Weekly Highlights 09/06/2023

Mr. Simon Higham, Principal

Dear Parents

Thank you for your continued support of our school in taking time to read through this week’s Highlights. As always, it is very much appreciated.

This week we have continued to ensure that the enrichment opportunities for all our students have continued both inside and outside of the classroom.

Going the Extra Mile

It has been lovely to see a variety of year groups from both Primary and Secondary take part in day trips, to both enrich and improve their curriculum learning and personal development. Read more about this in both Ms Mary’s and Mr Bate’s sections below.

Additionally, it is great to see so much energy and continued commitment from our students at this later stage of the term. Although our club programme concludes at the end of this week, our students and teachers are already thinking ahead about squads for next year. Trials have already begun to ensure that our sports’ squads are ready to begin their training straight away at the beginning of the next academic year. 

I would like to personally thank and congratulate all students who have already taken part in a trial or are planning to take a trial, over the final weeks of the term.

Celebrating Success

Continuing on a sporting note, I am very much looking forward to our annual Sports Awards Evening that take place in the Main Hall next week and hope to see you there. More details about this event can be seen in Mr Bate’s section below.

This week, I had the pleasure of taking part in a Year 9 music lesson with 4 separate groups of students performing their own compositions. The standard was incredibly high and I came away thinking that I had been in the audience of the X Factor, not a BVIS classroom!

Always Learning More

As part of our ongoing commitment to our staff professional development, teachers (and myself) have been busy learning about how to develop our knowledge and understanding of Microsoft365 applications to further enhance the teaching and learning opportunities with our students.

From this training, I wanted to share with you a new app that I have encountered, that fits well with our overall mission of creating ‘Global Citizens with a Vietnamese Perspective’. This weekend, take time to download ‘Microsoft Translator’ onto your mobile/tablet and take time to discover its capabilities together with your child(ren).

The app is available for free on both the App Store and Google Play and may help to further develop your child(rens) ability to develop their bilingual proficiency and help you to support them in their language learning at home.

I hope that both you and your family find this both a fun and useful tool to have.

Parent Essentials - Reminder

Remember to use the ‘Parent Essentials’ section of our school website to access key information in preparation for the start of the next academic year.

Click here to access: calendars, parent handbooks, lunch menus and how to order school uniform. 

Contact Us

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

On behalf of everyone at BVIS, I would like to wish you a very happy and healthy weekend ahead.

Mrs Mary McAloon, Head of Primary

Primary Excursions

This week three separate year groups experienced learning outside of the school grounds in their annual excursion with their teachers.  Day trips out are purposefully planned to enhance student learning.  Year 6 visited the Independence Palace to deepen their knowledge of the history of Vietnam.  Year 5 went to the HCMC History Museum and Saigon Zoo to learn more about their Lien Ket topic, ‘Time Tunnel’ and engage in team-building activities with their friends.  The second group of F1 children also enjoyed applying their learning at the Kiwooza café.  Each trip was a success, providing students the opportunity to build independence and consolidate their learning at school.

Thank you to the teaching teams who planned and facilitated these great learning opportunities and importantly, well done to the students who represented our BVIS values outside of school, proudly representing what our school stands for.

Sports Squads Trials

Over the last two weeks, interested students have trialed for next academic year’s sports squads.  The sports included in Season One are football, swimming and badminton.  Over 100 students in total trialed; this highlights the development of interest in sports from our primary students and is a great representation of how BVIS students understand the importance of playing sport.  Not only does sport help to keep our bodies healthy by ensuring we exercise regularly, but it also provides us with the opportunity to be collaborative and practice our teamwork skills.  

If your child missed the opportunity to trial or they are joining BVIS in August, they can join the next round of trials that will be held in the first week on the new academic year.  Please look out for further information about this when we return from the summer holiday.

Clubs draw to a close

This week saw the last of our extra-curricular clubs for the year as we prepare for the upcoming summer holidays.  It is wonderful to have seen so many students having actively participated in various activities, exploring their passions and developing new skills. I would like to extend thanks to parents for supporting and encouraging their children to participate in these extra-curricular activities.  The next primary club programme will begin in September of the new academic year 2023-24.  There will again be a variety of engaging activities and opportunities for students to explore.  

Throughout the upcoming summer holiday break, we encourage parents to foster your child's love for learning through various recreational activities.  I recommend that you consider registering your child to the BVIS Summer School programme, which runs for full days in the first three weeks of the summer holidays. 

Summer school provides students with enriching and active learning activities and a chance to consolidate their learning from the year.  Alternatively, Rising Star Football Academy are running a summer camp, mornings only for the first three weeks.  The football camp provides an opportunity for students to be active everyday and practice their football skills.  Please contact primary reception if you are interested in registering your children for either of these opportunities.

Upcoming Events

• 15/06/23 @ 14:00 – EYFS Parent meeting for the upcoming new academic year

• 15/06/23 – Sports Awards Evening

• 20/06/23 – Y6 Celebration Evening for Y6 students and families

Mr Toby Bate, Head of Secondary

Media Awards Evening

Calling all movie and music video fans of BVIS! We would like to invite you to the upcoming Media Studies Evening, where we will be screening the fantastic work of our Media Studies students and presenting awards for outstanding work in different areas. 

• Date: June 12^th
  
• Time: 15:30-17:00
  
• Location: BVIS HCMC Theatre

The invitation is open to students and parents of Years 10-13. Please note that any bus students who wish to attend will have to arrange their own journey home as there will be no buses after the event. If you are interested in attending along with your child, get them to fill in the Microsoft Form on Secondary Announcements to confirm your attendance.

Model United Nations (MUN) Conference 

Last weekend BVIS sent 4 delegates to the MUN conference at ISHCMC in D2.  All delegates debated strongly in their assemblies doing themselves and our school proud. This is impressive, as for some, it was their 1^st MUN conference.

Also Minh Quan (13S) was presented with the 'best speaker' award in the security council. Well done to all delegates.

If you would like your child to learn more about MUN and the opportunities it provides, please encourage them to speak to Mr Livesey or Mr Grewal, who would be very happy to give them more information.

Sporting Updates

Sports Awards Evening

BVIS will be celebrating a range of sporting achievements next Thursday, the 15th of June, between 16:00 and 17:30 in the Main Hall. We will be presenting awards to different students for their development and success over the course of the year. Parents are of course welcome to join us in this celebration.

Trials for Sports Squads 23-24

BVIS have moved the initial trials for the Sports Squads for the coming academic year to be completed before the end of this year. Students will then be aware of which squads they have made and the knock-on effect this will have on their ECA choices next year.

If you have further questions about how your child can join a sports squad, please get in touch with Ms Kent lucy.kent@bvisvietnam.com. 

First News and Bedrock

This week’s top First News students are below:

Congratulations to Nina from 8S, who was the highest scoring student across all of Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9). 

However, Nina’s great individual effort wasn’t enough to beat the collective effort of 7V who scored a massive 41,395 points.

 

Well done to everyone in 7V!

Our Bedrock Champions for this week are:  

Congratulations to Alex in Year 11, who despite his IGCSE examinations also managed to earn the most Bedrock points! Amazing!

Student Champion of the week

This week’s Champion is...

Tran Thanh (Jay) from 9V! Congratulations to Jay, well done on a great week.

Secondary Champion Tutor Group of the Week

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

Congratulations to everyone in 9V, what a great team effort!

Upcoming Events  

• Ongoing: IGCSE; AS/A level exams
  
  
• 9^th June: Season 3 clubs end
  
  
• 13 – 16^th June: Transition week for year 4,5,6

• 15^th June: Sports Award Evening
  
  
• 12 – 16^th June: Science Week
  
  
• 17^th June: Year 13 Graduation Ceremony
  
  
• 19^th June: Debate Day
  
  
• 23^rd June 11:30 am: Term 3 ends

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: