Weekly Highlights 24/09/2021

Mr. Simon Higham, Principal

Dear Parents  

At all times throughout our personal and professional lives, it is important to ensure that we continue to look forward and plan our next steps for learning. Learning should be continuous, personalised, challenging and fun. 

The ongoing continuation of learning is vital to the success of any student – whether it is linked to academic achievement and/or social and emotional development.  As learning routines have now been well established, please continue to encourage your child(ren) to go beyond the reach of what they think their capabilities are. If together, we set the standards high then we will continue to achive more. 

Learning Together with Global Campus 

One such way to further enhance learning beyond the curriculum is through Global Campus (GC) – a platform for online learning that is exclusive to all BVIS students and Nord Anglia Education students worldwide. Global Campus is divided into 3 areas so that learning is differentiated according to age and interests. 

GC Junior (under 8 years old) 

This area of GC offers younger students a range of unique and exciting activities that encourage exploration, creativity, and expression. 

GC Core (8-15 years old) 

In GC Core, students can participate in global activities and explore their favourite subjects – STEAM with MIT, Social Impact with UNICEF, Performing Arts with Juilliard, Writers Corner, Outdoor Education, and Health and Wellbeing. 

GC Senior (aged 16+ year old) 

For our oldest students, GC Senior offers opportuities to discuss topics with peers from all over the globe and take part in unique inter-school, worldwide projects and contests. Students can also find expert advice to help them make informed choices about their future. 

In addition to the 3 areas of Global Campus, all students can take part in unique, interdisciplinary projects created by Nord Anglia Education teachers for Nord Anglia Education students! This area is called ‘Elements’ where you can become a MasterChef of the Future, explore Life in the Ocean, develop Healthy Lifestyle Hacks, and much, much more! 

This weekend, take learning one step further by exploring Global Campus and what is has to offer all BVIS students, beyond the classroom environment. 

Click here to find out more 

Master's Program at King College London                                                                                      Professional Development in International Education 

Learning at BVIS is also non stop for every member of our incredible staff.  

Congratulations to Ms Mai Truong (PA to Primary Headteacher) and Ms Ha Nguyen (Primary Classteacher) for the successful completion of their Master degrees at King's College London.  

Read more about their own learning journey in this post. 

#Deckadesk 

The #Deckadesk challenge has attracted a great deal of enthusiastic responses from across our whole school community.   

Take a look at some of the unique home working environments (including my own!) in this post or alternatively, find out more through our school FaceBook page. 

Meet our New Teachers 

This week, we would like to introduce Ms Imogen Fenton to our BVIS community, in her role as whole school PE teacher.

Additional Support for Parents 

For support with any technical aspects of our Virtual School, email our BVIS Help Desk: it.servicedesk@nordanglia.com

To learn more from our technology ‘How to’ guides, visit the ‘VSE Technical Support’ in the  ‘Parent Essentials’ section on our school website. 

For all individual queries about your child’s academic work/social and emotional wellbeing, contact their form/class teachers directly via email or Dojo. 

• For all additional Primary Enquiries, please call /email:  

              (028) 3758 0709 / ext. 111 or 

               primaryreception@bvisvietnam.com 

• For all additional Secondary Enquiries, please call / email 

              (028) 3758 0717 / ext. 211 or 

              secondaryreception@bvisvietnam.com 

On behalf of all of us at BVIS, we wish you a safe, fun and learning focused weekend ahead. 

Mrs Mary McAloon, Head of Primary

STEAM Island Challenge Continues! 

There were so many marvellous entries for the STEAM Island Challenge last week that we decided the Stars of the Week should be dedicated to highlighting the children’s incredible designs. Take a look at the selection of our creative Stars from last week in the photos below. 

This week’s challenge was to design a skyscraper for the population to reside in.  Children were enthused to get to work on their innovations as soon as the weekend began. Look out for samples of their ingenious designs in next week’s Highlights. 

Global Campus Ambassadors  

This week in assembly Ms Tram, our Learning Technology Integrator, announced the student role of Global Campus Ambassador for the year ahead. This year this opening has positions for two Y6 students to apply. Applications from students must explain their experience of and engagement in Global Campus, plus their strengths and skills. 

Global Campus Ambassadors will support fellow students to access Global Campus, work with secondary ambassadors to provide feedback to NAE about the platform and promote upcoming activities and events on Global Campus to all students.  The closing date for applications is Wednesday 6th October and our new Global Campus Ambassadors will be announced on Friday 8th October. We look forward to viewing the applications. 

Term One Success 

From this year the Term One parents evening has been brought forward to the beginning of the year to focus on settling in and the expectations for the year of learning ahead. I am pleased to share with you that these meetings have been a huge success bringing clarity around expectations for the year and answering questions about how best to support children in their learning at home.   

Thank you to all parents of V & S classes who attended Parents Evening this week. As the evenings draw to a close, please remember that class teachers are always available to provide further support and address any questions. You can contact with them through ClassDojo or Email to arrange a time to meet. 

Parent Webinars 

This week was the first of a series of parent webinars on supporting children with their learning. The series began with phonics for Years 1, 2 and 3 parents led by Mr Ben, our Lower Primary Coordinator, and Ms Van, our Vietnamese Literacy Leader. Parents were shown how children learn the phonic sounds in our Virtual School Environment and how they can be supported further at home. Next week Mr Ben and Ms Van will be sharing useful information about the teaching of reading through VSE for Years 1, 2 and 3 parents. 

Look out for more webinars for other year groups and subjects in the upcoming events section below and save the dates in your diary. We look forward to further supporting all our parents both now and into the future. 

Upcoming Events 

• 29/9/21 @15:30 – Phonics Reading Coffee Webinar for parents of Years 1, 2 & 3 

• 6/10/21 @ 15:30 – Reading Webinar for Years 3 to 6 (focusing on the online platforms used) 

• 13/10/21 @ 15:30 – Reading Webinar for Years 1 to 6 (focusing on supporting reading at home) 

• 27/10/21 @ 15:30 – Maths Webinar for Primary Parents 

Mr Jack Rudin, Head of Secondary

 Y7 English – Creative Writing 

A terrific, and beautifully crafted piece of descriptive writing from My Van Cao in Year 7. Check out her controlled and considered use of verbs and adjectives, as well as her ambitious use of punctuation. Keep working hard to develop your craft as a writer Cloudie! 

The berserk, vigorous but hellbent wind mercilessly battered the trees causing them to uncontrollably thrust around, but to me it just sounded like a sick but sweet little melody. The frenzied ocean thrashed around as it doused the viscous sand while hammering rocks. The clouds were as dark as the thoughts that swirled in my mind; the smell of fresh salt hung in the air, never leaving my nostrils once. Thunder clapped. By now I could hear most people shriek and cry as they fled the rampaging storm; I just stood there, alone with my thoughts. 

I’m not sure if I know what's right or wrong, what's good or bad anymore. The cheerful boy most people knew just wasn’t there anymore, engulfed by the never-ending darkness of his mistakes. My train of thoughts was interrupted when I felt the sea trickling at my feet, I grimaced as I saw how high the tides had risen. Has it really been that long? I sighed as I took one last look at the maniacal scene in front of me before striding back home. 

Drama 

Recently, Year 11 Drama students have been developing their monologue performances as part of their IGCSE coursework. Over the last week they each performed live and were able to still create very dramatic performances, despite not being in the theatre. The rest of the group did amazing work acting as directors, and were able to offer feedback to each performer to help continue to develop their pieces. 

Champion of the Week 

Well done to Isabella in 13V for achieving the BVIS Champion of the Week crown this week! It is especially pleasing that Isabella has won as she is the first Y13 student to ever do so! Well done Isabella! 

Keep collecting housepoints and working hard for your house! 

BVIS Champion Tutor Group(s) of the Week 

We are pleased to announce that we had double champions this week as 8S collected the most housepoints and 7V had a 100% attendance record in every VSE lesson. Well done to both tutor groups (and their tutors of course!).

Options Evening 

Last week we had our Year 11 Options Evening to help students select the courses that they will be doing for A levels. This is a really important decision as it will set them on a path to university and beyond.  

All the students have been sent a form to fill in their choices, and this needs to be completed by Friday 15th October 2021. 

The A level options booklet can be found below: 

English Version 

Vietnamese Version  

If your son/daughter require help with their choices they can ask to talk to their subject teachers, form Tutor, Mr Streete or Mr Ngo if they want advice related to how their choices will impact on their university options.  

We encourage all students to take the time to ask for help and make careful decisions before the deadline.  

Attendance 

It was another great week for attendance. We are proud of our students, teachers and parents, for all supporting learning during VSE. 

This week, our overall average attendance in Secondary was 97.6%, which is in line with the expected attendance of students when they are in school for face-to-face learning.  

Safeguarding and Child Protection 

The health, safety and wellbeing of our students remains the number one priority at BVIS HCMC. 

Should you have a concern for the welfare of any child in our school, please refer to our Safeguarding poster below: