Weekly Highlights is a weekly newsletter sent by the BVIS Leadership Team to parents, providing updates on notable news and activities at the school. The newsletter consists of three main sections: updates from the Principal, Head of Primary, and Head of Secondary.
Dear Parents,
As we reach the half term holiday, I am so proud to reflect on such a wonderful first half term for our students, staff and BVIS community.
The Friends of BVIS have been busier than ever with a number of gatherings, and I am delighted that the number of Belonging Champions across primary classes has tripled.
The list goes on, but it would mean a very long Weekly Highlights! Our thanks to all our BVIS community for your engagement and support over the last 10 weeks. When we return after the holidays, the schedule only gets busier, and we look forward to seeing you at the many events that are coming up one of which is a coffee morning celebrating Music at BVIS details of which are here:
Join us for a relaxed and inspiring session where we will explore how our collaboration with the Juilliard–Nord Anglia Performing Arts Programme and our new relationship with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) supports your child’s musical journey.
We are thrilled to welcome two special guest speakers:
• Ms Erin Wight, Curriculum Specialist for Juilliard,who will speak about how creativity and expressive learning are embedded in our curriculum through Juilliard’s global expertise.
. Mr Shawn Moh, Regional Development Consultant for ABRSM,who will share insights into how graded music exams and structured progression support student growth.
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Should you wish to contact your child’s Class Teacher(s) or Form Tutor directly, we encourage communication to be written in the language you most feel confident to use.
Parents may also find it useful to contact their child’s class teacher(s) or form tutor directly for all individual queries about their academic work/social and emotional wellbeing in school. Individual contact details can be found in the Parents’ Handbooks or via our Primary/Secondary Receptionists.
It has been a wonderful first half term at BVIS. A huge amount of learning and progress has already been made for the academic year and lots more is still to come.
Thank you all for your support and hard work. I’d like to say a particular thank you to our Belonging Champions who have contributed to our school community through the class friends groups on Zalo and the activities and ideas they have been sharing.
As we come to the end of the first half term, we have finished with a wonderful celebration linked to our values of ‘Global Citizens’ and ‘Vietnamese Perspectives’ in the form of our International Week. Activities have gone on all week and this all culminated in two fantastic assemblies. Thank you to all the parents who came along for these.
Just a reminder that next week is our half term holiday and children return to school on Monday 20th October. 
The main focus for international week this year was to reinforce the idea of Global Citizenship. We did that in lots of different ways across the whole week.
Passports: We started the week by giving our students their Global Citizen Passports. Students spent time each morning working through these and reflecting on what they learned during the week. All students who successfully completed their passports received a global citizen sticker as a token of having “graduated” as Global Citizens.
Activities: There were many activities on the go. In classes, each year group focussed on two separate countries from different continents and did themed lessons with class teachers. During PE, different year groups got to play different sports from around the world which related to their year group’s continent. We also had an international themed live lunch for our talented Year 4 and 5 performers and during lunches, the children got to taste foods from around the world.
This week we caught up with our Belonging Champions and it was wonderful to share and feedback on the lovely activities and ideas that the Belonging Champions have been supporting.
Miss Tram Le, our Community Leader came along and shared the great things our student community leaders have been doing and the projects that they are looking at this year.
We also thanked our Belonging Champions and awarded them all with an Integrity Values badge from the school to wear on their lanyard – this is something we use in school to recognise the work of our staff.
We now have around 230 primary parents involved in the groups and if you haven’t already joined your class’s ‘Friends’ group it’s not too late! Please reach out so we can add you in.
Last week, our Year 3 children were inspired by a special talk from Mr Shoesmith, one of our secondary teachers who talked to them about Cát Tiên National Park. They learned all about the amazing animals that live there and why it is such an important place to protect. The children have used all the ideas and excitement from this to write their own information texts about the park’s incredible wildlife.
This week we put up in our Foyer, a commemorative plaque showing the great work in the school last year of our Community Leaders, led by Miss Tram.
Last year, the Community Leaders in Primary raised 365 million VND. This was to support Vina Capital Foundation and Heartbeat Vietnam to support disadvantaged children with congenital heart defects. Thanks to the generosity of our parents and students, we supported 10 life-saving heart surgeries for children in need. We also raised money for Saigon Children’s Charity and together we raised 178.5 million VND and funded 25 student scholarships across K–12 and vocational training programs.
These incredible contributions were made possible through various events and fundraising activities held throughout the year. We are deeply grateful for the unwavering support from our school community!
1. Parental Controls on iPads
It is expected that all children in Years 3 to Year 6 will have parental controls set up on the device they use in school (and preferably any devices they have access to at home). As highlighted by our recent visit by world expert on cyber safety Jonathan Taylor, children are most at risk at home from online harm.
Please ensure parental controls are set up on your children’s device. Our IT department are still available to help support parents with setting this up if needed.
2. Dropping off Children Early at School
Currently we have some children being dropped off outside the school gates on their own. Primary aged children should not be left unsupervised by an adult or secondary sibling outside the school gates. Please ensure that if you arrive early you wait with your child. You can of course take the opportunity to take your child into the Sunken Garden to wait or to buy some food.
• 11–19/10 – Half Term Holiday
• 20/10 – Return to School
• 20–21/10 – Visit to BVIS from Ms Erin Wight, Juilliard Curriculum Specialist for Music
• 22/10 – Parent Workshop on Digital Citizenship and Online Safety
• 23/10 – Year 4 Residential Meeting
• 24/10 – Halloween Movie Night (no ECAs on this day)
• 27–31/10 – Global Languages Week
• 28/10 – Year 6 Project Curiosity Presentations
• 30/10 – Year 5 Project Curiosity Presentations
• 4/11 – Year 4 Project Curiosity Presentations
Last weekend, nine of our talented mathematicians represented the school at the World Mathematics Competition, held in HCMC. The event was filled with exciting problem-solving rounds, teamwork, and brain-teasing fun — and our students absolutely shone!
A huge congratulations to all who took part, and especially to those who earned medals and golden tickets to the World Finals in Melbourne, Australia
Medal Winners:
Phuc Hung – 1 Gold, 1 Bronze
Jennie – 1 Silver
Jayden – 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze
Lucas – 1 Gold, 2 Silver (Top 6 overall!)
Phuc Thien – 1 Gold
We’re incredibly proud of their achievements and can’t wait to see our finalists take on the world stage in Melbourne later this year!
It was a real pleasure to host our very first HCMC Global University Fair here at BVIS HCMC, welcoming representatives from about 200 universities worldwide.
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As the school University Guidance Counsellor, Ms Mai Truong felt incredibly proud to see how proactive and engaged our students were, especially our Sixth Formers, who approached university representatives with such curiosity, confidence, and enthusiasm. Many shared their excitement afterwards, telling us they had discovered universities that could be a wonderful fit for their goals and aspirations. Parents who joined the fair appreciated that they could communicate face to face and explore a diverse range of institutions and gain insight into application processes across different countries and fields of study.
We were also delighted to receive positive feedback from university representatives, who expressed their gratitude for the opportunity to connect with the students and shared their excitement about welcoming them to their campuses in the future.
Thank you to everyone who came to explore their academic dreams at the HCMC Global University Fair, arranged in collaboration with ISHCMC this year. And an extra shout-out to all of our amazing BVIS student supporters for their outstanding contribution and enthusiasm throughout the event. Events like this truly highlight the power of a supportive network, helping our students find their best fit university and take the next step towards a future filled with possibility.
We are thrilled to announce the return of our fantastic 6 in 6 Reading Challenge at BVIS that will ignite your child's passion for books and learning! Last year, the school read over 1000 books – a staggering and immense achievement!
We have made some really exciting changes to the initiative. This year we have asked year 6 students to join us on the reading adventure and we ask you, parents, to join us on this exciting and invaluable literary journey! We give students 36 different categories to choose from, and they must select 6 books to read in the next 6 months – together, let’s try and beat last year’s amazing total!
Here's why you and your child will love getting involved:
Encourage a Love for Reading: Reading is an adventure waiting to be discovered.
Improves confidence in reading: the more you read, the more confident you will feel.
Boost Literacy Skills : Regular reading improves vocabulary, comprehension, and critical thinking.
Win Amazing Prizes: Top readers will be celebrated and rewarded for their commitment.
Family Bonding: Share reading moments together and inspire a lifelong love for books.
During assemblies this week, recruitment for magazine club has been advertised to students! This is a wonderful opportunity for students who have a passion for writing, photography, design, or storytelling to showcase their creativity and contribute to our school’s magazine. Students at the club will work collaboratively to produce engaging content that reflects the vibrant life of our BVIS community. Through this experience, students will develop valuable communication and teamwork skills while having their voices heard. Please encourage your child to join – there is a QR code on the poster for sign ups!
The Sparx Maths Weekly Champion is the student who is the top XP earner in each year group.
Students earn XP by completing tasks in their Sparx Homework
Compulsory Tasks earn 60-80XP
XP Boost Tasks earn 120-150XP
Target Tasks earn 120-150XP
Independent Learning Tasks earn 100XP
Students reach a new Sparx Level every 10000XP
Top XP earners this week are:
Year Group | Name | Class |
7 | Cloe Pham | 7V |
8 | Bim Luu | 8zMat3 |
9 | Alex Truong | 9zMat2y |
10 | Anna Quach | 10zMat2y |
11 | Belle Tran | 11zMat2x |
This week’s bedrock champions are:
Year 7 Tran Quang Anh
Year 8 Nguyen Ngoc Thien Huong (Cherry)
Year 12 Ngo Khanh Ngoc (Sarah)
Year 9 Dang Khanh Ha (April)
Year 11 Tran Nhu Bao Thi (Belle)
Year 10 Vo Tan Phat
Congratulations to all the above students who came up on top in their respective year groups. A special well done to Quang Anh who achieved the highest Bedrock points total across the whole of the secondary school this week!
This week’s champion joint champions are...
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Congratulations and well-done to Ngoc and Moon!
This week’s Champion tutor group is
Congratulations to 789i Hue2. Well done!
Congratulations to Saigon house, who hold on to the top spot!
13/10 – Half Term Holiday begins – school closed
20/10 – School reopens
21/10 – Battle of the Bands (in school)
23/10 – Year 12 Parents’ Evening
29/10 – Parent Partnership Workshop – Attendance and Punctuality
06/11 – Year 13 Parents’ Evening
17/11 – Year 8 & 9 Pastoral Parents’ Evening
The health, safety and wellbeing of our students remains the number one priority at BVIS HCMC.
Should you have a concern for the welfare of any child in our school, please refer to our Safeguarding poster below:
