Issue13 eng

BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL - HANOI

NEWSLETTERNOVEMBER 28 2014| ISSUE 13

IN THIS ISSUE

From Mr. Anthony RowlandsFrom Mr. Christopher ShortFrom Mrs. Karen HanrattyScience CompetitionFocus of the week: Year 5Ben Heason visits BIS HanoiOpen DayHIWC Charity Bazaar Year 6 Trip: Vietnam Museum of EthnologyEYC ProductionWinter ConcertFundinotots ProgrammeLunch MenuContacts

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UPCOMING EVENTS

2nd KS3 Boys Football vs KISH Primary Parents Evening3rd Y3B to visit Ho Chi Minh Museum Y12 Parents Evening4th Primary Parents Evening KS3 Boys and Girls Football vs UNIS KS4/5 Girls Basketball vs Concordia5th Y3I to visit Ho Chi Minh Museum Y10 Interhouse Science Competition6th KS4/5 Basketball Tournament @UNIS8th Visit by Mr David Devine – Canadian Ambassador KS4/5 Boys Basketball vs KISH KS3 Girls Football vs HIS9th Y4B to visit Vietclimb climbing wall Y11 Parents Evening10th Whole school Winter Concert KS4/5 Boys Basketball vs HIS11th BVIS vs BIS Science Competition KS3 Boys & Girls Football vs BVIS12th Y4I to visit Vietclimb climbing wall EYC Winter show

DECEMBER

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From Mr Anthony Rowlands - Principal of BIS Hanoi

Much has been written about the worldwide expansion of British style International Schools in recent years. Various well-known UK Independent schools, such as Harrow, Dulwich and Marlborough, are opening International branches in different countries around the world. At BIS Hanoi we are part of the

BIS Vietnam Group of Schools which has been in existence since 1998 and has a very impressive reputation in the International schools community. There is no doubt that British education is highly regarded worldwide. Many believe that a British education can be the best preparation not only for British Universities but also for North American Universities.

The United States has some of the best universities in the world. However, among developed nations, the US also has some of the poorest average results in standardised tests for high school students. Indeed, there are many schools in the US that now offer the same Cambridge IGCSE Programme that we offer at BIS Hanoi. Additionally, British style International Schools have opened in many of the major US cities. While recruiters from top US universities value IGCSE and A Level highly, they also consider the IB Diploma Programme as the “gold standard” for secondary school graduates. With BIS Hanoi being an IBDP Candidate school, aiming to offer the diploma in 2016, and our sister school, BVIS Hanoi, offering A Levels, the BIS Vietnam Group is well placed in Hanoi to offer both these excellent pre-university programmes.

We had two wonderful days to start this week. On Monday we had an excellent visit from Ben Heason who spoke to various Year Groups throughout the day. We were delighted to welcome some students from BVIS Hanoi to join us for the afternoon sessions with Ben. On Tuesday, over 100 parents spent time in classrooms experiencing how the school operates on a day to day basis and observing how their children learn. So many parents commented on how refreshing it was for them that the school was willing to ‘open’ itself for their benefit.

A final thank you from me for the support of the school community at the Annual HIWC Charity Bazaar which was held last Sunday. Our staff and students worked hard throughout the day on our two stalls and it was heartening to see so many parents visit us.

Have a wonderful weekend.

I’m not sure there has ever been a normal week in the history of BIS Hanoi, certainly this week is no exception. Inspired by our visiting speaker on Monday, Ben Heason, the vast majority of both of our Year 12 classes set off for Mau Chau for their practise International Award Silver

Award expedition. Mau Chau isn’t quite the Angel Falls but they are putting Ben’s wise words into action before the week is out. I know they will come back on Monday invigorated by their challenging weekend and ready for their qualifying expedition in the new year.

We are very proud of the place the International Award plays in our curriculum. We have had three staff away this week doing further training on this important programme to allow us to expand next year to be the first school in northern Vietnam to offer the prestigious Gold Award. As Mr Airdrie said in a recent Parents Meeting; one employer is quoted as saying “I always interview people with the Bronze International Award, offer a job to people with Silver and create a job for people with Gold”.

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From Mr Christopher Short - Head of Secondary

It was BIS' turn to host the perennial BIS/BVIS Science competition this week. The competition was keenly contested by some very eager young scientists, well done to BIS Hanoi for their victory on this occasion. Many thanks to Ms Orchard for organising this event with Ms Shelley of BVIS Hanoi.

Year 12 will start their university applications early next year. For many destinations they will need an IELTS certificate. It seems odd for good universities to ask this from students with great IGCSE and A Level results but it is often a visa requirement as well. Year 12 will take this test next term. We have partnered with the British Council but students will take the test at school. They, obviously, don’t need to be taught English but they will get some test preparation from British Council trainers to ensure they receive the very best score of which they are capable. We are in the process of finalising a similar arrangement for the SAT assessments needed by US universities.

The Year 12 AS biologists have been working on producing stop motion animations. The project involved showing the process of mitosis (the process of cell division for the non-biologists amongst you!), through a continuous sequence of still images. Combining a range of apps and programs to create a sequence of hundreds of photos, the result has been some wonderful productions that have not only served to educate our own BIS biologists, but have been uploaded onto youtube to help as a learning aid to people around the world. If you'd like to see their work then follow the links below:

https://docs.google.com/a/bishanoi.com/file/d/0B2gHlyXD_pJqelMtNmYwOHFBWnM/edithttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWOf3z3s9fg&feature=youtube_gdatahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHUkOuFLvFs&list=UUq8RZLjTDquUUtyj-yXFjjg

STOP MOTION

Mr Edward WestroppScience Teacher

It has certainly been an exciting week at BIS Hanoi. On Monday we enjoyed the visit of Ben Heason, world renowned rock climber. He mesmerized children with his account of his adventures climbing in seemingly impossible situations and locations. Year 4 were particularly

enthralled and later this term will be trying to put into practice some of the things they learnt as they close their topic on ‘Adventurers and Explorers’ with a visit to a climbing wall. Tuesday saw our annual Open Day and it was a great pleasure to see so many parents enjoying a range of lessons alongside their children.

Today parents of Primary students received their child’s interim school report. These reports provide grades for children’s effort and achievement in 8 subject areas, as well as outlining targets for further improvement and advice on ways in which parents can support their child at home. Foundation Stage reports contained comments

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From Mrs Karen Hanratty - Head of Primary

FINE DINING

on children’s attainment and progress in the 7 development and curriculum areas, as well as next steps that children need to take to further their progress.

We are looking forward to welcoming parents to Parent Teacher Consultations next Tuesday and Thursday. These meetings give parents an opportunity to sit with their child’s teachers to discuss the reports in detail. Arguably school reports are the most important communications that take place between school and home, and face to face communication is essential to ensure that the messages in the report are fully understood. As well as class teachers, parents will be able to meet with the teachers of Vietnamese, PE, music, ICT, EAL and learning support. We look forward to seeing you all then.

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BIS/BVIS SCIENCE COMPETITION

It has been a fantastic start to life in Year 5 this year. Some of the highlights include The Red River Trip, Myths & Legends Day, creating a mythical creature and the brilliant big books that we made during Book Week. For most of Book Week the two classes, 5B and 5I, worked together to make their own mythical story. They became real life authors in English and Vietnamese and they illustrated their writing with beautiful art work.

Year 5 had a ‘Dressing Up Day’ to start our Myths & Legends topic, which was great fun. We came dressed as a character from any well-known myth or legend.

Linh Nhi, in 5B, said about Myths & Legends day, “It was FUN! I wish we could have another day like this!”

Another activity linked to the topic of Myths & Legends was making a mythical creature. Here are some of the amazing creatures and some thoughts from the children.

Recently Year 5 visited Chu Dong Tu Temple at The Red River, which was a fantastic real life learning experience. The day was full of different, fun activities and even the food was a hit!

Tung Lam: “We had some fresh bananas, yummy cakes and fabulous sandwiches.”

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YEAR 5Focus of the week

Duc Minh: “We can use different materials and we can help each other.”

Gia Phuc: “It was my favourite thing because I could be creative doing work while also having a lot of fun.”

Mr Tom AdamsYear 5 Teacher

Ms Sally TongYear 5 Teacher

Ms Phuong TranYear 5 VietnameseLanguage Teacher

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Year 5 children started the new school year with a range of interesting Vietnamese studies activities: Ao Dai designing, Moon Cake baking in the ‘Moon Festival’ week and an investigation into Vietnamese history on the Red River trip.

Year 5 designed their own Ao Dai costumes from creative and unique ideas and showcased them in front of the whole school.

‘Could I take home these moon cakes to give them to mum and dad?’, Year 5 children excitedly asked.

The children showed excellent team work on the Red River trip: ‘I think we could find a clue from the brass bell.’ ‘Where has our team decided to go?’…the children enthusiastically asked among themselves.

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BEN HEASON VISITS BIS HANOI

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OPENDAY

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HIWC ANNUAL CHARITY BAZAAR

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Year 6 TripVietnam Museum of Ethnology

We would like to invite parentsto the EYFS/KS1 Production

To theCrystal Caves!

Please RSVP to the Primary OfficeEmail: [email protected] or phone 04 3946 0435 Ext: 220

Friday 12th December 2014 at 1.00 pm

Auditorium, BIS Hanoi

Wednesday 10th December at 1:15pm

Auditorium - BIS Hanoi

Concert 2014

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BIS HANOI MENUWeek Beginning 1st December

Monday1st Dec 2nd Dec 3rd Dec 4th Dec 5th Dec

Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

From Year 3 to Year 12 : All meals come with a salad or salad bar choice along and 2 choices of vegetables, rice, Vietnamese soup.

From Year 7 to Year 12: We have introduced our NEW Sandwich bar with assorted cheeses, fresh tuna, egg salad, roast meats and other daily specials on our homemade bread, dark rye, whole wheat, oatmeal, french bread, Vietnamese rolls, raisin bread and other fresh baked bread every day.

Morning snack

Morning snack

Lunch

Lunch

Lunch

Afternoon snack

EYFS

PRIM

ARY

SEC

ON

DA

RY

Steam roll with pork cake

Nutella sandwichChicken curry

samosaRice soup Sausage roll

Juice Milk Juice Juice Soya milknành

Fruit Fruit Fruit Fruit Fruit

Fried American chicken

Fried egg with ground pork

Hue noodle soup Fried crispy porkSpaghetti

bolognaise

Egg sushi roll Raisin cookie Jam sandwich Mango cake

Juice Milk Juice Smoothie Fruit

Steam roll with pork cake

Nutella sandwichChicken curry

samosaRice soup Sausage roll

Juice Milk Juice Juice Soya milk


Maccaroni and cheese

Hue noodle souprice

Caramel pork

German sausage with mashed

potatoes


Roast chicken with BBQ sauce

Fried crispy porkChicken

quesadillas


Korean beef stew(v) Fried tofu in

tomato sauce riceSpaghetti

bolognaise/

German sausage with mashed

potatoes

Maccaroni and cheese

Hue noodle soupFried crispy

pork/Caramel pork/

(v) Vegetarian potato curry


Roast chicken with BBQ sauce

Sticky rice with steamed chicken

(v) Cheese and corn quesadillas

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Good communication is important to us and we would like to ensure that you have the correct contact information in order for you to call the school:

School Number: 04 3946 0435

Extention number:

Receptionist: 0(For all general enquiries)

Principal’s Office: [email protected](If you wish to contact the School Principal)

Business Manager’s Office: [email protected]

Primary Office: [email protected](For all enquiries regarding the Primary Section)

Secondary Office: [email protected](For all enquiries regarding the Secondary Section)

Admission Department: 222/122/555/777/[email protected]@bishanoi.com (Admission Manager)[email protected] (Korean Liaison Officer)[email protected]@bishanoi.com

Marketing Department: [email protected](For all enquiries regarding Marketing)

Finance Department: 202(For all enquiries regarding school fees)

Medical Room: 117/[email protected] (Main school)[email protected] (Early Years Building)(For all enquiries regarding Medical Issues)

Uniform Shop: [email protected]@[email protected](For all enquiries regarding School Uniform)

School Buses: [email protected](For all requiries regarding School Buses)

Education

Issue13 eng