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SISAC Season 1 has come to a close after a superb City Final win for our U13 Girls Basketball Team last Friday. It has been a pleasure to see the number of students representing BIS, and competing with the values so central to our sporting ethos. Congratulations to all of our student-athletes, and thank you to the superb team of coaches who made these experiences possible. Special congratulations to 7 of our teams on becoming city champs in season 1!

On Saturday 11th November, our secondary robotics team and their two robots, BIS A and BIS B headed to SSIS in District 7, for their first ever VEX robotics tournament. Despite only having 1 robot built the week before and not having much time to practice, the team had a tremendously successful run battling against other schools, making it to the quarter and semi-finals!

As Remembrance Day approaches, this year on Saturday 11th November, we remember the service and sacrifice of all those that have defended our freedom and protected our way of life.  It’s a deeply significant occasion and a time for us to reflect on the importance of remembrance, not just as a day marked on the calendar but as a fundamental aspect of world history.

On the 27th October 2023, 46 members of the BIS Barracudas travelled to Hanoi for the UNIS Invitational Swim Meet. This was the first international swim meet of the year, with a total of 22 teams with 650 swimmers from around Asia. There were teams from Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea competing over the weekend.

At BIS HCMC we deliver in school a comprehensive wellbeing curriculum to provide our students with the tools, resources and support to balance their social, physical, emotional and mental health. As part of this, we also look at preventative measures to ensure the safety of our students beyond BIS and equip them with knowledge and skills for both today and their future success in the wider world.  This term we were extremely fortunate to welcome back into school experts from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City’s Regional Security Office (RSO) to discuss more on the topic of drugs and substance abuse with some of our students and parents.

Our dedicated athletes, in our basketball, cross country, football, swimming, table tennis and volleyball teams, have started their 2023-24 season with some outstanding performances against teams across HCMC.  With training in full swing, and many competitive fixtures under their belts, our students are certainly committed to the countless hours of training and showing true teamwork skills and sportsmanship.  Our PE department share some of the highlights of the season so far.

Dreams do come true if you follow your passions! This is certainly the case for Jenna, a BIS alumni, who received a scholarship from a prestigious performing arts school after completing her IGCSEs with us and is now performing on the west end AND nominated for the Black British Theatre Awards. Jenna talks to us about her journey and how her big role in our Bonnie and Clyde production gave her the confidence to pursue her dream. 

At BIS we celebrate the idea that all minds are different. We know that differences bring challenges, but also add great richness to our community.  The 2nd October marked the start of Neurodiversity Week at BIS, across all campuses.    Neurodiversity embraces the idea that there are many differences in the way people’s brains work, perceive and respond to the world; none are ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’.

As part of Neurodiversity Week at BIS, we are hosting our first ever community parent forum to discuss Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), one example of neurodivergence. ‘Demystifying Autism Spectrum Disorder” will define and discuss ASD as well as help to dispel myths and misconceptions around this neurological disorder. This event will take place on Thursday 5th October at 11am at BIS HCMC Secondary Campus and is open to our BIS parents as well as all members of our wider community.

200 members of our community hit the streets of Thao Dien bright and early on Saturday for World Clean Up Day! It was great to see so many enthusiastic students, parents and staff joining together for our annual environmental clean up and we are pleased to announce that around 60 large bags of rubbish were collected!

We were honoured to take part in celebrations organised by the British Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh with the British Embassy in Hanoi to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between the UK and Vietnam. The main event in HCMC being the ‘UK Festival’ to showcase the best of everything British. The bond between the UK and Vietnam is going from strength to strength with education being one of their core themes to mark this important 50th anniversary. We were delighted to be involved and strengthen our already strong partnership with the British Consulate here in Ho Chi Minh City. 

We are extremely proud of our Year 11 class of 2023 on their incredible IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) results.   This remarkable class, our second largest IGCSE cohort of 130 students, were awarded 70.2% of grades at A* or A. It’s fitting that in our 25th year, 25 of these students achieved A* or A in all of their subjects, a truly incredible achievement.

You may have heard towards the end of the last academic year that our Secondary students will be switching to a two-week timetable, either at our parent workshop led by Deputy Head of Curriculum and Learning, Mr Lee Falconer, in our weekly update or directly from your child. But what does this mean and why change? How will this benefit learning and the educational experience at BIS HCMC?

Changes to our curriculum with the introduction of our 2 week timetable have allowed us to introduce an extra skills-based literacy lesson, called reciprocal reading. The small group sessions help students decode texts, delve into the deeper meaning and learn new vocabulary in a student-led setting. Literacy has been shown to have an affect on success across all subject matters and even affect GCSE results across subjects like maths, art and history. 

After 13 years at BIS our Whole School Deputy Head Teacher (Enrichment) Ms Lauren Binnington has made a huge mark on BIS HCMC. One of the many long-lasting changes she has seen in her time is the development of our sustainability practices in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In her latest and final blog at #BISHCMC Lauren reflects on how far we have come as a sustainable school, whilst developing a global citizen mindset in each and every student.

A whole world of possibilities awaits our graduating class of 2023.  With 385 university offers so far, and many more still to come from Korea, Australia and Singapore, their remarkable IBDP achievements have opened pathways to some of the best universities and specialist institutions across the globe.

Last week two of our students, JaeYeon and Caitlin, joined over 100 NAE student delegates from around the world at the NAE-UNICEF Student Summit in New York City.  This was an extraordinary opportunity for them to develop their leadership and advocacy skills and collaborate with like-minded students to cultivate their social purpose through the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

We are excited to announce that our class of 2023, the second largest cohort ever with 107 students have beaten all IBDP global averages! Once again, the knowledge, skills, and aptitudes of our students has been recognised with stunning academic results that place them among the very best worldwide.

Our BIS HCMC alumni share 8 tips every first-year university student should know to succeed, including wellbeing and practical tips for completing and surviving the IBDP.

Mr Sean O'Neill, our Secondary Headteacher shares his final words of wisdom with our BIS HCMC community after 9 years of dedication to our school.