Weekly Highlights 06/10/2023

Mr. Simon Higham, Principal

Dear Parents

This week has felt more like the North of England than the south of Vietnam as we have experienced a great deal of wet weather, flooding and high tides. However, the BVIS spirit has remained strong to support another full week of great learning opportunities.

As we approach the last week of this half term, I would encourage you all to reflect upon what has been an incredibly positive start to a new academic year.

Almost 8 weeks have passed since our Orientation Event for new students and the first day of school for all of our BVIS students. Although we have achieved a lot in these 8 weeks, it seems only yesterday that we were welcoming new and existing families back to school to commence Term 1 learning.

Throughout this journey, we have seen our youngest children settle into their daily school routines and it has been a pleasure to see how they continue to develop in confidence and independence across their learning.

Our students transitioning from Primary to Secondary have now got used to their new uniform and are using their new timetables well, enjoying snacks in the Sunken Garden and experiencing subject areas that they have never experienced before.

Our oldest students have already begun planning their future iGCSE and A level options and started preparing their applications for the universities of their choice and future careers.

This weekend, no matter how young or old your child(ren) are, please take time to ask them these 5 questions:

1. What has been the highlight of your time at BVIS so far this year?
2. Over the last 8 weeks, what achievement are you most proud of and why?
3. What have you learned about yourself in the last 8 weeks?
4. What are your aims for the next 8 weeks at school? 
5. How can both school and home help to support you further to achieve your next steps in learning?

Reflection is one of our core values that make up our Mission and Vision across the school culture. I would encourage you to reflect with your children on a regular basis, to ensure that you find out more about what your son/daughter has learned and also, more importantly in my view, how they will continue to improve every single day as a BVIS student.

Introducing our Amazing New Teachers

Mr Ben Hulbert

BSc (Hons) Sport Science, University of Leeds, UK  

PGCE 5-11 with QTS (Distinction), Sheffield Hallam University, UK

Ben originally graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in Sports Science in 2008. After nearly 8 years of ESL teaching in Korea and Vietnam, he moved back to the UK in 2018 to complete his PGCE at Sheffield Hallam University. Upon completion of his teacher training, he spent 4 years teaching Key Stage 2 in Sheffield while also taking subject leadership roles in Physical Education and Religious Education.  

Ben is a huge sports enthusiast with football, tennis and golf being his biggest passions. 

‘Learning Explorations’ - a New Podcast from Nord Anglia Education

Are you interested to find out more about new educational trends, ideas and thinking in ed-tech from interviews with world-renowned education experts including Stanford maths professor Dr Jo Boaler, UCL professor and AI expert Rose Luckin, and edtech leader Dr Joseph South?

Access this article and podcast (in English) that targets both teachers and parents who want to be in the know on the use of technology in both the classroom and at home.  

Parent Essentials – New Allergy Friendly School Lunch Menus

Look at what your child(ren) will be having for their lunch this month with our new monthly menus. Acting upon parental feedback, our improved menus now identify up to 10 separate allergens in each dish.

Access all menus from the Parent Essentials section of our school website.

Contact Us

Should you wish to contact your child’s Class Teacher(s) or Form Tutor directly, we encourage communication to be written in the language you most feel confident to use. 

Parents may also find it useful to contact their child’s class teacher(s) or form tutor directly for all individual queries about their academic work/social and emotional wellbeing in school.  Individual contact details can be found in the Parents' Handbooks or via our Primary/Secondary Receptionists.  

As always, your engagement and connection with our school and your child’s / children's learning is vitally important to us. Thank you for taking time to read today’s Highlights and we hope you found them both interesting and useful.

Enjoy the weekend ahead and I sincerely hope the sun shines for you all!

Mrs Mary McAloon, Head of Primary

Bilingual Month Begins!

This week saw our specially planned and prepared bilingual month activities begin. Our language departments hosted an exciting launch in recent assemblies for lower and upper primary where the exciting activities were shared along with the first of many challenges.  Teachers who are just learning the names of body parts (e.g. eye, nose, head, leg) challenged native Vietnamese speakers in a game of ‘Simon Says’.  The game was hosted in Vietnamese and all participants were given three chances to remain in the game.  Students encouraged and cheered as they watched their teachers play, sometimes getting it right and sometimes making a mistake.  

The key message of Bilingual Month is how important our two languages are in that we can understand and communicate with many people in English or Vietnamese.  This is unique and advantageous for our community, something we should all celebrate!  

Extra-Curricular Activities

The current club block 1A is now over halfway through and it is time for students to reflect on their experiences and ensure they are registered for the clubs that they wish to continue or new clubs that they would like to try next. Earlier this week, parents received an email from the school with instructions on how to follow the final selection process for club block 1B.  If you would like to provide your child(ren) with further opportunities to develop and enhance their experiences, then please follow the guidelines provided in the email.

We look forward to another successful club programme, beginning on Monday 6th November, for students to take up a new hobby or improve their skills in an area that they enjoy.

Aide Memoire Art Competition

We have many fantastic pieces of art submitted for the competition where students were asked to depict our Aide Memoire values and include the animals that represent these values.  As a reminder, our eight values are:

• Integrity
• Respect
• Care
• Enquiry
• Perseverance 
• Reflection
• Vietnamese Perspective
• Global Citizenship

Each one of these values has been defined by the academic team to ensure there is a consistent understanding across our whole community.  Students and teachers discuss what these values mean and how they can be demonstrated in different situations.  The artwork entries received for the competition highlight the importance of these values to our teachers and students as they have been carefully designed and created to help the viewer understand what they mean to us at BVIS.
 
All entries have now been reviewed by teachers and two pieces from each class in Years 1 to 6 have been put forward to the final round.  The winning artwork will be included in a special limited edition calendar for 2024.  Congratulations to all artists who have entered this competition, your artwork has already been appreciated by your teachers.

Bulldogs Win Away

The U11 Boys Bulldogs travelled to AISVN this week and clinched another exciting victory, emerging 6-4 victors.  The team enhanced its early season form, with goals from Ken, Stephen, Vincent and two from Gia Phat.  The Player of the match was awarded to Gia Phat.  Congratulations, Bulldogs!

Upcoming Events

1. 10/10/23 @ 08:30am: Positive Parenting Workshop – Wearing your Firm for Upper Primary year groups (open to Year 4 to 6 parents)
   
   
2. 13/10/23: Last day of the half-term
   
   
3. 16/10/23 – 20/10/23: School closed for the half-term holiday

Mr Toby Bate, Head of Secondary

BVIS 6-6 Reading Challenge

We are thrilled to announce the return of our fantastic 6 in 6 Reading Challenge at BVIS that will ignite your child's passion for books and learning! Last year, we saw more than 300 books read by our students and staff. This year we ask everyone – including parents - to join us on this exciting and invaluable literary journey. We give students 12 different categories to choose from, and they must select 6 books to read in the next 6 months – together, let’s try and beat last year’s amazing score! 

Here's why you and your child will love getting involved: 

Encourage a Love for Reading: Reading is an adventure waiting to be discovered. 

Improves confidence in reading: the more you read, the more confident you will feel. 

Boost Literacy Skills : Regular reading improves vocabulary, comprehension, and critical thinking. 

Win Amazing Prizes: Top readers will be celebrated and rewarded for their commitment. 

Family Bonding: Share reading moments together and inspire a lifelong love for books. 

Get ready to embark on this reading journey with your child and be part of this fantastic opportunity.  

Let's make reading a FUN and engaging experience for our students! 

Maths Challenge

On the 19^th and 20^th September, students at BVIS took part in the FOBISIA code breaking challenge. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to develop their Mathematical Skills in a different setting. 

There is a close link between mathematics and code breaking which made this challenge a natural fit as a mathematics competition. The skills that make good mathematicians - problem solving, logical thought and perseverance - are the same skills that make great code breakers.

Over 78 schools and 17000 students entered this competition, and I am pleased to say that entries from BVIS placed us in 9th position for Level 2.

This challenge had 4 levels of difficulty, with Level 1A and 1B accessible to students in KS3. Level 4 was the most challenging of all codes to crack.

Well done to all students in KS3 and KS4 for taking part. 

Notable entrants are Nguyen Minh Khang Phung (Leo) in 7S and Hoang Ky Thu Nguyen (Angelia) in 9I who both completed the Level 3 challenge. We also had Tuan Anh Nguyen (Alex) in 10S who was the only student in the school to complete the Level 4 challenge. Congratulations to these three super code-breakers – certificates are on their way to you!

Bedrock Champions

This week’s bedrock champions are:

Year 11 - Kensuke Yamamura                     
Year 10 - Mei Nguyen                        
Year 8 - Kosuke Yamamura                  
Year 7 - Jolie Chau                                        
Year 9 - Grace Do                                           
Year 12 - Tran Nam Phu                                 

Congratulations to all the above students who came up on top in their respective year groups. A special well done to Tran Nam Phu in Year 12 who achieved the highest Bedrock points across the whole of the secondary school.

First News Champions

This week's First News Champions are:

Year 7 - Dam Thien Bao  
Year 8 - Nguyen Ngoc Nguyen      
Year 9 - Nguyen Chi Hieu 

A special congratulations to Nguyen Ngoc Nguyen who was the champion across the whole school. 

Sparx Maths Champions

Students earn XP by completing tasks in their Sparx Homework

Compulsory Tasks earn 60-80XP
XP Boost Tasks earn 120-150XP
Target Tasks earn 120-150XP
Independent Learning Tasks earn 100XP

Students reach a new Sparx Level every 10000XP

Top XP earners this week are:

Congratulations to the top Sparx students for this week – Particularly Anna Quach who has been on the leaderboard three times in four weeks!!!

Champion of the Week

This week’s joint champion students are...

Le Gia Han (Susie) 7V (Hanoi) & Mai Thao Linh 13H (Saigon) are this week’s joint champions! Congratulations to them both!

Champion Tutor Group

This week's Champion tutor group is...

A huge well done to everyone in 7S who worked together to achieve more housepoints than any other tutor group last week.

Hue House Update

Hue house had a brilliant time wearing their Ao Dai’s for the Moon festival last Friday! It was wonderful to see so many students representing their Vietnamese heritage in an international school environment.

Environment Committee

The aim of the Environment Committee is to introduce and encourage sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyles among the BVIS community. To achieve this goal, we have organized various activities for students to participate in, such as the Vegan Week, the Green Week, and the art display “Under the Sea” made from recycled materials.

From Monday 9^th October 2023, we will put up a donation box in the Secondary Foyer, encouraging students, parents and teachers to donate used newspapers, revision notes, and cardboard. After collecting the used paper, we will find the most suitable approach to recycle them, which will reduce the amount of wastepaper in the BVIS community.

Upcoming Events

1. 10^th Oct, 23: Year 9 parents’ evening at 15:30
   
   
2. 13^th Oct, 23: Last day of half term 1
   
   
3. 23^rd Oct, 23: First day of half term 2
   
   
4. 27^th Oct, 23: Year 7 – 9 Reports go home
   
   
5. 27^th Oct, 23: Season 1A clubs end
   
   
6. 30^th Oct – 3^rd Nov, 23: Biology Week
   
   
7. 2^nd Nov, 23: Year 13 Parents’ Eve
   
   
8. 6^th Nov, 23: Season 1B clubs start
   
   
9. 14^th Nov, 23: Year 12 Parents’ Eve
   
   
10. 20^th Nov – 8^th Dec, 23: House Football
    
    
11. 28^th Nov: Year 7 Parents’ Evening

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: