Weekly Highlights 20/09/2019

Mr. Simon Higham, Principal

Once again, it is a pleasure to be able to share with you this week’s Highlights from across our school.

Thank you for taking time to read through this information in support of your child’s education at our school. If you know of parents who have yet to discover our Friday Highlights, please encourage them to read them through on a regular basis in order to stay in touch with the many celebrations of success and key dates across our school community.

If you would like to look back on details from previous Highlights, they can be found on the News and Events section situated on the Home Page of our school website.

BBGV Charity Fun Run

Following the letter that was sent to all parents this week, I would like to remind you of this very special charity event that we enthusiastically support every year in our BVIS calendar. Full information about the event can be found here.

What you need to know?

Date:     Sunday 29^th September 2019

Venue:  Phu My Hung, Tan Phu Ward, District 7, HCMC

BVIS Group Photo:          7.30am – meet at the BVIS booth

Race Starts:                         8.00am

Registration Fees:         

*Bib number only: 50,000VND/participant

*Bib + Fun Run T-shirt: 200,000 VND/participant

*Please pay and collect your t-shirt and bib number between 16th Sep - 28th Sep 2019 from the Primary Office (Ms Ha – Cashier). Please note that the T-shirts are sold on a first-come-first-serve basis with limited sizes. Students are encouraged to wear PE uniform.

More information can be found HERE

Fundinotots Free Play!

We are delighted to offer all new parents with children aged between 0 – 36 months old, exciting Fundinotots Free Play Sessions which are available at the following times:

• Tue 24^th, Wed 25^th or Thu 26^th Sept 2019 
• 08:00-10:15 a.m

OR

• Tue 1^st, Wed 2^nd or Thu 3^rd Oct 2019
• 08:00-10:15 a.m

*Note: Each child must be accompanied by parents/guardians to attend the Free Play (02 adults per child maximum). Limited places are on offer, and strictly on a first come first served basis.

To reserve your free play session, click here and apply now. Thank you to all parents who have already signed up and we look forward to seeing you very soon.

To find out more details about our Fundinotots programme, click on this link from our website that has more information and details about how you can be a part of our thriving community.

Business ideas exchange with Professor Colin Jevons from Monash University

Earlier this month, our Year 12 students were invited to take part in a morning of activities designed to explore individual and collective creativity and entrepreneurial skills. Each group had a different futuristic product to develop and then present their business strategies to the rest of the group. Products included - thought operated keyboard for computers, age regressing mask, a mask to protect wearers from industrial and everyday pollutants and a suit that protects the wearer from a wide range of threats.

For more information about this event, click here to access this post.

Meet our New Teachers

This week, we would like to introduce you to another new teacher to our school.

Welcome to Ms. Camilla Selby - Secondary Geography and Humanities Teacher   

1. Where did you live prior to coming to Vietnam, what role did you have and what was the name of your previous school? 

I lived in Windsor, worked in Bracknell Forest at Edgbarrow School, I was Teacher of Geography in charge of KS4 and coordinator of the Duke of Edinburgh Award. 

2.   What were your first impressions of BVIS? 

Warm and friendly staff with polite and hardworking students. 

3. What were your first impressions of Vietnam? 

Busy, exciting and vibrant city. 

4. What 3 things are you looking forward to doing whilst working and living in Vietnam? 

 Diving - finally achieving my Advanced Open Water Diver. To learn more about the Vietnamese culture and traditions and finally to learn some of the language. 

5. If you could sum up your experience so far in just one word, what would it be?

Inspirational!

Look out for another new teacher in next week’s Highlights.

For information on all of our teachers in school, please click here to see their profiles on our website.

Important Upcoming dates for your Diary

• Thu 19^th Sept: Phonics Coffee morning  (8.30am in the Main Hall) – part 1
• Fri 20^th Sept: EYFS (F1, F2 and F3) Coffee Morning – Class Dojo

        (8.30am in the ELC)

• Monday 23^rd Sept: Project Curiosity begins in Primary
• Thu 26th Sept: Phonics Coffee morning  (8.30am in the Main Hall) – part 2
• Friday 27^th Sept: BVIS Community Day – non uniform day for Primary and House T-Shirts for KS3 students
• Friday 27^th – Sun 29^th Sept: Y12 Mui Ne Trip
• Sunday 29^th Sept: BBGV Fun Run

Essential School Contacts

If you need to contact school, please use the essential contacts below to ensure that you get in touch with the correct departments in the most effective way:

For all Primary Enquiries:

(028) 3758 0709 / ext. 111

For all Secondary Enquiries:

(028) 3758 0717 / ext. 211

For all Enquiries linked to Admissions: 

(028) 3758 0710

A full list of our school contacts can be found here on our school website.

The health, safety and wellbeing of our students remains the numbers 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:

Ms Rosy Clark, Head of Primary

Coffee Mornings

In the past two weeks in school, we have held three coffee mornings for parents and carers to attend. Last week, there was a session provided by ‘Family Medical Practice’ on CPR. This was the first in a new series of coffee mornings for BVIS providing information about different issues relating to the health and safety of children. Look out for more workshops like this through our collaboration with health experts in Ho Chi Minh City.

Always popular with parents at BVIS are our Phonics Coffee Mornings. As in previous years, we are offering you a programme of three practical sessions this term to find out about our unique bilingual phonics programme. By coming along to these coffee mornings, you will also get the chance to learn and practise phonics in both English and Vietnamese in order to support your child as s/he learns to read. Mr Ben Brown (Lower Primary Coordinator) and Ms Ha Nguyen (Vietnamese Literacy Coordinator) will teach you the strategies used at school so you can help your child with their phonics learning at home.

Finally, another extremely well-attended coffee morning took place on Friday of this week targeted at parents of Early Years children on the topic of Class Dojo. Class Dojo has been the main form of communication in the Primary school for several years now. So, listening to the feedback from our parents, this year we have extended its use to Early Years. We hope that all our parents right across the Primary school enjoy using it and find it helpful for keeping in touch with what their child is learning and experiencing at school. Thanks to Ms Rebecca Robinson (EYFS Coordinator) and Ms Linh Nguyen (F2 teacher) for leading this session.

Mr Jack Rudin, Head of Secondary

Congratulations New Student Community Leaders 2019-2020!

We have a fantastic communities programme at school and over the past 2 weeks Ms Hardiman has received lots of fantastic applications from BVIS students wanting to become Student Community Leaders. One purpose of this role is to represent the school and community projects we run. After much thought she is delighted to announce the following students have become community leaders:

1. Le Nguyen Minh Tri (James) 7B
2. Huynh Minh Triet (Vincent) 7I
3. Nguyen, Le Ha My (Ha My) 8I
4. Cao My Anh (Zennie) 8S
5. Nguyen Thanh Thy 9S
6. Dinh Ba Duy 9I
7. Doan Phuong Uyen (Julia) 10V
8. Le Nguyen Hoang Thong (Timmy) 10B
9. Truong Manh Hung (Lux) 11I
10. Ha Le Dieu Anh 11S
11. Ho Vien Thong 13I
12. Nguyen Minh Mai Khanh (Amy) 13V

Congratulations to you all!

If you applied but weren’t successful don’t worry - you can still get involved in all the community projects and clubs we run. Speak to Ms Hardiman or email georgina.hardiman@bvisvietnam.com for more information.

We would like to wish all of our BVIS community, a pleasant weekend ahead and thank you for engaging with us this week and into the future.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me directly at: Simon.Higham@bvisvietnam.com to give feedback on our Weekly Highlights and how it can be further improved in the future.