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The school first opened its doors in August 1997 as a small pre-school called ‘Tiny Tots’, in a renovated villa in District 1, HCMC. The Founders and inspiration behind the school were a family, Maurice and Rosie Nguyen, with a one-year old daughter, Jenny.
With two classes in the mornings and one play-group in the afternoon Jenny’s parents were pleasantly surprised when 60 children had registered by the end of the first week and another 50 were on the waiting list. Tiny Tots quickly became a highly sought after pre-school for expatriates living in Ho Chi Minh City.
Building on this success, a second pre-school called Fundino was established in District 3.
As these two pre-schools grew rapidly, so did Jenny, and her parents decided in 2000 to extend the original Tiny Tots villa on Nguyen Van Thu street to accommodate an additional 10 primary classrooms bringing the total school roll to 300 children. This was the first year the school was officially called the British International School HCMC. The founders enlisted the professional services of the UK based education company, Nord Anglia Education, to assist them in the establishment of BIS HCMC and to provide quality control of the education provision at the school.
A new purpose built campus was established in the residential An Phu area of the city. The whole school with its three campuses then had around 560 children on roll.
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The school opened a separate purpose-built secondary campus on land across from AP1. The number of students on roll had now risen to more than 1,000.
The first Year 13 students graduate from BIS HCMC. For the first time ever students from BIS HCMC were going to university!
Another new primary school was built on Tu Xuong Street in District 3, combining the Nguyen Van Thu campus and the Fundino campus into one new school.
Over the ensuing years various extensions were built in AP1 and AP2 to provide additional classrooms and specialist facilities allowing BIS HCMC to grow towards its projected target maximum capacity of about 2,000 students.
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The founders tasked Mr Shaun Williams to create a dual language curriculum school that met the needs of Vietnamese families where English was not their primary language. As a result, the first British Vietnamese International School (BVIS) opened in the Binh Chanh District of Ho Chi Minh City in August 2011 with approximately 350 students on roll.
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Building on more than a decade of successful school development in Ho Chi Minh City, the BIS group of schools expanded to Hanoi, where BIS Hanoi and BVIS Royal City were established. Mr Anthony Rowlands, our current principal was appointed principal of BIS Hanoi.
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The BIS and BVIS schools merged with Nord Anglia Education (NAE), a world leading premium schools organisation located across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. Being part of a large and established education company with 81 international schools around the world enabled us to further develop and offer our students opportunities for growth.
We built a brand new specialist Early Years and Infant campus, whilst in the same year the school’s inspiration, Jenny Nguyen graduated from New York University.
BIS HCMC students consistently achieve excellent IGCSE and IB Diploma results that far surpass the UK national averages. Beyond academics, students have countless opportunities to develop their skills thanks to world-renowned global partnerships with Julliard, MIT and UNICEF and an impressive range of over 100 Co-Curricular Activities. It is this holistic approach to education that earns BIS its outstanding reputation. Equipped with this knowledge and experience BIS HCMC graduates consistently go on to attend top-ranked universities world-wide.
Today BIS HCMC may be unrecognisable from its humble beginnings in 1997, but underpinning the school’s success is the drive to provide the best international education and opportunities for children just like Jenny Nguyen.
To mark the occasion BIS HCMC will host a series of events to celebrate how far the school has come since its opening day. In August, the founders Maurice Nguyen and Rosie Ngo, accompanied by their daughter Jenny, helped launch the 25th Anniversary at an exclusive event for BIS HCMC staff and Nord Anglia board members. At this event, the premium 25th branded merchandise was revealed to the BIS community, including a limited edition drawstring bag and 25th stationary.
"I cherished the BIS people the most, they were all welcoming and friendly to me on the first few days of the IB…Overall, the journey at BIS was truly memorable and has been a large part of my personal development."
BIS HCMC will continue the festivities at an exclusive 25th Anniversary event in February 2023.
On the 11th of February, we commemorated 25 years at our largest celebration yet, our 25th Garden Party attended by over a thousand guests including our Co-Founders Maurice Nguyen and Rosie Ngo with their daughter and inspiration for the school Jenny.
In a classically British fashion, the Junior campus was adorned with bunting and lanterns while guests sat under tents on picnic tables and blankets. With tea-based cocktails, scones and sandwiches, live music from our talented musicians and a soundtrack from 1997 the event was a celebration of everything British, without the British weather!
A number of special guests from the Nord Anglia Education (NAE) Executive Committee, the British Consulate, the British Chamber of Commerce and the People’s Committee of Thu Duc City also joined to celebrate the momentous occasion. Along with our own Principal and Senior Leadership Team, we also welcomed former leadership and current heads of BIS Hanoi, BVIS HCMC and BVIS Hanoi. But most importantly, we welcomed our world-class teachers, support staff, parents and community partners, the essence of our BIS community.
Throughout the party, our guests were treated to exceptional performances by our masterful student musicians. BIS HCMC was honoured to have a Year 13 student Jessie compose a piece especially for the event for her IB Diploma, titled “BIS 25th Anniversary Fanfare”.
Our Co-Founder Maurice Nguyen gave thanks to the people of BIS who “One by one over the years have contributed to what BIS is today, a thriving school, a happy school, where 2400 or so children, day in and day out, come into school and are taught by outstanding teachers.”
Read more about this magnificent event here.
Prior to the Garden Party, we also marked the occasion with a small unveiling ceremony of our newly refurbished auditorium, revealing the new name in honour of Maurice and Rosie, “The Founders Auditorium”.
101 Thao Dien Street,
Thao Dien Ward, Thu Duc City,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Junior Campus
225 Nguyen Van Huong Street,
Thao Dien Ward, Thu Duc City,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Secondary Campus
246 Nguyen Van Huong Street,
Thao Dien Ward, Thu Duc City,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
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