Mr Sean O'Neill: Weekly Update 09/04/2021 One of the highlights of the school year took place this week as we held our IB Visual Arts Exhibition 2021. This year’s was perhaps the most striking exhibition in BIS history. As I walked up the stairs of the exhibition venue, it was a breathtaking experience to be met by such a wonderful collection of pieces, curated so thoughtfully. It has been said that “A work of art is never completed, it is merely abandoned”- it was moving to see our students abandon their work to public view with such thought and courage - taking pride in the hundreds of hours of deliberate practice and refinement that enabled them to arrive at that moment. My congratulations to each of them on such a significant achievement and thanks to all for making it such a well attended event

Dear Parents, 

One of the highlights of the school year took place this week as we held our IB Visual Arts Exhibition 2021. This year’s was perhaps the most striking exhibition in BIS history.  As I walked up the stairs of the exhibition venue, it was a breathtaking experience to be met by such a wonderful collection of pieces, curated so thoughtfully. It has been said that “A work of art is never completed, it is merely abandoned”- it was moving to see our students abandon their work to public view with such thought and courage - taking pride in the hundreds of hours of deliberate practice and refinement that enabled them to arrive at that moment. My congratulations to each of them on such a significant achievement and thanks to all for making it such a well attended event

 

The theme of deliberate practice is evident through this week’s update. Across so many different disciplines, we see the simple truth that when students give their all, respond to feedback and persevere in an endeavour-  they achieve great things.  One example of such qualities is our FOBISIA Short Story Competition winner - Epee Srihawan. The competition is held between thousands of international school students from across Asia, and so it is a huge achievement to win the competition and be published in a short story anthology. Congratulations, Epee.

 

I would like to thank the parents who attended the Parent Workshop and Coffee Morning on Tuesday.  The hugely well attended event saw parents go ‘back to school’ as our teaching team put them through their paces in an experiential workshop designed to help share an understanding of the approaches and techniques that our teachers use with your children every day in the classrooms at BIS.  I am happy to report that our parents performed pretty well in the test at the end of the session! Though, as with all classes, there were some areas for development. It was great to see the degree of support for the school community, and the degree of engagement in all our parents to supporting  learning. We will continue our Parent Workshop series next term - look out for further details after the break.

 

This week has also been our student-led Mental Health Awareness Week. We will feature a full review of this fantastic student-led initiative next week. My thanks to all our student leaders who have worked so hard to raise our collective awareness of this important topic. One of the key features of positive mental health is the power of gratitude. We ended this week with a truly touching surprise from our students, who surprised the Secondary Teaching Staff by holding a thank you brunch of cakes that students had made to say thank you to all of their teachers for the past year. The students also shared a video featuring messages from students from every class in school.  It says much about the character of the students that they would take such initiative to show their gratitude to their teachers as they reach the end of term. On behalf of all Secondary teachers, I would like to say thank you to them for such a moving  gesture, and  I can confirm the cakes were very gratefully received!

 

Lastly, I would like to invite you, our school community, to join us on Campus for our School production of ‘Bonnie & Clyde’ being held next week in the School Auditorium. Our Drama and Music teams have been working for months to bring us an evening to remember. There are still some tickets available for next week’s shows - see below for details on how to get your tickets. The pleasure of experiencing art and performance is something that many have missed over the last year, and we are so fortunate to be able to bring the Arts to our community, and share in our students’ passion, skill and determination.  I look forward to seeing you there. 

IBVA 

 

Tuesday night evening saw the final chapter for the Year 13 IB Visual Arts students at the opening of their Art exhibition. This occasion was celebrated by friends, family and teachers in what was truly an exceptional event, celebrating the last two years of their creative journey and a great deal of hard work. It has been an incredible achievement for these  students in particular as they had to overcome the added challenge of substantial e-learning for their art lessons. This has enabled them to grow both in confidence and maturity, which was very evident in the concepts and approaches on display.

Our IB Visual Art students are assessed on their technical skills, conceptual communication and coherence across their selected works, and this year’s exhibition showcased work using a range of materials from biro pen, to oil paint, charcoal, digital drawing, etching and  ceramic sculpture. Many visitors commented on the diversity of approaches explored in their pieces which included a fascinating combination of traditional and contemporary Art techniques. 

The exhibition included many large scale pieces employing ambitious and purposeful ideas for curation. One of Linh’s pieces included the mounting and hanging of 500+ personalised and custom manufactured playing cards which she had designed using digital media, as well a strip of digitally designed wall paper as a commentary on gender stereotypes. With the help of our fantastic maintenance team DaHyun hung a lifesize interpretation of body armour as a comment on her feminist perspectives, from the high ceilings of the venue. 

We are  incredibly proud of each student and wish them all the best in their future endeavours. Indeed, we can look forward to seeing their many creations in years to come, as the majority of the students are going on to study Arts based degrees including Fashion Design, Visual Arts and Animation. 

Savannah Craig - IB Visual Arts teacher

Year 13 return to where their BIS journey began

 

“It was really heartwarming to come come full circle back to where we had started a week before graduation: Victoria- Year 13

On Friday morning, ten of our longest attending Year 13 students were special guests in our Early Years and Infants Campus.  It was a wonderful opportunity for our departing students to return to where they began 15 years ago, and for our youngest students to meet the students they aspire to become.  They started the visit in Mr Ian’s Year 1 and Year 2’s weekly assembly where each of the Year 13s shared a memorable moment from their time in F1.  After the assembly they were welcomed by the F1 students and staff and Miss Christina recalled memories of some of the Year 13s when she taught them in F1. Here are some more of our Year 13s thoughts on their experience:

“Visiting the EY&I campus showed me how much BIS has changed in 15 years. However it’s clear that the positive and energetic environment still continues to exist.” John.

“It was nice meeting the children, to relive my childhood and reminisce about the simple days. I really wish Secondary could implement sleeping time!” - Yaya

“It was an awesome experience! I do not believe that I was ever that small or carefree. The energy and happiness of the children was immeasurable & courageous. I was caught completely off guard!’. Jon

Students surprise teachers with thank you brunch!

We ended this week with a truly touching surprise from our students who surprised the Secondary Teaching Staff by holding a surprise thank you brunch of cakes that students and parents had provided to say ‘Thank You’ to their teachers.  It says much about the character of the students that they would take such initiative to show their gratitude to their teachers as they reach the end of term. 

On behalf of all the teachers I would like to say thank you to them for such a lovely gesture. I can confirm the cakes were very gratefully received

Author Visit
 

As part of the Y7 NewsWise unit where students learned about news journalism and wrote their own news reports, BIS were lucky to get the chance to invite writer Dan Freedman to join us on a virtual visit. Dan is a successful journalist and author, having worked for years as part of the official English football team, then moving on to writing full-time after publishing the first in his ‘Jamie Johnson’ book series about a talented young football player.

Dan entertained and informed us about his experiences in working with some of the most famous sportspeople in recent history, as well as helping to inspire Y7 as writers by discussing important skills like motivation and focus. Our students loved being able to ask him questions directly, and he responded to everyone with detail and insight. It was a fantastic opportunity, and let’s hope that some of our young students might eventually follow in his footsteps!  

FOBISIA Short Story Competition 2021

It is my pleasure to announce the fantastic news that Epee Srihawan (9B) has been awarded 1st prize across all of the FOBISIA schools for the annual FOBISIA Short Story Competition. A superb achievement! The writer, poet, and main judge, Mark Grist, who assisted the staff at Dulwich College Shanghai with this year’s competition, stated that Epee’s story was ‘rich and had {him} hooked...and the piece really showed what a short story is capable of’. Epee’s story will be published in a forthcoming FOBISIA creative writing anthology.

Gavin Donnelly - Head of English

Parent Workshop: Supporting your child’s study: The importance of forgetting

 

This week we were delighted to host the next in a series of workshops focusing on how you can support your child’s study at home. These sessions are informed by up-to-date research on cognitive science, memory and learning in order to look at ways in which our students can achieve balance between their wellbeing and the skills that will help them throughout their academic career as they strive for strong academic outcomes.

The first session looked at the benefits of meaning active recall when learning. Matthew Coughlin, Head of Psychology, developed these ideas by looking at how spacing learning, and finding time to forget, can increase the desirable difficulty and ultimately make remembering and applying key ideas easier. Gemma Archer, Head of Geography, shared the benefits of dual coding as a memory tool, with an activity on key geographical ideas. Finally, Lyn Stanley, Head of Science, encouraged our parents to consider spacing, returning to challenging material and just how important finding time for friends and family, exercise and a good night’s sleep are. Year 13 student Holly Van Zwanenberg also shared her personal experiences and reflections on just how important maintaining a positive balance is in long-term academic success.

You can use these methods to support your child’s study at home by encouraging them to revisit material, regularly test themselves on new and old material, use diagrams to demonstrate key ideas and processes and continue to lead a healthy lifestyle. Here are some questions you could ask to support that:

• What does your study schedule look like?

• How have you spaced out your learning?

• How many times have you returned to that challenging topic?

• What activities are you using to review it?

• Have you made time for yourself and your wellbeing?

There will be a further session in Term 3, with more details to follow.

Matthew Lambert - Assistant Headteacher

Introducing the Voices of Youth Challenges

Voices of Youth is UNICEF’s community where young people can learn about global issues and express their opinions on topics ranging from the environment to education to human rights. Last year, our BIS Ambassadors SoYoung Park and Min Ho Kim were published on the Voices of Youth platform sharing their experiences of COVID-19 in Vietnam. This is a powerful platform, allowing young people to share their voice on important issues to them.

A number of students contributed to the first challenge to create a poem imagining a world without discrimination and you are invited to read them from our Voices of Youth.

FOBISIA Voices

BIS is taking part in the FOBISIA Voices project, putting together a virtual choir of the newly commissioned piece ‘There Will Always Be Music’ by British composer Alexander L’Estrange. Singers from Year 5 – Year 9 took part in only a handful of rehearsals and an intensive recording session to create our performance. It’s been a wonderful opportunity to help us connect with our FOBISIA partner schools, even when we can’t meet in person. Have a look at this sneak preview of our BIS submission and we look forward to sharing the completed project with you in the near future.

Saigon Enterprise Challenge 2021 Review

The Saigon Enterprise Challenge entrepreneurial competition has been in existence for over 10 years. At its heart is the aim to provide Year 12 students with an opportunity to develop a product or service from inception to production and experience what it involves to run a small business.

Find out more about this year’s fantastic teams, the development process they went through and the final event, held last week for Saigon Enterprise Challenge 2021.

BIS Community Football Friendlies 2021

It was particularly thrilling to once again be able to host the annual BIS Community Football Friendlies last Saturday 3rd April 2021 after not being able to do so the previous year.  

The friendly matches brought together students from across campuses and Community Partners and was a great opportunity to have parents back on campus.  Mrs Tracey Brownrigg, shares more about the BIS Community Friendlies 2021.

Skype a Scientist

This week the Year 12 Biologists had the fantastic opportunity of taking part in BISHCMC’s first ever ‘Skype a Scientist’. Event.  Our school was matched with Anushka Khasnobish, a Doctoral Student studying at Okayama University in Japan. Anushka specialises in Microbiology, specifically looking at how the microbiome in our saliva impacts our overall health. As a number of our Biologists are completing their Internal Assessment in the field of Microbiology, this was an invaluable session to ask an expert for hints and tips to ensure that they can achieve great results in their investigations. The students were provided with some background reading/watching to explore Anushka’s work and were asked to put questions forward to Anushka in preparation for the live chat. The questions were articulate and thought provoking and sparked some excellent conversation during the session. It was a great experience for our students.

Sports Round-Up

 

There has been plenty happening for our SISAC teams in the last couple of weeks.  Here are some of the highlights of our U19 Girls A Football match win against AIS last week. 

For more highlights and the results for all of our SISAC fixtures check the Sports Round Ups for Week 27 and Week 28.

Next week U13 and U15 Volleyball continues against EIS at home during the action packed U19 Football District Championship week. 

Please visit this Fixtures list for all of the upcoming Season 3 matches and follow this link for Match Highlights of our U15 and U19 home games. Also make sure to visit https://twitter.com/BISHCMC_PE for more photos, videos and all of the action from each of our games. 

Mr Husband - Director of Sport BIS HCMC

BIS School Photo Orders

Later today we will be sending an email to all parents for students who had photos taken in January. 

The email will include website and login details so that you can order your child’s photos.  Please ensure you check the email.

Order and Delivery Schedule

Deadline for Free delivery at school + Free ID print:   09-11/04/2021

Order deadline for Free delivery at school only: 12-18/04/2021

Estimated free delivery of orders at school (applied for orders placed withing the deadlines): 25/05/2021

Please contact Katie Walsh (Katie.Walsh@bisvietnam.com) or Nguyen Huynh (Nguyen.Huynh@bisvietnam.com) for queries about Secondary Campus photos.

Secondary Production 2021 - Bonnie & Clyde

With Thursday’s tickets already sold out and Tuesday and Wednesday also nearly at capacity, we hope that you have your tickets to next week’s performance of Bonnie & Clyde.

Event Details

Date: Tuesday 13th to Thursday 15th April

Time: 6.30pm

Location: Secondary Auditorium

Tickets: 50,000vnd.  On sale at Secondary Campus Reception from Monday 5th April.  

Due to licensing conditions, this will not be a live streamed performance.

CUG Webinar Series 2021: Beyond the US and North America – other destinations

To sign up for this webinar please click here.  

April 15th Beyond the US and North America – other destinations

Further information and registration for these webinars can be found at the BIS CUG Website, along with recording of yesterday’s Introduction to CUG at BIS,  CUG Webinar Series 2.

For those who may have missed yesterday’s webinar, about North American Applications, or who would like  to hear it again.  You can find the session link and password here.

Simon Finnigan - Senior University Guidance Counsellor

BIS HCMC Book Day 2021- Wednesday28th April 

We are looking forward to celebrating a return to learning for Term 3 with BIS HCMC Book Day on Wednesday 28th April.  

There will be a variety of activities this week including a book stall, second hand book sale and Dress Up for BIS HCMC Book Day.  We hope that we have given you all enough time to plan your costume.

 

Event Details

Date: Wednesday 28th April

Time: 7.30am to 2.40pm

Location: Secondary Campus

 

PTG Coffee & Cake Morning - Thursday 13th May

The PTG and Community Service department are looking forward to this chance for the BIS community to come together, eat tasty home-made cakes and help support Thuy’s Dream Foundation.  More information will be shared soon. 

 

Event Details

Date: Thursday 13th May

Time: 8.30 to 10.30am

Location: Early Years and Infant Campus Gym

For more information please contact our PTG representatives; Gayatri (Primary) - primaryptgbis@gmail.com or Mel (Secondary) - bisptgap2@gmail.com 

Tuesday 13th to Thursday 15th April: Secondary Production: Bonnie & Clyde, Secondary Auditorium, 6.30pm

Thursday 15th April CUG Parent Webinar: Beyond the US and North America – other destinations, 

Friday 16th April: Term 2 Ends

Wednesday 28th April:  BIS HCMC Book Day, Secondary Campus

Thursday 13th May PTG Coffee and Cake Morning for Thuy’s Dream, EYI Campus Gym, 8.30 to 10.30am

 

Have a wonderful weekend,

Kind regards,

 

Sean O’Neill

Head Teacher

Secondary Campus