Weekly Highlights 03/11/2023

Mr. Simon Higham, Principal

Dear Parents

Welcome to this week’s Highlights that will help to bring you closer to our school community, to learn more about the many successes that have taken place across our school over the last week.

FoBVIS Halloween Event

Last week saw our second school event that was organised and supported by the Friends of BVIS (FoBVIS). On Friday evening, over 350 parents and children attended our Halloween Movie Night aimed at bringing our community together, to enjoy some spooktacular experiences.



To enter the Main Hall, families had the choice of taking ‘the brave way’ or ‘the safe way’ - well done to all those who braved the spooky pathway........and survived!



Following a costume parade and best costume competition (read more about this in Ms Mary’s Highlights), everyone settled down to watch a great movie with their own themed snacks.

I would like to personally thank all parents, teachers and students who took part in this event through their attendance and support for what was a very successful evening. A special thanks go to: Mrs Huyen, Mrs Ngan and Mr Dung. 

Also, many thanks to  Mrs Tu, Mrs Huong and Ms Hanh who were instrumental in their ideas in making this event happen. 



As these events grow in number, giving our students and BVIS community an even wider amount of experiences both inside and outside of school time, I would expect that the number of those supporting would also grow too. As I have written in past editions of the Highlights, we need your help and support. 

If you are willing to help with other upcoming FoBVIS events, please contact: Ms. Nhien Ngo - Events Manager via email at nhien.ngo@bvisvietnam.com / Hotline: 090 6880 005.  

School Photographs

Following this week’s email that was shared with all parents on Monday 30th October, please be reminded of the following dates, venue and schedule for this year’s school photographs.

Date: Monday 13th November to Friday 17th November 2023
 
Venue: BVIS Sport’s Hall on the 3rd floor 

Schedule:

Within 2-3 weeks, more information will be sent to you about how to view your child’s photographs and how to order them. 

Should you require any assistance regarding school photographs after they have been taken, please email: customerservice@pret-a-portrait.vn in English or Vietnamese. 

If you would prefer Pret-a-Portrait to call you back on your mobile, include your contact details and a preferred time to call back and a representative will contact you directly.

Introducing our Amazing New Teachers

Mr Denis Agafonov 

Graduate Diploma in Music Education, Rostov Rachmaninov Conservatorium of Music, Russia  
 
Master of Music (Musicology), Rostov Rachmaninov Conservatorium of Music, Russia  
 
Bachelor's Degree in Piano Performance, State Tertiary College of Arts, Rostov, Russia  
 
Bachelor's Degree in Music History, State Tertiary College of Arts, Rostov, Russia  
 
Bachelor's Degree in Music Theory, State Tertiary College of Arts, Rostov, Russia

Denis is an innovative, experienced and fully accredited Music teacher, pianist and conductor with an outstanding record of working in the music education industry worldwide. He graduated with a Bachelor's Degree (Hons) in Piano Performance and a Masters in Musicology and Music Pedagogy.  
 
Denis has exceptional skills in developing, differentiating and modernising International Music Curricula. He has over 20 years of experience teaching music in various countries. Denis worked as an accompanist for the State Opera of South Australia and played in numerous school productions.  
 
Denis has obtained various Professional Development certificates from leading training institutions, including IB Organisation, Penn University (USA) and Music Education Network (Australia).

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.  

This weekend, myself and other senior colleagues will be attending this year’s FOBISIA Leadership Conference in Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. In next week’s Highlights, I look forward to sharing some of our learning from this conference with you.

On behalf of us all at BVIS, I wish you a very peaceful and enjoyable weekend ahead.

Mrs Mary McAloon, Head of Primary

Happy Halloween

The Friends of BVIS group organised a ‘best-dressed’ competition during last week’s Halloween event.  There were so many creative and thoughtful costumes that the children and their families came dressed in to celebrate this time of year.  With over 30 entries, the judges carefully considered the creativity, craftmanship, stage performance, overall impact, attention to detail and theme.  There were three top prizes awarded for achieving the highest score.  These prizes went to Linh Dan (Y5), Maxie (Y2) and Seoha in (Y3).  Thank you to all participants and congratulations to the winners of the competition.

Project Curiosity

Year 4 and 5 hosted their project curiosity this week where they confidently shared their learning from the past four weeks of enquiry, reflection and preparation.  There were over 150 adults who came to listen to the students; the audience was in awe of the dedication and pride that students showed about their interests and outcomes.

I would like to thank all families who participated in the home learning activities with their children and for attending the final presentations this week.  We counted up over 220 hours of parent and student engagement at home, which is incredible.  The time that parents spend with their children following their interests is invaluable in that it not only helps to instil a passion for learning in the child but also helps them build confidence to share their ideas and ask questions.
 

City Championships

We had four Bulldog football teams compete in four separate championships this week.  This week’s highlights focus on the U11 Boys and Girls.
 
The U11 Boys Bulldogs had already won the Division 2 City Championships in 2022 and due to excellent 2023 friendly fixture results, earned the right to play in the Division 1 championships for the first time.  The boys’ progress in the past years has been exceptional.  Football is a game of fine margins and despite some excellent performances, the boys couldn’t repeat the success of 2022.  The boys should be proud of their efforts and their continued progress will stand them in good stead for next year’s matches.
 
The U11 Girls played superbly throughout the season and championships, remaining unbeaten until the final game.  The final was a hotly contested affair, with the BVIS girls dominating possession and bombarding the BIS goal.  Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of BVIS, BIS hit the BVIS girls on the counterattack and scored a good goal.  The girls finished runners-up and should be very proud of their efforts. Many of the BVIS girls are ready to return in 2024. The future is bright for all footballers at BVIS!

Congratulations to all Bulldogs who participated in the Football City Championships this week. Well done everyone!
 

How would you solve the problem?

One key takeaway for parents was the many ways that one mathematical problem could be solved and that we all work out problems in our own chosen way.  This highlights the importance of asking students to show their working out or explain their thinking when helping them in their learning rather than instructing them how to solve the problem.  If we simply instruct, then we can risk confusing the students as we may suggest using methods that the student does not understand or does not find useful.

Thank you to all the families who attended this workshop.  We appreciate your continued support for the children’s learning.  The Maths workshop for parents of Year 3 and 4 students is being held on Thursday 16th November.  For parents of Years 1 and 2 students, please look out for the date in Term 2.

Upcoming Events

1. 6/11/23 – Block 1B Clubs programme begins
   
   
2. 13-17/11/23 – School Photograph Week
   
   
3. 16/11/23 – Maths Workshop for Y3 & Y4 Parents
   
   
4. 22/11/23 – Reading Workshop for EYFS Parents
   
   
5. 30/11/23 – Reading Workshop for Lower Primary Parents
   
   
6. 9/12/23 – Christmas Fun Day for families (tickets required)

Mr Toby Bate, Head of Secondary  

Biology Week

Wow! What a week it was for Biology at BVIS! Students from all years had the opportunity to participate in a wide range of exciting and educational activities, all designed to improve their understanding of biology and expose them to topics not normally taught in schools.

The week kicked off with plant pot decorating and potting new spider plants from the community garden. Students were able to get their hands dirty and learn about the importance of plants in our environment. 

On Thursday, former Biology students gave an online talk about studying Biology overseas. This was a great opportunity for students to learn about the different options available to them after they graduate.

Friday saw the return of the popular dissections. Students were able to see the inner workings of a lung and learn about how it functions. In addition to this, there were MIT challenges from Global Campus, Biology activities from the Royal Society of Biology, and daily Biology documentaries at lunchtime on the big screen in the Main Hall.

The week had been promoted in a live assembly where students were able to put their knowledge to the test in a series of quizzes. The atmosphere was electric as students from each house competed for the top prize.

Overall, BVIS Biology Week 2023 was a huge success. Students had the opportunity to learn about the subject in a fun and interactive way. The activities were well-organised, engaging and all students were clearly motivated to learn.

An Update from our Business and Economics Department

Business Studies students have been learning about how a business can ‘achieve quality production’. The students were performing the process of Quality Control using Oreo biscuits. This required them to identify any defective products and remove them, ensuring only the products of the highest quality would go to the customers. They had great fun doing this task, and especially enjoyed eating all the products at the end!

In the images you can see, Thanh Binh (11s) is checking the size of the biscuits while James (11B) is looking disappointed at all the damaged biscuits he was checking.

UKMT Senior Maths Challenge

On Wednesday 4th October, students in Year 11, 12 and 13 took part in the UKMT Senior Maths Challenge. 



This challenge assesses students' problem-solving and analytical skills against other students across the world, with certificates awarded for the highest-placed finishers. 

Of the 179 students who participated in this challenge, 60 were awarded Bronze Certificates, 17 were awarded Silver Certificates and 6 were awarded Gold Certificates.

Congratulations to all students who participated!

Special Mentions go to Gia Ngoc Le who scored highest in Year 11. Cindy Tran and Phong Ngo were joint highest scorers in Year 12 and Nghi Pham was awarded the Best in School certificate.

An Update from Hanoi House

The highly anticipated House Football competition will start on 20th November, and in preparation each house has been busy putting together teams to represent Key Stage 3, 4 and 5. 
 
This week has seen house captains organising practice and training out on the fields during lunch time and it has been impressive to see their hard work in bringing the students together as a team. 
 

 
It is still not too late to get involved, so please encourage your son/daughter to sign up to play and represent their house. They simply need to speak to their student leaders or Form Tutor next week.

First News Champions 

Bedrock Champions 

This week’s bedrock champions are:

Year 8 - Kingston Tran   
Year 12 - Tran Nam Phu
Year 9 - Grace Do
Year 11 - Kensuke Yamamura
Year 10 - Shunsuke Yamamura
Year 7 - Steven Tong                        

Congratulations to all the above students who came up on top in their respective year groups. A special well done to Steven in Year 7 who achieved the highest Bedrock points across the whole of secondary.   

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!

Champion of the Week

This week’s champion student is...

Shunsuke from 10V. Congratulations!

Champion Tutor Group

This week's Champion tutor group is...

A huge well done to everyone in 10V who worked together to achieve more housepoints than any other tutor group last week.

Housepoint totals

This week sees Dalat extend their lead at the top of the Housepoint table. Come on Hue, Hanoi and Saigon! Will they be able to catch Dalat?

Upcoming Events

1. 6^th Nov, 23: Season 1B clubs start
   
   
2. 14^th Nov, 23: Year 12 parents’ evening
   
   
3. 20^th Nov – 8th Dec, 23: House Football
   
   
4. 28^th Nov, 23: Year 7 parents’ evening
   
   
5. 30^th Nov, 23: Y11/12/13 Parent Revision Support Workshop
   
   
6. 5_^th Dec, 23: Year 8 parents’ evening
   
   
7. 8^th Dec, 23: Year 10-13 Term 1 Grade Reports: go home
   
   
8. 8^th Dec, 23: Block 1 clubs end

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: