Mr Simon Higham: Weekly Update 20/10/17

As we come to the end of our first half term of the year, I would like to thank all of you for your continued support as we strive to provide the very best education for every child within our school community.

Although this academic year has only recently started, we have made great strides forward with the refinement and improvement of our vision, values and community spirit. Over the last nine weeks, we have inducted, settled, shared, celebrated, educated and supported with one constant focus – learning for all.

Early Years and Infant Campus – EY&I – opening January 2018

During the next half term, we will continue to work together in partnership as we move towards our amalgamation of the An Phu Primary and Tu Xuong primary campuses in January. A great deal of work has already taken place in order to carefully plan this exciting new phase in our school’s history. We are pleased to inform you that on a site visit this week, all of the building schedules are being met and that we are very excited at the prospect of what the Early Years and Infant Campus (EY&I) will offer our younger children and our school as a whole.

For more information about our Early Years and Infant Campus and the future planned developments at APP (Junior Campus from January 2018), please click here.

It Only Takes One Accident………

Over the last couple of weeks, we have noted that there are still a number of children (and parents) who are coming to school on either a motorbike or bicycle, without wearing a helmet. Please can you help all of our community stay safe on the roads and help us to be positive role models for all of our children.

According to the World Health Organisation;

‘Helmet use reduces the risk of motorcycle injuries by 69% and motorcycle fatalities by 42%.’

In addition, according to an Australian study on wearing cycle helmets that was cited in The Guardian newspaper on 22/09/16;

‘A major study of bike helmet use around the world from more than 64,000 cyclists has found helmets reduce the risk of a serious head injury by nearly 70%.’

Holiday Club Programme

We are sure that all of our children who have signed up for a place in next week’s October Holiday club programme will have a great time in whatever activity they are participating in. Please take note of all the following details below:

Please note that, there will be no Saturday or Sunday clubs running over the break. All of these clubs will resume on Saturday 4^th and Sunday 5^th November.

Communicable Diseases – Reminder

We would like to remind all parents of the following procedures regarding the wellbeing of our school community.

If your child is unwell or sick overnight or when they wake in the morning they should be kept at home until they are rested and symptom free for at least 24 hours (48 hours for diarrhoea).

Please keep your child at home if they exhibit any of the following symptoms;

• A persistent cough, heavy cold symptoms, or another common but contagious illness.
• Your child has had any episode/s of vomiting/ diarrhoea in the previous 12-24 hours
  • (They should remain at home for at least 24 hours from the last episode of vomiting and at least 48 hours from the last episode of diarrhoea).
• If they have a temperature greater than 37.7°C (99.8°F) when they first wake up in the morning. They can return to school when they have been fever free (without fever relieving medications) for at least 24 hours.

Please note that further information about specific communicable diseases can be found here, in the Early Years and Primary Parent Handbook and we thank you for support in this matter.

Headteacher’s Coffee Morning

We would like to remind all parents of the forthcoming Headteacher’s Coffee Morning in the first week back after the half term holiday.

• Date: Thursday 2^nd November
• Time: 8.15am and repeated at 5.30pm
• Venue: Multi-Purpose Room

For more details please refer to the letter that was sent to all parents on Tuesday 17^th October.

Young Musician of the Year

Congratulations to the 12 primary students from across BIS HCMC and BVIS HCMC who came together on Tuesday 17th October for the Final of the Young Musician of the Year Competition 2017. All performers showed how their hard work, passion and enjoyment of music has helped them to produce individual pieces that were of such a high quality.

Basketball Match Report

Primary PE teacher Mr Richard Soriano updates us on the latest results from our Boys and Girls Primary Basketball teams...

View match report

A Chat with Ms Liz, Year 6 Teacher

This week, we would like to introduce Ms Liz, a new member of our teaching staff this year. 

Please note that you can read about all of our teaching staff by using the staff profiles section on our main school website.

Lord David Puttnam to chair Nord Anglia's Education Advisory Board

Nord Anglia Education is pleased to announce the establishment of its Education Advisory Board, chaired by world-renowned film producer and educator, Lord David Puttnam.

Let’s Think in English – Milepost 3 (Year 5 and Year 6)

Michael Walsh returned from Kings College, London, to provide a second round of training for Primary (Years 5 & 6) and Secondary teachers. Michael is a lead trainer and advocate of the LTE accelerated learning programme. 

Year 6 are visited by the Endangered Asian Species Trust (EAST)

On Thursday 12th October, Marina from EAST (Endangered Asian Species Trust) came in to talk to Year 6 about the project that she helps run, the work they do and how we will be getting involved this year. As part of the new Year 6 residential to Cat Tien in March 2018, we will be incorporating a trip to the actual EAST centre where there will be some focus activities for the children.

FOBISIA Music Teacher’s Conference

Harrow International School, Bangkok recently hosted the 2017 FOBISIA music teachers’ conference where music teachers from BIS HCMC and many other international schools met to share good practice and develop their musical expertise. Mr Jon, Ms Beth and Mr Alexander enjoyed many worthwhile workshops and training sessions whilst also being able to network with other music teachers from across the region. They have returned to Ho Chi Minh with many new ideas to enhance the music curriculum at BIS HCMC. 

Digital Citizenship Workshop

On Wednesday evening, Mr Chris, Mr Luke and Mr Adam presented an incredibly informative and thought provoking workshop on Digital Citizenship to our Milepost 3 (Year 5 and Year 6) parents. Although this was specifically linked to our children who currently bring their own laptops to school, we thought it would be useful to share these important messages with all parents.

Please take time to browse through the full presentation here and remember to visit our Digital Citizenship site that has many practical tips for helping you and your children stay safe online.

Secrets of an A* IGCSE Student

“IGCSE was hard and stressful, but if you manage your time properly and have a good work ethic from the beginning, it’s really not that bad.” - Ana Samudio, Year 12 BIS HCMC student. 

Traffic Flow

In order to keep our children safe on the roads outside BIS, both before and after school, please can you spend a few minutes of your time discussing the following points with your drivers.

• Never U Turn along the stretch of road outside both AP1 and AP2 – tell your driver to drive away from school and if they have to U Turn, please do so on the wider, less congested roads. Try the route past AP1 along Nguyen Van Huong, as an alternative way to get home – it may take a few extra minutes driving but it will save the time you spend in traffic.

Nhằm đảm bảo an toàn giao thông cho học sinh trường BIS ngoài khuôn viên trường trước và sau giờ học, phụ huynh vui lòng dành một ít thời gian để thảo luận các điều sau với tài xế của mình.

• Không quay đầu xe trên quãng đường bên ngoài AP1 và AP2 – yêu cầu tài xế lái xe ra xa trường và quay đầu xe ở những khúc đường rộng hơn, giao thông thông thoáng hơn. Hãy đi đường Nguyễn Văn Hưởng đoạn phía trên AP1 – điều này có thể mất thêm vài phút lái xe nhưng sẽ tiết kiệm thời gian kẹt xe của bạn.

Always remember to Stop, Drop and Go to keep the traffic flowing.

Safeguarding at school – it’s everyone’s responsibility

If, during your visit to school, you have any reason to be concerned about the safety of a young person, please contact the Designated Safeguarding Person (Ms Dee Grimshaw) or the Head teacher (Mr Simon Higham)

Please note that CCTV cameras are in operation at all times across the campus.

PTG Update

Please join us for a Family Evening on 11^th November 2017. The family evening is a fun event and an opportunity for the parents, teachers and children to come together as a community. It is also a time for BIS to welcome all new families and children in an informal gathering.

The Family Event, that previously took place in the mornings, has always been well attended with numbers of 700 or more. The highlights for this evening will include Bouncy Castle, Sand Art, Face Painting and other Games and Activities, alongside a BBQ Dinner that will be available to purchase.

It is free for all new families and all other adults within the BIS Community. A child ticket costs just VND 50.000.

Tickets will be on sale after the Half Term break. 

We would like help before and after school to help sell the tickets for the Family Evening on Saturday 11 November, if you can help (even just for one session) then please sign up by simply clicking on this link and entering your name.

We look forward to your participation and working together for the good of our school community.

Football Boot/Trainers – Donations Needed

Currently, we are collecting used football boots/trainers for our community partners.

If you have any unwanted trainers or football boots, please donate them to a worthy cause by placing them into the box that is currently located next to the recycling uniform box near Gate A/PTG board. 

All of your donations will go to help our community partners play safely on the football field.

Saturday Morning Football (SMF)

Please note that there will be no Saturday morning football over the half term break (Saturday 21^st / 28^th)

The programme will resume on Saturday 4^th November. All details of times and venues are listed below.

Venue: An Phu Primary football fields.
Times:
- Y4 to Y6 boys and girls: 8.00am – 9.00am
- Y2 to Y3 boys and girls from 9.00am – 10.00am

On behalf of all of the Saturday Morning Football team, thank you for your support.

PTG Treasurer

At the beginning of Term 2, the PTG is looking for a treasurer to work alongside each committee. If you are interested in volunteering for this position or would like to find our more details of the role, please email us at bisvnptgap1@gmail.com 

• Family Evening – Saturday 11^th November
• Teacher Appreciation Day – Monday 20^th November
• Term 1 PTG Disco – Thursday 30^th November

October

• Monday 23^rd : Half term holiday begins – school closed
• Monday 30^th : School reopens

November

• Thursday 2^nd: Headteacher’s Coffee Morning – 8.15am (MPR). Topic: Assessment and Amalgamation Update
• Thursday 2^nd: Headteacher’s Coffee Morning Presentation repeated for those who can’t make the morning session.
• Tuesday 7^th and Wednesday 8^th: Specialist Teacher/Parent conferences. For full details, please refer to this letter that was sent to all parents this week.

For all of the dates in this year’s academic calendar, please click here to take you to the front page of the ‘News and Insights’ section of our school website.

And Finally………

Lest We Forget – This Year’s Poppy Appeal

The Royal British Legion set up the poppy appeal to help the soldiers and their families returning from the first world war. Now a century later, we still wear our poppies with pride to remember all of those who did not return from the battlefields.

From the first Monday back after the half term holiday until 11^th November, poppies and Royal British legion items will be sold from the main office area of An Phu Primary Campus. Stocks are limited so make sure you visit in plenty of time so you too can wear your poppy with pride.   

To find out more about how the appeal works and where all of the proceeds go take time to have a look at this link to the Royal British Legion. Within this site there is also a very interesting section that explores how the role of women in the Armed Forces has developed over the last 100 years.

Thank you for your support in reading our Weekly Update and on behalf of all of us at An Phu Primary Campus, we wish you all a pleasant holiday and look forward to seeing you again on Monday 30^th October.

Mr Simon Higham, Head Teacher, An Phu Primary Campus