Ms Deirdre Grimshaw: Weekly Update 03/12/2021

This week we welcomed a number of Term 1 starters on site to visit the school for the first time.

It is fair to say that teachers across the school were delighted to meet their new students and see real faces! The visits included some short tours, a face to face meet with class teachers and the opportunity to pick up their new school uniform. These visits will continue for the next few weeks.

This week, we also heard that students in HCMC will be allowed back to school for Face to Face Learning.  At this stage, Year 2, Year 11 and Year 13 students will return.  We are hopeful that after the Christmas break, we will be able to welcome students back on site here at the Junior Campus.  In the meantime, there is much planning and preparation going on behind the scenes to ensure that all students will return to school safely, with the strictest health and safety protocols in place.

In preparation for a return to school, earlier this week we hosted the webinar:

Supporting your Children to Return to School

It was wonderful to have such a high turnout of parents. The webinar was recorded so if you were unable to attend, please access the recording by clicking on the link below. 

Supporting your children to return to school

Farewell to Ms Nhi

Congratulations to Ms Nhi, our Junior Campus receptionist who has been appointed as PA to Ms Sarah and Ms Maria at the EY&I Campus.  It has been a pleasure to work closely with Nhi over the last few years and I know you will agree with me when I say that she always had a welcoming smile and kind words for all that came into the JC Office.  We are sad to see Ms Nhi leave but delighted that she is not going far and  staying within the BIS family.

On Monday, Ms Ngoc joins us at the JC as the new receptionist and I am sure you will join me in welcoming her to the BIS team. 

Emily McClelland Teacher, Friend, Colleague

As we approach the 6 month anniversary of Emily’s passing, it is a fitting time to come together to remember Emily.  

This Sunday 5^th December at 8.30am, we will hold a Memorial for Emily.   We invite our parent community to join us virtually to celebrate Emily’s life.

Please join us by clicking on the link below.

Emily’s Memorial, Sunday 5^th December, 8.30am VN Time

We hope many of you will be able to join us virtually on Sunday.

Year 3 EAL lessons in action

In Year 3 EAL we have been working hard to develop our fiction and non-fiction writing this term. In recent weeks, we have enjoyed learning and analysing the Talk 4 Writing text, ‘The Two Bad Ants’, a beautifully illustrated journey story. We have had a strong focus on learning new vocabulary from the story and using it in our own sentences. We have also learned how to use subordinating conjunctions to experiment with creating longer, complex sentences. We have also been trying hard to use the past tense consistently when describing the ants’ adventure. We have really enjoyed using our creativity to view the world from the ants’ point of view to innovate the next part of the ants’ journey!

Nord Anglia Global Campus Swimming Competition 2021

This year, the NAGC swimming competition took place in a slightly different way to previous years, but despite the challenges of not being able to have all students in the pool, spirits remained high and there were some fantastic at home swims and excellent results.

We had a total of 91 individual entries for the 25m and 100m freestyle and 13 entries for the two team relays. The BIS results were submitted and compared against entries from over 30 Nord Anglia Schools from around the world.

Despite less entries than usual, several BIS students from all age groups featured in the top 30 leaderboard for all 4 events. In the 25m freestyle, 20 students made the top 30 in their age group. In the100m freestyle, we had 21 students in the top 30 of their age group.

BIS also had 16 students and teachers making a podium finish. A big congratulations goes to:

Well done to everyone that took part in this competition, fantastic swimming all round. I am looking forward to having everyone back in the pool together soon producing more amazing swims.

The BritCham Fun Run 2021

The BritCham (formerly known as BBGV) Fun Run is back! It would be fantastic to see the BIS HCMC community join together once more in a sea of Red, White and Blue in the aim of raising awareness for important school partnered charities. Please see activity and enrollment information for next week’s event here.

DECEMBER DASH is Up and Running!

And we’re off! Our first 3 days of the December Dash have been a whirlwind of action and activities throughout the year groups and classes!

Children have been running, swimming, roller blading, footballing and ski jumping this week, accumulating vital minutes towards our 200,000 minutes goal.

Teachers and parents are invited to participate too, to add to the fun and make it a real community activity for our first 12 days of Christmas.

Check out the website here, and take up the challenge.

Ho Ho Ho, Go Go Go!

The PE Team

Operation Smile

With Tết (Vietnamese New Year) just around the corner, we are delighted to invite you to support one of the school’s long standing community partners, Operation Smile, by purchasing a set of beautifully designed ‘lucky money’ envelopes. 

Operation Smile transform children’s lives by performing free cleft lip and palate surgery on children from low income families in Vietnam as well as globally.  When left untreated, this condition can result in difficulties with eating, breathing and speaking, in addition to which, they also often need to deal with social issues such as not being accepted by their peers and communities.

Operation Smile are committed to long term medical care and have established year-round treatment centres as well as implementing educational programmes to address the stigma associated with this condition.  They also provide medical training to local doctors and contribute medical equipment and supplies where needed.

Your purchase will contribute to this important and life changing work.

There are two different sets of cards with the themes of Freedom and Happiness.

• Freedom: 01 pack has 10 envelopes, price: VND 35,000/pack
• Happiness: 01 pack has 08 envelopes, price: VND 30,000/pack

Payment can be made either via bank transfer or cash on delivery.

To place your order please either click here to access the “Operation Smile Vietnam” fan page or, contact them on their Zalo Hotline at 090 211 0550

Shipment of the cards will be from the 22^nd December 2021.

Admissions Officer Vacancy at BIS

We are currently looking for an enthusiastic, friendly and engaging individual, with excellent fluency in English, to join our Admissions Team as a Primary Admissions Officer. The key responsibilities of the position will be the co-ordination and administration of all tasks and activities related to the admission and enrolment of students to our BIS Primary Campuses.  You will work closely with the Campus Head Teachers and academic staff as well as all other members of our Admission and Marketing teams.  You will act as an ambassador for the school and our community, enhancing and building our reputation both locally and globally. You will work across our school community to embed a sense of community, pride and belonging.

The closing date for this position is 15th December 2021, however we may fill the position sooner depending on the candidate.

Please find a link to the job description and application form below:

Primary Admissions Officer

Health and Safety

Please remember the 5K to keep safe. 

01/12/21 - 05/12 21   Britcham Virtual Run

01 /12 /21                   December Dash - 12 Days of Sporty Madness begins. 

03/12/21                     Term 1 Clubs finish

14/12/2021                 Christmas Music Sing a long

17/12/21                     End of Term 1 

5/01/22                       Term  2 Begins

And Finally…

Incase you missed it last week, the Term Dates for the 2022/23 Academic year are now published on our website and can be found here:

Term Dates 2022-23

If you are planning to be overseas during the holidays and into January, please can we ask you to let us know. You can contact your child’s class teacher with the information including travel dates.

Have a restful and relaxing weekend,

Deirdre Grimshaw, Headteacher of Junior Campus