The newsletter provides information about upcoming events at the British International School in Ho Chi Minh City including a musical coffee morning on October 8th, half term holiday from October 20th-27th, and a Year 6 trip to Dam Sen Park on October 29th. It also summarizes recent activities celebrating "We Love Books" week such as a book character parade and visit from author Adam Bushnell. The newsletter highlights community service projects, upcoming parent-teacher conferences, and end of term performances and activities.

1. 8/10 Musical Coffee Morning
W/C 20/10 Half Term Holiday
27/10 Children back to school
29/10 Year 6 Trip to Dam Sen Park
BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL - HO CHI MINH CITY
3 OCTORBER 2014 | ISSUE 6
Dates for your diary
IN THIS ISSUE
From Head of Campus 2
We Love Books! 3
The Very Hungry Caterpillar in EYFS + Musical Coffee Morning 4
Blogspot + EAL for Parents + Dates of Term 1 5
Community Service 6
PE Department + Holiday Programme 7
BBGV Fun Run + Finer Dinners 8
October
TU XUONG PRIMARY
Newsletter
Contact information
43-45 Tu Xuong St, District 3, HCMC
Tel: (848) 3932 0210
Fax: (848) 3932 0770
E-mail:
suehill@bisvietnam.com
Newsletter Issue 6|1

2. From Head Teacher - Ms. Sue Hill
Dear Parents,
This week at TX, we certainly showed that ‘we love books’! The week started with parades
of children, imaginatively dressed as characters from their favourite books. EYFS children
were the first to parade, in the foyer, and were delighted to receive a surprise visit from the
genie of the lamp. Next, it was the turn of the Year 1 to Year 6 children who showed off
their amazing costumes year group by year group. The judges had a very difficult decision,
however, managed to select one child from each year group as the winners. The teachers
and teaching assistants also made an amazing effort and came as characters from the
following books:
EYFS – The Very Hungry Caterpillar; MP1 – The Smartest Giant in Town; MP2 – The
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; MP3 – Around the World in 80 Days; the office team – Aladdin.
In addition to the book character parade, the children have enjoyed fantastic activities and opportunities to get
carried away with their reading such as snuggle down and read and browsing at the book fair. Adam Bushnell,
our visiting author, really inspired our community, leading workshops for children, a coffee morning for parents
and a staff meeting for teachers. Thank you to everyone who made the week a special one and don’t forget to
keep on reading!
The first coffee morning for the planning of our International Celebrations took place on Wednesday. We had
parents representing the following countries: Japan, India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Italy, France, Kuwait and Korea
but would be keen to involve many more! If you are interested in offering ideas and/or support for this year’s
celebrations, which will take place November 19th
, then please contact Mr James (Year 6 teacher and MP3
Leader) or Ms Thanh (Head TA based in the office).
Newsletter Issue 6|2

3. Newsletter Issue 6|3
We Love Books!

4. The Very Hungry Caterpillar in EYFS
Newsletter Issue 6|4
In the light of the moon a little egg lay on a leaf… and children in EYFS came dressed up as their favourite
book character to welcome in our book celebration. A sea of book characters came to life as they paraded
beautifully and confidently in front of their parents. Teachers enthusiastically walked as characters from the
story ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’. Our book celebration was not complete without the ‘Snuggle up and read’
activity where children changed into their pyjamas and shared books with friends whilst sipping hot chocolate
and marshmallows. Children were treated for a short play of the story as teachers dressed up in costumes and
re-told the book.
Mr Adam Bushnell a brilliant author and storyteller came to visit each class in EYFS to share stories about
dragons and the big bad wolf. All children showed great enthusiasm learning the different sounds the animals
in his story made. The children even got to meet the dragon and the wolf! It was indeed a fun and memorable
book celebration in EYFS!
Ms Grace
F2 Teacher
Musical Coffee Morning
Musical Coffee Morning
Wednesday 8th
October, 8 - 10am
All parents are invited to a special musical coffee morning on Wednesday. Mr Robbie will be
hosting a musical event featuring many of our students performing on their instruments from
Years 1 – 6. Refreshments will be available in the TX foyer as you enjoy the musical delights
of our talented TX students.
Mr. Robbie

5. EAL for Parents
Blogspot
Today is World Smile Day and there have been plenty of smiles on the faces of the children at TX this
week. Our annual celebration of reading was named ‘We Love Books’ this year and it is clearly true that we
do. On Monday there was an amazing array of costumes to be seen as all the children from F1 to Year 6
dressed up as book characters; there are over 700 photos that you can download on the post ‘We Love
Books’. We also had a visit from Adam Bushnell who is an author based in the UK. Parents, children and
teachers alike only had positive things to say about his work.
Our specialist teachers have been busy this week; Ms Jane has added a new page to the EAL blog to help
parents support with grammar and spelling, Ms Charlie is looking for help in collecting together plastic
materials for an art project and Mr Robbie is beginning to prepare for the FOBISIA Primary Performing Arts
Carnival. Please see the blog for more details.
On my blog (ianbattersby.blogspot.com) this week
you will find the following posts:
We Love Books
TX EAL Blog
We Really Do Love Books
Plastic Collection for Eco-Art Project
A Message from Mr Robbie
Finer Diners – MP1
Mr. Ian
"English Conversation Club is a friendly, welcoming group for our TX parents. We aim to improve
conversational English by using spoken /oral communication skills. There will be a new, fun topic to discuss
each week! This club is for adults who already have some spoken English language skills."
Club Fee: 8 weeks = 880,000VND TOTAL
Club Starts: Monday 6th
October 2014 (8.00 – 8.45am)
Please contact Ms Oanh (oanhninhthikieu@bisvietnam.com) or Ms Alexea (alexeastevens@bisvietnam.com) if
you would like more information.
Dates of Term 1
Date Year Group/s Event
8/10 Y1 –6 Musical Coffee Morning
8/10 Y6 PDV visits Y6
w/c 20/10 All Half Term Holiday
29/10 Y6 Trip to Dam Sen Park
5/11 Y6 Y6 to PDV
6/11-9/11 Y4-6 Phuket Football Competition
14/11 All Interim Reports to parents
27/11 Y1-Y6 Parents’ Evening
29/11 EYFS Parents Teddy Bears’ Picnic
3/12 Y3 TX visits Thien Phuoc
3/12 Y6 Y6 to PDV
7/12 All Clubs Finish
11/12 MP2 MP2 Production (Evening)
12/12-15/12 Y4-Y6 Bangkok Feeding Frenzy Swim Meet
17/12 EYFS Christmas Concert
18/12 Y1-Y6 Christmas Concert (Evening)
19/12 All Term 1 finishes @ 11.30am

6. Community Service
Think Ahead
Wear Your Helmet
Have you noticed how it always seems to rain as we are going home these days? But
whether it’s raining to not, the roads can be dangerous for people on bikes and motorbikes.
Think ahead - protect yourself and your children by wearing a helmet whenever you are on a
bike, electric bike or motorbike.
Doing something so simple could save your life!
Ms. Heather
The first Green Certificate of the year was awarded to 6T today. The
Eco-Scouts monitored classrooms over the past weeks, and looked at
the use or abuse of lights, air conditioner, projector, and the recycle box.
They reported that many classrooms did a great job, but in the end, 6T
was the only class displaying an updated Eco-Code signed by all class
members (including teacher and TA).
Well done 6T.
Who will win the Green Certificate next month?
Ms. Heather
Eco-Warriors
Thien Phuoc visits Year 3
On Wednesday, the Year 3 children welcomed twelve children from the
Thien Phuc orphanage for a play date, as part of their community project
for the year. Thien Phuc is an orphanage for children with disabilities,
situated in Ho Chi Minh City. The orphanage receives no financial support
from the authorities and is helped by charitable donations and the hard
work and support of its volunteers.
The Year 3 children split into three groups, with each group having a
different responsibility. One group set up different play areas, with a range
of activities in the foyer and soft play room at TX. Another group prepared
snacks for the visitors, and the final group had a great time sharing games
with their new friends. Over the year, the groups will take the
responsibilities in turns and will also have the opportunity to visit the
children at the Thien Phuc orphanage.
We were very proud of our children, who showed great team work skills,
empathy and maturity throughout the morning.
‘At first I was a bit shy but then I began to play with the children. I liked
playing with them in the soft playroom the most’. Thao My
‘I liked playing play dough with the children. We made fruits from the play
dough and we had lots of fun together.’ Pucca
Ms. Jessica
Newsletter Issue 6|6

7. Newsletter Issue 6|7
On Wednesday 1st
October the U11 TX Basketball squad played against AP1.
The boys squad consisted of; Bao Tran, Anh Vu Dang, Pana Duong, Tyler Nguyen, Yoo Min Park, Rishi
Ahuja, Gia Vinh Nguyen, David Nghiem, Andrew Vu. In the first half the boys demonstrated assertion and
determination. The team made some superb steals and attacks onto AP1’s basket with Gia Vinh the captain
being the driving force. Anh Vu continually positioned himself in the middle of the key to receive the pass and
shoot. However, AP1 caught onto this and double marked him quickly. In the second half the TX team lost
their momentum and struggled to pass the ball into the key resulting in some wayward shots on the basket.
Tyler Nguyen gets player of the match this week as his defensive play was unrelenting. The end result was TX
5 points and AP1 12 points.
The girl’s team were on court shortly after. The team consisted of Jeanette Vo, Hannah Bui, Yu Gyeong Kang,
Minh Nguyen, Susu Le and Kelly Tran. The girl’s team looked very nervous when they stepped onto the court.
They were hesitant from the off with AP1 scoring the within the first few minutes. Jeanette the captain and Su-
su tried to push and motivate the girls continually attempting to attack AP1’s basket. By the second half, the
TX team struggled to keep up with the intensity of the play. The final score was TX 0 and AP1 10 points. The
player of the match was awarded to Susu as she demonstrated sheer determination on court to get the ball
within her defensive position.
The TX squad’s next match is on the 15th
October at ISSP! With hard work, patience and practise, the squad
will rise to the challenge!
BIS Invitational Swim Meet- Saturday 1st
November 2014
If your son/daughter is part of the early morning swim squad, they have been invited to participate in the meet.
Please can you check your emails and update their availability for the event.
Thank you
Ms. Charlotte
Holiday Programme
PE Department

8. BBGV Fun Run
Newsletter Issue 6|8
Finer Dinners
Well-done to Ada, Kiet and Bao Nghi (Year 1), and Joshua, Jeremy and Hoai Thuong (Year 2).