1. MAY
16th
Invitational Swimming Gala at BIS Hanoi
18th
KS3 Mixed Volleyball vs HIS
19th
Year 1 visit to houses in the old quarter
21st
KS2 House Sports
25th
–28th
Secondary Exam week
26th
Year 1 visit to Flag Tower
27th
KS1 House Sports
28th
F1 and 2 visit to Long Bien Fire Station
30th
Invitational Swimming Gala at UNIS
UPCOMING EVENTS
From Mr. Anthony Rowlands 02
From Mr. Christopher Short 03
Secondary ICT 03
From Mrs. Karen Hanratty 04-05
Inter school Tennis Championships 06
Under 11’s Hanoi International Schools Tag Rugby tournament 06
Primary Focus - Life is like a Box of Chocolates 07
Year 1 visit to Lotte Tower 08
Summer Camp 2015-College Champittet Switzerland 09-10
Lunch Menu 11
Contacts 12
IN THIS ISSUE
May 15 2015 ISSUE 30
Issue 30 1
BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL - HANOI
NEWSLETTER
2. From Mr Anthony Rowlands - Principal of BIS Hanoi
As I write this week’s newsletter, I am
in HCMC attending a BIS Group
(Vietnam) Senior Leadership Conference.
The conference is being hosted by
BVIS HCMC and we are covering a
variety of topics with the main ones
being:
Nord Anglia Education Integration
Achieving the BIS Mission
Sharing Good Practice
Positive Education
Whilst the above topics are worthwhile in themselves,
great value can also be placed on meeting with fellow
SLT members to discuss comparable issues and exchange
relevant ideas. It is always an extremely valuable and
enjoyable conference.
As I indicated last week, we have now received a full
report regarding the recent CIS Pre-accreditation visit and
this report will be made available for parents to read in
our school Library if they so wish. The report will be a
very valuable document for us as we proceed on the
journey to CIS Accreditation as it highlights our many
positives as well as areas we need to focus on to achieve
accreditation.
In his letter to us, Dr Graham Ranger (CIS Director of
School Support and Evaluation) states:
“On behalf of the Council of International Schools, the
CIS Accreditation Service and its Advisors have now
completed their consideration of the May 2015
Preliminary Visitors’ Report on your school further to
the visit carried out on behalf of CIS by Graham Ranger
and Michael Spencer on May 5th-7th, 2015. I am pleased
to inform you that the report has been accepted, along
with the recommendations it contains. This means that
British international School, Hanoi has been granted
candidate status for CIS accreditation. My congratulations
go to you and your school community on this
achievement.”
The closing remarks in the report state:
“The British International School Hanoi is a young
school which has benefited from the strength, vision and
strategic direction of the BIS Group, as well as excellent
leadership from the Principal and his team. Despite
having changed its identity in its short history, and the
group being part of a recent merger with Nord Anglia
Education, the school has sustained a clear sense of
direction and strategic intent. The development is
considered and the school is ready to embark on its
Self-Study, leading to international accreditation.”
On a final note, more history has been made at BIS
Hanoi! At a tennis tournament last weekend, three of our
young sportsmen achieved the highest accolades by
taking the top three positions - 1st
Nguyen Quang Minh
(Y6), 2nd
Le Duy Anh (Y7) and 3rd
Hoang Nam (Y8). What a
magnificent accomplishment, we are all extremely proud
of them. Additionally, you will also note that the school
played its first game of rugby last week when a team of
Primary boys and girls played in a tournament at UNIS.
Coming from Wales, I am so pleased that the finest game
in the world has made its debut at BIS Hanoi!
Best wishes to you all from HCMC and I do hope that
you have a wonderful weekend.
Issue 30 2
3. I write this while participating in the
annual BIS Group meeting of senior
staff in HCMC. (This time next year the
meeting will be in Hanoi ahead of our
first graduation of Year 13 students,
something that will be upon us far
quicker than I care to think about!) One
of the strengths of each year’s meeting is an opportunity
to share good ideas. Working collaboratively is something
we instil in students all through their time at BIS, they
can’t be successful in any field of work, especially
business, if they can’t work well with others. Ironically
(perhaps) my presentation was on collaborative working
and on how we have worked with the group of four
schools, and within our own school, to share expertise and
develop the school to be successful so quickly. The last
(although always ongoing) part of this process is
endorsement and Mr Rowlands outlined how we will
shortly add CIS to the list of other organisations that
authorise, accredit and validate the education we provide.
We were really pleased to announce some new positions
in the school this week. Martin Toner has been appointed
as our new IB CAS (Community, Activity, Service)
Coordinator and will support Diane Vaughan and Andrew
O’Reilly as we make our final preparations for the IB
Diploma Programme. With our increased student numbers
we have appointed Heads of Year to work with Key Stage
Coordinators and myself to ensure we continue to provide
the correct support and challenge for our students. From
August Amy Wild will be Head of Years 7 & 8, Robert
Glossop Head of Years 9 & 10 and Robert Airdrie will be
Head of Years 11 – 13.
From Mr Christopher Short - Head of Secondary
Issue 30 3
It has been an exciting year for the ICT & Computing department in BIS Hanoi. We welcomed a new
teacher, Martin Toner, who previously taught in the UK and has been a valuable addition to the
department. We have also introduced computing into Years 7, 8 and 9. The students have really engaged
with this curriculum and we have some talented programmers emerging. Year 7 students created some
fantastic games using a programming language called Scratch while Year 8 and 9 students tackled the
language of the web – HTML and also Python.
We are gradually moving to having all of our resources and student work available online. Students have
their own email account and their own google apps account which means they can share work and access their ICT work
from wherever they are in the world and on whatever device
they have. Students have embraced this new technology and
our google classrooms are lively and a testament to the
student’s hard work.
This newsletter comes to you in the midst of the exam season;
this is the first year that all of our Year 11 students sit their
IGCSE ICT exam. They have already taken two practical
exams and have one theory exam. ICT is a necessary life skill
for today’s modern world and the past two years’ study will be
valuable for each student in whatever course they decide to
study at university. Of course, we must also wish our Applied
ICT AS level candidates luck in their exam and we look
forward to welcoming them back to start their A2 course in
June.
Ms Diane Vaughan
SecondaryICT Leader
SECONDARY ICT
4. One of the most satisfying aspects of my
work as Head of Primary is visiting
classes and talking to children about their
learning. I am always impressed with
their engagement and ability to explain
to me exactly what they are learning and
how. This week has been no exception.
In F1 and 2 on Monday, for their topic on ‘People who
help us’, I observed the children reviewing their learning
about hospitals, doctors and nurses and later in the week
saw their very imaginative play as fire fighters. F3 are
having a big push with learning English phonics and I was
impressed with how well they are doing. Children can
confidently say the sounds and are starting to use them in
their reading and writing.
On Tuesday Year 1 went on their second visit of four out
of school to research different styles of building. So far
they have looked at modern houses on the Vinhomes
Riverside and the Lotte Tower. On returning to school
children used straws to construct their own towers which
raised many questions about how to make a stable
structure that wouldn’t easily fall down. Year 2 has been
reading some of the stories by the author Maurice Sendak.
They were able to identify the rhyming parts and joined in
with the repetitive phrases. They have also been busy
artists, creating oil pastel pictures in the style of Salvador
Dali. The expressions of concentration on the children’s
faces were amazing!
Year 3 has been learning about information texts; their
purpose and style. When I visited they were busy
comparing leaflets from the Tam Dao Bear Sanctuary
with an advertising brochure. Later they will produce their
own information texts related to their theme of ‘Chocolate
From Ms Karen Hanratty - Head of Primary
Issue 30 4
5. and Coconuts’. Year 4 has been thinking about great
inventions that changed the world. Working in small
groups they researched a particular invention and used the
information to create a presentation to share with the rest
of the class.
Year 5 has also been busy on a research project this week.
Working in groups and using laptops they each found out
as many facts as they could about mountains around the
world - height, rain or snowfall, average daily temperature,
etc. as well as distance from Hanoi and costs off flights –
so that they could make informed decisions about which
one would be best to visit and when. Year 6 has recently
From Ms Karen Hanratty - Head of Primary
Issue 30 5
started a new topic with a strong historical bias. Children
have researched key characters from 900 AD in Vietnam,
Europe, Korea and Mongolia. When I visited their lesson
many children were dressed up as the character they had
focused on and were engaged in a ‘Speed Dating’ role
play exercise with the aim of finding out as much as they
possibly could about another character in just one minute!
As you can see, there is a huge variety of topics taking
place using the most engaging teaching strategies to really
excite children about their lessons. Learning is alive at BIS
Hanoi!
6. Issue 30 4
Under 11’s Hanoi International Schools Tag Rugby tournament
Issue 30 6
The first inter-school tennis championships were organised by the Lycée Français Alexandre Yersin in
association with the French Tennis Academy and the School on the Boat organization, and was played at
the An Duong Tennis Club. Three BIS students competed in the Under 14 age category. The day was
divided into two pools of eight players in the morning and the top eight advanced to the knock-out stage
in the afternoon. Sixteen players entered the category and the BIS students played well throughout the
day. We would like to congratulate the following students who represented the school and performed the
best on the day. Overall finishing positions on the day: 3rd place; Trung Hoang Nam Nguyen (Year 8); 2nd
place Le Duy Anh Nguyen (Year 7) and winner of the Under 14 tournament Quang Minh Nguyen (Year 6).
Thank you to Mr. Atkinson and the parents who supported the day.
Ms Salome Airdrie
P.E Leader
Inter-school Tennis Championships
7. Focus of the Week
LIFE IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES!
This term Year 3 have the rather envious topic and literacy theme all about the
wonderful world of chocolate!
They have already found out that there is more to chocolate than one might expect;
how it evolved from a spicy drink made by the Aztecs and Mayans to the sweet
creamy bars we all enjoy today. They have discovered how deep in the equatorial
jungles the cocoa pods are picked, fermented and dried before being shipped off to
huge factories all over the world, such as Cadbury’s in the UK. They have looked at
how it is refined and mixed with milk and sugar so when the time comes, children can make their own chocolaty treats!
In order to help with the bake sale raising money for Nepal, all the children in Year 3 got involved in making chocolate
cakes. Once all hands were washed, they melted, poured and mixed chocolate and cornflakes to make their own delicious
cakes, all for a good cause.
Year 3 has also been taking part in chocolate themed literacy lessons. As part of their persuasive writing topic, the children
have been looking at chocolate adverts and identifying how to persuade someone to buy their products. There have been
lots of new adjectives to use and Year 3 has been practising how to put those words into persuasive sentences and catchy
slogans.
By the end of the topic, Year 3 will have designed, written about, made (and most likely eaten) their own chocolate
creations all in the name of learning!
Ms Sally Harper
Year 3 Teacher
Issue 30 7
Mr Thomas Holmes
Year 3 Teacher
11. Issue 30 11
BIS HANOI MENU
Week Beginning 18th
May
Monday
18th
May
Tuesday
19th
May
Wednesday
20th
May
Thursday
21st
May
Friday
22nd
May
Rice soup with
chicken
Egg sandwich Steam bun Rice soup Sausage roll
Juice Milk Juice Juice Soya milk
Fruit Fruit Fruit Fruit Fruit
Braised pork with
daikon
Sauteed chicken
with mushroom
Pork caramel with
egg
Hue noodle soup
Roast chicken with
honey sauce
Pan cake with
honey
Sausage sushi roll Yogurt Rasin cookie Caramel flan
Juice Juice Fruit Soya milk Fruit
Rice soup with
chicken
Egg sandwich Steam bun Rice soup Sausage roll
Juice Milk Juice Juice Soya milk
Fried American
chicken
Beef stew Sausage Pizza
Braised fish with
rice
Fried crispy pork
Braised pork with
daikon
Sauteed chicken
with mushroom
Roast chicken with
BBQ sauce
Roast pork with
green onion
Roast chicken with
honey sauce
Fried American
chicken
Beef stew
Pork caramel with
egg
Braised fish with
rice
(v) Fried rice with
egg and vegetables
Braised pork with
daikon
Fish noodle soup
(v) Roasted vegeta-
ble Pizza
Roast pork with
green onion
Fried crispy pork
(v)Fried tofu in
sweet and sour
sauce
Sauteed chicken
with mushroom
Roast chicken with
BBQ sauce
Hue noodle soup
Roast chicken with
honey sauce
12. 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
Extension number:
Receptionist: 0
(For all general enquiries)
Principal’s Office: 208
principaloffice@bishanoi.com
(If you wish to contact the School Principal)
Business Manager’s Office: 109
thaonguyen@bishanoi.com
Primary Office: 220
primaryoffice@bishanoi.com
(For all enquiries regarding the Primary Section)
Secondary Office: 215
secondaryoffice@bishanoi.com
(For all enquiries regarding the Secondary Section)
Admission Department: 222/122/555/777/888
bishanoi@bishanoi.com
dessydelevaux@bishanoi.com (Admission Manager)
jinnyjung@bishanoi.com (Korean Liaison Officer)
hatruong@bishanoi.com
trambui@bishanoi.com
Marketing Department: 666
gampham@bishanoi.com
(For all enquiries regarding Marketing)
Finance Department: 202
(For all enquiries regarding school fees)
Medical Room: 117/303
dungnguyen@bishanoi.com (Main school)
liennguyen@bishanoi.com (Early Years Building)
(For all enquiries regarding Medical Issues)
Uniform Shop: 221
tamle@bishanoi.com
nhungpham@bishanoi.com
(For all enquiries regarding School Uniform)
School Buses: 218
nganguyenthithuy@bishanoi.com
(For all enquiries regarding School Buses)
CONTACT US
Issue 30 12
