Weekly Highlights 21/04/2023

Mr. Simon Higham, Principal

Dear Parents,

Welcome to this week’s Highlights and thank you for both engaging and connecting with our school community through this important source of communication between school and home.

Did you know that all past editions of the Highlights can be found through the News Section of our website? Click here to find out more.

The Power of The Arts Through the Eyes of One of Our Year 9 Students 

Like many Gen Z students, Phuong Anh in Year 9 recognises the importance of confidence and adaptability in achieving success both academically and personally.

The positive experiences from our Juilliard-Nord Anglia Education Performing Arts Programme and the Blood Brothers play have helped Phuong Anh to gain new and inspiring motivation for learning. 

To read more about how our creative arts programme in school has empowered Phuong Anh and many other students across our school, access this post.

Award Winning Art and Photography Work

For Thao Linh, a Year 12 student at BVIS, the subjects in the Performing Arts programme - Art, Drama, and Music - have always held a special attraction and opened up a world of inspiration for her.  

Thao Linh has made many breakthroughs in her studies, especially in the field of Art, when she won First Prize in the Canvas painting category at the Saigon Literary Competition 2022 and First Prize in the Key Stage 5 group (ages 16-18) at the Photography Competition 2023 organised by the Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA).

Click here to read more about her inspiring story.

Principal’s Afternoon Tea Event

On Wednesday this week, you received an email to invite you to our next Principal’s Afternoon Tea event:

• Date: Wednesday 26^th April 
• Time: 2.00pm – 3.00pm
• Where: Main Hall 

During the event, we will be covering the following items: 

• School updates since we last met 
• CIS report feedback and next steps 
• The launch of our ‘Friends of BVIS’ initiative – we will be looking at ways in which we can begin to establish a more formal parent group within school 

I am very much looking forward to you joining us at this popular school event on Wednesday 26^th April. Refreshments will be available.

Please click on this link to register.

Parent Essentials – Uniform

Our BVIS uniform is a means of showing our identity and pride in our school to the wider community as well as being practical school wear. All children from F1 through to Year 13 are expected to wear their school uniform every day that they attend school.  

To find a detailed overview of the full uniform for EYFS (Foundation 1, 2 and 3), Primary (Years 1 to 6), Secondary (Years 7 to 11) and 6th Form (Years 12 and 13) and guidelines for purchasing it, click on this link from our Parent Essentials Section of the school website to find out more.

Contact Us

For all enquiries regarding your child’s BVIS education, use the contact details below:

Have a great weekend ahead and looking forward to seeing you in school again next week to further engage and connect together, in partnership.

Mrs Mary McAloon, Head of Primary

F2 Day Trip Out

F2 had a magnificent time last week on their visit to Kiwooza Play Café.  The trip was planned around their new topic, which they are beginning to explore, “People Who Help Us”.  

Whilst out of school with their teachers and friends, the children had the opportunity to ride on a bus and observe the different jobs that people do in our community. They looked out for traffic officers along the way and firefighters as they passed by the District 7 fire station.  They also noticed the different things happening in the local surroundings as they passed through the streets on the bus journey.  

Once at their destination, the children safely engaged in various physical activities that support their developing gross motor skills.

Thank you to parents for preparing the children for their special day and to our teachers and staff for supporting the children whilst they were exploring the city.

U11 Swimming City Championships

On Monday, a group of Y3 to Y6 students came together to compete in the swimming city championships.  The weekly swim training with their coaches throughout the year had set them up with the strength, determination and competitive drive to push themselves during each race to represent the true qualities of a BVIS student – integrity, respect and care. 

The team’s commitment to their success was incredible to see; they were supportive by cheering for each other during the races and congratulating each other when exiting the water.  

I am so proud of our BVIS swim team for their teamwork, passion and dedication to their chosen sport. 

Congratulations to you all for your own individual achievements and for your collective team’s success!

Go Green Week Activities

This week in primary we have been considering how our choices can impact the environment and how we can improve these for a more sustainable future on our planet.  Saturday 22^nd April is ‘Earth Day’ where communities around the world demonstrate support for environmental protection.  This is an annual event that first occurred in 1970 and this year all efforts are focused on ‘Invest in Our Planet’.   

A project that our Community Leaders have been focusing on over the past two weeks is to encourage the community to use alternatives to plastic bags. They have been collecting clean plastic bags and will work together to turn these into useful materials that our community partners can use to weave into new products. These new products such as pencil cases, tote bags and wash bags, will be shared with BVIS for our community to purchase on Friday 5^th May. The profits will go straight to our community partners.  
 
Thank you to all who supported this mission by donating your used, clean and untorn, folded plastic bags. Read more about Earth Day and what 1 billion people are involved in at this website: https://www.earthday.org/ 

Y3 visit Maison Marou

As part of the Lien Ket topic, ‘Chocolate’ and Literacy unit on ‘Instructions’, the Y3 teachers organised a day trip to Maison Marou as their entry point.  As the Y3 classes headed out this week, we could see the excitement on their faces.  

While at Maison Marou, the children were shown how the motto of ‘Bean-to-Bar’ drives everything that is done at the chocolate factory, ensuring their processes reduce their carbon footprint.  From working with local Vietnamese cacao farmers to using every part of the cacao pod to support the environment, the children understood the authenticity of ‘Bean to Bar’.  

As well as learning about and observing the chocolate making process, the children had a chance to taste chocolate made from cacao grown in several different regions of southern Vietnam, including coconut chocolate from Ben Tre.  The children were taught the correct way to taste chocolate, which involves leaving it to melt on your tongue for ten seconds before chewing.  They thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and are now enthused to learn what is planned for them during their new topic, ‘Chocolate’.

Upcoming Events

• 28/04/23 – Non pupil day
  
  
• 01-03/05/23 – School closed for public holidays
  
  
• 04/05/23 – School resumes
  
  
• 09/05/23 @ 08:30 – Maths Coffee Morning
  
  
• 11/05/23 @ 18:00 – Speech and Poetry Competition Final 
  
  
• 17/05/23 @ 08:40 – Positive Parenting Workshop 6 for Upper Primary: Wearing your playful hat
  
  
• 22/05/23 @ 08:40 – Primary Parent Coffee Morning on ‘The Dangers of Social Media’
  
  
• 24/05/23 @ 08:40 – Positive Parenting Workshop 6 for Lower Primary: Wearing your playful hat

Mr Toby Bate, Head of Secondary

Examination Season

The summer examination season is already upon us, with Art IGCSE, Art AS level and the IGCSE English speaking exams already completed. As a school we know that this can be a stressful time for both students and parents alike, but we want to reassure you that we will continue to do everything we can to support all our students and help them achieve the best possible results.

I encourage you to continue to support your child at home and to maintain open communication with us about any concerns or issues that may arise during this time. 

Together, we can help our students to succeed and achieve their full potential.

Creative Gala

Just before we broke up for the holidays our wonderful teachers and students from the Creative Arts Department gave a behind the scenes look at Art, DT, Drama and Music. 

Our students performed, played, painted, printed and shared their learning with their peers, teachers and parents. Thank you to all those involved.

Secondary Open Morning

This Wednesday, Secondary invited prospective new parents in to visit our school. 

We had talks from the Secondary School Leadership Team about the workings of the school and talks from our student council Presidents, Minh and Kevin, about their experiences as a student at BVIS.

The visitors also experienced a tour of the school and had the opportunity to see some live lessons from our excellent teaching staff.

Psychology Week

Next week is Psychology week in Secondary, allowing some of our younger students to gain an insight into the subject that is only available to study in the 6th form (Years 12 and 13). There will be more feedback about the events that took place next week.

BVIS Secondary Champion of the Week

Congratulations go to....

Ha My from Year 11. Well done to her for a fantastic week's work.

Secondary Champion Tutor Group of the Week

This week’s highest scoring tutor group was...

 
…...who collectively scored a huge 73 Housepoints.

Well done to everyone in 9V, Ms Le Couilliard was very happy!

Upcoming Events 

• 17-21/04/23: Green week
  
  
• 17/4/23: Season 3 clubs resume
  
  
• 19/4/23: Careers Talk
  
  
• 24-28/4/23: Psychology week
  
  
• 26/4/23: Puberty Seminar at 9:00am
  
  
• 26/4/23: Principal’s Afternoon Tea at 2:00pm
  
  
• 27/4/23: “It’s good to be me” Seminar
  
  
• 28/04/23 – Non pupil day
  
  
• 01-03/05/23 – School closed for public holidays
  
  
• 15 – 19/5/23: U13, U15 District and City Championship Week
  
  
• 19/5/23: Reading Seminar for Secondary Parents

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: