Rememberance Day

We have had some very special guests visiting BIS this week from the

British Embassy

.

Here at the British International School, as part of our Community Service Programme, we have been learning about Remembrance Day.  Giving our students the time to

REFLECT

, helping them to learn about

RESPECT

and to show that they

CARE

as

GLOBAL CITIZENS

are all important to us

.  All these qualities are found in the Aide Memoire.

It was wonderful to see the British Defence Attaché, Group Captain Tim Below and Staff Sergeant Rab Durrant take time out of their very busy schedule to visit BIS this week.

Staff Sergeant Rab Durrant visited the Year 5 and 6 primary children and had fun exercising and marching in the Auditorium after teaching them more about the significance of the poppy.

Both our esteemed visitors also spoke with our Year 9 students in secondary to thank them for their help in running the poppy appeal as part of community service. They went on to explain why we have a Remembrance Day, why it is in November and how Vietnam celebrates something similar in July. (Ngày thương binh liệt sĩ)

On Wednesday morning, most of the secondary students got to attend a special assembly which included sound effects, lighting, music and songs, helping raise awareness that war is a terrible event and that we should always look for peaceful solutions wherever possible.

I would like to thank everyone involved in making this poppy appeal a very special occasion.  A final thank you to the teaching assistants and staff who took part in the primary assembly for Years 5 and 6; the lovely rendition of the song

Màu hoa đỏ by the composer Thuận Yến

sounded beautiful.

Thank you to ‘Ms. Laura Rae’ on Saxophone and ‘Ga Hyeon’ on the Oboe for the beautifully haunting music of ‘The Last Post’.

What a fabulous team effort, everyone has helped so much, from the History, Art, Music and IT departments, to all the students who have helped make poppies for the displays around school. This really has been a wonderful way for us all to

LEARN TOGETHER

to raise awareness for Remembrance.

Of course, I mustn’t forget a very special thank you to the Year 9 students who will be running the poppy appeal. Anyone wishing to make a donation (suggested 50,000 VND) you can get a poppy or poppy related gift from outside the Dining Hall during lunchtime.

Mr. Kevin Halpin, Community Service Officer