience for many of our students but hopefully one they will never forget. They also saw many of the innovative booby traps that the VC had developed during the war and understood the ingenuity of many of these men and women.

Lastly, on the Sunday, students visited Independence/Reunification Palace which is the site when, in April 1975, tanks rolled in and the flag of South Vietnam was lowered and replaced by the standard of the North Liberation Front. This was the end of the 30-year struggle for Independence and power was transferred to the Provisional Revolutionary Government.

I look forward to taking Year 10 next year.

Festive Decorations

All over the school, festive decorations have been popping up. Tutor Groups have done a great job in decorating their classroom doors.

What’s been happening in English?

In Year 9, students in English have been studied a unit on “Protest Poetry”. In this unit, they have covered poems which protest global issues, including (among other things) child exploitation during Victorian England, lynching in 20th century America and an oppressive dictatorship in Nigeria. Throughout the unit, students have explored the writer’s choices for deliberate impact and analysed how the writer’s choices can help to make readers feel compelled to take action against injustice. Following this, students have crafted their own protest poems, which focused on current global issues. In these poems, they have consciously included some of the poetic methods included across the unit, including juxtaposition, enjambment, graphic imagery and repetition. They chose to focus on the injustice created by war, gender inequality, environmental destruction and the ignorance of the majority against wars which do not directly impact them.

Some of their wonderful poems are below:

Silent Voice (Ha Phuong)

In quiet corners, women’s voices stay.
In government offices, men’s voices echo.
It's not fair for women to shut
In a world that should offer them plenty of choice.

We dance through the struggles to rise again,
Sisters together, they share and fight.
The chance is here to break the chain
For justice, love, and equal rights.

Our strengths can grow, but men choke them all.
Now we are here; hopeless and fateful.
Those disapproval, those judgmental,
When people scream, “Women can’t handle.”

The silent voice dives deep, deep down
Until it’s unable to turn around.
Yet a bright key appears again
For us to grab and unlock the chain.

Women rise, grabbing their rights.
It's time for them to shine bright.
To lift each voice, to stand as one,
The power of women now has begun.

Bitter Humanity (Duc Manh)

Once I knew a man,
A man with a moniker.
He was fun-his smile, ever so bright
He had a life, a family, a job-as a chauffeur.

That night, I awoke in a heartbeat
The flute like sound, flooding the skies.
I wonder:Whatever was it that made such a noise?
However, I soon found out it was a man’s pained cries.

I never knew, in the heart of wondrous Africa,
Such a scene would play out.
Among the shades of the ancient trees.
I wonder how.

The beautiful look of pure agony.
The fragrant aroma of the sizzling flesh.
The cries, the screams-music to my ears.
The machete, strong, imposing, sawing down.

Whatever did they think they’re doing?
An act of justice?Nay, delivering peace?
No, it’s just a man of color.
All because of that.

Blamed (Ba Lam)

Blamed , accused , arrested
There’s was an incident recently
James was blamed as normal
The victim of everything called out his name

Since he comes here
Dirty looks and contempt is part of his life
The white hate him
I know he was innocence

One day , the white polices found out a white corpse
James was accused , proving it’s nonsense
Tears dropped , defend is nonsense , James already proved
James was arrested

History is repeating
We used to blame them
And now we blamed James
Blamed , accused , arrested

A Mother’s Prayer (Nguyen Lam Anh)

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What’s been happening in Vietnamese?

Year 13 students have been simulating the Paris Agreement of 1973 in Vietnamese Humanities.

In Vietnamese language, Year 13 students are also studying and exploring the poems of the poet Xuân Quỳnh, a prominent female poet of 20th-century Vietnamese literature.

In this week's VAL lessons, students are reading and understanding Christmas stories in groups and exploring the meaning and content of the book. In the next lesson, they will create characters using origami and practice telling their own stories.

Primary

Secondary

We wish you all a very relaxing weekend!

Senior Leadership Team from BVIS Hanoi