
The ChristMaths Market has become an annual event at the Early Years and Infant Campus and provides most children with their first opportunity to become entrepreneurs. In the days leading up to the event, the children have worked together to make items for sale, devise Christmas games for sale, and then are given five 1000 VND notes and can visit other classrooms to buy items or play their games. Mr Rob, one of our maths leaders explains more in this post:
ChristMaths Market
Our Christmas Carol

As I mentioned last week, this year we have had to adapt to situations as they arrive, and once again we changed plans for our annual end of term whole primary music concert. Instead of holding it in the evening, instead we opted to live stream the dress rehearsal from the secondary campus auditorium. It was difficult to tell that the children had not done a full run through as each piece was performed beautifully. I am sure you will join me in congratulating the music department on putting on such a marvellous event which has been enjoyed across the world.
Our Christmas Carol
Young Interpreters

The Young Interpreter Scheme has been developed in the UK to provide peer support to pupils who are learning English as an Additional Language (EAL), to their families and to schools. Mr Luke has been working with a group of Year 2 children and providing training so they can support children joining BIS. Mr Luke explains more in this post:
Young Interpreters
Congratulations to the BIS Barracudas

Three weeks ago swimmers from all 3 campuses (including staff) took part in the Nord Anglia Education Virtual Swim Meet. They were competing against 28 other schools in a variety of events, and did amazingly well. Ms Emily, our aquatics, tells us more in this post:
Nord Anglia Global Campus Swim Meet
House Points

Over the course of the term, the children in Years 1 and 2 have been working hard to earn house points for their teams; Hanoi, Saigon, Hue and Dalat. Today we announced that the team with the most points over the term is Hanoi. As a reward, the children in Hanoi will be receiving ice-cream as a desert on Monday 14th December. So they can easily be identified, please can all children in Hanoi wear their house t-shirts on Monday.
Parent Satisfaction Survey
We are constantly looking for ways to improve our school and your feedback is vital to this process. Our annual parent satisfaction survey helps us better understand how we are performing in key areas, including what we are doing well and any opportunities for improvement, and we use these results to inform our strategy. Therefore, the more parents we hear from, the more confident we can be that our action plans respond to your views and allows us to continue providing the best possible educational experience for your child.
The 2020-21 Parent Satisfaction Survey is now live and will remain open until Friday 31st January 2021.
We are once again aiming for a good response rate and need your help to do so.
You can access the survey here.
The BIS Advent Calendar

The period leading up to Christmas is known as advent. There are many traditions in Christian countries that take place during this period; some light a candle that burns down one section at a time until December 24th, special foods are eaten including chocolate and smoked cod. A popular tradition in the UK is to have an advent calendar, where a section or a ‘door’ is opened each day through December until Christmas Day itself.
This year, BIS HCMC has its own advent calendar of stories. Ms Helena, who teaches in Year 1, came up with the idea and invited teachers to record themselves reading a Christmas themed story. We would like to invite you to join with this tradition, and each day throughout December, you can click on the BIS HCMC Advent Calendar and listen to those stories at home.
You can access the calendar with the links to the stories here:
BIS Christmas Story Advent Calendar 2020
BIS HCMC School Photos in January 2021
We hope to carry out our annual school photography sessions for each campus in January. Further details for each campus will be sent when we return from the Christmas break.
We are happy to advise that we will be partnering with Picture Day, a Hanoi based photography company, this year for school photos. To find out more about Picture Day please follow the link here.
The Picture Day team will visiting each campus on the following dates.
- Junior Campus – 11-15/01/2021
- Early Years & Infant Campus – 18-22/01/2021
- Secondary Campus – 25-29/01/2021
Spotlight Magazine #6
As we come towards the end of Term 1, we can look back on all that we achieved. It has been a challenging but hugely rewarding time as we have seen the children return to school and achieve so much. This week, your child should have brought home the latest edition of Spotlight Magazine, which highlights some of the successes we have seen.
