A warm welcome back to all our families after the half term break.
Welcome back to all our families after our half term break. It was wonderful to be able to get out and about and see life here in HCMC begin to return to the life we know. Having bumped into quite a few children over the week, it was lovely to see their faces in person, not on a screen and we look forward to seeing them on campus soon we hope.
As always, we will be guided by the Ministry of Health and Department of Education but, here at school, we are busily preparing in readiness for their return.
From the pictures you can see that the school continues to be upgraded and improvements made and believe it or not, we are now at the planning stages for works for next year! More exciting developments ahead for the Junior Campus.
This week, we were delighted to host a parent workshop on Digital Safety. Hosted by Mr Jon Taylor of Besafe-online.co.uk, it was a brilliant insight for parents into how we need to be actively involved in our children’s digital lives and work with them to help them understand the benefits but also the dangers of navigating the digital world. If you missed the workshop, you can access a recording here.
We will be sharing the materials from the webinar in due course with parents also. A link to his website if you would like to read more is https://www.besafe-online.co.uk/
Just before the half term, some of our Year 5 and Year 6 Maths students took part in the FOBISIA Maths Challenge. With many schools from across the region taking part, it was a tough competition. Our students performed extremely well both as a team and individually. Just out of the group challenge medal placings, they should be extremely proud of their performances. In terms of individual placings, there is no overall winner but categories awarded by percentile.
With over 1400 children entered, the highest 2% (38 children) were awarded a Gold Certificate. I’m delighted to share that BIS students accounted for 4 Gold Awards:
SiU Park, ByungJoon Kang, William Song and Jeong Woo Ha, all from Year 6 were worthy winners and our congratulations goes to all of them.
We are delighted to announce that the second Tea time recital will be held next Friday 5th November. There will be performances from students from Year 1 to Year 6. Make sure you put the date and time, 3pm in your diary so you can sit back and enjoy 30 minutes of wonderful music from our musicians across both campuses. Go to our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/c/BISVietnam at 3pm on Friday 5th November to watch the live performances. Select to watch the live premiere from our videos list on our channel home page.
“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention” - Oscar Wilde.
COVID-19 has caused our world to turn upside down as we all struggle to find some sense of normalcy. Unfortunately, many young children in our community here in Ho Chi Minh City have been the most impacted by the pandemic, with low-income families struggling financially to support their most basic needs such as food, shelter, and education.
In response to these challenges, we at BIS HCMC have founded The Luv Project Vietnam — a Year 12 student-run, community-based initiative which aims at supporting vulnerable children across Ho Chi Minh City through fundraising, awareness campaigns, and educational programs.
To this end, we have decided to support the international NGO Planète Enfants & Développement (PE&D) to host a fundraiser for their emergency fund collection. These funds will be used to provide the families of vulnerable children under 6 years old with both financial aid and monthly food packages to help them pay for their rent, education, and other basic necessities. All beneficiaries are also of PE&D’s Early Childhood Development Program, which aims at providing a safe and supportive environment for the development of young children in low income families in Ho Chi Minh City
Every donation of VND 600,000 could provide food for a vulnerable child’s family for a month, and a donation of VND 3 million could help a child’s family afford their rent for at least the next two months in these trying times.
To facilitate donations in the current context, we have created a platform to share details and updates about the project and allow you to access PE&D’s dedicated donation page. By visiting the Donate Now page on our website, you will find all the relevant information which you can use to participate in this fundraising effort.
Any donation, no matter the size, will be greatly appreciated and we are truly grateful for your support. Should you choose to donate, you will receive a letter of gratitude to acknowledge your valuable contribution and kindness during these difficult times. Furthermore, for more information about our organization please feel free to contact us through our website or our Instagram page (@theluvprojectvn)!
Thank you for your time, The Year 12 Luv Project team.
Our next block of VCCAs will start on Monday, 1st November and finish on Friday, 3rd December.
Any questions please contact Ms Thanh or Mr Chris in the Office. We look forward to another successful VCCA programme for the children.
We are ready to launch the NAE Global Campus Virtual swimming gala. This event is due to take place from 6th-14th November 2021. The event is available to all students from Y1-Y13.
There are 4 swimming races that competitors can participate in; 2 individual races and 2 relay races:
Individual races:
Relay races:
Competitors can take part in more than one event if they wish to. I am aware that you will need access to a swimming pool to take part in this competition. The size of the swimming pool does not matter as long as you are completing the distance required (25m or 100m). For example, if your apartment swimming pool is 20m long, you will need to swim 5 lengths in order to complete 100m.
The races are ‘freestyle’, which theoretically means you can swim any stroke that you like; however, as we are looking for your fastest times, it is advised that you swim front crawl as this should be the fastest stroke.
For the relays, there are 3 options. You can either:
Please note that if you are able to train for and complete the race/races, the following should be done before participation:
The times of the races will be done on a trust basis (no evidence is required) although you may wish to submit a picture or a video of you swimming the race or the stopwatch you used to time it.
If you would like to enter this competition, please complete the SIGN UP form before the 5th November 2021.
Once you have signed up, you can complete the race/races anytime between 6th- 14th November and submit the RESULTS to me before 16th November 2021.
I hope to see lots of you being ambitious and competing against other students from Nord Anglia schools around the world.
Sophie Roberts, Aquatics Leader
We look forward to welcoming parents to our Virtual Primary Afternoon Tea taking place this Wednesday 3rd November at 1.30pm. The PTG warmly welcome all parents to join them, in particular new parents. As the city opens up, making connections with other parents is important and this afternoon tea is a great starting point.
The link to join the afternoon tea is here
If you have ideas to share or would like to get in touch, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Our email is primaryptgbis@gmail.com
Thank you,
Gayatri Shankar, Primary PTG Coordinator
Please remember the 5K to keep safe.
01/11/21 Virtual Co-Curricular Activities: Block 2 starts
03/11/21 PTG Afternoon Tea for parents
05/11/21 Primary Tea Time Recital
06/11 /21 NAE Virtual Swim competition begins
10/11/21 MFL Year 2 Webinar
11/11/21 Remembrance Day
22/11/21 Teachers Day
24/11/21 365 Penguin Enrichment Day for Primary
As vaccinations for our secondary students begin, we are working hard on putting in place all the correct Health and Safety protocols to ensure a smooth and healthy return to school for all our students and wider BIS community. We will share more details in the coming weeks and we ask for your continued support as we establish new routines and systems to ensure a safe return to school for all.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
Deirdre Grimshaw, Headteacher of Junior Campus
The weekly update from Dee Grimshaw, Headteacher of the Junior Campus, highlighting some of the events that have taken place this week.
