Secondary School Update (17 March 2023)

Weekly update from Head of Secondary

Dear Parents,

This week we were fortunate to host two dance teachers from The Juilliard School, a world leader in Performing Arts education. 

Juilliard curriculum specialists and artists visit BIS Hanoi annually, from each of the Performing Arts areas (dance, drama, and music), to bring excellence into the classroom and ignite the love of the arts in our students. Their expertise, combined with our exceptional teachers, has a positive impact on your child’s experience with and connection to the performing arts.

The Juilliard collaboration is one of the hallmarks of the Nord Anglia Education experience, and seeing and hearing the work this week with our dance teachers and students, I am so impressed by the quality of the curriculum, noticeably enriched by genres, styles, and cultures designed and hand-selected by Juilliard.

Juilliard-designed teaching materials, creative activities, historical information, rehearsal strategies, and professional development resources lead students through explorations of core works of music, dance, and drama and emphasise building students’ personal artistry through their own creativity. 

Our teachers also have many opportunities for professional development, including in-person sessions with Juilliard curriculum specialists in their schools and through workshops designed and led by Juilliard experts both regionally and at The Juilliard School in New York. This ensures that the level of teaching at our schools remains at the highest standard, energising and encouraging your child to develop and pursue a love for the performing arts.

Even if students do not foresee a future career in performance, the skills of creativity, expression, and self-awareness are fostered through the performing arts and are a feature of the learning experiences in these disciplines. 

I encourage you to learn more about this exceptional collaboration through our webpage here. 

Chris Newman 

Head of Secondary

Key Dates  

• 17th-19th March: Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Expedition  
• 18th & 19th March: Model United Nations Conference at BIS
• 21st March: Parent Connect - A Multilingual Approach to Education, 2:20pm in the Library
• 23rd March: Group 6 IBDP & IGCSE Showcase Event 
• 24th March: End of Term 2  

Learning Showcase

BIS DEBATE Team wins round two of the Nord Anglia Debate Network 

Ms. Embling is proud to inform everyone that four students from our highly successful BIS Debate CCA took part in an online debate against BIS HCMC on Monday this week and were awarded 1st and 2nd place teams. The four debaters were Bui Gia Khanh, Ngoc Anh, Quang Trung Nguyen, and Thanh Mai, who all performed exceptionally well against the difficult motion 'THW make one universal currency'. This means that we are now in 2nd place in the Debate League table and have strong chances of being in the final! Ms. Embling is so proud of all the debaters from our CCA and is looking forward to more debate opportunities in the future. Well done!

IBDP Science - Environmental Systems and Societies 

Over the past half term, our Year 12 Environmental Scientists have been learning about ecological and ecosystem theory. They’ve explored and explained how positive and negative feedback loops interact during the process of vegetation succession in soil and sand dunes. Last week, they were able to get out into ‘the field’ to put the theory to the test and investigate if the abiotic and biotic factors in our local school environment exhibit the relationships they expect based on their classroom learning. 

After discussions and negotiations about which sampling methods would return the most accurate and reliable data and a pre-site visit to complete a risk assessment, the students decided to use systematic sampling along a transect. Their methods were repeated along multiple transects to allow for averages and statistical testing. They learned the importance of clear and consistent labelling of samples, how to use data loggers, and commented on how surprised they were to see the soil characteristics and soil moisture content change so much along their transect. They’re excited to find out how our soil characteristics could be influencing the vegetation abundance and diversity in our garden. 

Ms. Gemma Archer 

Assistant Headteacher IB and ESS Teacher 

Junior Varsity HAC Football Tournament

Last weekend, the Junior Varsity teams competed in the annual HAC Junior Varsity Cup tournament. It was a wet start in the morning. Both the boys and girls’ teams won their pool matches. Both teams were in the finals for the tournament. The boys worked hard during their game, but unfortunately could not score. They finished as runners-up. The girls showed great football skills in their last match. The girls had a 4-1 win in the final and were crowned Cup winners. Well done to both teams! These results at the start of the league are great. Good luck to both teams for the Football season, which started this week. 

Ms. Salome Airdrie 

Director of Sports and Activities