29 AUGUST 2014 | ISSUE 1

Dates for your diary

IN THIS ISSUE

From: Page

Headteacher & Deputy Headteacher 2,3

Music Department 4

Fundinotots 5

Saturday Football 6

PTG 7,8,9,10

Contact information

225 Nguyen Van Huong St, District 2, HCMC

Tel: (848) 3744 4551

Fax: (848) 3744 4182

E-mail:

simonhigham@bisvietnam.com

BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL - HO CHI MINH CITY

AN PHU PRIMARY

Newsletter

1st Term 1 Clubs Sign up at 5:00pm

2nd National Holiday - school closed

3rd Meet the Teacher evening - Y3-Y6 (5pm)

4th Meet the Teacher evening - F1-Y2 (5pm)

4th PTG Coffee morning

22nd T1 Clubs begin

September

From The Headteacher - Mr Simon Higham

Issue 1 /Page 2

Welcome To Our New Deputy Headteacher

Scan here to access the

‘AP1 Parent Blog’

Dear Parents

Firstly, I would like to welcome both returning and new families back to BIS after the holi-

day period. It certainly has been great to see our children back in school and I have been

very encouraged by the way in which they have settled quickly back into school life. Thank

you to all of our new parents that attended the orientation morning this week and I hope

that both the presentations and guided tours gave you a clearer understanding about what

makes our school a great place to be. It is a privilege to be leading such a dedicated and

committed teacher and parent community. As stated in our 2013 BSO Inspection ’BIS pro-

vides a quality education’ and I am committed to improving these standards further this

year and beyond. You can be assured that your children are in safe hands at BIS, both in

Dear parents,

I am delighted to be contributing to my first ever AP1 Newsletter as Deputy Headteacher of

this campus. I would like to take the opportunity to introduce myself and my family and tell

you a little bit about us. I am from Ireland originally and I started my teaching career there

over 20 years ago but have spent many years teaching overseas since. I am here with my

husband Simon and our two wonderful boys, Matthew who has just begun Year 5 and Ste-

ven who has started in Year 4. My husband Simon will be teaching part time in the PE de-

partment at AP2 and also helping with some AP1 clubs.

Prior to arriving in Vietnam just under 3 weeks ago, we were in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

where we worked for 7 years at another International British School. Before that we

worked in Seoul, South Korea and the Middle East.

We are delighted to be here at BIS Vietnam. We have had a wonderful welcome from everyone and we are ex-

cited at becoming part of the BIS community. I will be working very closely with Mr Simon and all the BIS

teaching and non- teaching staff to continue to provide the outstanding education that BIS offers our children. I

also look forward to meeting many of you in the weeks ahead both around school and at some of the events al-

ready organised by the PTG here at BIS.

Warmest regards,

Ms Deirdre Grimshaw

Deputy Headteacher

their journey through the primary years, through secondary and eventually to one of the world’s top universi-

ties. Our commitment to the best educational provision throughout all of our schools is proven.

Thank you to all parents who attended our PTG coffee morning today. I enjoyed this first PTG event of the year

and look forward to the other planned events in the PTG calendar. If you would like to become involved in fu-

ture PTG events, either email Ginette Diaz, our PTG coordinator via email at bisvnptgap1@gmail.com or sign

up to events using this link: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C054EACAE28A4F85-committees

As part of our commitment to excellence, please can I remind all parents to send their children to school in the

correct uniform each day. In particular, please note the section below from the Primary Parent Handbook.

Children should wear sensible black leather shoes (F1 and F2 exempt) or

closed toe sandals, preferably without laces for the younger children. F1

and F2 children should wear sensible shoes or closed toe sandals that

will aid the growth and development of small feet. These are not required

to be black in colour. We do not allow novelty shoes with flashing lights,

squeaking noises or shoes which have the roller ball facility. In addition

to this, all children should wear either white, black or grey ankle high

socks and all children with long hair should have it tied back with either

a red, blue or maroon soft hair band.

(for more information, please refer to the booklet in full by clicking here.)

The Primary Parent Blog - http://ap1parentblog.blogspot.com/ - is anoth-

er way to find important everyday information. To access the updated

monthly calendar, simply click the tab ’AP1 Monthly Calendar’ on the

Home page.

Thank you all for your continued support and I look forward to develop-

ing the partnership between home and school over the year.

We are currently finalising our preparations for our Term 1 Extra Curricular Clubs programme. In order for

CHQ (the online programme that is used to select club choices) to be accessed by all parents, enabling a

smooth sign up process, please can you log on to the system to check that you can access the home page.

For returning parents who are familiar with this system, please use the same username and password that

you last used to logon (see the forgotten/lost password option at the bottom of this page if needed).

For new parents to the school, please use the username and password that will be sent to you before the sys-

tem becomes live and follow the step by step instructions below.

If you have NOT received an email from school with regards to CHQ by the end of this week or need to know

more information, please contact Ms Nhung (PA to Head Teacher) nhungdanglehong@bisvietnam.com in the

school office who will be able to advise you further.

It is very important that we have your up to date email address in order for the online sign up to take place.

Always inform our office staff at AP1 if there is a change in your email address.

Please note: You will only be able to select clubs when the system goes live at 5.00pm on Monday

1st September, with selections ending at 5.00pm on Friday 5th September.

All club selections will be able to be accessed via the Term 1 club booklet that is now uploaded on-

to our website.

CHQ Log on and selection procedure

Step 1. Log on using your school internet user name and password.

Example: User name: name@bisvietnam.net

Password: (for new families to school, this will be emailed to you before sign up begins)

You will now be asked to change your password immediately to keep your page secure.

Step 2. You should now see a welcome screen with instructions.

Step 3. Click on ‘My Profile’ tab at the top. Look for your child’s schedule and calendar of events.

Details about all clubs can be found by clicking on a club from the calendar

Forgotten/Lost Password!

If you lose/forget your password please click the log on screen where it will ask you if you have forgotten your

password. When you click on this it will ask for:

Your child’s date of birth:

Email Address: please enter your designated email address to receive a password.

More details about sign up can be found in the 2014-2015 Term 1 Club Booklet.

Mr Simon Higham

Head Teacher

Extra Curricular Clubs – Term 1 2014-2015

Issue 1 /Page 3

Would you like your child to learn a musical instrument? At AP1, we can offer instrumental lessons in violin,

viola, cello, double bass, flute, clarinet, saxophone, drums, guitar or ukulele. For more information or if you

have any questions, please contact Ms Beth at elizabethbown@bisvietnam.com

Mrs Elizabeth Bown

Primary Music Leader

Instrumental Music at AP1

Issue 1 /Page 4

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Job Vacancy

Learning Support Assistant BIS is seeking a second Learning Support Assistant to join the Learning Support Department at AP2 second-

ary campus. Learning Support at AP2 consists of in-class support, study skills development and homework

support for students across the age range with a range of mild learning difficulties.

Qualifications and experience are useful, but enthusiasm, teamwork and an ability to relate to young people

are essential.

There is the possibility of splitting this post between two people working on different days.

If you are interested in this post, please send brief details of yourself by email to Richard Dyer

(richarddyer@bisvietnam.com) by Friday 5th September and we will contact you with further information.

Admissions Officer An expansion of the admissions team has led to the need for a full time admissions officer to work with the

AP2 team. We require an adaptable, presentable person with good inter-personal skills to communicate with

new families applying to the secondary school. The position involves all aspects of admissions, from initial en-

quiry, through to presenting the school to visiting families, student testing and final admission arrange-

ments. The successful candidate will be a native English speaker with good communication and IT skills and

a willingness to work flexibly within a British style school.

If you are interested in this post, please send a copy of your resume to Tracey Brownrigg

(traceybrownrigg@bisvietnam.com) by Friday 5th September and we will contact you with further information

First Week Back at AP1!

Issue 1 /Page 7

An outbreak of Japanese encephalitis has been on-going in the Northern parts of Vietnam since early

June. Over 28 children have been admitted to hospitals in Hanoi so far.

Recently, we were informed that several children were admitted to the pediatric hospitals in HCMC with

Encephalitis, 4 of them were confirmed to be Japanese Encephalitis cases.

What is Japanese Encephalitis (JE)?

Japanese Encephalitis (JE), is a viral disease passed through the bite of an infected mosquito which can

cause severe brain infection (Encephalitis) .

The natural reservoir of the virus are domestic pigs and wild birds and the virus can pass to humans by

mosquito bites. The virus cannot pass directly from human to human. Most cases are therefore in the ru-

ral areas, but urban cases have occurred.

Who Is Most At Risk?

Children younger than 10 years old are at higher risk, with children aged 5 - 9 years old being at most

risk. However, most children are vaccinated after the age of 13 months, so be sure to check their immun-

isation schedule. Booster shots are recommended every 3 years.

What are the Symptoms?

Symptoms during the early stages may include high fever, severe headache, rigors (shaking), diarrhoea

and vomiting.

More severe neurological symptoms may develop later on, including reduced level of consciousness, agita-

tion, seizures, paralysis, increased muscle tone, coma and even death.

What prevention methods can I take?

JE can be easily prevented with immunisations.

The vaccination is primarily used for children 13 months and above. The vaccination is made up of 3 shots

which are given as part of a schedule and it gives close to 100% protection.

The immunity wanes after a few years so be sure to check your children’s vaccination status. Booster

shots are recommended every 3 years.

Medical update

Issue 1 /Page 8

PTG - Are you ready to help?

Dear Parents

As you might know, AP1 does not have a PTG executive for the new school year. Because of that, the school

and I have worked together to create a structure that focuses upon bringing our community closer together

and getting everyone involved for our children - a collective responsibility. My name is Ginette Diaz and I have

3 children in Y3, Y6 and Y9. I will be responsible for communication between class parents and international

reps and will also try to establish individual committees to run the different events during the year. Hopefully,

if we can attract sufficient volunteers to be part of different events, then we can share the workload between

us all. It would be great to establish a committee for each event ASAP. If an event does not have a committee

or volunteers to help, it may not take place.

Would you consider helping with one or more of these committees? Can you help?

Events:

TERM 1

1. Coffee Morning for new parents – Sep 4th

2. Family Picnic – Oct 5th

3. Teacher’s day – Nov 20th

4. Disco – Dec 4th

TERM 2

1. Global Café – Jan 20th (Committee: Juliana Cotera and Ginette Diaz)

2. Spring Fair – Mar 8th

3. Disco – Apr 16th Environmental Theme

4. Bake Sale - TBA

TERM 3

1. Disco – Jun 18th

Use the link below to sign up your name for a committee or email me directly to indicate which event you

could help with.

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C054EACAE28A4F85-committees

bisvnptgap1@gmail.com

Best regards and thank you in anticipation, for your support.

Ginette Diaz Rodriguez

There was great turn out for the PTG coffee morning in the canteen on Friday morning. New and existing par-

ents had a chance to meet and mingle and catch up on summer news. There was also the opportunity to sign

up and help with the many events that the PTG are hosting this year. As always, volunteers are always wel-

come. Please get in touch with any PTG member from AP1.

Ms Deirdre Grimshaw

Deputy Headteacher

PTG - Welcome Back Coffee Morning

Issue 1 /Page 9

Newcomers Coffee Morning

PTG (Primary Campus)

Would like to invite all Newcomers to a

Coffee Morning

Thursday, 04 September 2014

At 8:15am

215/H15Nguyen Van Huong Street,

Phu Tong Compound, D2Rsvp Catherine Bledsoe 0903009895

Newcomers Coffee Morning

PTG (Primary Campus)

Would like to invite all Newcomers to a

Coffee Morning

Thursday, 04 September 2014

At 8:15am

215/H15Nguyen Van Huong Street,

Phu Tong Compound, D2Rsvp Catherine Bledsoe 0903009895

Issue 1 /Page 10