Weekly Highlights 22/09/2023

Mr. Simon Higham, Principal

Dear Parents

I write this week’s Highlights from Switzerland, where I am currently attending the Global NAE Senior Leadership Conference. 

Yet again this has been a very busy and very productive week across all areas of the school.

Engage and Connect 

It has been great to meet with so many parents during the recent Meet the Teacher/Tutor events and Parent/Teacher meetings. Additionally, it has also been pleasing to note that we have had a better than ever turnout at our A level Options evening and this week’s iGCSE Options event too. Across our school community, there is a real sense of commitment to our ‘Engage and Connect’ campaign and I encourage you all to continue to connect with our school and work in partnership with our teachers, for the benefit of your child(ren’s) learning.

If you have yet to meet with your child’s Class Teacher/ Form Tutor, then please ensure that you arrange a suitable appointment with them directly, or through the Primary or Secondary Receptionists whose contact details are below. As always, we aim for 100% attendance.  

Date for Your Diary – Additional Principal’s Afternoon Tea

Following this term’s first Principal’s Afternoon Tea event on 6th September and through the feedback we have received regarding areas for future discussion, I am pleased to confirm that we will be hosting an additional Afternoon Tea event based upon the topic of AI (artificial intelligence).

More details will be shared with you nearer to the event, however save the date below in your calendar:

Wednesday 29^th November: 2.00pm to 3.00pm

Fixtures Return

This week has seen the return to school of sporting fixtures and it has been a pleasure and privilege to watch our teams representing BVIS with pride and showing the tenacious BVIS Bulldog spirit.

This weekend, take time to ask your child(ren):

1. What would you like to represent the school in this year?
2. What do you want to achieve from this experience?
3. Who can you contact at school to find out more information?
4. How can we help at home to support you further?

Reminder – Helmets on Motorbikes

One of the highlights of my week, is each morning, being on the Primary and Secondary gates to welcome our BVIS community to school.

Recently, I have noticed that some children who arrive by motorbike, are not wearing a helmet. 

At BVIS, we care deeply for our school community and expect every child arriving by motorbike to wear a suitable and well fitted helmet. No matter where you are travelling from or how long the journey will take, we cannot ignore the fact that in 2022 alone, 6,400 people in Vietnam were killed as a result of traffic accidents.

Please help us to keep your child safe by ensuring they wear their helmet.

Introducing our Amazing New Teachers

Mr. Michael Griffin  

Bachelor of Commerce Degree, University of Galway, Ireland.  

Higher Diploma in Education, University of Galway, Ireland.  

Michael is a highly experienced Secondary teacher of Business Studies, Economics and Accounting. He has taught the Irish, Cambridge, Edexcel (Pearson), British and NCUK curriculum all to A level. An excellent communicator and practitioner he has a supportive and creative approach to class room learning

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.  

I would like to wish each and every member of our BVIS community a peaceful and productive weekend ahead.

Mrs Mary McAloon, Head of Primary

Y4 Explorers and Adventurers

On Tuesday, Year 4 took part in their very first Lien Ket Entry Point of the year.  Their topic is ‘Adventurers and Explorers’ so to get excited about their learning to come, they assimilated the role of adventurers and explorers of different habitats – the ocean, forest, desert and Antarctica. The children participated in competitions, art activities, singing and quizzes.  The event was full of excitement and the children visibly built enthusiasm about what they will be learning this term.  The ‘Adventurers and Explorers’ topic is designed to inspire a student’s curiosity about how the world is mapped and to become young explorers themselves. 

Parents’ Phonics Workshop – Part Two

Learning continued for parents this week as they joined Ms Ha and Ms Poppy once again to further their understanding of the teaching of phonics at BVIS.  Phonics forms the heart of reading and writing in both languages for our students. It is extremely beneficial for the adults, who listen to children read at home, to grasp the concept of phonics and be confident in pronouncing the phonic sounds. This series of workshops aims to do just that for parents. Thank you to those who have joined both workshops. 

A unique fact about our phonics programme at BVIS HCMC is that the Vietnamese phonics follows our philosophy for bilingualism, ‘know one, learn two’. BVIS teachers have designed and created a bespoke programme for Vietnamese phonics which supports students to learn how to read and write in both English and Vietnamese. The approach used is the same in Vietnamese and English making the transition for the student between languages simplified.  BVISHCMC has been identified this year as one of the top ten World’s Best Schools for Innovation because of its phonics programme.  You can read more about this outstanding award at this link.

We welcome all parents of Year 1 to 3 students to join the last workshop in the series. Next Thursday 28th September at 08:30am, the workshop will focus on using and applying phonics in reading.

Bulldogs Back in Action

On Monday our U11 Girls and Boys Football teams took on the teams from RISS. Both Girls and Boys playing their first fixture of the season played extremely well with only one practice session having been completed prior to the fixture. The girls lost 1-2 but with the Bulldogs goal from Ana in the second half, the girls finished the game in the ascendancy. The Boys began from where they had left off the previous season storming into a 3-1 lead with excellent team play and finishing from Gia Phat, Thanh Phong and Ken. Although the final score finished 3-3, the boys can be incredibly happy with this first outing of the season. Players of the match this week were, Mia and Vuong Dien.

Upcoming Events

1. 28/09/23 @ 08:30am: Phonics and Reading coffee morning Workshop 3 (open to F3 to Year 3 parents)
   
   
2. 10/10/23 @ 08:30am: Positive Parenting Workshop – Wearing your Firm for Upper Primary year groups (open to Year 4 to 6 parents)
   
   
3. 13/10/23: Last day of the half-term
   
   
4. 16/10/23 – 20/10/23: School closed for the half-term holiday

Mr Toby Bate, Head of Secondary

Student Council Update – a message from Khanh Linh and Nancy, Co-Presidents of the Student Council

In the past few weeks, our Student Council has successfully conducted a school-wide Members Recruitment. Applicants must go through two rounds to be selected as a member, including an application round and an interview round. We are glad to announce that the Student Council 2023-2024 has received a total of 100 applications from students ranging from Year 7 up to Year 13 (This is a significantly higher number compared to only 44 applications that were received last year!)

This demonstrates the enthusiasm of our BVIS students toward leadership roles, an essential soft skill that we continue to aim to develop through our student leadership system. Furthermore, this also showcases students’ dedication to creating positive impacts to our own school and wider community.

Representing the Student Council, we are extremely honored for all the interest and passion that we have received from students, teachers, and members of staff. We are definitely looking forward to all the amazing events and changes that the Student Council will bring this year!

Khanh Linh and Nancy 

Co-Presidents of the Student Council

Fantasy Football League

The BVIS Fantasy Football league began this week, with over 33 teachers and students competing to become the Fantasy Football Champion.

This game allows students to use their knowledge of the Premier League and data tracking & analysis skills to create and manage a team. Students and staff are excited for the challenge ahead and are already enjoying the competitive element of the game. Well done to Mr Shooter & Le Nguyen Minh Tri (James) who are currently the top staff & student in the league.

Champion Student(s) of the Week

A huge congratulations goes to Khanh Linh – 13V, and to Sumi - 8I, who both scored more housepoints than anyone else this week. Well done to both students!

Champion Tutor Group of the Week

This week’s champion tutor group is 7I! Well done to everyone in the form who collectively earned more housepoints than all other tutor groups.

Bedrock Update

The students below all scored the highest number of points in their individual year groups in Bedrock this week. Congratulations to them all!

KS3 Mathematics Coffee Morning

On Friday 15th September, the Maths Faculty were pleased to welcome 70 members of our BVIS community to its first KS3 Coffee Morning.

This event provided parents with information to support their child with their Maths studies.

We were able to share KS3 curriculum topics, Sparx Maths expectations and guidance as to how parents can support their children with the language and notation used in Maths.

Thank you to all who were able to attend. For those who could not make it, please access all materials in the links found in the Parent Essentials section of our school website under ‘Useful Parent Seminars’. 

Sparx Maths

Students earn XP by completing tasks in their Sparx Homework

Compulsory Tasks earn 60-80XP
XP Boost Tasks earn 120-150XP
Target Tasks earn 120-150XP
Independent Learning Tasks earn 100XP

Students reach a new Sparx Level every 10000XP

Top XP earners this week are:

Congratulations to the top students for this week.

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: