Mr Ian Battersby: Weekly Update 01/09/2021

Routines and relationships - these are two areas we have been focusing on during the first two weeks of Virtual School.  As  I have joined classes for some of their live online sessions, it has been super to see the relationships starting to grow and the children getting into good routines.

Why have these been the focus?

Routines - In an article entitled, ‘The ritual every parent should do with their kids before the age of 7’, child psychologist Dani Kaufman says, ‘Building routines with your children helps them feel safe.’  Regular routines at home and at school allow children to know what to expect.  With this knowledge comes confidence - confidence to learn.  Without routines and boundaries, children feel lost which can have a negative effect on their behaviour and ability to concentrate.

Relationships - children who have secure relationships with the adults at home and at school are more able to build trust   .  Answering questions and completing activities where a child is not certain of the answer can be quite daunting, but if a child trusts that they can take a risk and will be supported if they do not understand, they will learn through reflection and perseverance.

It takes time to get relationships right and to establish routines with young children.  There is a side to them that may resist structure, but the effort made at the start of the year to get these right will lay the foundation for great learning and progress across the year.

Primary Parent Teacher Student Conferences

The teachers are looking forward to meeting with all of the parents during our Virtual Parent Teacher Student Conferences that will take place on Wednesday 8^th and Thursday 9^th September. These meetings will provide you with an excellent opportunity to speak one to one with your child’s class teacher and discuss issues such as how they have settled into the routines of online learning.  You should have received an email today with your login to the Parents Evening System.  If you have not received these details, please contact Ms Van (van.pho@bisvietnam.com).

Primary Leadership Team Coffee Morning

We are delighted to share details with you of our first Primary Leadership Coffee Morning.  It will take place on Wednesday 8th September from 8.30am- 10am and is an opportunity for parents to catch up with the leadership team, hear about the term ahead, hear from the PTG and meet some new faces among our parent community.

The link to the meeting is here.  This will also be shared via Seesaw the day before the coffee morning.  If you have any topics you would like to discuss or questions you would like us to address, please email Ms Dee (deirdre.grimshaw@bisvietnam.com) or me (ian.battersby@bisvietnam.com) by Tuesday 7th September.

Virtual SPLAT #1 - ‘Talk for Life’

At BIS HCMC, promoting parental collaboration has always been at the forefront of what we do. The Stay, Play, Learn All Together sessions have been a wonderful opportunity to share the exciting activities and interactions that happen in the classroom. As part of strengthening our Virtual School Experience and further enhancing our parent-teacher partnership, we are excited to launch a series of Virtual SPLAT sessions beginning next week!

The aim of these ‘Talk for Life’ sessions is to promote speech and language development in the home by supporting families with simple strategies for scaffolding, developing and extending children’s talk. Using common everyday objects from around the house, we will be exploring a range of fun learning opportunities in an exciting, enjoyable manner. Our first series of play-based activities will follow the theme ‘Water Play’.

Each week, families will be provided with:

• A pre-recorded video outlining: the week’s play focus, equipment required, relevant language and vocabulary for adult-child interactions and a step-by-step guide of the activity
• An optional live interactive session facilitated by EYFS Teachers and Teaching Assistants to model the interactive play and encourage child interaction
• On-going language support for all parents to best support their children at home

Each family is welcome to sign up to one live virtual SPLAT session by using the link in their child’s SeeSaw journal. If you want any more information or have feedback on the times please contact your child’s teacher or Ms Sarah at sarah.curran@bisvietnam.com.

There will be a selection of days and times for the live virtual SPLAT sessions to choose from during the week, including a Saturday session. Excitingly, we will also be offering a ‘Dual Language Virtual SPLAT session’ to best support our Vietnamese families. This session will include translation to Vietnamese to ensure that our Vietnamese families understand the weekly play-based activities and language. All sessions will be on a first-come basis to ensure that group sizes remain optimal for interaction and support.

We very much look forward to helping you best support your children at home during this Virtual School Experience. The knowledge, skills and enjoyment from our Virtual SPLAT experiences will surely help further develop your child’s speech, language and communication capabilities as we aim to ‘Talk for Life’. 

Luke Neville EAL Assistant Leader and Sasha Greenwood EAL Teacher

Virtual Co-Curricular Activities (VCCAs)

In the next few days you will receive an email with which VCCAs your child has been assigned. If you have been allocated a Paid VCCA then please follow the instructions for bank transfer.

Payments:

• Thursday 2nd September, until
• Monday 6th September at 12:00pm

VCCAs Begin

• Monday 13th September

VCCAs Finish

• Friday 22nd October

Any problems with payment please contact our cashier Ms Minh  minh.vu@bisvietnam.com

Instrumental Lessons for Primary Students

We are very happy to share the following information with parents regarding Instrumental Lessons for your children. As you know, we unfortunately cannot offer our usual Instrumental Lessons Programme at BIS this term.  However, several of our instrumental teachers are offering online lessons. 

If you have an instrument at home, and would like to have online lessons, please see the list below and contact the relevant teacher.  This opportunity is open to students, parents, and teachers of any musical level/ability.

Please note, this would be a private arrangement between you and your instrumental teacher, so you would need to sort out payments and lesson times with them directly.

Keziah Jacombs, Music Teacher and Head of Instrumental Programme

FOBISIA Schools Newsletter

BIS is a member of the Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA).  Being a member allows us to enjoy many benefits including competitions and events for the children and professional training for our staff.  For more information, please see the newsletter below:

02/09/21-             Public holiday

03/09/21              Public holiday

08/09/21              Virtual Headteachers Coffee Morning @ 8.30am

08/09/21              Parent Teacher Student Conferences

09/09/21              Parent Teacher Student Conferences

13/09/21              Virtual Co-Curricular Activities: Block 1 Begins

15/10/21              Virtual Co-Curricular Activities: Block 1 Ends

16/10/21              Half-term break begins

25/10/21              Term 1.2 begins

Health and Safety

PTG 2021 - 2022

The PTG coordinates Class Parent Representatives and Country Representatives across the Primary campuses.  These are roles adopted by parent volunteers that help the PTG Coordinators communicate, support and connect more personally with a wider network of parents. If you are interested in volunteering, please use the Sign-Up Genius (SUG) links to sign up.

 Class Rep SUG - Primary PTG BIS: BIS Primary Class Parent Rep_2021/22 (signupgenius.com)

Country Rep SUG - Primary PTG BIS: BIS Country Rep 2021/22 (signupgenius.com)

We are looking forward to meeting with many of you soon. A particular warm welcome to our new families joining BIS. For more information about the PTG, to connect with us personally, or if you would like to  support as a volunteer, please email us directly on  primaryptgbis@gmail.com

We look forward to seeing you at the Primary Leadership Coffee Morning on Wednesday, September 8th.  Thank you for your continued support!  

Primary PTG Coordinators 

And Finally…