Secondary School Updates (22 April 2022)

Key Dates | Pastoral Update | Learning Showcase

Weekly update from Head of Secondary

Dear Parents,

It has been a delight to finally welcome back all Secondary students to campus this week.

Year 7 students in made a tremendous start – it was in many ways their first day of Secondary school education. May I take this opportunity to thank the Head of Year 7, Mrs Brawn, and her team, for putting together an exciting week of activities and for managing the transition for Year 7 students so effectively. As a community we are gradually feeling that normality is retuning and as a result confidence is building. We know that in the coming months we can start to resurrect many learning programs that have been dormant; some for almost 3 years.  

On the other hand, while we welcomed Year 7 students this week, we also said goodbye to our wonderful Year 13 students - Thursday was their final day in lessons. This group in particular has shown extraordinary resilience through the COVID years, learning over 50% of their IB Diploma Programme virtually. Although the Year 13 students may no longer be in lessons, our teachers are committed to assisting them right up until their actual examinations, and we will also host their graduation at the Intercontinental Hotel at the end of May. I know you will all want to join me in wishing all Year 13s the very best fortune as they embark on their final examinations.

Chris Newman

Head of Secondary

Key Dates

• Tuesday 26 April: Year 7 Parents’ Evening 

• Monday 2 and Tue 3 May: May Holiday 

• Tuesday 10 May: Year 9 Parents’ Evening 

• Tuesday 7 June: Year 10 Parents’ Evening 

• Tuesday 14 June: Year 12 Parents’ Evening 

• Friday 24 June: Final Day of the School Year 

Pastoral Update

What a difference two weeks makes! The atmosphere around the school is buzzing after we returned from our holiday! Additionally, a very welcome return to the site for Year 7 and younger has also unsurprisingly injected a lot of energy and smiles into the building. 

With a full building, school is starting to feel like the ‘old normal’ and spirits couldn’t be much higher amongst the students and staff at BIS as we keep progressing towards a safe return of BIS Hanoi as we knew it! 

Students this week have been celebrating World Earth Day in Key Stage 3, which was a lesson planned and designed by students in Year 9! Throughout this term, Key Stage 3 students will get the opportunity to plan and create a lesson for each other covering a wide range of global and local topics. Year 8 students also had an opportunity to flex their creativity, teamwork and perseverance in their House Challenges on Thursday. This was a lesson to encourage students to communicate and collaborate, whilst planning and thinking outside the box to reach a desired end goal! 

It has been an exciting and energetic start to Term 3, and long may it continue onwards into the summer.

Best Wishes,

Alex Hooley 

Head of Year 8

Student Achievement

Organised by NPX Point Avenue, Netflix, and the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, the nationwide contest, "Speak to Inspire, Vietnam" aimed at raising awareness and spurring meaningful conversations on sustainability topics such as environmental conservation and climate change. The competition saw the participation of over 700 contestants, of which 66 finalists were shortlisted to participate in the Final Showcase, culminating in the crowning of the Top 15 Speakers, Storytellers, and Debaters.

Among the contest winners was Gia Khanh, our Year 9 student at BIS Hanoi. She has become Junior Champion in Debate category of "Speak to Inspire, Vietnam" contest.

Huge congratulations to Gia Khanh on her amazing achievement! Well done!

Learning Showcase

English | Business Studies

English

VIA character strengths and the teaching of English 

In English this week, Year 9 has been reminding themselves of their VIA strengths and practising their writing skills. Students have been writing a reflective piece about their top three strengths, peer-assessing, self-assessing and then using DIRT (Dedicated Individual Reflection Time) to produce their very best work.  

Ms J Shepley-Clarke

Head of English

Business Studies

Managing cash flow in Business Management  

This week in the business management classrooms, Year 12 students have been hard at work learning all about cash inflows and outflows of different businesses. An exciting way to start the new term indeed! In the coming weeks, students will practice drawing up full cashflow statements, as well as completing all the calculations that accompany this challenging task. They are motivated to do well and are developing new skills every day!