Weekly Highlights 19/01/2024

Mr. Simon Higham, Principal

Dear Parents

It has been great to be back in school this week following our NAE teacher recruitment event in the UK and as always, I have enjoyed experiencing the vibrancy and energy around our school campus.



There have been significant events that have taken place this week across the whole school. I was delighted to see so many parents attending the Lower Primary Sports Days as part of the wider Primary Sports Week. Well done to everyone who participated and learned more about how to stay fit, happy and healthy. More information about these events, including several parent workshops can be read about in Ms Mary’s section of the Highlights.



Additionally, this week all our Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 classes have been attending their annual residential trips. There was an incredible amount of excitement and anticipation before their departure on Monday and I am looking forward to hearing more when they return safely to school on Monday.



Finally, this week has been a very important one for our Year 11, 12 and 13 students who have been undertaking their mock exams. If you are a parent of an examination student, please thank them all for their hard work and efforts and know that through their experiences this week, they will be even stronger when they sit their final examinations in Term 3. Again, further information can be read below in Mr Bate’s section of the Highlights.

Barry has over 30 years of experience in education with particular expertise in child safeguarding. Before joining Nord Anglia Education in 2016 as Head of Safeguarding, Barry worked for the Oxfordshire County Council ensuring the safety of children in an education setting. 

Safe journey back to the UK Barry!

School Photographs

I hope you have been able to view your child (ren’s) individual and class photos using the information on the hard copy order form brought home last week.



If you have encountered any issues in contacting Pret-a-Portrait customer services via Zalo, please use the QR below. They are happy to hear from you and help answer any questions you may have and support you through the payment process.

TET Fair 2024

Please make sure that the date for this year's TET fair is in your diary:
Sunday 28th January (8.30am to 1.30am)

We are looking forward to seeing you all there in your Ao Dai to celebrate TET across our BVIS community.

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 great weekend ahead and thank you for your ongoing support of our school. 

Please look out for Primary parent meetings over the next 2 weeks and the many parent workshops that are taking place across the school – your support is essential in making these events a success.

Mrs Mary McAloon, Head of Primary

Healthy Habits

Over the past two weeks, our primary phase coordinators hosted workshops for parents to discuss and explore recommended healthy habits for their children.  Discussions were facilitated by the teachers to help parents unpick the challenges they face when building healthy routines into their children’s daily lives.  Several surprising facts were shared, which helped parents contemplate the routines and boundaries set at home that promote and support a healthy lifestyle for their children.

Recent assemblies for F3 to Y6 also focused on healthy habits.  They included demonstrating the importance of sleep, plus the amount of sleep children should get each night, and they focused on the misconceptions around healthy choices.  One misconception discussed was drinking milk; fresh milk in the recommended daily amounts is healthy, but flavoured milk with added sugar is not a healthy choice if drank regularly.  The sugar in flavoured milk will damage our teeth and not provide us with the right type of energy for the day if we drink too much.
 
Thank you to the parents who joined the teachers for this valuable opportunity to help and support their children’s health and development.
 

Primary Sports Week

This week our PE department hosted the exciting primary sports week, which carefully aligned with the focus on healthy habits and supported the students to build independence around making the healthy choice of being active.  Primary sports week consisted of a dedicated double lesson for each year group to participate in fun swimming races and ball games.  Years 1 to 6 participated in their houses highlighting the spirit of sporting competition.  

Sports week also included the lower primary sports day where students engaged in team activities to achieve points for their house.  Thank you to the parents who were in attendance; your cheer and support for the children helped the sporting atmosphere come alive.  The winning house overall was Dalat.  Congratulations to all participating students and a special well done to the winning team!

Thank you to our PE department for facilitating primary sports week and promoting being active as a healthy habit.  

Year 4 visit Happy Farm

On Wednesday Year 4 had an enriching learning experience at Happy Farm to inspire and build curiosity around their new Lien Ket topic called, "What's on the Menu?".  Happy Farm offers the students a variety of educational and interactive experiences that enhance the students’ understanding of food sources and farming practices, providing a perfect entry point to the students’ upcoming studies.  Highlights of the trip were planting and exploring the cultivation process, learning about common Vietnamese herbs and their culinary uses and, a unique opportunity for the children to experience a day in the life of a farmer.

Interactive, engaging and practical learning experiences such as these help children to become immersed in their learning and remember the knowledge, skills and understanding being taught.  Thank you to the Year 4 team for facilitating this valuable day trip for your students.

Upcoming Events

1. 23 & 25/01/24 – Parents Event Meetings for B and I classes
   
   
2. 25/01/24 @8:30 – Maths Workshop for Year 1 and 2 Parents 
   
   
3. 30/01/24 & 01/02/24 – Parents Event Meetings for V and S classes
   
   
4. 02/02/24 @15:05 – School Closes for the Tet holiday
   
   
5. 05-19/02/24 – Tet Holiday, School closed
   
   
6. 20/02/24 @08:30 – School Resumes

Mr Toby Bate, Head of Secondary   

Mock Examinations

Student Council Update

Before the 3-week long Christmas holiday, our Community Committee hosted a Christmas Special Sale where hot chocolate was sold for the first time, along with other ‘Christmasy’ desserts including red velvet cupcakes, cinnamon cookies, etc. We raised more than 3 million VND which will be donated to our community partners!

We're thrilled to unveil the launch of the Tet Box Appeal in our school community! This yearly project provides students and on-campus staff with the chance to contribute clothes/shoes, food, and school supplies. If you prefer to donate cash, kindly submit it to the primary cashier or the secondary reception. It is noteworthy that all contributions will be carefully sorted into each category and sent to the Ho Chi Minh Welfare Association (HCWA), a non-profit organization dedicated to education, protection, and care for children. Your support will make a meaningful impact on those in need!

Trip Update

This week saw our wonderful Year 7-10 residential trips set off on their annual adventures. It was great to see so many smiling faces arriving at school with their bags packed ready for their learning outside of the classroom – although some of their bags were a lot bigger than others!



There will be more information next week about how great the trips have been and to hear from some of the students who attended them.

English: Gothic Writing competition 

Steven King, possibly the most famous writer of scary stories, once said that writers aren’t made, they’re formed. The English Faculty try and instil this idea into our students during their creative writing process. Writing is a challenging and difficult skill to master: it takes time, dedication and effort. 

Year 7 have been focusing on these skills during their Gothic Writing unit. Their final learning challenge was to create a story that followed the conventions of the Gothic genre, thinking carefully about how a writer builds tension through thoughtful language choices and considered structuring. 

This year, we asked our Year 12 A Level Literature students (who certainly know a thing or two about good quality writing) to judge the writing and nominate a winner. After thoughtful reading, careful consideration, and some heated debates, we are pleased to announce that Susie, 7V was judged to be the best Gothic writer this year – great job, Susie! Our Year 12 academics said that Susie’s piece was “very original, avoided cliches, and embedded Gothic tropes throughout”.

Please enjoy looking at the images of some of the terrific work our Year 7 students worked so hard to create. And don’t forget Steven King’s advice!

Sparx Maths Champions of the week

The top XP earners in each year group between the 12th December the 10th January are:

Congratulations to all the winners!

Upcoming Events

1. 24th Jan, 24: It’s good to be me event 
   
   
2. 25th – 29th Jan, 24: International Award Trip for Year 10 and 12 students
   
   
3. 25th – 27th Jan, 24: Cat Tien Year 13 Biology Field Trip
   
   
4. 26th Jan, 24: Live Lunch event – 12:25 – 13:15
   
   
5. 28th Jan, 24: Tet Fair and celebration
   
   
6. 30th Jan, 24: Year 11 Geography Field Trip
   
   
7. 31st Jan, 24: Tet assembly
   
   
8. 5th – 19th Feb, 24: Tet Holidays

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: