1. BISbuzz Issue 36 | 1
BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL - HO CHI MINH CITY| SECONDARY CAMPUS
JUNE 12 | ISSUE 36
IN THIS ISSUE
June
15th Year 12 Group 4 Project
15th - 16th KS3 Show
10th - 29th ABRSM Practical Exams
16th PTG Parent Year 6&7 Lunch, 12.30pm
17th PTG Lost Property, 12.30pm
18th PTG Parent Year 8 , 9 & 10 Lunch, 12.30pm
19th PTG Dodge Ball, 3pm
19th PTG Parent Year 11, 12&13 Lunch, 12.30pm
19th Activities finish
UPCOMING EVENTS
From the Head Teacher 02
Drama 03
Year 8 Design Competition 04
Community Service 05
Sport News 07
PTG 09
From The BIStro & Underground 12
2. BISbuzz Issue 36 | 2
From The Head TeacherFrom The Head Teacher
Nepal
Having planned to draw the Nepal fundraising campaign to a close last
week, we have now decided to continue to one more week. The
simple reason is that funds continue to roll in. Generous donations
were received during the PTG Flea Market last Sunday and Year 8
students are planning a final campaign next week. Currently we have
VND 42,715,700 to send to contribute to the British School of
Kathmandu’s support for rebuilding the disadvantaged communities of
Nepal. Let’s see if we can make that a nice round VND 45,000,000.
Alumni news
Rafael Torres visited BIS this week. Raffy, a former Year 10 student of BIS HCMC, moved to the Philippines
last year and went straight to University. He has just finished his freshman year, not yet aged 16, taking
up his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology (Honors Program) at Ateneo de Manila University, a top
university in the Philippines. He made it to the Dean's List with a QPI (Quality Point Index, akin to a GPA)
of 3.68. As a Biology student, he has been to medical missions for underprivileged children.
Richard Dyer
Head Teacher, Secondary
3. BISbuzz Issue 36 | 3
Drama
LAMDA exams
This week at AP2 our students have been sitting their LAMDA exams in acting and reading for perfor-
mance. We were lucky enough for our LAMDA examiner this year to be the British actress Vivien Heilbron,
and all of our students have commented on how nice she was to perform for. In all, over 50 students
from AP2 and TX have sat a range of performance examinations. We will get the results over the summer
break and look forward to celebrating the students’ successes with them in August.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivien_Heilbron
Alice In Wonderland
Next Monday and Tuesday our KS3 drama students will be performing in
the annual KS3 show, and this year it is Alice in Wonderland. The students
have been working hard over the last term to put this piece together and it
is an unusual piece indeed. The performance will be performed in the style
of promenade, so it really will be a magical journey into Alice’s Wonderland
world, and very different to previous performances that we have staged.
We would love to share this experience with as many students, parents
and teachers as we can so please do join us. This performance is not ticket-
ed and the first performance sets off at 6pm from the auditorium and the
last one at 7pm, so please arrive at any point between 6 and 7.
Catherine Sargent
Head of Drama
Tenniel, 1865
4. BISbuzz Issue 36 | 4
Year 8 Design Competition
Year 8 Design Competition in association with Mekong +
Final thoughts from the winning student
In February, designers from Mekong Quilts, part of an NGO that provides employment to women in com-
munities in the Mekong Delta and Bin Thuan province, visited our school and we were given a design pro-
ject. The designers told us about the industrial techniques and processes that they used in making their
products.
From that art lesson Year 8 started planning and designing the bags for the project, which was to design a
bag or a cushion for the ‘Year of Goat.’ We worked to a very tight timeline from our first ideas to our fin-
ished designs. After the full design process, we gave in our works and waited for the judgment.
After a few weeks, we finally got our results. I was very excited when Mr. Hall told me that I got to the top
3!
After that, I was invited to the presentation event, where I found out that I had won the 1st
place. It was
fascinating.
After the presentation I was invited to be the part of the design team and the production process. I chose
different coloured fabrics and different sewing techniques for my bag. I am very happy to know that the
bag is to be sold in shops now, and my design has provided employment. I am a real designer.
Jungyoon Nam Year 8
5. BISbuzz Issue 36 | 5
Community Service
Year 12 – COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECTS – Review – Part 5 and 6 of 10
Over the course of this year we Year 12s have been divided into committees and tasked with the chal-
lenge to manage a community service project from start to finish. The fourth and fifth in our series of re-
ports belongs to Project Aware Committees 1 and 2 who worked with Project Aware -
Project Aware Committee 1:
Promoting Shark Conservation within school through the Sharks in Peril
campaign was an amazing experience for all of us. All group members put
an amazing amount of time and effort to make our campaign day possible
and we all learnt much about sharks. We especially put effort into advo-
cating the importance of sharks to marine ecosystems and their economic
value to local communities as part of eco-tourism.
On campaign day, which was held on the 25th of November, we sold shark
shaped cookies as well as Project Aware keychains and also organised ac-
tivities such as sponging a teacher, a quiz about sharks and a pin the fin on
the shark game. We organised these activities to not only raise funds for
Project Aware, but to also raise awareness about the need for Shark con-
servation.
Our campaign was a tremendous success as we raised a grand total of
16.82 million VND to donate to Project Aware. We would like to note the
PTG for their generous donation towards our project and all the people who made our project possible.
Shark finning remains a grave issue all over the world and shark populations are declining rapidly. We can
all contribute towards shark conservation by not eating shark based products and not eating at restau-
rants that serve shark recipes. We have made a video about to shed light on the reality of shark finning.
Please take the time to watch this video as even though our campaign has ended, our desire to save
sharks remains forever. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8smzMajfXqI
Hikaru Hotta
Project Aware Committee 2:
Our community partner was Project Aware, a global non-for-profit organisation. Another of their main
challenges other than Sharks in Peril is the issue of Marine Debris. For this element of their work they
campaign towards ridding the oceans of litter. Through the support of funding, they organise divers to run
rubbish collecting dives to collect as much litter form the ocean floor as possible. They also organise beach
clean-ups, prevention projects to stop the littering, and raising awareness of the issue of mam-made litter
polluting the ocean. We were challenged to create an awareness campaign and raise funds to support
Marine Debris.
6. BISbuzz Issue 36 | 6
We planned to raise awareness about Project Aware using posters
before our campaign day and to raise at least 8 million VND. We pro-
posed our ideas to the PTG and they kindly contributed 2 million VND
to support our campaign. Thank you PTG!
Our Project Awareness Campaign Activities included a baking stall,
donation boxes which we walked around at lunch and break with ed-
ucating people on the issues of marine debris; a guess the number of
lollies in the jar; and we designed posters which give information on
the date and place of our community project.
What we did well – the posters were successful in attracting attention
to our stall; fundraising - we were able to make a lot of food, which
was aesthetically appealing therefore we raised a lot more than we
were aiming to and our creative ideas such as the sweet jar and
smores, we were really successful.
What we could have done better – whilst we were able to raise a lot
of money, we could have done better in terms of raising awareness about the marine debris issue. The
other Project Aware group did a really good job of teaching about sharks, and spreading awareness.
Our organisation - whilst we were all sorted and ready for the bake sale day, we were a bit rushed and last
-minute for the PTG presentation and assembly, so we could have been a bit more organised through
communication and setting ourselves goals to get things done. At some stages, there was a lack of com-
munication between group members, which, at times created confusion.
We learnt a great deal about ourselves, about how to organising ourselves, working as a team and team
dynamics.
Naomi Arnaud
7. BISbuzz Issue 36 | 7
Sport News
BIS Aquathlon
On Saturday 6th June BIS hosted it’s 8th BIS Aquathlon. Congratulations to all students,
staff and parents. Thanks also to all staff that assisted at the event. Official results can be
seen below:
Phil Drake
Director of Sport
Age 10 -13 Swim Time Overall Time Rank
Male
Floris Swinckels 00:04:48 00:13:09 1
Female
Lim Zhuo Jun 00:04:52 00:11:41 1
Josephine Swinckels 00:06:48 00:19:26 2
Ho Thi Cat Tien 00:00:00 00:15:46 3
Age 10 - 13 Teams Swim Time Overal Time Rank
Cedric Chua & Matthew McKelvie 00:03:48 00:09:59 1
Damien Kattan & Siena Kruimer 00:04:36 00:11:00 2
Daniel Schmitt & Nathan Ng 00:04:42 00:11:00 2
Gus Stevenson & Oliver Stevenson 00:06:24 00:13:58 4
Angelina Yeh & Emily Kim 00:05:55 00:15:45 5
Individual Adults (Males) Swim Time Overal Time Rank
Sean Neo (12/13D) 00:06:22 00:25:58 1
Phil Drake 00:08:26 00:28:09 2
Damien Soh 00:07:24 00:30:33 3
Chris La Grange 00:08:04 00:31:39 4
Jerry Chew 00:08:41 00:37:21 5
Richard Dyer 00:08:03 00:39:07 6
Individual Adults (Females) Swim Time Overal Time Rank
Lim Zhuo Rui 00:06:11 00:30:03 1
Emma Morris 00:07:45 00:31:01 2
Jo Tang 00:10:54 00:41:33 3
Adults Teams Swim Time Overal Time Rank
Bion Neo / Ching Eng Neo 00:05:33 00:24:41 1
Simon Lim & Nicolas Luong 00:06:28 00:26:03 2
Huynh Van Hung & To Minh Chi 00:09:32 00:43:22 3
10. BISbuzz Issue 36 | 10
If you have lost your belongings in this
school premises, please come along
and have a look, there are lots of
unclaimed items.
All lost property will be displayed
outside the auditorium during lunch
time on Wednesday 17th June
Looking for Lost Property?
12. BISbuzz Issue 36 | 12
From the Underground & BIStro
Menu 3 (15 June)
From the Underground & BIStro
DAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY
MAIN
COURSE
CHOOSE 1
Chicken Carbonara
OR
Roast Pork, Rice
Pasta Bolognese-
Pork
OR
Sweet & Sour Fish,
Rice
Battered Fish &
Chips
OR
Nasi Lemak
(Chicken & Egg)
Chili Con Carne -
Beef, Rice
OR
Won Ton Noodle
Soup
VEGETA-
BLES
Bok Choy & Carrot
Salad
Long Bean, Carrot
Salad
Morning Glory,
Carrot
Salad
Choy sum &
Carrot
Salad
SOUP Choy sum Spinach & Melon
Tomato & Tofu
Soup
Mixed Vegetable
DESSERT Mixed Fruit Mixed Fruit Mixed Fruit Mixed Fruit
VEGETARIAN
Braised Tofu &
Beans, Rice
Choy sum Soup
Mixed Fruit
Veggie Pasta
Chickpeas Salad
Mixed Fruit
Vegetarian Chili
Con Carne, Rice
Tomato & Tofu
Soup
Mixed Fruit
Tofu Noodle
Soup
Choy sum &
Carrot
Mixed Fruit
DELI BAR
OPTION
Baguette & Wrap
Fill it with a variety of choices including ham, chicken, cheese, tuna mayonnaise, beef, baked
bean, mixed bean, bolognese sauce
SNACK MENU
Curry Puff
Samosa
Fruit Cup
Chocolate Mud Cake
Swiss Roll
Fruit Cup
Curry Puff
Samosa
Fruit Cup
Banana/Carrot
Muffin
Sponge Cake
Fruit Cup
FRIDAY
Honey Lime Chicken,
Sautéed Potato
OR
Beef Rendang, Rice
Broccoli & Carrot
Salad
Watercress
Mixed Fruit
Dhal
Broccoli & Carrot
Mixed Fruit
Donut
Cream Puff
Fruit Cup
