Weekly Highlights 31/10/2025

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,

It has been an incredible week here at BVIS with so much going on.  Last Friday afternoon, our school was transformed into a spooky Halloween setting that welcomed 400 scary characters to enjoy the festivities.  Walking through the scary walkway full of squeals and screams, families could then enjoy the brilliant Halloween games and eat a ghoulish array of tasty treats!  We ended the afternoon with the Halloween costume competition before enjoying a Halloween movie. Thank you all for coming!
  


My sincere thanks to the FoBVIS and the Market and Admissions (MAC) team who worked so hard to make this such a success.  We know lots of time and effort went into this, and we are very grateful. 

Also, this week as part of our 15 Year Anniversary, we launched the story of The Heron who lost her Home.  This story reminds us of why BVIS opened and what we can offer our students.  With 6 amazing readers from primary, and some reflections from current BVIS parents, it was the perfect way to think about our school’s purpose and mission.  Thanks once again to our brilliant MAC team for all their hard work over the last 18 months in bringing this to life. 

The 2025–2026 academic year marks a significant milestone in the journey of the British Vietnamese International School (BVIS) as we proudly celebrate 15 years of our wonderful school - a journey of continuous growth and dedication to “Embracing Identity – Shaping the Future”

To begin this meaningful celebration, we would like to invite you to join us at the Opening Event of the 15th Anniversary Celebration Series, an intimate and meaningful gathering that reflects our shared pride, community spirit, and sense of belonging.

• Time: 8:30 a.m. Thursday, 6th November 2025
• Venue: Auditorium, BVIS Ho Chi Minh City
 
Highlights of the Event:

• Experience the story “The Heron Who Was Lost at Home” – the inspiration behind the founding of BVIS 15 years ago.
• Hear our inspiring message about preserving your identity and cultural heritage as you step into the world.
• Look back on some of the school’s notable achievements and memorable stories from 2011 to the present.
• Enjoy the opportunity for families and our School Leadership Team to meet, share, and connect, continuing the spirit of unity and care within the BVIS community.
 
Please register your attendance via this LINK  by Monday 3rd November 2025 by latest so that we can warmly welcome you to this special celebration.  For any inquiries, please contact Ms. Huyen Nguyen, Marketing Manager via email: Huyen.n@bvisvietnam.com or Phone: 028 3758 0709 – Ext. 115

Mr James Webb, Mr Tuan Ta and I were delighted to attend the Microsoft Showcase School awards last Saturday and for BVIS to be recognised as a Microsoft Showcase School.  This was the culmination of alot of hard work and dedication by all the BVIS staff but in particular, those leading including Mr James Webb, Mr Tuan Ta , Mr Darragh Shanahan, Ms Tram Vu, Mr Jonathan Gordge and Mr John Twemlow. My sincere thanks to them for their support and guidance of all staff to achieve this prestigious award. 



A reminder that School Photo Week is fast approaching. Beginning November 12th, all students will have their photos taken here at school.  We have listened to the feedback from you, and we are using a new company that offer a premium service to all our BVIS families.  With support in English, Vietnamese and Korean on their website and with competitive pricing, we are confident that this will be a good step forward for our BVIS community.  Stay tuned for more details on how you can order your prints.  Please keep an eye on communication from your child’s class teacher/Form tutor about specific days for class photos.

Finally, our school calendar dates for 2026 – 2027 have been finalised and were sent to you via email on Tuesday.  The 2026 – 2027 calendar can be located on the school website, under parent essentials.  Please continue to read through these highlights as there has been lots happening both at primary and secondary including learning celebrations, parent workshops and more. 

 
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend ahead. 

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’ Handbooksor via our Primary/Secondary Receptionists. 

The story of “The Heron Who Was Lost At Home”

We started another exciting week in Primary with a special assembly to celebrate the story of the school and to listen to our Year 5 and Year 6 readers present this special story of ‘The Heron Who Was Lost At Home’. It was fantastic to hear the beautiful clear voices as the children performed the story. 

The Heron Who Was Lost At Home story will be part of our 15th Anniversary celebrations. There will be plenty of chances to see and read the book coming soon in our library and in classrooms.

Global Languages Week

Hola, สวัสดีค่ะ, Bonjour, မင်္ဂလာပါ, Chào buổi sáng, andصباح الخير from the EAL and VAL teams!

Global Languages Week has started off with a bang from Monday and continued across the whole week, with exciting lunch time games and prizes.

We have been learning to use words and phrases in a range of languages that are in use across our school, and we have been hard at work on our class Language Profile displays to prove it. The Global Languages Week celebration on Friday saw our students show off what they have been working on all week. 

This whole school assembly featured Year 1 and Year 2 students showing the languages they know in a word-robe fashion walk. Meanwhile, Year 3 and 4 showed off their prowess in language with an exciting tongue twister face-off. Finally, Year 5 and 6 showed their language abilities in a musical performance and a talent showcase. 

Project Curiosity Showcase – Year 6 and Year 5

This week, our Year 5 and Year 6 students proudly presented their Project Curiosity work to parents. Over the past three weeks, students have explored topics of personal interest, developed questions with their families, researched independently and created posters to showcase their findings.

Parent engagement has clearly increased this year, reflected in the creativity and depth of the students’ final projects. Many parents shared their pride in seeing their children take ownership of their learning, research information confidently and present fluently in both English and Vietnamese.

Having run for several years, the project has shown impressive impact, especially among Year 6 students who have participated since Year 4. Their ongoing experience has helped them grow into confident, independent learners who are genuinely curious about the world around them and know how to find answers to their own questions. Project Curiosity continues to nurture lifelong learners with a passion for discovery, creativity, and meaningful inquiry.

Next week will see Year 4 take part in their Project Curiosity Showcase.

Upcoming Events:

Parent Partnership Event

Science Update

Halloween Dress Up

Today we allowed students to come to school following the Halloween theme. Please see some of the photos of our students below:

Although the celebration of this event was good natured and fun focused, the money collected on the day will go to help Vietnamese people affected by the recent Typhoons that have impacted those living in the central and north of the country. 

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 (Celine)                                               
Year 8              Nguyen Hoang Thuc Quyen (Cherry)       
Year 9              Le Hong Minh Quang (Mraz)
Year 10            Kosuke Yamamura                               
Year 11             Tran Nhu Bao Thi  (Belle)
Year 12            Ngo Khanh Ngoc (Sarah)                             
                
Congratulations to all the above students who came up on top in their respective year groups. A special well done to Minh Khue 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 Nhu!

Champion Tutor Group of the week!

This week’s Champion tutor group is 

Congratulations to 789s/ Saigon3. Well done!

Housepoint Totals

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

Upcoming Events

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: