Weekly Highlights 26/09/2025

Weekly Highlights is a weekly newsletter sent by the BVIS Leadership Team to parents, providing updates on notable news and activities at the school. The newsletter consists of three main sections: updates from the Principal, Head of Primary, and Head of Secondary.

Dear Parents,

 Last week I talked about holistic education and the importance of a broad and balanced education for our students.  One element of this is student leadership.  Here at BVIS we strive to provide as many opportunities as we can for students to take the lead. We want to empower the students to take ownership and be proactive about what they want for their school. 



Last week we saw two great examples, one each from primary and secondary.  Our primary student leaders took part in the Vietnam Student Leader Conference, hosted this year by BIS HCMC. Over 2 days, students from the 4 NAE BVIS/BIS schools came together to share ideas, challenge each other and create plans for their own schools to help improve student life.  Our students came back full of ideas, ready to be actively involved in making BVIS better for all.  



On Saturday morning, I had the pleasure of attending the Saigon Chess Tournament here at BVIS. With 6 schools competing, this event was organised and led by Sixth Form students, James, Nhat Minh and Jimmy.  I was hugely impressed with their organisation, attention to detail, hosting of the event itself as well as all the time and preparation ahead of it.   It was an excellent example of student leadership in action.  

More details about both of these events can be found in the primary and secondary highlights below. 



We are delighted to share that we have invited ‘Picture Perfect’ to take our school photos this year.  Picture Perfect work with many schools here in the city and have an excellent reputation for high quality photos at an affordable price. They will be with us in November to take our school photos, both individual and class/form groups.  Their customer service and website are in multiple languages including English, Vietnamese and Korean.  The photos can be purchased both digitally and hard copy and we will be sharing more details in the coming weeks.

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. 

We started the week with the first of our class assemblies from Lower Primary. Class 3S focused on the story of The Strange Shoe. 

The children’s speaking, acting and song brought this story to life. This highlighted the importance of opportunities to perform and develop confidence and oracy within a broad and balanced curriculum that we provide in the Primary School.

Third Fundinotots session!

Fundinotots is a gentle ‘First Step’ into Education. It is more than just a playgroup—it’s a carefully designed introduction to school life for children from 12 months to 3 years old.

Fundinotots is also not just for the child—it’s for the whole family. Parents (or carers) attend, allowing quality bonding time in a rich learning environment and an early partnership with the school to build trust and familiarity with the school.

Parent Workshops Begin

This week also saw the start of our programme of parent workshops. We want to ensure that parents and our community understand the approaches and methods we use in Primary school and these workshops are crucial to help develop that understanding. 

On Thursday Morning, Mr Max, our Phase Leader for Lower Primary, Miss Rioghnach, our English Coordinator and Miss Ha, our Vietnamese Coordinator, led our first Phonics workshop for F3 to Y3 parents. Thank you to the parents who came along to learn about how we teach phonics in both English and in Vietnamese.

Later that day, Miss Yen, our Upper Primary Phase Leader delivered a workshop for Year 4 parents introducing One Note. In Years 4, 5 and 6 we use One Note as a key repository for resources used for lessons and for student to work and record some of their learning. One Note can also give a window into work in class so that parents understand what children are learning in school.

Competitions Galore!

Codebreaking in Primary
This week we had over 100 students sign up to take part in the annual FOBISIA Codebreaking Competition. A fabulous number and a significant increase on last year!

It’s a fun but challenging competition and the children loved the challenge on Wednesday when they gathered at the Auditorium to take part. We wait to see the results and how well we did against the other nearly 100 FOBISIA schools.

Nord Anglia Global Campus Art Competition

The Primary school was introduced to a new Art Competition. We are looking forward to many entries from all year groups to this exciting competition. For more details see the poster information and encourage your child to take part.

Upcoming Events

• 2nd October – Phonics Workshop 2: Focus on Set 2 & 3 sounds- Open to F3, Year 1 to 2 parents & new Year 3 parents
• 3rd October - Moon Festival
• 6th – 10th October International Week
• 10th October – Last Day of First Half Term
• 11th – 19th October – Half Term Holiday
• 20th October – Return to School

UGC Coffee Morning

Pastoral Highlights 

Results so far: 

Saigon – 6 points 
Hue – 4 points 
Dalat – 1 point 
Hanoi – 0 points 
 
U19 MVPs: 

Dalat: Luke (Boys, 13S) & Megan (Girls, 12V) 
Hanoi: Kyle (Boys, 12B) & Naomi (Girls, Y11) 
Hue: Tri Khang (Boys, 13B) & Sushi (Girls, 11I) 
Saigon: Tony (Boys, 13S) & Zoey (Girls, 13C) 

Y11 Options Evening 

Last Thursday students in Y11 gathered with their parents to begin the process of choosing their A Level options for their final two years of school. With seventeen different A Levels on offer, choosing only three or four can be a challenge! As students were advised on the day: 

1. The subjects you should choose are generally the subjects you enjoy and are good at and that fit with your university aspirations.  

2. Good choices are also based on a wide range of information, so it’s a good idea to talk to subject teachers and students who are already studying that particular A Level.  

3. Very few universities look for four A Levels and it’s better to have three excellent A Levels than four good ones. Remember your time is limited and grade quality counts.  

Finally, if you have any questions about how different A Levels will impact your university and degree options, talk to Ms Mai, our University and College Guidance Counsellor without delay! 

Chess Competition

We’re grateful to all participants, staff, and supporters for making this first edition such a success. A special thank you to Ms Duyen and Royal Chess for their invaluable support as arbiter, sponsor, and provider of boards and clocks. 

We can’t wait to welcome everyone back for next year’s tournament!  

Sparx Maths Champions

The Sparx Maths Weekly Champion is the student who is the top XP earner in each year group.  
 
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: 

Bedrock Champions

This week’s bedrock champions are:  

Year 7: Le Hong Minh Khue 
Year 8: Nguyen Ngoc Thien Huong 
Year 9: Le Hong Minh Quang 
Year 10: Kosuke Yamamura 
Year 11: Tran Nhu Bao Thi 
Year 12: Ngo Khanh Ngoc 

Congratulations to all the above students who came up on top in their respective year groups. A special well done to Minh Quang who achieved the highest Bedrock points total across the whole of the secondary school this week!

Champion of the week!

This week’s champion is.

Congratulations and well-done to Celine!

Champion Tutor Group of the week!

This week’s Champion tutor group is 

Congratulations to 789i Hue2. Well done!

Housepoint Totals

Congratulations to Saigon house, who hold on to the top spot!

Upcoming Events

30/9 – Global University Fair
1/10 – Y7 Parents’ Evening on Pastoral Care
13/10 – Start of Half Term holiday – school closed
20/10 – School reopens
23/10 – Year 12 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: