October 2013

Quarter 1

From Mr. Terry Hamilton, Principal

This is our first school newsletter for the year and I can report that

we have had a great start to the new academic year. On behalf

of the school and the school board I extend a special welcome

to our new students and families. I would like to touch on a num-

ber of areas of interest to you all. The end of the last academic

year saw a very low turn-over of staff with three full time staff and

two part time staff leaving HIS. We have had new teaching staff

joining H.I.S. and we welcome them most warmly. Ms. Ceri Thorns

will be teaching Science and Biology, Mr. Steven Stander teach-

ing Secondary EAL with some ICT, Mr. Andrew Smith teaching P.E.

and some Math’s and is the coordinator for the co-curricular pro-

gramme, Ms. Jessica Ingram teaching Secondary EAL and sup-

porting Special Educational Needs and Ms. Kaori Ichijo teaching

Japanese. All new staff have settled in well and are now a sound

part of the HIS community.

Continued on page 2...

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Principal’s Message ..................... 2

VP’s Message ............................... 3

PYP/IB/IGCSE ................................ 4

Library Link .................................... 5

Rec/Gr 11 story time .................... 6

Water Puppet CCP ...................... 7

Career News ................................ 8

Student Council…………………..10

PTA…………………………………..11

Athletics…………………………….12

Swimming Gala…………………..14

MRISA Leadership Conf…………15

Hanoi International School has

been operating since 1996, pro-

viding an international English

education to international and

Vietnamese students from Recep-

tion to Grade 12. The school’s

academic programmes include

the International Baccalaureate

Primary Years Prgramme (IBPYP)

from Reception to Grade 5,

preparation for the Cambridge

University’s IGCSE from Grades 6-

10 and the International Bacca-

laureate Diploma Programme for

Grades 11 and 12.

HNOI INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

48 Lieu Giai Street,

Ba Dinh District, Ha Noi

Vietnam

www.hisietnam.com

The Tiger Times

This was a great opportunity for student leaders from all MRISA

member schools to get together and share ideas. We all take

seriously the student input into the decision making that goes on

in our schools. The Conference was a great event and enjoyed

by all. Sports and cultural events will follow shortly.

Can I remind you that we will be having our accreditation visit

from CIS (Council of International Schools) and NEASC (New Eng-

land Association of Schools and Colleges) between October 26

and November 1. A team of ten educators from a number of

countries will be in HIS for a week evaluation us against what we

wrote in our Self-Study document and against the CIS and

NEASC Standards of Accreditation. Their findings and report will

be welcomed when it comes and will support future planning.

The first quarter is coming to an end and we will have the au-

tumn holiday break followed by two days of staff professional

development. This means the school is closed for students from

3.00pm on Friday October 4 until Wednesday morning October

16.

Thank you all for a very smooth and well supported start up to the

year and please regularly look at our web site for all on-going

information and communication.

Yours most sincerely,

Terry Hamilton

Principal.

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Over the summer holiday period much effort and significant investment was put into getting the

school building and site ready to start the new school year. The biggest building project was further

improvement in the roofing and entrance way into the school, a new main office and refurbished

auditorium and re-surfacing with Astroturf the fields next door to the school. In addition we have a

new and improved swimming venue for that programme. Investment continued in technology for

teaching and learning with new computers, more interactive white boards and a range of tablets

and laptops. On-going investment will take place throughout the year for instance we are now set to

put new curtains and a new sound system into the auditorium.

We have upgraded the canteen and kitchens area and ‘Donkey Bakery’ is the new and sole provider

of food for the school canteen. A wide ranging menu is on offer and their services continue to grow in

popularity.

At this time of year HIS is host to a number of visits by universities and their admissions staff who come

and introduce their universities to our older students. To date we have had two such visits from US uni-

versities and on October 18th there is a large fair at HIS with British universities making presentations. I

am very pleased to report that on both visits so far, admissions staff have written to us praising our stu-

dents for their intelligent questioning, for their excellent manners and for just being great students. This

makes us all very proud of our senior students.

From the Head of Elementary

As we draw closer to the end of the first quarter, it’s great to be able to say that our

smooth start to the school year has continued. There are wonderful learning opportu-

nities happening in all areas of the school and our students are motivated and enthu-

siastic. I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to our teacher assistants

for all their hard work in the school. Our students benefit every day in so many ways

because of their care, their hard work and their dedication. We are so fortunate to be

working with such a competent group.

I’d also like to say thanks to Mr Adam for the outstanding organisation of the swim-

ming galas. The junior elementary swim gala was great fun, and even some of the

teachers joined in the relay. It was disappointing to be rained out for both days of the

upper elementary swim gala but we are looking forward to hav-

ing this event at the end of the academic year.

I would like to remind parents that you are welcome to visit our

school at any time. Our classrooms are looking great, and the

corridors are a colourful celebration of our learning. If you would

like to visit your child’s class, please make a suitable time with

the class teacher.

Warren Bowers

From the Head of Secondary

It is hard to believe we are at the end of the first quarter of the year. It

seems like only the other day we were welcoming students back to

school and experiencing the changes that took place over the summer.

Now here we are 8 weeks later! Our PE department predicted the

weather beautifully and we had a fantastic Swim Gala and last week-

end we very successfully hosted the MRISA Leadership conference. Feedback from the

visiting schools was unanimously positive and the team involved in this event are feeling

justifiably proud of what they have accomplished.

Now it is time for a well-earned week off, and we'll look forward to seeing everyone back

in school on Wednesday October 16th, ready for an activity-packed Quarter Two.

David Miles

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What is PYP?

HIS IGCSE-IB Diploma Results May/June 2013 At a glance

Cambridge IGCSE

20 students entered

137 exams sat

68% A*-C 65.2% A*-C World Average

International Baccalaureate Diploma

17 students entered

128 exams sat

Number of candidates registered for Diploma- 13

Number of candidates who passed the Diploma- 12

Average points obtained by candidates at HIS- 33 points

World average points obtained (May 2013) - 29.8 points

Highest number of points obtained- 40 points (2 students)

A* 9

A 26

B 35

C 23

D 27

E 11

What is PYP from a student’s perspective

One of Grade 5’s recent projects was to choose a way to communicate the

beliefs and values behind the PYP.

Each student chose their own way of showing their learning. Some children

created posters, some created Prezi’s, some created PowerPoints, some

created artwork and some wrote a speech and shared it in Assembly.

The example I have attached was done by Claudia Ovejero. She created a

powerpoint in gmail. The simple nature of her presentation makes it clear to

an audience, what is PYP, how does it work and how does it connect

to us.

Miss Lisa

PYP Coodinator

Grade 5 Teacher

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5

Holiday Fun

Read ‘Goodnight Ipad’ on this link -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=kIhiJK5xa18

A guy walks up to the library desk

and says, “Can I have a large bur-

ger, fries and a coke please?"

The librarian replies, "Sir, this is a

library."

So he whispers, "Oh ok, I'll have a

large burger, fries and a coke

please."

Ms Loan is sorting out over 400 new

books!

You can read them NOW!

Kanami Suzuki, grade 9, designed this won-

derful ‘book’ chair for the Art Exhibition last

year.

Other students have also been enjoying Kanami’s

chair.

The Library Link

Grade 11 and Reception

Buddy Interview

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HIS is the first school in Vietnam to adopt this brand new and exciting project. With the

help and guidance of board member Mr Truyen, HIS is preparing to perform an origi-

nal water puppet show based on the Japanese tale, Momotaro. Our creative team is

busy designing the production from scratch. This includes writing the script, making

the puppets and props by hand, acting with the puppets, selecting the music, re-

cording the performance, making CDs……phew! The list goes on and on! We are

lucky enough to have our very own mini mobile water puppet theatre and are being

trained by famous water puppet artisan Phan Thanh Liem (check out his name on

google…you’ll be impressed!)

The Team: Miku Mishima, Sami Mathur, Diyanah Almad Zaki, Vic Dang (UNIS), Miss Jess,

Mr Liem, Mr Tuyen, Miss Chi

Looking forward to you being our first audience at a live performance next quarter!

Jess Ingram

Water Puppets CCP

Our very own mini-mobile water puppet theatre!

Mr Phan Thanh Liem and his super-cute son.

One of Mr Phan Thanh Liem’s training classes…mind the SPLASH!

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Career news

Counselor’s Corner

August and September have been very productive months in terms of informing

our secondary students about tertiary education options. From the USA, we were

delighted to host these colleges and universities:

Hendrix

Boston

Bowdoin

Carleton

Pomona

Swarthmore College

Centre

Hampshire

Beloit

Millsaps

Lewis & Clark

Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Hillsborough Community College

Kansas State University

Mt Holyoke

Northern Michigan University

Miami University

University of Connecticut

In addition to the USA universities, we also hosted the University of Edinburgh. We

are especially fond of this institution because our alumnus, Esther Park, is currently

in the second year of Medicine at Edinburgh.

Grade 9 students have taken their first steps towards career discovery and work

experience. Each student completed a vocational

test to help them to plan an appropriate career, and

many of the students have subsequently decided on

a work experience placement. Students from other

year levels may also be interested in this test, which

can be found atwww.myfuture.com.au The Grade 9

work experience program will he held from 20th to 24th

January. An email has been sent to Grade 9 parents

in English, Japanese, Vietnamese and Korean, ex-

plaining the aims of work experience.

The University of Edinburgh

Rigo working hard at

the Melia Hotel during

the 2013 Work

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A large number of Grade 11 and

12 students are offering CCPs as

part of their CAS programs this

year. Among the offerings are

Beginners’ Mandarin; Conversa-

tional English; IGCSE Revision;

Japanese for Adult Learners; Be-

ginners’ Vietnamese; English for

Japanese Students; and Cook-

ing. Our senior students are learn-

ing so much from their leadership

of these programs and at the

same time are engaging in valu-

able experiences that will in-

crease their chances of university

selection. We look forward to

even more senior students lead-

ing CCPs in the future.

English for Japanese Students

CCP

We extend our congratulations

to all 3 of our graduating

Japanese students for secur-

ing places at some of Japan's

most prestigious universities.

Shotaro (far left) will com-

mence Liberal Arts at Sophia

University, Reina (front centre)

will study Human Science at

Yokohama National University

and Shizuka (back centre) will

join HIS alumnus Mika Niimura

at Waseda University.

Begginer’s Mandarin CCP

While on the topic of universities, our Grade 12

students are preparing their tertiary wish-lists

and some students have already commenced

the application process. Our first deadline

is Hong Kong University of Science and Technol-

ogy, rated number one in Asia for science. HIS

alumnus Hui Yeong Moon has just started her

first year at HKUST and we are hoping to send a

few more students to this prestigious research

university in 2014. Chan Min, Eui Jeong, Chelsea

and Ji Soo are currently writing their applica-

tions to HKUST and we wish them every success!

English Lessons for HIS

Mothers are continuing

this year, meeting every

Wednesday at 3pm. Our

classes are informal and

focus on conversation.

During Quarter Two,

among other topics we

will cover the English skills

and vocabulary needed

to enable parents to ac-

cess information about

tertiary options for their

children and to interact

with university selection

officers. Everyone is wel-

come to join our lessons.

HKUST

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Secondary Student Council

Jin Wook Baek -

President

It was quite challenging for me to

become a president. There were

three nationalities: Korean, Indian

and Vietnamese. As Korean is most

populated in HIS, there were some

advantages for me. However, it

was hard to predict who was going

to win the election: me, Ansh or

Tom! During the speech, I slapped

my brother, Sungwook, and said “If

I become the president, I will not

care about my brother!” This action

was one of my tactics to get some

young children like grade 6

students. I promised to hold lots of

events, be more productive and

efficient, and alleviate the chaos in

cafeteria. That was it. I became a

president. The student council’s first

event will be held during

Halloween!

I am Norihiro from grade 11. I have been elected

as a vice president this year. We recently had

MRISA leadership conference and we have learnt

a fair amount of things which we had never had

before. For this year, I would like each of the

students to get involved in decision making

because people who create a entertained year

are not only student council members but also

each of the HIS students. Let's make a great school

year together!

My idea to run for secretary started from a minor thinking. I thought it would be amazing if I

was part of student council. Since I like to speak and share my ideas to others, I decided to

try to be a person in a student council who was confident in front of crowds.

Despite my enthusiasm to be secretary, I froze on the stage for my speech. However, the

result was totally different from my expectations. Some people complimented and encour-

aged me a lot. Therefore, although I was unsatisfied about my speech, some people’s

compliments made me feel better. .

After unexpectedly elected as secretary, I was so happy and proud of myself because it

gave me a feeling of achievement and success. I encourage the next Grade 11 students

to try to be a part of student council. It was one of the best experiences for me and more

and more people need to try these amazing experiences.— Jee Hyuk Woo

The election was all right for me. Actually, I spent days agonizing

over whether to wear the headband or not. However, even if I lost

this election, it is a good experience in my life so I decided to

wear headband in order to make everyone remember me. I was

very nervous but I tried to look confident to HIS students. It was a

valuable experience. So Yeon Kim, Treasurer

Elementary Student Council Claudia from Grade 5 L will be the new Chair for Elementary Student Council.

Claudia made her debut speech at the Singing Assembly on

October 1.

Watch this space……...

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PTA in Quarter 1

The first official PTA meeting this school year was on September 12, attended by 23 parents and HIS teachers. Subjects discussed during the first session were MRISA Lead-ership Conference Housing, Draft of PTA constitution, canteen with Donkey’s Bakery and PTA committee elections. The new committee consists as last year of Susanne Dollmann (President), Janice Park (Vice President), Mia Rees (Secretary) and Yuko Ta-kahashi (Treasurer). Upcoming Events are the International Day (November 15) the HIWC Bazaar( Novem-ber 24). Just like previous years, the PTA is getting ready to help prepare the school for the HIS booth. Everybody’s support welcome! Next PTA meeting is scheduled for October 17 at 3.15 p.m. at Secondary Library. On Monday, October 14,12.30 p.m. there will be an informal PTA-lunch at BISTRO, 2/2C, Pho van Phuc,. Everybody welcome!

We are looking forward to collaborating with and for HIS in the PTA in the new school year!

All parents are welcome to join us any time to make our organization lively. Thanks for all the great support of so many of parents and HIS staff!

With best regards,

Susanne Dollmann PTA President Hanoi, September 30, 2013

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AthleticsAthleticsAthletics It’s been a busy, fun filled Quarter for PE

and Sport so far. Plenty of fixtures for our

MRISA Volleyball and Basketball Teams,

two swimming galas and a MRISA Leader-

ship Conference hosted at HIS!!!

In preparation for MRISA HS Volleyball and

MS Basketball competitions in Cambodia

our teams have played plenty of warm up

matches against local schools. The boys

MS team coached by Mr Spencer and Mr

Adam have played 4 games winning 3 of

them. The MS Girls are a new team and

have played two matches, although they

lost twice they have made improvements

in their game. Well done Ms Althea and

Young Cho for their hard work with the

team. Our HS Volleyball teams have been

involved in fixtures/tournaments against

UNIS playing against their MRISA and

APAC teams. Matches have been close

and the players have made excellent

progress under the guidance of their

coaches Mr Andy and Mr Xousath.

Recently, we held two Swimming Gala’s, one for Secondary school and one for Rec – 2. Both events were

well organised, students and staff had a fantastic time at both.

SECONDARY SCHOOL

1ST PLACE – DRAGON 865

2ND PLACE- BUFFALO 681

3RD PLACE- GECKO 540

Due to the weather we had to cancel the Grade 3 – 5 Gala this will be held in May/June 2014.

Continued on next page...

REC – 2 GALA

1ST PLACE - GECKO 296

2ND PLACE- DRAGON 279

3RD PLACE – BUFFALO 275

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Athletics, continued from previous page:

At the weekend HIS welcomed schools from Cambodia, Lao, HCMC, Hanoi and Thailand to the first MRISA event of

2013 -2014. The Leadership Conference was a brilliant event which ran for two days. The students learned a lot

about Leadership and the feedback received was positive. It was great to show off our school and put on an event

which teachers said “was the best they had attended”. Special thanks to Mr Dan, Ms Danielle and Mr Adam for the

planning and organisation. Other special thank you goes to Donkey Bakery for providing amazing food for the

weekend, also a big thank you to our HS students who gave up their weekend to take photos and videos of the

event.

- Adam Lee

Junior Girls Basketball The Junior Girls have been training hard and are showing great improve-

ment. Our captain, Karen, scored two baskets in our last game against

UNIS. Young Sung Cho in Year 11 has been a great help coaching the girls.

Last week, we held a bake sale to raise some money to support him, so he

can travel with us to Cambodia for the tournament, and we were able to

raise 3, 341, 000 VND. He has never had a bake sale held is his honour be-

fore and felt quite special!

Ms Althea

13

Secondary & Lower Elementary Swimming Gala

14

‘The best leadership conference I have been to in 3 years of

attending them.’ (Mike from ISPP)

HIS were the proud hosts of the 2013 MRISA Leadership Confer-

ence this quarter. On the weekend of Friday 27th September,

around forty students from schools along the Mekong Delta,

including ISPP, ISHCMC, UNIS, —————converged at HIS for

an action-packed weekend of problem-solving, communica-

tion and teamwork in order to further develop their leadership

skills.

The Conference began with a series of fun ice-breaker chal-

lenges, designed to allow the students to get to know one an-

other a little better, to relax and build confidence, whilst start-

ing to consider the main focus for the weekend- what makes

a good leader?

Then the students were presented with the ‘mystery challenge’

for the weekend- The Amazing Race! Groups were dropped

off in the middle of the Old Quarter with a limited budget and

limited time, to complete a series of tasks. The aim was to com-

plete as many tasks as possible to gain points. The winning

team managed to stay within budget, end the race on time

and gather an amazing total of 96 points!!! To make the task

more challenging, students were placed in mixed teams from

a variety of schools/nationalities and were only given 1 hour to

come up with a teamwork strategy! Students had a lot of fun!

On the second day of the conference, students gathered

again at basecamp HIS, for another day of team work, prob-

lem solving and strategy. The aim was for student s to reflect

upon their strengths as a leader and to recognize their areas

for improvement. Students took part in a card game designed

to test their thinking skills and teamwork and finally students

used their new found leadership skills to deliver a presentation

on how to organize a successful school event.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend and many students ex-

pressed how enjoyable and valuable an experience they

found it.

‘On behalf of our ISHCMC student representatives, I would like

to thank you and all HIS staff involved in hosting the recent

MRISA Leadership Conference. Our students have expressed

that it was a very valuable and enjoyable learning experience.

Your efforts are greatly appreciated!’

Regards, Bob(ISHCMC) Organisers: Mr. Dan Slaughter, Mr. Adam Lee, Ms. Danielle

Kaunhoven

MRISAMRISAMRISAMRISA

LEADERSHIPLEADERSHIPLEADERSHIPLEADERSHIP

CONFERENCECONFERENCECONFERENCECONFERENCE

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Qu

art

er

2

Ev

en

ts

Mid semester break 5-13 October

Staff PD (NO CLASSES) 14-15 October

UK Universities Visit 18 October

PTA Lunch 11 November

PTA Meeting 14 November

International Day 15 November

Secondary Camp Week 18-22 November

PTA Lunch 2 December

PTA Meeting 5 December

Book Week 9-13 December

Yoga

at HIS

Parents from the HIS community are invited to join our yoga classes held on

Wednesdays at 3:15 pm.

Email landerson@hisvietnam.com for more information.

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