Secondary School Update (14 April 2023)

Weekly update from Head of Secondary

Dear Parents,

It is hard to believe we are in Term 3 already, with only 10 weeks until the end of the school year and the long summer break. It will be a term packed full of fantastic learning opportunities and important events, and while it is a long term, students will have a short holiday in early May.

Year 13 students finish their studies formally on April 20. This is a significant occasion for students and the school as we send the students off into their final exams and life beyond school. We will, of course, make a fuss of their exit on the day, with the inaugural Graduation procession at 2 p.m. and a final assembly at 2:15pm. Additionally, on May 27 at the Sheraton in Tay Ho, we will invite Year 13 students and families for a graduation ceremony alongside special guests. Students will receive their formal diplomas from the Principal and have a chance to celebrate with classmates, family members, and staff. We greatly look forward to these important opportunities to commemorate the contributions of this wonderful group of students.

Please also look out for Parent Connect and Tutor Connect sessions this term and keep an eye on the school calendars and emails for updates and events. 

Chris Newman 

Head of Secondary

Key Dates  

• April 20th : Study Leave begins (Year 13) 3.05pm 
• April 20th: Parent Coffee Morning on University Guidance Counsellor (Year 11-13)
• April 28th: Staff Professional Development day – no lessons for students 
• April 28th: IB Exams and IGCSE Exams begin 
• April 28th - May 3rd: May Holiday 

Pastoral Update

The current wellbeing curriculum is starting to move in the right direction while attempting to offer students the chance to improve their own wellbeing as well as learn some important life skills. Last term, students had opportunities to reflect on their own study skills, dealing with exam stress and anxiety, as well as learning about body-confidence, puberty, and sex education. This term, Year 10 students are also working on a plan to support students from a local school. We look forward to seeing how this develops in the next few weeks. 

To gain a better insight into what our students need from the Wellbeing curriculum, we recently asked some small sample groups from each year what their main challenges are to their wellbeing and what they need to meet these challenges. These findings are helping to shape our new Wellbeing curriculum, which is to start in the new academic year.

In May, we have the opportunity to increase Mental Health awareness by dedicating a week to discussing and looking at our Mental health. While Mental Health requires more than a spotlight once a year, it does give us the opportunity to share the latest developments with our BIS community. If you are interested and could help in any way, please contact Mr. Matt Greenwood (School Counsellor) matthew.greenwood@bishanoi.com 

Mr. Taylor 

Assistant Head of Secondary (Wellbeing)

Learning Showcase

Group 6 IBDP & IGCSE Showcase Event 

On Thursday 23rd we held the group six showcase, a celebration of all of the hard work that our Visual Arts, Theatre, and Music students have completed during their IB course. It was a very high-quality and professional event, with a great turnout from staff, students, and friends and family members. The Visual Arts students curated and displayed their artwork in an exhibition in the auditorium, the music students all performed their original compositions at the event, and there were live performances from the theatre students.

Here is what their teachers have to say about their students and the outcomes they achieved:

‘Over the course, I have been highly impressed with our students versatility and adaptability to new genres and technologies. All of the students composed new and original material and used a combination of live and pre-recorded sound, as well as software instruments and plugins in their Digital Audio Workstations to produce the work.’  

Jon Scott, Teacher of Music

‘I am very proud to have supported, steered and mentored this group of students over the past two years. They have shown the utmost determination and commitment, possibly the most I have ever witnessed from a group of students. The work that you see here today, is simply the tip of the iceberg, or the ‘showcase’ piece. The story that this work doesn’t tell is the untold hours of deliberation and trials in trying to master a technique. Or the resilience each student had to show when a deadline was looming and they simply could not find their creative spark. For me, it tells a story of growth. These students spent the first third of their IB Visual Arts course working virtually, experimenting with the limited materials they had available to them, but they showed up each lesson with energy, ideas, and enthusiasm.’

Stephanie Miller, Teacher of Visual Arts

'This wonderful cohort of theatre students has been the first in three years to take on the Collaborative Project, an assessed performance piece that has previously been cancelled due to COVID 19. They have risen to the challenge of collaboratively creating an original piece of theatre extremely well. Each group has rotated the roles of director, writer, performer, and creator throughout the process, and all students have developed their performance skills to develop thoughtful pieces that encourage audiences to engage critically with societal issues.'

Cat Somerville, Teacher of Theatre

Thank you to everyone who came to support the students at this event! We hope you enjoyed seeing what has been produced this year by our creative students, and we hope younger students are inspired as to what they can achieve in future years at BIS! 

Concordia TEDx

On Saturday 8th April two BIS students, Gia Khanh 10H and Thuc Anh 12S, participated in the TEDx conference at Concordia International School Hanoi. Both girls delivered incredible speeches with great confidence, presenting for 10 minutes on their chosen topics. The general theme of the conference was ‘In a Chaotic World’ with high school students from across Hanoi’s international schools speaking on a variety of topics within that theme.

Gia Khanh’s TED talk was on “Acceptance, letting go and Inner peace”. She delivered a speech with a personal message, drawing on her experiences of navigating friendships when changing school and managing the pressure of expectations in the academic realm. She contended that perhaps the scariest thing isn’t you being a part of somewhere you don’t fit in and feel lost, but is when you feel overwhelmed and unhappy and you don’t dare to leave. This is where the significance of letting go crystallises, which comes with accepting your capacity.  

Gia Khanh gave some reflections post-speech: “It was daunting for me to stand in front of a large audience and expose my vulnerable aspects during my adolescence. Yet after my speech, when many told me how they saw themselves in my stories, and thus find comfort in the fact that they are not facing that emotional struggle alone, it was truly worth it.”  

Thuc Anh gave a well-researched TED talk on the topic of “History repeats itself”. She gave examples of history repeating itself like the 1918 flu pandemic and the COVID-19 pandemic, but also said that peace can be repeated by working towards it in a sustainable way. She argued that peace and international collaboration can be repeated through the consistency of actions by individuals and nations, developing and learning from past achievements, as well as collaboration between everyone in society.   

Thuc Anh said: “Giving a speech was an incredibly challenging experience; unlike writing an essay or a school presentation, there was much more emphasis on delivery, diction and gestures, all of which really pushed me to craft my writing in a foreign but inspiring way, to change my thinking. Plus, the community – the speakers, Concordia students and teachers, and the audience – were all so supportive that it made this new experience much more memorable. Overall, an incredibly noteworthy experience!” 

It was also lovely to see a large support for our two speakers. We had around 15 BIS students, from Year 10 to Year 13, attend to watch the talks and hopefully get inspired to try it next year! In one of the intervals there was a game of musical chairs which was very entertaining and the 2nd round was won by The Phuc from 10H, beating Miss Cooper! 

All TED talks were recorded and should be shared soon – we will keep you updated when the links are available. 

Miss Cooper 

Head of Enrichment

Author Visit for Years 7–10

On Tuesday, 11 April, Canadian author Natasha Deen ran writing workshops for students in Years 7, 8, 9, and 10. Having published over 40 books in a wide range of genres, including mystery, action, dystopian, and realistic, she is well-placed to share tips and tricks with students on creating story plots and characters.

In a workshop titled A Hero’s Journey, Natasha shared the essential elements of a good story that are visible in most cultural myths, including a "call to adventure", the "dark night of the soul" and a final reward or result. She then guided students in choosing and planning these elements to create their own heroes stories.

In another workshop titled There is Me, There is You, There is Us, Natasha talked about the importance of telling stories from different points of view, sharing some personal stories of her and her sister moving to Canada from Guyana as children, and being the only people of colour at their school. She then helped students begin planning a story from a unique point of view.

Years 7-10 students spent the next couple of English classes after Natasha’s visit writing their own creative story. If you have children in these year levels, I encourage you to ask them about the story they wrote.

Ms. Nerilee Hall 

Teacher-Librarian