Weekly Highlights 15/09/2023

Mr. Simon Higham, Principal

Dear Parents

Many thanks for taking time again to read this week’s Highlights, to celebrate the many successes that occur across our school community each week and note the important reminders we share with you.

Given that we are now coming up to our second month back after the summer break, I would like to remind you about 2 important aspects of school operations. All of the information is taken from within our school handbooks which can be found in the Parent Essentials section of our school website:

Footwear

At BVIS, we insist upon the highest standards in all that we do and this includes our school uniform. I would like to thank all parents for ensuring that your son/daughter looks smart and ready to learn each day – this helps us to set the high standards that we thrive upon. However, I would like to remind you of our requirements for school footwear for each section of our school:

EYFS

These need to be secure on your child’s foot. Crocs are permitted, but they must have a back. Please avoid flip flops. Shoes with heels are not permitted.

Primary

Children must wear sensible black, polishable leather shoes or black closed toed sandals and these should be without laces for the younger children. We do not allow novelty shoes with flashing lights, squeaking noises or shoes which have the roller ball facility.

Secondary

Shoes should be clean and polished plain black leather with no additional colours (no sports shoes, sandals or thick soles/high heels – max 2cm). These should be business dress style shoes and not black trainers.

Medicines Sent From Home into School

Our number one priority in school is to ensure that our BVIS students are safe and deeply cared for. Therefore, please take time to read through the procedure below regarding medicines that are sent into school from home:

If a student requires medicine from home during school hours, parents/ guardians must complete a written authorisation to administer medications with the school nurse directly. 
Medicines from home will not be administered without a written authorisation from a parent or guardian. This authorisation form is available directly from the nurse.

The guidelines for administration of medicine from home are strictly followed by the school nurses. These guidelines are for the safety of students and staff within the school and are outlined below. For medicines from home the following guidelines apply:

1. Parent (guardian) brings medicine directly to the nurse. If the parent is unable to come to school, they can send the medicine into school with a signed note and must email the nurse directly with the instructions, as detailed in point 2 below.

2. Parent (guardian) completes and signs the authorisation with the following information:

• Name of medicine
• Reason for medicine
• Dose (amount to be given) 
• Time to be given 
• Number of days needed 

If the procedures are not followed, then the nurses are not able to administer medicines from home to your child. Please note that administration of vitamins, some traditional medicines* or medication that cannot be clearly identified cannot be administered by the school nurse. 

All medicine administration will be recorded onto the ISAMS school information database. If there are any difficulties on this issue, then please email the nurse directly for further advice.

*At the discretion of the nurse

Introducing our Amazing New Teachers

Mr Jonathan Gordge 

Bachelor of Arts, University of Westminster, UK 

Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), Department for Education, UK 

Jonathan is a highly experienced primary computing teacher who has successfully taught a diverse range of students from various linguistic and cultural backgrounds in inner-city London schools. With his exceptional ability to connect with students from different languages and backgrounds, Jonathan creates an inclusive and supportive learning environment for all.

Celebrating 50 Years of Diplomatic Relations Between Vietnam and the UK.

On Saturday, please come and join the #UKFestival on Le Loi St in District 1 from 9.00am.

The event is free to attend and is a great way to celebrate 50 years of Vietnam/UK relations.

It would be great to see you there with your children who may consider wearing their BVIS sports shirt to show their pride in being part of the British educational system at BVIS!

If you are free this Saturday, I hope you enjoy the event. Hopefully the weather will be more in line with Vietnamese culture and not the UK!

2023 NAE Senior leaders Conference

Next Week, I will be representing BVIS HCMC at our annual NAE Senior Leadership Conference in Switzerland and will be away from school from Thursday 21st September. I will miss all of your smiling faces at the gate during drop off and pick up but look forward to seeing you all again on Thursday 28th September.

Contact Us

Should you wish to contact your child’s Class Teacher(s) or Form Tutor directly, we encourage communication to be written in the language you most feel confident to use. 

Parents may also find it useful to contact their child’s class teacher(s) or form tutor directly for all individual queries about their academic work/social and emotional wellbeing in school.  Individual contact details can be found in the Parents’ Handbooks or via our Primary/Secondary Receptionists.  

Have a safe and enjoyable weekend ahead. 

Mrs Mary McAloon, Head of Primary

Extra-Curricular Clubs (ECAs)

I am pleased to announce that Block 1A of the primary clubs programme began this week.  The programme offers a range of extra-curricular activities for students to enjoy and engage in.  Our club teachers have been impressed with the enthusiasm that students have shown as they participated in their first week of clubs.
 
Thank you to all families who registered their children to experience a new hobby or a previous favourite activity.  These experiences are an important part of student life at BVIS, which supports and promotes the development of a holistic approach to learning.  I look forward to seeing the outcomes and achievements over the coming weeks.

Phonics Coffee Morning

This week was the first of a series of coffee mornings for parents to support children with their phonics learning at home.  The series began with phonics for F3 and lower primary parents led by Ms Ha and Ms Poppy, our Literacy Coordinators.  Parents were shown how children learn phonic sounds and how they can support their children further at home.  For the following two weeks, Ms Ha and Ms Poppy will continue to share useful information about the teaching of phonics and reading, delivering parts two and three of the series.

Please continue to join the valuable parent workshops our expert teachers and leaders deliver to support children to make the best progress in their learning.  Informed parental support will always positively benefit children’s learning.  Look out for future dates for your diary in the upcoming events section below.  Thank you for your valuable support

Fine Dining at School

The weekly reward of fine dining is now up and running in both lower and upper primary.  The first few weeks have been spent setting the routines and observing students showing their understanding as they adhere to the rules of the canteen.  Each day, names of students who make the right choices and follow the rules at lunchtime are entered into the “Golden Book”.  Then, once a week, one student from each year group, from Year 1 to Year 6, is selected to join the table for fine dining along with a friend of their choice.  The students dine at the table with Mr Max for Lower Primary and Ms Yen for Upper Primary, plus Ms Mary and Mr Darragh.  They enjoy sharing what they have been doing that week and are treated to a healthy and tasty sorbet dessert.

Congratulations to our very first Finer Diners in the primary years at BVIS.  They were the first to be observed being excellent role models at lunch, eating vegetables and fruit, being polite and respectful and clearing away carefully when they had finished eating. 

Young Musician of the Year – Semi-Finals

This week our BVIS 7 semi-finalists performed their chosen musical piece to the panel of judges in the semi-final round of this year’s Young Musician of the Year competition, a citywide competition.  All primary students, plus the parents of the semi-finalists, were privileged to experience the talent of our young musicians during this special assembly.  The judges had a difficult decision to make after hearing the students perform their practiced pieces, selecting the top musicians to go through to the final round.

The Young Musician of the Year final round of this prestigious event will be held at Renaissance International School this year on Wednesday 11^th October.

Upcoming Events

1. 21/09/23 @ 08:30am: Phonics coffee morning Workshop 2 (open to Year 1 to 2 parents)
   
   
2. 28/09/23 @ 08:30am: Phonics and Reading coffee morning Workshop 3 (open to Year 1 to 3 parents)
   
   
3. 10/10/23 @ 08:30am: Positive Parenting Workshop – Wearing your Firm for Upper Primary year groups (open to Year 4 to Year 6)
   
   
4. 13/10/23: Last day of the half-term
   
   
5. 16/10/23 – 20/10/23: School closed for the half-term holiday

Mr Toby Bate, Head of Secondary

Chemistry Week

BVIS Chemistry Week 2023: A Blast of Fun and Learning!

The second ever BVIS Chemistry Week was a blast of fun and learning for our secondary students. The week kicked off with the much-anticipated Element of the Day, where students learned about a different element each day on the dedicated Teams channel. There was also a tutor chemistry quiz, where students could test their knowledge of chemistry and earn themselves Housepoints. A chemistry fun fact and photograph were also featured each day on the Student Bulletin, and there were mind-blowing outdoor activities such as water purification, whoosh bottle experiments, and other amazing reactions.

The BVIS Chemistry Week was a great success. Students had a lot of fun learning about chemistry, and they learned a lot in the process. The week was a valuable opportunity for students to learn about the world around them and to develop their problem-solving skills.

Computer Science

It’s been a great start to the term in Computer Science. Our computer labs have been fully revamped over the summer and we are now proud to showcase our BV Innovation Space. Students are already making full use of the space which is bright, open and allows problem solving, collaboration and innovation in a subject that is constantly developing. We also have new storage facilities, charge points and robotic equipment to enhance our student involvement in Computer Science at BVIS. The design of the rooms encompasses our BYOD policy and allows our learners to take full control of their learning.

This week we were thrilled to welcome the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) to run a computing workshop with our Year 12 and 13 sixth form students. The workshop was engaging and introduced the concept of Internet of Things and the relationship between the Internet, Industry, Smart Homes, Healthcare & Smart Cities. Students were then challenged to work in small groups to design a new smart device. Their mission was to choose a ‘thing’ or ‘service’ to enhance ‘human actions’ or ‘feedback’. They were then required to present their findings back to the group.  

Over the course of the year, we hope to continue building relationships with industry experts & universities, both locally in the city and abroad. Stay tuned for further developments and opportunities.  

Champion Student of the Week

A huge congratulations goes to Khanh Linh (13V) who scored more housepoints than anyone else this week. Well done Khanh Linh!

Champion Tutor Group of the Week 

This week’s champion tutor group is 11B! Well done to everyone in the form who collectively earned more housepoints than all other tutor groups.

Saigon House Update

We would like to introduce ourselves – Mr Parsons and Mr Hooley, as the new joint Heads of Saigon House. It is end of the first week in our new role and it’s been a good week getting started to ensure that all the good work that Ms Mumby-Cole has done keeps going and keeps Saigon looking strong! Thank you to all of the students in Saigon who are helping us to remain as good as we are but let’s see if we can get some more housepoints over the next few weeks to lift Saigon up the House leaderboard and find our natural place at the top.

University Visits

In the upcoming weeks we have several different universities coming to BVIS to talk to our students.

13/9/2023: Ritsumeikan University – Japan visits.

14/9/2023: Seven American Universities visit.

15/9/2023: St. George's University - School of Medicine – USA visits.

19/9/2023: University SanDiego – USA & Lingnan University – HongKong visit.

21/9/2023: Imperial College London – UK visits.

28/9/2023: American Universities Fair

3/10/2023: University of Warwick visits

Upcoming Events

1. 20^th Sep, 23: Year 7 Coffee Morning at 8:00am
   
   
2. 21^st Sep, 23: Year 9 Options Evening at 16:00
   
   
3. 26^th  Sep - 12th Oct, 23: House Football Competition
   
   
4. 28^th Sep, 23: UGC Coffee Morning
   
   
5. 3^rd Oct, 23: Year 11 parents’ evening at 15:30
   
   
6. 10^th Oct, 23: Year 9 parents’ evening at 15:30
   
   
7. 27^th Oct, 23: Year 7 – 9 Reports go home
   
   
8. 30^th Oct – 3^rd Nov: Biology Week

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: