Secondary School Updates (10 June 2022)

Weekly update from Head of Secondary

Dear Parents,

A busy time in Secondary this week as we approach the end of the academic year. We successfully hosted Year 7-9 students at the Key Stage 3 Party on Wednesday evening, which was fantastic to see after 3 years of closures. The students greatly enjoying the student band and DJ, and the food provided by our partners Joma. Next week Key Stage 4 and 5 are invited to the Senior Prom on the Thursday night, the theme of which is 'A Night in Paris'. Our Performing Arts team have also been working tremendously hard on the school’s production, which will open on the evening Wednesday 15 June.  

Finally, but certainly not least, the IGCSE exams for Year 11 wrapped up this week, with the last exam on Friday. We are enormously proud of the Year 11s for their hard work and drive to succeed. I know that when the results are announced in August we will have a great deal to celebrate.  

Chris Newman 

Head of Secondary

Key Dates

• Tuesday 14 June: Year 12 Parents’ Evening 

• Friday 24 June: Final Day of the School Year 

Pastoral Update  

Two rounds of Year 8 House Challenges, such as River Crossing and designing and flying the ultimate paper plane, encouraged students to think outside the box and to make decisions as a team under pressure to solve problems whilst competing against teams from the other three houses to achieve as many points as possible! Deliberately vague instructions led students to some…interesting ideas!

As well as non-sporting competitions, Year 8 were also involved in a student-organised Key Stage 3 House Sports competition, where they joined teams of students from Years 7 & 9 to represent their houses in a Multi-Sport competition against the other houses! The competitive nature of our students (and some staff) became very apparent once they performed in such an electric atmosphere!

Not all socialisation has been competitive or sporting, as Year 8 students gathered and performed at the incredible ‘A Starry Night’ party! Students were dressed to impress, throwing shapes on the dance floor and bouncing to our super talented performers! A big thank you and congratulations to all the KS3 students who performed! With a big shout specifically to the Year 8 students Jimin Song, Yoonji Ha, Nakyoung Kim and Ayeon Lee who choreographed a fantastic dance routine, Hyeonchan Jung & Eric, our MCs, and Do Hoang Anh Nguyen who had orchestrated dance-offs and had the dance floor bouncing with her DJ set! You all smashed it!

Year 8s have been beyond amazing this year, more so than I ever could have predicted. They have overcome the most difficult and testing of times, even making it seem easy at times. Only to return to school and surpass all of my high expectations of them and blow their special Year 7 reputation out of the water! It has been my privilege to be their Head of Year, and I will be extremely sad to leave them.

A huge thank you to the special students and Form Tutors of Year 8!

Mr. Hooley

Head of Year 8

Learning Showcase

Maths | IBDP

Maths

Thursday, 2 June 2022 was House Maths Day for our Years 7-10 students!

During their maths lesson, each year group competed in House teams in our fantastic Sprint Maths competition! They had to work together to answer a maths problem, sprint to the marker for checking, and then sprint back to their team with the next problem, whilst following some rules to avoid being put in the sin bin! Our students participated with a lively, competitive, and fun spirit, and collected house points for their houses along the way. The overall winners of the day were Hue! 

Another opportunity for our students to achieve additional house points is on our Mathematics ‘Problem of the Week’ wall. There’s a Key Stage 3 and a Key Stage 4 problem that stretches and challenges them to think in a creative way. Students can work independently or in teams to tackle the problem, and house points are awarded for their mathematical presentation and their answers.

We are very lucky with our students here at BIS Hanoi, who have a genuine interest in our subject and enjoy embarking on problems in their own time during the school day.

None of this, of course, would be possible without the fantastic Maths team, so a huge thank you goes to them too! 

Kerry Fernandes 

Head of Mathematics

IBDP

On Wednesday this week all of the Year 12 students took part in their group 4 project. The group 4 project is a mandatory part of their IBDP and requires students to collaborate with students across the group 4 subjects of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Sport Science and Computer Science.  

The brief this year was to take a photograph of anything around the school campus and explain the science involved. Themes photographed by the students included ‘The Science of Joma’, ‘The science of hand sanitizer’, ‘The Science of football’. All students attempted the challenge with enthusiasm and creativity. 

A highlight of the day was the exhibition in the library where the Year 12 students communicated their findings to Year 8 in an engaging and informative way. The Year 8s were fascinated by the science that was presented to them and enjoyed asking questions about the displays.  

Group 4 Teachers