I have had the great pleasure of leading three assemblies this week: two in Secondary and one in the Junior school. In the two Secondary assemblies I spoke to the students about Integrity; one of our key attributes in our Aide Memoire.
I spoke about being honest and truthful with yourselves and doing the right thing even if nobody was watching. I used three key people from history who showed great Integrity and fought against racial inequality.
Firstly, I spoke about Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, who is widely recognised as the greatest of US Presidents. His role in abolishing and stopping slavery in the country showed his intense belief to do the right thing with regard to the rights of all human beings. He achieved this, even though many of his countrymen did not support him.
Secondly, I spoke about Rosa Parks, a person of colour, who in 1955 refused to give up her seat to a white man while she was travelling home from work on a bus, which she was obliged to do by law. This act caused a series of civil movements leading to better rights for black people in the USA.
Finally, I spoke about the great Nelson Mandela who did so much to end apartheid in South Africa – a ruthless system of government which was aimed at white supremacy. It was a long journey for Mandela which saw him become the first President of a new South Africa. I stressed at the end of the assembly that the world is still not perfect but it is a better place than it used to be and that they, BIS students, were the next generation with the responsibility to make the world an even better place.
In the Junior School assembly I spoke about ‘Care’, another of our key attributes within the Aide Memoire. I spoke about one of my favourite films, ‘Jungle Book’, where the care of the little “man-cub” Mowgli is a constant theme as he faces the challenges of living wild in the Jungle. This introduced an animal which, I feel, epitomises compassion and care within its community - the Elephant.
I have been so pleased to hear of the success of our students at the “F1 for Schools” event held in Singapore over the last few days. The BIS team representing Vietnam came 22nd overall which is an amazing achievement and our best performance by far. They also won the “Best Website” award and Ji Min Oh won a place at ‘Unilever Williams Academy of Engineering’ against huge competition. Further details of this success is on it's way. In the meantime, please watch these videos of their experience:
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Anthony Rowlands, Principal