Mr. Simon Higham, Principal
Dear Parents
We sincerely hope that you and your family managed to take some quality time for yourselves over the long weekend to celebrate Vietnam National Day which is a very important occasion within the country’s annual calandar.
Supporting our Local Community
At BVIS HCCM, we are always looking at ways to help support our local community, especially in times of difficulty. It is pleasing to be able to share with you two recent examples of how our own community is compassionate, caring and determined to support one another.
Last week, many of our BVIS teachers organised their very own 24 hour Fitness Marathon consisting of a 24 hour spin, run and row.
Teacher’s worked as a team to continuously exercise for 24 hours doing different shifts from their own apartments.
As a result of these efforts, 170 million vnd was raised to help support Rice ATMs and Oxygen ATMs across HCMC, which help to dispense thousands of tons of rice and oxygen to those who need it most.
Since the pandemic outbreak in 2020, Mr Tuan Anh (a current BVIS parent) has established more than 100 of these ATMs across our city. This has gained much attention and compliments from international news outlets including CNN and Bloomberg.
A huge thanks and congratulations to all of our teachers who took part – well done and much respect!
Read more about the Rice and Oxygen ATMs using the links below:
Deck A Desk - #DeckaDesk challenge
A neat, comfortable working and studying corner will motivate us every day to improve our efficiency and energy.
Creative inspiration and relaxation are sometimes made by little improvised highlights in our familiar daily working spaces, by adding items such as small plants, a favourite bookshelf or just simply a cup of coffee or tea.
This weekend, as a family take a look at where you are currently working and ask yourself, ‘What is special about my space and how can I improve it further?
Get involved with our new inititave called ‘Deck a Desk’ and show us how you have decorated your unique working and studying corner at home.
Access this post to find out how you can take part.
Meet our New Teachers
I am delighted to introduce you to another one of our new teachers. This week, it’s the turn of Mr Tim Odell, Primary EAL English teacher:
Continued Support
Support for all of our BVIS community remains an integral part of our school environment. Should you require any help, no matter how big or small, please use the contact details below:
IT - BVIS Help Desk email: it.servicedesk@nordanglia.com
For all individual queries about your child’s academic work/social and emotional wellbeing in school or during this period of VSE, contact their form/class teachers directly via email or Dojo.
For all additional Primary Enquiries, please call /email:
(028) 3758 0709 / ext. 111 or
primaryreception@bvisvietnam.com
For all additional Secondary Enquiries, please call / email
(028) 3758 0717 / ext. 211 or
secondaryreception@bvisvietnam.com
Take care, continue to stay safe and we remain here to support, guide and listen.
Mrs Mary McAloon, Head of Primary
Spotlight on Learning
This week, I would like to highlight the integrity and care being displayed by our Year 6 students. Being the oldest cohort of our primary years, they have without doubt impressed their teachers by setting themselves up for a successful year of learning ahead. After three weeks of being in Year 6 they have already shown care and attention in everything that they have been asked to complete and participate in. With a VSE Code of Conduct to help set the tone, they have understood the expectations and routines and as a result, they have settled well into the final year of their primary school experience.
I am pleased to share two great examples of how our oldest primary students are taking care in their learning activities and showing integrity in these first few weeks of VSE. Well done, Year 6, keep it up!
Parents Evening
Starting next week, class teachers will meet with parents in our Term 1 parents evening. These meetings are earlier than in previous years and will now focus on settling in and expectations for the year of learning ahead. When they meet with teachers, parents can ask questions about the expectations and targets for their children and discuss how to further support them to settle into their learning routines.
The parents evening booking system is now open online. Parents should have received an email early this week outlining the process of booking these meetings and details of the dates for each class. If you have missed this email, then please contact primary reception at, 028 3758 0709 – ext. 111 and we will assist you in booking an appointment.
As a reminder:
14/9/21 & 16/9/21 – Parents Evening Meetings for B & I classes
21/9/21 & 23/9/21 - Parents Evening meetings for V & S classes
Top Tips for Successful Learning
Creating a positive learning environment at home is paramount for a successful school day for your children. Teachers have designed routines and expectations for our Virtual School Environment (VSE) to ensure all children are ready for learning and achieve their best outcomes. One expectation that teachers find useful is for children to turn their cameras on during lessons. This enables teachers to observe their behaviour and readiness for learning. As they can see the children, teachers can talk to the children about sitting properly and maintaining a good working environment, which will support them to persevere and maintain their focus and attention.
A top tip for families with two or more children learning through VSE is to create a home-school environment where the children are sat at the same table or in the same area of the house. With each having their own set of headphones, they will be able to engage in their own lessons without disturbing each other. Whilst sitting in the same environment, they can encourage one another to persevere and also help guide and support each other in their learning.
Mr Jack Rudin, Head of Secondary
Year 10 English
Lots of precision and hard work went in to the poetry annotations by Year 10 English this week. The poem, called The City Planners by Margaret Atwood, is a challenging one and communicates lots of profound ideas about nature and the environment. Year 10 did well to approach the topic with maturity and insight. Importantly, they need to keep up this work ethic!
Year 7
Year 7 have been creating their own timelines of their lives. They were asked to include some essential points, but some students also included some more personal information which was nice to see. A very good job done by all, we are pleased to see the good work you are putting into your studies.
BVIS Secondary House Challenge
We had a ‘Guess Who’ competition where students had to try and disguise themselves as one of their teachers – the best disguise is the winner! Some incredible entries from our students and some notable staff entries as well but there can be only one winner. So it is a pleasure to say that this week’s winner is Nancy in 11S! Well done Nancy!
This week’s competition is to simply ‘Travel in Time’ – the students will have to think creatively to achieve success.
Creative Arts
This week we started to prepare for our exiting virtual school production ‘BVIS- The Show Must Go On’, in our virtual club.
During the rehearsal the cast learnt the song ‘Consider Yourself’ with Ms Hardiman and have started to select and prepare the musical numbers. It was fantastic to see lots of students and hear some wonderful singing, and we are looking forward to seeing the results of the students efforts in December.
Drama Classes
Students have been experimenting this week with how they can maximise their creativity on teams and to view virtual drama as an opportunity to use new skills. Year 9 focused on storytelling and worked in groups to experiment with lighting, shadow, props, camera angles and movement. Their pieces displayed some real ingenuity and effective team work.
World Economics World Cup
During the summer holidays 12 of our new Year 13 students have prepared and competed in the national round of the World Cup of Economics with the hope of representing Viet Nam once again as we did last year.
To prepare for the competition students were directed to reading, podcasts and got involved in discussions with the support of Mr Adams throughout the holidays.
Following a very successful national round, we will now have 2 teams from BVIS representing Viet Nam at the world cup competing for medals this September.
VSE Attendance
Another great week for attendance in our first full week of virtual learning! Very well done to 10I who are the first tutor group to receive 100% attendance to all lessons for a whole week!! Keep up the great work all!
STEAM Activities
STEAM subjects have changed the world around us and its good just to take a moment to reflect on the past and how we have learnt to overcome the difficulties that we face. Through combining our knowledge be it specifically linked to a STEAM subject or that of languages, Geography, History, Psychology, etc … the world is a better place.
No single person can change the world, but if enough talented minds are put to enough discrete problems – if we share knowledge, and exchange ideas with one another – then seemingly incremental progress can gradually transform into great leaps. No more have I seen that this week than in the Paralympics.
Why not check out this short clip on how STEAM has changed the Paralympics?
Running Prosthetics That Help Paralympians Run Faster | The Tech Race - YouTube
Safeguarding and Child Protection
The health, safety and wellbeing of our students remains the number one priority at BVIS HCMC.
Should you have a concern for the welfare of any child in our school, please refer to our Safeguarding poster below:
