It was an absolute pleasure to be part of the PTG Potluck lunch yesterday.
What a fantastic turn out of parents, a real sign that we are returning to life as we want it to be at BIS. My sincere thanks go to Gayatri and the PTG for organising such a lovely occasion. Scroll on to find out more about upcoming PTG events including the Book sale and how you can get involved in the Upcycle Uniform Project.
The students at the Junior Campus are impressing all their teachers with how hard they are working and how much they have achieved over the last number of weeks. Preparations are well underway for their moves to new year groups with transition programmes in place for Year 6 students moving to secondary and our Year 2 students joining us on the Junior Campus. There is alot going on at the moment and we would encourage you all to ensure you are reading the Learning Letters weekly and checking Seesaw for updates so you and your children don’t miss a thing!
As I write this, Year 6, Year 7 and Year 8 students are in our Dreams Lab collaborating for the NAE STEAM Festival. They are coming up with some amazing creations and you can find out more in the post below by Mr Luke Dyer, Head of Primary ICT and STEAM.
Next door, Year 6 students are also in the Food Tech room making delicious Vietnamese Spring rolls as part of their Vietnamese Culture lessons. In a break from all the rain, there is a flurry of activity on the field and basketball court as the children practice for their upcoming sports days. The Junior Campus is an exciting place to be right now!
We have some fantastic events coming up and details of our Productions, Sports Days, Jubilee Celebrations, PTG events and more. Please scroll down to find out more.
March 23rd saw the launch of the Global Campus Art Competition 2022. The focus for our students this year was ‘Education’ or ‘Wellbeing.’ Despite an extremely hectic term, our children rose to the challenge brilliantly and submitted some outstanding pieces of work.
Today in assembly, we showcased the winners and runners up across both campuses, with the overall winners being entered into the Global Campus competition. We are still awaiting the final results of that but in the meantime, a huge congratulations to everyone and a big thank you to everyone who entered. The high standard of work made it extremely difficult to choose winners in each age group. Below is the list of winners.
EYI winner - Yunchan 1B
EYI runner up - Kim Ju Hwan 1I
Year 3 winner - Hanna 3B
Year 3 runner up - Jay 3I
Year 4 winner - Ana 4S
Year 4 runner up - Christina 4C
Year 5 winner - Kang JiAn 5B
Year 5 runner up - Lavin 5M
Year 6 winner - JunSeo 6C
Year 6 runner up - JuWon 6S
Under 8s overall winner - Yunchan 1B
Over 8s overall winner – Ana 4S
How would you find a solution to the problems being caused by rising sea levels? Are you even aware that due to global warming the Earth's sea level is rising and billions of people will be displaced, and coastal cities will be reclaimed by the oceans? This was the challenge that our STEAM Team was given at this year's Virtual STEAM Festival and it was a privilege to witness these young innovators at work.
Students split off into groups, researched to work out what they knew and what they needed to find out and then worked through designing and prototyping their various solutions. Groups explored new forms of farming in confined spaces, how to extract oxygen from water, how to create floating modular houses and even what a city on the ocean floor might look like. The innovation and out of the box thinking was inspirational and showed how much can be achieved when you ask why.
After seeing how the solutions that these students prototyped, I know that the future's looking brighter and that the scientists who will solve the global problems we are facing are currently sitting in our classrooms.
Our Year 6 students have been learning to make French Crepes as a part of their French lessons and to enjoy a French cultural activity. All of the Year 6 French students really enjoyed the cooking sessions, especially when they were able to flip their crepes and of course eat them! There were some impressive skills seen in the kitchen!
Chau Duong, French Teacher
The children are currently working hard in their PE lessons mastering the athletics techniques for the upcoming sports day. After the success of last year, the format will be the same, with all children participating for their house in both track and field events. The children will run, jump, and throw to earn points for their house, with the emphasis on having fun!
Parents are welcome to come and watch, entry through Gate C.
Monday 6th June
F2-F3- 8.30-9.30
Year 1- 9.45-10.45
Year 2- 11.00-12.00pm
Tuesday 7th June - Year 6
Wednesday 8th June - Year 5
Thursday 9th June - Year 4
Friday 10th June - Year 3
BIS-Witched, a series of performances connected by the theme of magic, has been the focus of production clubs for Year 3,4,5 and 6. Students will be hitting the stage in the first week of June on a specially built stage and screen in the Junior Campus.
In only 6 weeks of clubs these teams are creating performances to share with the school and their families, and we couldn’t be more proud of the wonderful work they have been doing. Year 3 and Year 4 are students of schools of magic and Year 5 and 6 are very busy over the rainbow. The photos are a teaser of their work.
Productions will be performed on the following dates and parents of the performers will be invited to a 4pm show to experience the true magic that our performers create.
Monday 6th June – Year 3 Phep Thuat Academy.
Tuesday 7th June– Year 5 – A Vlog of Oz.
Wednesday 8th June – Year 4 – Incendio! (Harry Potter dream)
Thursday 9th - Year 6 - A Vlog of Oz.
Anna Hogan, Primary Music Leader
Being a member of the student executive council can be a tough assignment, but it does have its perks! This week they were invited by the school catering team to taste and review the new vegetarian options for next year’s menu. Their taste buds were tingling as they sampled new dishes inspired by our international community. The executive council worked hard in collaboration with class reps to find out how they can improve the school menu- especially for our vegetarian students. The new dishes were delicious and they can’t wait to see them on student’s plates next year!
Anthony Woolley, PSHE Leader
We would like to invite all families that will leave BIS at the end of this academic year to our ‘Moving On’ Workshop.
It will take place on Friday 27th May at 8.30am in the Black Box Theatre at the Junior Campus.
This workshop will be hosted by the Admissions Team, and Counselling Team. It aims to support those transitioning from BIS. Members of the Whole School Leadership Team will also be in attendance. We hope to see you there.
On Friday June 3rd we will celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Children are invited to come to school dressed in Blue, Red and White and we will have a special performance in assembly from our Orchestra and other clubs.
Do you have books you no longer need? Are you ready to add some new (preloved!) books to your collection?? WE HOPE SO!!! The PTG are so happy to be running a book sale event, that we hope will enable us to Raise some much-needed funds for a very important community partner, Thuy’s Dream Foundation.
BIS has supported Thuy's Dream Foundation for more than 10 years. The foundation works to enrich the lives of children battling cancer and offers long term support to them and their families. Raising funds for Thuy's Dream is usually a highlight event of our year, but Covid has drastically affected everyone’s fundraising abilities, and the work the foundation has been able to do these last 2 years.
As our lives start to return to some degree of normality, we hope you will help us make a big difference to the lives of some very poorly children and their families.
There are many ways you can help us!
Firstly, if you have any unwanted books you would like to donate for the event you can drop them at the guards house/Gate A at either EY campus, or Junior campus, every day until the event. Books for all ages welcome, that could include travel, business, fiction, or general reference, for example!
Secondly, can you spare 1 or 2 hours to help sort the books being donated, in advance of the sale? We are meeting Friday 20th May @ EYIC for a couple hours in the afternoon before pick up. If you can spare even an hour to help us, please sign up here and we will be in touch!
Thirdly, we need parents to volunteer on the day of the sale. The sale will take place on Tues 24th May at EYIC & Wed 25th May at Junior campus, between 2-4pm. Perhaps your child will be at a CCA that day? or they would be happy to help us after you had picked them up? If you can spare even an hour to help, please sign up here and we will be in touch!
Finally, come to the sale and spend your money, or pass some money to your child s they can visit the stall at the end of their day!
Thanks as always for your support
Pamela & Primary PTG primaryptgbis@gmail.com
Symptomatic (Any Cold/Flu/Covid Symptoms) - stay off school until symptom free.
Take a precautionary Rapid Antigen Test at home prior to return and keep the school informed.
Any concern you have at home with the health of your child, and include the Health and Safety Leads of each campus (EYIC Ms Sarah Curran sarah.curran@bisvietnam.com and JC Mr Chris McKelvie Christopher.mckelvie@bisvietnam.com .
It is vital, also, that you inform the office of any positive case within your family – these are called ‘household close contacts’.
If your child needs the School Nurse to administer any prescribed medication during the school day please do not put medication in the school bag but contact the School Nurse and sign the appropriate form.
Ms Sarah Curran and Mr Chris McKelvie, Deputy Headteachers
23&24/05/22 Primary PTG Book Donation.
24/05/22 Year 5 Speech Competition Final
25/05/22 Year 6 to Year 7 Transition Morning for Parents
27/05/22 Moving On Workshop for parents that are leaving BIS.
31/05/22 Year 2 to Year 3 Transition Meeting for Parents
Do you have a baby or toddler at home? If so, you may be interested in joining Fundinotots.
Fundinotots is a friendly place to meet other parents with young children. It provides an informal play based environment that enables children to have opportunities to interact with their peers and flourish within our creative school setting. Sand and water play, painting, large play apparatus, story time and music sessions are just a selection of the activities on offer.
Fundinotot sessions are held each morning in our purpose designed Fundinotots unit and provide a great opportunity for parents to come together and support each other during these formative early years.
We are delighted to announce that Fundinotot sessions have begun once more. If you have any questions about Fundinotots, please contact Sarah Bonner (sarah.bonner@bisvietnam.com).
If you would like to enrol, please click on the link below:
Online application for Fundinotots
We had our first PTG parent potluck yesterday, May 19th!
The parent potluck usually happens every term but this year we were able to organise this event only in term 3.
More than 70 parents attended this lovely event. The tables were filled with food brought by the parents. A huge thank you to all the parents who were so generous. The volunteering team had to keep adding tables for food!
Parents started coming from 11am and stayed until 2pm. Every seat in the small room on the 3rd floor of the EY campus was taken. It was nice to see the parents connect with the newcomers in their group. If it hadn't been pick-up time already, we are sure most parents would have stayed for some more time.
Such events build stronger communities and the smiles proved it was a much-awaited event. The senior leadership team- Mr. Ian, Ms. Sarah, Ms. Maria from the Early Years campus, Ms. Dee, and Mr. Chris from the Junior Campus took time out of their busy schedules and attended the event. Also it was wonderful to see Mr. Anthony chatting with the parents while enjoying the delicious food.
This dream event would not have been possible without the volunteers who planned the food display, helped the parents to place and label their food, as well as serve it. Thank you, Ms. Mercia, Ms. Anh, Ms. Maha, Ms. Lenka, Ms. Arisa, Ms. Julia, Ms. Amy, Ms. Divya, Ms. Vy, Ms.Yunah, and Ms. Duyen. A special thanks to Ms. Duyen and Ms. Lan for engaging the parents with live music and singing. It was fun to sing Saigon Dep Lam and 'Heal the world' along with other songs.
A huge thank you to Irene from Upcycled uniform. She and her team collect old BIS school uniforms and create beautiful things. If you are interested to learn more about this project, please remember to attend a meeting taking place on Monday at 1 pm at The Loop.
If you have books for donations please leave them at the guardhouse of either campus. The book sale will be on 24th May at the Early Years campus and 25th May at the Junior campus. Please send an email to primaryptgbis@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Lastly, we are inviting new PTG members to join the team. If you are interested please contact us through email.
Gayatri Shankar, Primary PTG
We are hearing that the second vaccination for students is imminent. Please can you ensure you are checking emails regularly as it may be a last minute call from us if we receive late notice.
Kindest regards,
Dee Grimshaw, Headteacher of Junior Campus
101 Thao Dien Street,
Thao Dien Ward, Thu Duc City,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Junior Campus
225 Nguyen Van Huong Street,
Thao Dien Ward, Thu Duc City,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Secondary Campus
246 Nguyen Van Huong Street,
Thao Dien Ward, Thu Duc City,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
