Weekly Highlights 27/09/2024

Mr. Simon Higham, Principal

Dear Parents

Welcome to this week’s Highlights and as always, thank you for engaging and connecting with us.

Typhoon Yagi Appeal Fund - Update

(Image: baochinhphu)

I would like to personally thank all of our students, teachers, parents and wider community for their recent efforts in helping to support those most affected by Typhoon Yagi.

Physical and online donations have been arriving in school all throughout the week and on Wednesday we had a school wide non uniform day where students and staff made a donation to come dressed in non-uniform that was either red or yellow. 

Students have organised further events such as the ever popular bakesale across Secondary which took place on Thursday. This was extremely well attended, with the sweet treats selling out in a very short space of time.

On Thursday afternoon, a staggering 203,838,000VND (just over $8,000 usd) was confirmed as our final amount raised – well done to everyone involved!

As mentioned in last week’s Highlights, we are working together with our sister BVIS school in Hanoi who will be coordinating the relief efforts.

All of the money raised will be used to to purchase all essential items and distributed as soon as possible to the following areas via the NGOs :

- Blue Dragon: Supporting families that live around the Long Bien, Cao Bang, Ha Giang and Lao Cai areas whose houses were destroyed by flooding.

- SCDI: Supporting communities with disabled family members affected by flooding in the Yen Bai, Thai Nguyen and Lang Son areas.

- BVIS Hanoi’s individual network: helping approximately 50 families in the floating village and distributing directly to them.

Please look out for more information in future editions of the Highlights, updating you on how the distribution of items has progressed. 

Being part of a strong, united and compassionate community is indeed a privilege and again, I would like to thank you all for your continued support.

As the great Mahatma Gandhi said:
 “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

Nord Anglia Education and IMG Academy – Winter Basketball and Football Camps in Dubai

Representing the first sports and wellbeing collaboration of its kind for international schools, IMG Academy became Nord Anglia’s newest collaboration for students and teachers in April 2023, joining alongside world-leading institutions MIT, The Juilliard School, and UNICEF.

This December, IMG are offering exclusive winter football and basketball camps for students at BVIS and across the NAE family.

To find out more about these residential camps for students aged between 12 and 18 years old, click here for all of the details.

As this site is in English only, please do not hesitate to get in touch using the information from the ‘Contact Us’ section below.

Welcome to our New Teachers

Mr. Alistair Dunn - secondary maths teacher.
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Science in Psychology, Manchester Metropolitan University (2017)
- Qualified Teacher Status (2019)

Alistair studied Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University before completing his Mathematics PGCE. He has taught Mathematics for the last 5 years in the UK, UAE and Republic of Ireland. He has additional experience teaching Psychology and has held leadership roles such as a Head of Year in previous schools.

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.   

On behalf of everyone at BVIS, I wish you a very safe and family orientated weekend ahead.

Take care!

Mrs Mary McAloon, Head of Primary

Primary Student Leadership Conference

The President and Vice-Presidents of our primary student council and our Year 6 House Captains travelled to Hanoi with teachers to meet fellow student leaders from our three Nord Anglia sister schools in Vietnam. BVIS and BIS Hanoi, plus BVIS and BIS HCMC joined together for the inaugural primary student leadership conference. The two-day schedule included team building, sharing good leadership practice, action planning and problem solving on real life challenges such as, “Keep Vietnam Clean”. Through their experiences, students had time to reflect on their role and responsibilities in school and develop leadership skills including communicating, critical thinking and planning strategically.  

Ms Tram Vu and Mr Simon Jenkins, who escorted our students, report that they were extremely proud of how the students represented themselves and their school, BVISHCMC. Congratulations, students! 

Class Assemblies

On Friday we hosted the first of many planned class assemblies for this academic year. Class assemblies provide an opportunity for students to showcase their learning, practice performing and build confidence to speak to a larger audience. In addition, families are invited to join the audience and learn from their children; students always thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to become a storyteller. Please look out on ClassDojo for the date of your child’s class assembly this year, we would like to see as many of our parents join us for these special occasions.  

Project Curiosity in Upper Primary

Project Curiosity is an exciting three-week homework initiative designed to foster students' enquiry and research skills. Throughout this series, students will explore various topics of their interests, with the final task being the creation of a poster and presentation to showcase their findings. We've already seen wonderful engagement through home discussions shared on ClassDojo, highlighting the enthusiasm for learning and collaboration at home. This project offers a unique opportunity for students to bond with family while developing essential research and presentation skills. A big thank you to parents for your ongoing support and encouragement—we couldn't do it without you!

Upcoming Events

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

Mr Toby Bate, Head of Secondary

Options Event for Year 9

Last Thursday our most senior Key Stage Three year group came together with their parents and guardians to meet with subject leaders about option choices for Years 10 and 11. This is an exciting time for students since it’s their first real opportunity to make a major decision about the courses they study. Each student will choose three optional IGCSEs to complement the subjects that are mandatory examination subjects at Key Stage Four (English, Mathematics and Science). 

At the event itself, there were a lot of questions from students and parents alike about matching IGCSEs with future career paths. Our advice is that at this stage in their academic journey, career considerations should be lower down the priority list: a young person’s choice of IGCSEs will not have a significant impact on the A levels, degree programmes or careers available to them later. With this in mind, the most important questions to consider when choosing your IGCSEs really are: ‘What do I enjoy, and what am I good at?’. And remember, we are here to support, guide and answer questions. 

Big Sing

Last Saturday, students from BVIS joined with students from BIS, as well as members of the wider musical community, for a ‘Big Sing’. Tim Rhys-Evans, the Musical Director from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the famed creator of the Britain’s Got Talent group, ‘Only Boys Aloud’, led us in a day-long workshop to re-discover the beauty of play in our music-making. We were directed to leave our inhibitions at the door and to make music with our voices, emphasising the story-telling qualities of songs. We engaged with Welsh folk songs, Swedish stories and pop-chart hits and a couple of our students even got to pose with Tim as well!

Well-done to all involved and thank-you to our sister school BIS for hosting.

Pastoral Update

This term sixth form students were able to propose their own ECA’s to independently plan and run. This has led to the introduction of Sign Language club, Stock Market club, Economics club and Escape Room club which have proved hugely popular and are fully subscribed. 

Aki and Michelle, who have created Escape Room club have explained more about why they wanted to introduce this at BVIS.

Why did you want to run a club for younger students? 

Firstly, we want the opportunity to guide, inspire, share knowledge and experiences that can support their social development. Second, we have a passion for puzzles and hope to share that enthusiasm with others. Ultimately, we want to provide a space where younger students can feel a sense of belonging and develop friendships, which can be especially important during their formative years.

What do students learn in your club? 

Students need to think critically and creatively in order to solve puzzles and challenges which can be applied to various academic and real-life situations. Also escape rooms are designed for teams to work together, which allows students from different year groups to collaborate. In addition, this club will enhance a student’s sense of accomplishment. 

What are you enjoying about running the club so far?

What I like most about running the club so far is witnessing the excitement and curiosity from younger students. It's rewarding to see them engage with new ideas, ask insightful questions, and build confidence in their abilities. What we are proud of is our success in creating a fun, inclusive environment where students can express themselves and comfortably collaborate with people of different ages.

Visiting Universities 

This week, BVIS welcomed representatives from a wide range of universities into our school, to help support and guide our Year 11, 12 and 13 students in their Higher Education choices.

These included universities for the list above, together with Fordham University (USA) and the University of British Columbia (Canada). 

Future visits from other renowned Universities include: 

• Imperial College London – UK – 01/10
• San Diego State University – US – 04/10

Canadian Universities – 30/09

• Brock University
  
• Lakehead University
  
• Ontario Tech University
  
• Queen's University
  
• York University
  
• Wilfrid Laurier University
  
• University of Windsor
  
• Huron University at Western

American Universities – US

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 Ngoc Thien Huong     
Year 8  - Le Hong Minh Quang  
Year 10 - Pham Vu Tam Nhu
Year 11  - Nguyen Duc Thinh

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 champions are...

Congratulations and well done to both Sofia & Bella from 9V/3!

Champion Tutor Group

This week's Champion tutor group is...

Congratulations to everyone in Hanoi3, well done!

Housepoint Totals

Saigon stay in the lead, but Dalat have moved back up from 4th place.

Upcoming Events