The newsletter from the British International School in Hanoi provides information on upcoming events at the school including a visit from renowned rock climber Ben Heason and the school's annual winter show. It also summarizes anti-bullying activities during the week and the secondary school's challenge day competition between student teams. The principal's message expresses gratitude for the school's teachers and upcoming opportunities for students including the silver level Duke of Edinburgh International Award.

1. BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL - HANOI
NEWSLETTER
NOVEMBER 21 2014| ISSUE 12
IN THIS ISSUE
From Mr. Anthony Rowlands
From Mr. Christopher Short
The Apprentice - Secondary Challenge Day
From Mrs. Karen Hanratty
EYC Show Preparations
Primary Anti-Bullying Week
Advance Notice
Lunch Menu
Contacts
02
03
04
05
06
07 - 08
09
10
11
Issue 12 | 1
UPCOMING EVENTS
24th
Ben Heason – Rock Climber visits School
KS4/5 Boys Basketball vs Wellspring
25th
Open Day
26th
KS3 Boys & Girls Football vs BVIS
Y2 visit to Alfresco restaurant, Vincom Centre
Science Competition
27th
ECAs finish
27th
- 29th
Silver DoEIA Qualifying Expedition
28th
Primary Reports Distributed
2nd
KS3 Boys Football vs KISH
Primary Parents Evening
3rd
Y3B to visit Ho Chi Minh Museum
Y12 Parents Evening
4th
Primary Parents Evening
KS3 Boys and Girls Football vs UNIS
KS4/5 Girls Basketball vs Concordia
5th
Y3I to visit Ho Chi Minh Museum
Y10 Interhouse Science Competition
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER

2. Issue 12 | 2
From Mr Anthony Rowlands - Principal of BIS Hanoi
There is a busy time ahead for BIS
Hanoi as, this coming Sunday, we will
be involved with the HIWC Annual
Bazaar. This is a big Charity event
which we are pleased to be
sponsoring. Some of our children will
be performing on stage and we will
have two stalls operated by students
and staff. If you are going to the Bazaar please come
and support our students and stalls. In school the
following day, we have the visit of Mr. Ben Heason, a
well-known UK rock climber. This is a visit our students
and teachers are particularly looking forward to. Ben
will be speaking to various Year Groups throughout the
day about his accomplishments, giving all our students
the opportunity to listen to him. Over the past couple of
weeks, Ben has been leading a climbing expedition in
Ha Long Bay and I am sure that he will have much to
share with us all about his exploits there and in other
parts of the world. In particular, I am sure that our Year
4 students will be very interested, as they are studying
'Adventurers' as their IPC topic. Additionally, our Year
11 and Year 12 students, who are undertaking the Silver
DoE International Award Practice walk at the end of
next week, will learn a lot from Ben about one of our
key attributes - Perseverance.
It is, of course, wonderful to see our oldest students
participating in the Silver level of the DoE IA after the
success of our Year 10 students in the Bronze Award
last year. I would like to wish them the best of luck as
they embark on their tough journey towards achieving
the Silver Level of the Award. Equally, a large group of
our current Year 10’s are already preparing for the
Bronze level. I am grateful to all these students for their
commitment in seeking different challenges and ways of
improving their life skills. None of this could be done, of
course, without the same commitment from all the
teachers involved and, in particular, Mr. Robert Airdrie
who coordinates the whole IA programme.
Next Tuesday, we will be holding an Open Day: Parents
and Students Learning Together. This gives our parents
the opportunity see how the school operates on a
typical day, to observe lessons and share learning
experiences with their children. It promises to be a
wonderful day and I look forward to welcoming many
parents to the school.
Thursday of this week was Teacher’s Day in Vietnam
and in BIS Hanoi. I am grateful to the number of parents
and students who expressed their gratitude to our
teachers. Teachers are, indeed, special and I am
particularly proud of our teachers who work so hard to
ensure quality learning in so many ways for our
students.
Also on Thursday we experienced the Secondary
Section’s second challenge day of the year – “The
Apprentice”. What a wonderful day this turned out to be
and that you will be able to read more about ‘’The
Apprentice’’ later in this Newsletter.
Have a wonderful weekend!

3. We’ve been looking forward to Week
12 since half term. Every week is
busy at BIS Secondary but this week
has seen a number of interesting
events.
It has been Anti-bullying week all
week. Even in a school such as ours
where we don’t have a bullying issue it is important
not to be complacent and make sure every student
knows that we won’t tolerate bullying between
members of our school community and what to do if
they feel they are bullied. Miss Stevenson has
coordinated a number of activities through the week,
one of which was a survey to gauge students’
opinions of bullying and anti-social behaviour.
School, form and individual photos were also taken
this week. This might sound a little mundane to
celebrate as an event but I think these form a
marvellous record of a child’s development and offer
a chance for reflection. My parents are moving house
at the moment and in sorting things out found a stash
of my old school photos. They have commented that
they have really enjoyed looking again at these and it
brought back such memories of the conversations we
used to have about what I was learning at school at
each stage the photos were taken.
Issue 12 | 3
From Mr Christopher Short - Head of Secondary
We had our first full parents' meeting of the year this
week as Year 10 students and parents met with their
teachers to discuss their initial progress on their
IGCSE courses. It was great to have so many parents
in school for this important event.
Yesterday saw our ICT, Geography, English and
Business Studies departments run their Challenge
Day. They chose to do an activity inspired by the UK
and US TV show, The Apprentice. It was a busy day
for staff and students and they applied their
knowledge to create the best presentation they could.
Congratulations to the following teams for making the
final four: Dalat 8, Hue 7, Hanoi 9. Saigon 4 and Dalat
for being the eventual winner. Many thanks to our
special guest judge: Ms Van Huong

4. Issue 12 | 4
CHALLENGE DAY

5. Rehearsals are now well underway for
this year’s Early Years Centre Winter
Show. Last year’s production, ‘All I
want for Christmas’ was a great success
with the children achieving amazing
standards of acting, singing and
dancing.
This year’s show, entitled ‘To the Crystal Caves’ has
again been written by Ms. Kaye Meakin. It is a tale of
good versus bad, right against wrong as goodies race
against baddies in a hunt through different story lands
for the magic box that contains the magic potion that
can save the holiday. Will they be able to do it in time?
The children in EYC are involved in all aspects of the
production. From singing and dancing, to learning lines
and acting, making props and scenery and designing
and making their own costumes, this will be an entirely
Issue 12 | 5
From Mrs Karen Hanratty - Head of Primary
FINE DINING
child-led show. Events like this are a wonderful
experience for children, teaching them a range of skills
and developing self-confidence in a way that normal
lessons do not. It is wonderful to watch, as rehearsals
progress, how children are growing into their roles and
things that at the beginning seemed beyond them
suddenly become attainable.
The show will take place on Friday 12th December at
1.30 pm in the Auditorium. We shall look forward to
welcoming all parents to what promises to be a magical
afternoon.

6. Issue 12 | 6
EYC SHOW PREPARATIONS

7. This week has been Anti-Bullying
week and the Primary School
Councillors did a fantastic job in
introducing it to their classes on
Monday. Children within Primary
have been made aware of the
differences between ‘falling out’ and
‘bullying’. Even though we are
fortunate enough not to have many
cases of bullying within our school, we aim to tackle it
by trying to prevent it happening in the first place, and
by tackling it consistently, fairy and effectively when it
does. The activities that children have been doing
through the week are part of this preventative work and
have helped all children understand what bullying is,
how it feels and what to do if it happens to them or they
see it happening to someone else.
Children have been taught that bullying is repeated
unkind behaviour. It can happen anywhere and
includes physically hurting and leaving people out as
well as damaging one another’s things and making fun
of each other.
Issue 12 | 7
Ms Maria Hussain
EAL Teacher
One of the key focuses during this week was thinking
about similarities and differences which are often used
as a reason for bullying. Children have engaged in
discussions and debates about how this can be tackled.
They have also watched short video clips showing
different ‘bullying’ scenarios and talked about
appropriate ways to handle similar situations.
Primary School Council members ran an exciting
‘Anti-Bullying’ poster competition. Well done to the
following children for creating the most appealing
posters:
Dai Duong and Phu Lam 1B
Katherine 2B
Binh Minh 3B
Phuong Anh 4B
Minh Quang Y5
Nhu Y 6B
The most creative poem winner is:
Tung Lam 5I
Well done!
Anti-Bullying week
Primary

8. Issue 12 | 8
ANTI-BULLYING WEEK

9. Issue 12 | 9
BIS Hanoi is pleased to announce that Mr Ben Heason will visit the school on Monday 24th November 2014.
Ben is one of the UK’s leading climbers and has been climbing full-time for over 15 years. He is
world-renowned for his bold climbing on routes at the cutting edge of the sport, including his impressive
exploits on big wall expeditions around the globe. In 2005 Ben was part of an International Expedition to
climb the world’s highest waterfall, deep in the heart of the Venezuelan jungle. The team's successful
expedition, with climbing at the highest level in an incredibly remote region of the planet, has been praised as
'one of the finest achievements by British rock climbers on foreign soil'.
Ben is in Hanoi with a team who are on a climbing expedition in Ha Long Bay. Ben will speak to students
during the day from Early Years through to Year 12. It will be a great experience for our students to listen and learn from a person
who achieved so much and shown so much perseverance.
You can learn more about Ben at: www.benheason.com
ADVANCE NOTICE

10. Issue 12 | 10
BIS HANOI MENU
Week Beginning 24th November
Monday
24th
Nov 25th
Nov 26th
Nov 27th
Nov 28thS
Nov
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.
Yogurt Banana crepeCaramel
Morning
snack
Morning
snack
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch
Afternoon
snack
EYFSPRIMARYSECONDARY
American
doughnut
Roast chicken
with honey
Fish hamburger
Roast chicken
with honey
Fish hamburger
Grilled chicken
with pepper sauce
Chicken
hamburger
Fried fish cake
with pineapple
Chiken noodle
Sauteed pork
with rice
Grilled chicken
leg with
pepper sauce
Fried fish cake
with pineapple
Maccaroni
with meat sauce
Roast pork with
green onion
Chiken noodle
Sausage calzone
Chicken
hamburger
Roast pork with
green onion
Ground beef
in tomato sauce
Fried crispy
chicken
Chiken noodle
Tuna sandwich
Fried fish cake
with pineapple
Ground beef in
tomato sauce
Grilled BBQ pork
Grilled BBQ pork
Grilled BBQ pork
Roast chicken
with honey
Fried rice
with egg
and vegetables
Ground beef
in tomato sauce
Fried crispy
chicken
Braised fish
with rice
Sticky rice
with dry pork
Steam roll with
pork cake
Soya milk Milk
Fruit
Juice Juice
Fruit Fruit Fruit Fruit
FruitFruit Fruit
Juice JuiceJuice
Soya milk MilkJuice JuiceJuice
Sausage rollRice soup
American
doughnut
Sticky rice
with dry pork
Steam roll with
pork cake
Sausage rollRice soup
Fresh tofu

11. Issue 12 | 11
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: 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: 189
huyennguyenngoc@bishanoi.com
(For all enquiries regarding Marketing)
Finance Department: 202
(For all enquiries regarding school fees)
Medical Room: 117/303
linhdieu@bishanoi.com (Main school)
liennguyen@bishanoi.com (Early Years Building)
(For all enquiries regarding Medical Issues)
Uniform Shop: 221
tamle@bishanoi.com
duyennguyenthi@bishanoi.com
nhungpham@bishanoi.com
(For all enquiries regarding School Uniform)
School Buses: 218
nganguyenthithuy@bishanoi.com
(For all requiries regarding School Buses)