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Mr. Simon Higham, Principal
Dear Parents
Welcome to the latest edition of the Weekly Highlights and for engaging and connecting with our wider BVIS community.
It has been lovely to be back in school this week, following my visit to Nord Anglia Education HQ in London last week to take part in the Operational Leadership course. However, I am now representing BVIS at the annual FOBISIA Business Meeting in Singapore. I am looking forward to being back in school on Monday and settling into a more familiar routine!
This week, we have celebrated another week of LoveBVIS across Secondary.
Whether you’re new to BVIS or have been part of the community for years, BVIS is your second home—a place where you are valued, heard, and free to express yourself. Like a vibrant puzzle, each student, teacher, parent, and staff member contributes their unique personality, passion, and talents. This diversity creates an open and friendly environment where everyone shines in their own way.
Click here to read more of the Highlights from this year’s #LoveBVIS weeks 2025.
Again, I would like to thank you for all your positive Google reviews and Facebook recommendations and there is still time to show your love for BVIS if you haven’t already done so. Discover more details here!
Congratualtions to all our Year 4 and 5 students who have recently returned safely and had an incredible time beyond their classrooms during this year’s residential programme. Details about their time in the Mekong Delta (Year 5) and Long Hai (Year 4) can be viewed below by clicking on the relevant links. I look forward to hearing from our Year 6’s who travel to Madagui next week - exciting times ahead!
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Year 5 students had an exciting trip to Can Tho, exploring the culture, nature, and local life of the Mekong Delta through fun and enriching activities.
Click here to find out more and see pictures from this trip.
The trip to Long Hai was an exciting journey, offering Year 4 students a truly special experience as it was their first time learning with friends outside of Ho Chi Minh City!
Click here to find out more and see pictures from this trip.
This week, we welcomed five visitors from our Central London Nord Anglia Education (NAE) office to support our commitment to energy efficiency and reducing our overall carbon footprint.
At BVIS and across NAE, we are looking at ways in which sustainability and environmental awareness will help to guide our future growth.
I look forward to sharing their findings with our students and the wider school community as we explore ways to ensure future generations can live in a safe and sustainable world.
A huge thanks to all parents who attended this term’s Principal’s Afternoon Tea event, which provided an overview of our school’s development since we last met and showcased our unique collaboration with MIT. This partnership led to parents working together to solve a real-life problem faced by both MIT and NASA.
Parents had to work together to ensure an asteroid avoided hitting the Earth!
Well done to all groups that managed to save the world.
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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 across our school, both teaching and non-teaching staff members, we wish you all the very best for a successful weekend ahead, whatever you may be doing.
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Mrs Mary McAloon, Head of Primary
On Tuesday and Wednesday this week, we hosted the EYFS Sports mornings. Welcoming parents as spectators into the Sports Hall, the children were ready to test their agility and gross motor skills in a range of challenging activities planned to showcase their physical development. They displayed confidence, patience and perseverance as they took turns to complete each activity.
Physical Development is one of the key areas of the English Early Years national curriculum that BVIS follows. Actions such as kicking, catching, throwing, balancing and moving with control and coordination are just a few of the skills that children need to develop physically through the ages of 0 to 5. These skills build the foundations of success for further development in their fine and gross motor skills for activities such as, handwriting and team sports games.
The EYFS sports mornings gave the children a chance to participate in a large event, practice their listening and physical skills outside of the EYFS areas and begin to understand the school’s house system. Thank you to the parents who joined us for these wonderful events.
On Friday, eight budding primary mathematicians traveled to BIS Hanoi with Ms. Phuong and Mr. Darragh to join fellow students from British international schools across the region for the annual Primary FOBISIA Maths Competition. We look forward to sharing their successes and experiences in next week’s highlights.
All schools in the FOBISIA Maths competition are part of the Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA). FOBISIA was established in 1988 and has grown from 5 schools at its inception to 102 schools across 20 countries today. Being part of FOBISIA brings many advantages to BVIS. The organisation provides high-quality learning and development opportunities for our teachers and also a wide and varied range of extracurricular activities from sports and music to drama and STEAM competitions. Additionally, FOBISIA’s 150+ affiliate members offer access to current and innovative educational practices. The collaborations fostered between schools are invaluable in supporting BVIS’s forward-thinking mindset.
The next FOBISIA competition organised as a residential is the ‘U11 Games’ event held in May which focuses on four sports – swimming, teeball, football and athletics. I look forward to bringing you updates on this event in the coming months.
You can read more about the FOBISIA organisation at this website
Celebrating our school over the past two weeks has been fulfilling and heartwarming. The finale of this celebration was a day wearing pink to show gratitude to our community and how we benefit from one another every day. Community is an important aspect of a child’s upbringing, providing a source of support, varying perspectives and a place to develop bonds with others. It is important that children have these resources for their holistic development. BVIS is the ‘village’ in the old African proverb: “It takes a village to raise a child”, providing a place where children can make friends, develop social skills and understand that everyone is unique and special.
During #LOVEBVIS week, we are reminded of the importance of our school for both children and their families. Thank you for all the positive messages that were shared on social media and within school. The students’ thoughts about their school are now displayed on the wall in primary the foyer – please take a look at the messages, they will make you smile!
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Mr Toby Bate, Head of Secondary
Last week, BVIS Secondary celebrated a truly page-turning World Book Day!
Years 7 to 10 spent their Friday immersed in specialist lessons, exploring everything from designing Fair Trade chocolate for Willy Wonka to crafting Diary of a Wimpy Kid-style survival guides. Students also designed the architecture for utopian and dystopian literature inspired landscapes, and Year 7 even had a Quidditch lesson— brooms at the ready!
Our secondary theme, "The Books That Made Us," encouraged students to reflect on how literature has shaped them and how reading is a powerful tool for opening minds and broadening perspectives. Teachers and students shared presentations on their most inspirational books, alongside insights into the books that influenced some of the world's most famous actors and musicians.
Students were also invited to dress as their favourite literary characters or as their future dream professions. Among the creative costumes, we saw doctors, prosthetics technicians, footballers, CEOs, scientists, and even a professional golfer—showcasing just how ambitious and diverse our BVIS learners are!
Most importantly, it was a day filled with creativity, inspiration, and a shared love of reading.
Recently, we have had visitors from numerous prestigious universities in various countries, including a consortium of Dutch universities, University of Exeter (UK), University of British Columbia and University of Calgary (Canada). This morning, a delegation of esteemed U.S. universities presented to our Sixth Form students, offering them the opportunity to learn about studying at an American university and explore each institution's unique offerings.
For students, engaging with university representatives is highly recommended as it allows them to explore future opportunities in addition to the support provided from BVIS's counselling department. To learn more, parents and students are encouraged to view the University Ambassador Sway available in these highlights.
Interviews are underway for all our student leadership positions next year! Our applicants have put huge amounts of work into their applications and have been busy preparing for their interviews. It’s been fantastic to see the leadership, maturity and dedication in the applications.
House head student interviews have already been completed, and we are eagerly awaiting the next stage of student council interviews.
Good luck to all our applicants and a huge thank you to our current student leaders who have been heavily involved in this process.
The wait is over—the highly anticipated House Football Competition is finally here! Known for its fierce rivalry and passionate gameplay, this event sees students giving their all on the pitch. The student leadership team has done a fantastic job organising teams across the U13, U15, and U19 age groups, and we can’t wait to see which house will rise to glory!
But that’s not all—this week also marks the beginning of the competitive season for our U13 and U15 badminton squads and the U19 football squad. After weeks of intense training, our athletes are ready to take on the challenge, and we’ve already witnessed some incredible performances in the early matches.
Meanwhile, our swimming squad is gearing up for upcoming competitions, training tirelessly to make an impact this term. With the BVIS Bulldogs and Hammerhead Sharks in action, the stage is set for an electrifying season of school sports.
Stay tuned for match highlights, standout performances, and lots of house points on offer—let the games begin!
The links below display the House Sways, which are put together by our House student leaders. As the term progresses different posts and updates will be added displaying the relevant news for each of the Houses.
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
Huge congratulations go to our Top XP earners this week, who are:
| Year Group | Name | Class |
| 7 | Vinh Nguyen | 7B |
| 8 |
Raymond Thai |
8zMat2y |
| 9 | Nguyen Khanh Bui | 9zMat1 |
| 10 | Minh Trang Tran | 10zMat2x |
| 11 | Viet Khoa Nguyen | 11zMat1 |
This week’s bedrock champions are:
Year 7 - Tran Mai Thanh Phong
Year 8 - Le Hong Minh Quang
Year 9 - Chung Quang Huy
Year 10 - Tran Ngoc Gia Tue
Year 11 - Ngo Khanh Ngoc
Year 12 - Nguyen Minh Tai
Congratulations to all the above students who came up on top in their respective Year groups. A special well done to Mraz who achieved the highest Bedrock points total across the whole of the secondary school for this week!
This week’s champion is...
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Congratulations and well-done to Finn!
This week’s Champion tutor group is
Congratulations to 789v/hanoi3 well done!
Congratulations to Hanoi house who are still leading the house point challenge.
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:
