Weekly Highlights 03/12/2021

Mr. Simon Higham, Principal

Dear Parents

Thank you for taking time to read through this week’s Highlights.

We are pleased to report that all teachers and school staff continue to work safely within the school building, following all necessary procedures to ensure that our community remains united, strong and able to deliver the highest quality of education possible to every child.

Once again, it has been a pleasure to welcome back new and existing students to school this week, to learn through our Virtual School Experience (VSE). Through their learning, students continue to be well prepared to effectively access a face to face curriculum when we are able to do so.

Given the recent official announcement of the pilot for bringing designated year groups back to school for face to face learning, we will be explaining our procedures and expectations with all relevant parents via online webinars prior to when students return:

Date: Thursday 9th December

• Year 2: 3.00pm – 3.45pm
• Years 11 and 13: 4.00pm – 4.45pm

Links to join these meetings will be sent out next week.

Additional webinars will also be arranged prior to other year groups returning. Our Virtual School Experience (VSE) will continue as normal for year groups who are not yet able to return.

Parent Satisfaction Survey 2021-22

On Tuesday morning (30th November),  all parents received an email from me launching this year’s Parent Satisfaction Survey.

Complete the survey through this link

The survey is accessible through PC, Mac, tablet, iPad, or smartphone and should take you no longer than 15 minutes to complete. Each family should respond once on behalf of all your children. If you wish to share specific feedback, please do so in the open comment boxes at the end of the survey. Your responses will be combined with those of other parents at our school and will remain anonymous.

This year, when you complete your individual survey, your child(ren) will receive 10 house points. Students from the first classes in EYFS and Primary and the first form in Secondary to achieve a 100% response rate will receive a special prize delivered directly to their door. Simply screenshot the final ‘thank you’ page at the end of the survey and upload it here to help support your child and their class/form.

All results of the 2021-22 survey will be shared with all parents during Term 2.

Many thanks for your participation and we look forward to hearing your views.

Contact Us

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

Take care, continue to stay safe and have a great weekend ahead.

Mrs Mary McAloon, Head of Primary

Learning to Write

The development of writing is a fascinating aspect of early childhood development. At BVIS, teachers in the early years and lower primary facilitate a range of activities and strategies. These activities support children to practise their fine motor skills, which in turn develops their confidence and understanding of how to write with physical writing tools. 

Writing is not just about the technical and physical aspects of the process. As a writer, we must be able to think creatively, be motivated to communicate ideas and know how to share ideas effectively. That’s why at BVIS we have adopted Pie Corbett’s approach of ‘Talk for Writing’ where the strategies applied encourage children to explore stories and imagine alternative outcomes through the process of innovation.

On Wednesday this week, the Year 1 team delivered an informative webinar that explained the strategies involved in emergent writing and how families can support their child’s development at home.

If you would like to discuss this important subject any further, then please do contact your child’s class teachers, who are always happy to share their expertise and support you further on a more personalised level.

Library book exchange

The library book programme is open for one last exchange before the Christmas holidays. If you would like to take this opportunity for your child to exchange their physical library books, then please complete the form at the link below. We ask for families to submit one form per child so that Ms Truc and her library team can carefully select the best books for their age.

Library Books Request Form

Preparing to Return

As December begins, we look forward to a hopeful imminent return to face to face learning in school. It is now time to start planning and preparing so that families and children are ready both physically and emotionally to safely and effectively return to face to face learning. 

I would like to share a few practical pieces of advice to help get you started with your preparations:

• Begin to prepare together the physical items that your child will need.
• Talk about what they will need and why they will need these and then, select the items together.
• Have the items ready in a special place in the house as a reminder that physical school will start soon. This will help your child to prepare their mind for leaving the house, spending time away from the family and socialising with friends again in physical school.

Reminder of the physical items that your child will need:

• School bag
• New school uniform
• Black polishable shoes
• Water bottle
• Appropriately sized masks (spares in their bag)
• Pocket sized hand sanitizer
• Pencil case with their own stationary
• Year 6 children only – iPad

If you have questions about these items or any general questions about your child returning to physical school, then please contact your child’s class teachers and they will be happy to answer. When we have confirmed information from the local authorities about when additional year groups can return, we will communicate our full plans with you all.

Mr Jack Rudin, Head of Secondary

Attendance 

Despite students having to leave lessons in order to get vaccinations this week, 7V were still able to achieve 100% attendance to all lessons last week!

Very well-done to all students in 7V

Secondary Champion of the Week 

Congratulations to HUYNH, Cong Minh Tien (9I) for achieving more housepoints than any other secondary student last week and therefore being this week’s Champion of the Week! An amazing effort all round from Minh Tien and something for everyone to use as a great example of our BVIS characteristics! 

An Update from our Drama Department

In Year 7 Drama, the students have been looking at how we create and show characters.

They faced the "quick costume" challenge, where they only had one minute to make a costume using household objects. They used kitchen tools to be robots, toilet rolls and bedsheets to be mummies or ghosts, and stationary to be pirates!

Students then explored how simply wearing a costume or saying a line does not make you a believable character - and discussed how motives, backstory and characterisation are important when we are being someone other than ourselves.

Champion Tutor Groups of the Week 

Despite the hard work of Minh Tien and the rest of 9I, they just could not make it two weeks in a row as Champion Tutor group. An incredible effort from everyone in 9B means that they are this week’s Housepoints Champion Tutor Group of the Week!

With an outstanding attendance record last week there can be only one winner of the Attendance Champion Tutor Group award and that is clearly 7V! What a wonderful commitment to your studies and to our school! 

An Update from our PE Department

Students have been working hard to identify and improve their fitness at home.

Each week students have focused on one component of fitness and carried out their own test. For example, this week was a virtual speed agility ladder test with each tutor group and house competing against each other.

Last week the tutor group with the best reaction time was 10I and the winning house was Dalat!

It’s fantastic to see the continued health and well-being commitment from BVIS students during VSE!  

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: