Weekly Highlights 20/09/2024

Mr. Simon Higham, Principal

Dear Parents

Thank you again for engaging and connecting with us.

My section of the Highlights this week is focused around Health, Safety and looking after each other with compassion and humility.

Typhoon Yagi Appeal Fund

Last week, I wrote that we have been planning how to help support those most affected by Typhoon Yagi in the North of Vietnam. On Wednesday morning this week, all parents were sent an email launching our Typhoon Yagi Appeal Fund, in partnership with our sister school, BVIS Hanoi.

I am pleased to announce that here are 3 ways that we can help:

Bring Cash into school and place in the sealed Collection Boxes at Primary and Secondary Reception areas

Bank transfer: If you would like to donate via bank transfer, please scan the QR code below, then note:  “Name of Student – class – Donation Yagi” for this transaction

All donations start from Thursday 19th September until Thursday 26th September. 

Whole School non uniform day on Wednesday 25th September – all children, staff and parents are encouraged to come into school dressed in red or yellow to show our support for Vietnamese communities who are most affected by Typhoon Yagi. Suggested donations of 50,000vnd will be collected on this day.

Primary and Secondary student leaders will help to organize other special fundraising events – look out for more information to come from each phase of the school.

(image: vnexpress)

In anticipation of your positive response, I would like to thank everyone across our BVIS community for anything you are able to donate – no matter how large or small. Once the appeal fund is closed, I will share full full details with you about how the money has been distributed to those in most need.

Developing Responsible Digital Citizens

Last week, Mr. Darragh Shanahan, Deputy Head of Primary, along with Ms. Tram Vu, Primary Teacher/Learning Technology Integrator, shared valuable insights on technology applications with the aim to help BVIS parents monitor, support, and encourage their children to study and progress more effectively at home.

Read more about this event here, from the News section of our school website.

If you were unable to attend, you can access the full presentation by clicking to the ‘Parent Essentials’ section of our school website.

Thank you to all parents who attended and we hope you found it useful.

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

1. How do you keep yourself safe when you are online?
   
2. What can you do better to stay safer?
   
3. What can school do to help support this even more?
   
4. What can parents do to help support?

I would love to hear about the responses you hear.

Planned Emergency Evacuation

On Tuesday this week, I am pleased to report that we completed a successful Emergency Evacuation drill. All students, staff members and visitors, including some of our very youngest BVIS FundinoTot families, were all accounted for within our targeted time.

Across the year, we carry out at least 3 Emergency Evacuation drills and 2 Lockdown practices, in line with our well-established Health and Safety Policy. 

Nurturing a love for learning in BVIS students

Since coming to Vietnam and starting her teaching career at BVIS in 2022, Ms. Poppy Broom, a Year 1 teacher has been passionate about education from a young age. 

"My mother was a teaching assistant. Her enthusiasm for her work inspired me to pursue Primary Education Studies at the University of South Wales, which led to my becoming a teacher.

Read and watch more about Poppy’s story in this post from our school website.

Welcome to our New Teachers

Ms. Sonali Dixit - Secondary Physics Teacher

Qualifications

- Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Physics, University of Leeds (2000)
- Postgraduate Certificate in Education in Physics at the King’s College London (2013)

Sonali has taught Secondary KS3-KS5 Physics for over 10 years, both in the UK and Vietnam. Sonali is passionate about helping students see how Physics relates to their everyday lives, so that they can connect with the subject in both practical and awe-inspiring ways!

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 Parent's Handbooks or via our Primary/Secondary Receptionists.   

As always, everyone across our school wishes you a safe and enjoyable weekend ahead.

Mrs Mary McAloon, Head of Primary

EYFS Lantern Parade

The EYFS children continued celebrating Moon Festival by joining together, parading with lanterns and singing traditional songs on Monday. They dressed in Ao Dai for the occasion and their teachers performed a play, telling the story of the legend of Mr Cuoi and the magic tree. This was our youngest children’s first opportunity of the year to develop their confidence to perform in front of an audience. It was a valuable experience for children and good preparation for their special celebratory Tet performance, which is held in the theatre in January for EYFS families to enjoy.  

Phonics Workshop for Parents

This week was the first of a series of parent workshops 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 Rioghnach, our Literacy Leaders. Parents were shown how children learn phonic sounds and how they can support their children further at home. For the next two weeks, Ms Ha and Ms Rioghnach will continue to share useful information about the teaching of phonics and reading, delivering part two and three of the workshop series.

Please continue to join these valuable events delivered by our expert leaders to support children to make the best progress in their learning.  Informed parental support positively benefits children’s learning.  Look out for future dates for your diary in the upcoming events section below.  Thank you for your valuable support.

Bulldogs back in action!

This week saw the first of many sporting fixtures for the year through our SISAC network.  Our U11 Girls and Boys football teams had friendly fixtures at home against SSIS and CIS respectively.  The Girls played with determination throughout, scoring in the second half and finishing strong with a successful 1-0 to BVIS. The Boys also demonstrated teamwork and ambition to succeed, finishing with a 5-0 win for the A team and a 3-1 win for the B team – well done, Bulldogs!

Playing in team sports provides students with not only the opportunity to improve their skills in sport but also the opportunity to develop their collaborative skills, teamwork and friendships. Congratulations to this year’s squad players for committing to this additional development opportunity.

Extra-Curricular Clubs (ECAs)

Block 1A of the primary clubs programme is now well underway. 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 in the first two weeks.

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.

Upcoming Events

1. 26/09/24 - 08:30am: Phonics Workshop 2 (open to F3, Year 1 and Year 2 families)
2. 30/09/24: Bilingual Month begins – look out for the family challenge
   
3. 01/10/24 - 08:30am: Parent Workshop: Helping at Home for EYFS Primary Parents (open to F1, F2 & F3 families)
   
4. 03/10/24 - 08:30am: Phonics and Reading Workshop 3 (open to Year 1 to 3 families)
5. 14 – 18/10/24: School Closed for Half Term Holiday
   
6. 21/10/24 - 08:25: School Resumes

Mr Toby Bate, Head of Secondary

Esports arrive at BVIS!

We are thrilled to announce the successful launch of our first ever Esports ECA club at BVIS, kicking off with Mario Kart on the Nintendo Switch. This fun and competitive game brought students together for an exciting first session, where they raced across colourful tracks, combining skill and strategy.

Esports provides a wealth of benefits to our students. It promotes teamwork and collaboration, even in individual games like Mario Kart where students help one another improve their skills. Esports also fosters critical thinking and problem-solving, as players must make quick decisions in fast-paced environments.

We’re excited about the prospect of expanding the club and creating inter-school competitions. We look forward to seeing how Esports can continue to benefit our students and enrich their learning experience 

Year 11 Options Evening

On Thursday, we hosted our Year 11 Options Evening event. Parents joined their children to explore the A Level programmes on offer and begin the process of choosing the perfect combination of courses to reflect their particular strengths, passions and future university and career pathways. With seventeen A Level subject options on offer students can combine their selections in more than 1000 different ways, so it’s a good idea to take the time to conduct some in-depth research and weigh up the alternatives carefully. Broadly speaking, a good choice is:

•  A subject you’re interested in
  
• A subject you are good at
  
• A subject that fits with your university and career plans

It’s almost always a bad idea to choose a subject because either your friends are doing it, or because you like your current teacher!

In the coming weeks, we recommend our Year 11 students speak to their teachers, at the upcoming parents’ evening as well as during school, and ask plenty of questions. Some good examples of questions to ask are:

• How is the course examined?
  
• How much coursework is involved?
  
• How is the course delivered?
  
• How independent will I need to be in my learning?
  
• What is the most challenging aspect of the course?
  
• Am I suited to this subject?

Live Lunch

The first Live Lunch of the academic year was a huge success with wonderful performances from all who took part. Come rain or shine, music makes everyone feel the community spirit and that’s certainly what happened today. We all look forward to more superb playing and singing in the near future. #loveBVIS

Moon Festival

Last week, we were delighted to celebrate the annual Vietnamese Moon Festival in Secondary with a variety of engaging activities that offered our students a deeper understanding of this important cultural tradition.

One of the highlights was a fun and educational quiz, where all form groups participated in identifying historical facts about the festival. This activity not only tested their knowledge but also sparked curiosity about the rich history and significance of the celebration.

On Friday, students and staff embraced the festive spirit by wearing traditional Áo dài, filling the school with a beautiful array of colours. It was wonderful to see so many students enthusiastically take part, earning house points as a reward for their involvement and making the celebration even more memorable.

By celebrating the Moon Festival, our students deepened their understanding and appreciation of the Vietnamese cultural heritage. This event allowed them to reflect on the rich traditions within our community while fostering a sense of pride and connection to their roots. It also provided a space for students to share these traditions with others within school, reinforcing the importance of preserving cultural identity and fostering respect for the diverse backgrounds that shape our world.

Sparx Maths Champions 

The Sparx Maths Weekly Champion is the student who is the top XP earner in each year group. 
 
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 

Huge congratulations go to our Top XP earners this week, who are:

Bedrock Champions  

This week’s bedrock champions are:  

Year 7 Nguyen Hoang Bao Anh  
Year 8 Le Hong Minh Quang
Year 9 Nguyen Hoang Phuc
Year 10 Nguyen Hoang Bach
Year 11 Do Nhat Minh Anh
Year 12 Ngo Thanh Binh

Congratulations to all the above students who came up on top in their respective Year groups. A special well done to Mraz (Le Hong Minh Quang) who achieved the highest Bedrock points total across the whole of Secondary! 

Champion of the week

This week’s champion is...

Gia Phuc (Ken) - 789v/Hanoi3 & Hoang Anh (Julie) - 13S - Congratulations to both!

Champion Tutor Group

This week's Champion tutor group is...

Congratulations to everyone in the form who contributed to the victory!

Housepoint Totals

Saigon surge into the lead and Dalat who were top only a few weeks ago have dropped back to 4th!

Upcoming Events