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Mr. Simon Higham, Principal
Dear Parents
Welcome to another edition of the Weekly Highlights with the question – ‘what is success?’
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Parents often ask me, ‘how does my child achieve success at BVIS and how do I encourage my child(ren) to be successful outside of school?
Recently, I thought it would be interesting to ask Copilot, Microsoft’s Open AI, how success can be defined. Here are the results it came up with:
Success can be.........
Achievement of Goals: Success often refers to the accomplishment of desired aims or purposes. It’s about achieving the results you wanted or hoped for. For example, becoming ‘Star of the Week’, handing in a piece of incredible DT coursework on time or receiving an offer to the University of your choice.
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Positive Outcomes: Success can also be seen as positive results. It encompasses achievements that lead to favorable outcomes. For instance, winning a race in the EYFS Sports Day, making a friend on a Year 6 Residential trip or being the winners in the Saigon Battle of the Bands competition.
Wealth, Fame, and Social Status: Some associate success with attaining wealth, fame, or social status. These external markers are often used to measure success. However, it’s essential to recognize that success isn’t solely about material gains and this message is clearly embedded across our school within our values of ‘integrity’, ‘care’ and ‘respect’.
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Personal Fulfillment: True success may involve personal fulfillment and happiness. It’s about finding purpose, contentment, and satisfaction in what you do. This could mean beginning a new extra-curricular club, maintaining meaningful and long-lasting friendships in school, or taking part in social outreach work in a sustainable way with one (or more) of our BVIS community partners.
Overcoming Challenges: Success often emerges from perseverance and overcoming challenges. It’s not just about winning; it’s about learning from failures, adapting, and growing stronger. Again, these strong messages link to our Aide Memoir in the values that all of our BVIS community are committed to: ‘enquiry’, ‘reflection’ and ‘perseverance’.
It is important to note that the meaning of success can be understood in various ways, depending on context and individual perspectives. However, I thought it equally important to note how this AI generated definition of ‘success’ seamlessly relates to our school environment, across all aspects of what we do and how we choose to do it.
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Remember that success is subjective and varies from person to person and it is essential to define success based on your own values, aspirations, and what you are passionate about.
This weekend, please take time to talk to your child(ren) about what they define success as both inside and outside of school, by asking these 3 questions:
(Repeat the above 3 questions but relate the question to ‘home’ instead of ‘school’.)
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As you read through today’s Highlights, I challenge you to look out for the many successes that are celebrated and see how many can you find?
Each week across our school you will find success all around you and as always, I thank you for your continued support and partnership to help make every child that wears our uniform the success that they want to be.
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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.
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On behalf of everyone across our BVIS team, have a successful and family orientated weekend ahead.
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Mrs Mary McAloon, Head of Primary
On Tuesday and Friday, Year 1 went on an exciting trip to Bitexco Tower! The current Lien Ket topic in Year 1 is Buildings and Landmarks, so Bitexco Tower is a great place to be for the students to view the cityscape views of HCMC. Whilst the students were in the viewing deck, they completed different activities such as searching for specific landmarks and sketching the world-famous Landmark 81. The route back to school took the students past the famous post office, Notre Dame Cathedral, Turtle Lake and the Independence Palace, providing a great opportunity to discuss their learning and deepen their understanding of buildings and landmarks with their teachers and peers.
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Mr Toby Bate, Head of Secondary
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BVIS band The Bittersweet triumphed at the HCMC International Schools ‘Battle of the Bands’ competition at SSIS on Saturday, smashing out a set that really got the crowd going, and clearly impressed the judges. Although the competition was fierce, it was clearly a case of ‘saving the best for last’ as the BVIS band rounded out the evening and carried off the trophy in full-on rock and roll style. Has victory ever tasted so (Bitter)sweet?
The U13 FOBISIA squad have just returned with the best Bulldogs FOBISIA success to date. 80% of the squad students medalled in at least 1 athletics event on the first day including a spectacular performance by Phuc Thien who won a double gold in discus and shot put. During the swimming events students had a very tough challenge facing high level athletes from all over Asia. The squad collected a range of bronze and silver medals during the swimming event.
The 2nd day of the tournament and for many students, the most exciting part of the trip was the basketball and football. BVIS students came together in their teams showing great levels of pride and sportsmanship representing the BVIS Bulldogs with the upmost respect to all other teams. The boys were undefeated in Basketball and won a well-deserved gold medal. The girls battled hard against some challenging opponents and finished with a bronze medal in 3rd place in Basketball.
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Finally, the U13 Bulldogs continued their team success in the football with the boys finishing with a silver medal in 2nd place and the girls finishing with a Bronze medal in 3rd place. All students involved in this trip were a credit to BVIS and their attitude and effort levels were truly incredible. A special mention to Sumi and Phuc Thien our captains who displayed excellent leadership skills, keeping their teams motivated throughout.
This week, our University Fair featured 19 Canadian universities and 12 institutions from the UK and US. This was a unique opportunity for BVIS students to directly explore a wide range of academic offerings from university representatives. Additionally, students had the chance to engage in direct conversations with these representatives to gain valuable insights and guidance.
Below are some universities from each country:
Canada:
The University of British Columbia (UBC)
York University
Simon Fraser University
Toronto Metropolitan University
United Kingdom
Newcastle University
University of Surrey
United States
University of Connecticut
Michigan State University
Full Sail University
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The Wellbeing Committee is excited to announce that this March is Mental Health Awareness Month!
Our committee has prepared a range of activities and events for the entire month as we continue our goal of informing and educating our school community of mental and physical health’s importance aiming to support them through the stressful exam periods. We hope that through engagement with our activities not only will students learn methods of taking care of one’s well-being but also be provided with a time of relaxation.
During Mental Health Awareness Month, the Wellbeing Committee has prepared events such as: a wellbeing ‘Bingo Challenge’, Arts & Crafts workshops, ‘Flashback!’ childhood items sale, and a house competition. We are eager to bring these exciting activities and events to the BVIS community!
Annie and Cindy - Wellbeing Committee Chairs
This week's First News Champions are:
Year 7 – Nguyen Hoang Khoi
Year 8 – Nguyen Ngoc Nguyen
Year 9 – Tram Do
A special congratulations to Ngoc Nguyen who was the champion across the whole school!
This week’s bedrock champions are:
Year 12 – Tina Nguyen
Year 11 – Aki Vo
Year 10 – Anna Do
Year 9 – Vio Trang
Year 8 – Kosuke Yamamura
Year 7 – Mraz Le
Congratulations to all the above students who came up on top in their respective year groups. A special well done to Mraz who once again achieved the highest Bedrock points total across the whole of Secondary!
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:
| Year | Name | Form/Class |
| 7 | Alice Nguyen | 7V |
| 8 | Anna Quach | 8zMat2 |
| 9 | Quoc An Nguyen | 9zMat1 |
| 10 | Hoang Bao Chau Nguyen | 10zMat2y |
| 11 | Minnie Nguyen | 11zMat4 |
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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:
