9- 11/3 Year 4 Trip to Long Hai

19/3 Parents’ Evening

1/4 Spring Concert (eve)

5/4 Term 2 Cbubs finish

8/4 MP2 Speech Competition

14/4 MP3 Production

BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL - HO CHI MINH CITY

06 MARCH 2015 | ISSUE 23

Dates for your diary

IN THIS ISSUE

March + April

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 23|1

From the Deputy Head Teacher + Finer Diners 2

Binh Trieu Visit in Y1 + ARC Visit in EYFS 3

SISAC Swim Meet 4

Kon Tum Toothbrush Collection 5

Green Certificate + Eco– Scouts Club + 6X Say No to Shark Fin Soup 6

F2 Visit to the Fire Station + Dates of Term 2 7

Friends Around the World 8

Young Musician of the Year + Holiday Programmes 9

Newsletter Issue 23|2

We are all citizens of Ho Chi Minh City, but our community goes well beyond simply living in the same place. We care, show respect, act with integrity so that we can all learn together. This was evidenced on numerous occasions this week. Our EYFS children all had a visitor from ARC – Animal Rescue and Care; the first of several visits teaching the children to safely care for animals. Year 1, Year 2 and Year 6 all spent time with their community partners, Binh Trieu, Tran Khanh Du and Poussieres De Vie. In each case the children showed respect and understanding for the children they were working with. Our assembly this morning was led by the Year 6 children. Human desire for shark fins and rhino horns has driven these species to the edge of extinction. Watch out next week, as the children continue to challenge all our community to act with integrity with regards to these animals.

The second part of our assembly continued the community theme. Alois Luong is a pupil in Year 8 at the An Phu Secondary Campus. With his brother Jeremie in Year 10, he organised the Kon Tum toothbrush project. They spoke to Mr Wilson about the idea, built the collection boxes and then, in February, visited Kon Tum to distribute the toothbrushes to the orphans. As he spoke to the children in assembly today, it became clear to me how BIS children really are global citizens with a strong sense of what being part of a community really means. Another aspect of being part of a community is looking after each other. This week, Tim Gerrish, a child protection and safeguarding expert from the UK visited all the campuses of the BIS, and spent two further days training our staff. The children’s safety is paramount in all that we do, and we look forward to receiving Tim’s report with suggestions how we can make our school an even safer place for the children. Keeping our children safe online was the focus of our coffee morning this week. The internet was compared to a swimming pool. We don’t build high walls around swimming pools; we teach children how to swim. In the same way, we shouldn’t be trying to stop children from using the internet, we need to teach them how to use it safely. The focus this week was on what systems we have in school to monitor and filter what the children can do online, and how this can be replicated at home. Please see our Digital Citizenship website for some resources on what you can do to make the internet safer for your children: http://digitalcitizenship.bisvietnam.net/ Congratulations to our swimming team who came third in the SISAC Swim Meet this week. Being the smallest of the 6 schools that took part, it is a great achievement, and thank you to Ms Charlie and Mr Chau for all your hard work. On Monday next week, our Year 4 children head off on their residential trip to Long Hai. I wish them a successful trip and look forward to finding out who will be the sandcastle champion of 2015. Also next week, please look out for the sign-up sheets for parents evening which is taking place on Thursday 19

th March.

Have a great weekend and Happy Holi to all our Hindu families. Mr. Ian Battersby

From the Deputy Head Teacher - Mr Ian

Finer Diners

Congratulations to Saranya, Katie and PO (Year 3), and Justin, Johnny and

Yun Seo (Year 4).

Newsletter Issue 23|3

Binh Trieu Visit in Y1

Year 1 had a wonderful time this week getting to know their new friends from Binh Trieu! They laughed underneath the parachute, made awesome lego models and jumped around in the soft play room together. Sushi said “I made a new friend and played with her in every room!” Cadlha said “I made friends with a girl even though I don’t speak Vietnamese!” Kevin said “My friend was called Guong, I played lego with him!” Duc Nguyen: Musical statues was so much fun because I didn’t lose.

Ms Holly Johnson Year 1 Teacher

ARC Visit in EYFS

As EYFS’ community partner, we invited Ms Koto from Animal Rescue and Care (ARC) to tell us how we should take care of our pets. She visited F1, F2 and F3 units last Tuesday morning and taught us what our pets need. We learnt that dogs, cats, rabbits and other pet animals should be given enough water, proper food and a clean home. They also need families and friends who will love and care for them. Thank you Ms Koto for sharing great and useful information with us! We are looking forward to more visits from you and your friends from ARC! Ms Crislet F1X Teacher

SISAC Swim Meet On Wednesday 4th March 25 students in years 3-6 took part in the SISAC swim meet from TX. The students took part in range of short distance events and relays. They enjoyed the afternoon and a lot of students won ribbons. Congratulations to Andrew Vu who came second in 9-10 boys’ age category and Quynh An Tran who came third in the 8 and under girls’ category for overall individual points scored. The TX team did extremely well and came in 3rd place overall out of 6 Schools. Well done to everyone that took part and keep up the hard work!

Ms Charlotte

Newsletter Issue 23|4

S I S A C

M

E

E

T

S W I

M

Newsletter Issue 23|5

KonTum was a unique experience. We were received with a

warm welcome from the children of “Vinh Son 4” and we were

also able to sleep among the villagers of KonTum.

As soon as we arrived at the orphanage, the children rushed

towards us as if they had not seen us in a long time. We started

the day with a simple game where they sang “Brush, Brush,

Brush your teeth, Everyday!” while racing around a circle. While

playing, the children had great big smiles that went up to their

ears and they laughed and giggled.

The next activity was more of a practical one. The children had to

brush a giant tooth covered in dirt. At first, they didn’t understand

what they had to do because of their lack of English but as after a

short while they understood and started to really enjoy this

activity.

Next, we gave out the toothbrushes. This was a very joyful and

exciting moment as these children could finally have their own

toothbrushes. We decided to write their names on the

toothbrushes to avoid confusion. It was obvious from the look in

the children’s eyes that it was a fabulous moment for them, like

Christmas when they got a unique gift, an object that they would

treasure for a long time.

I was surprised when I saw the children put so much time and

effort brushing their teeth for the first time. Some of them even

brushed for 10 minutes nonstop!

At that time, I realised that this operation really worked well but

for it to be a real success, the children need to get into a habit to

brush their teeth on a daily basis. For this, we can fortunately rely

on the volunteers of Poussière de Vie who work in KonTum. This

is only the beginning of a long project and we will hopefully be

able to continue to support this project with your help.

Leaving Vinh Son 4 was hard because we just started to know

the children better. As our car left, they ran after it waving their

hands to say good bye. We can’t wait to go back in the future to

see if the children have made good use of their toothbrushes.

Happiness can be found in as simple things as sharing a smile.

These children have very little, but they gave us so much.

by Alois Luong 8S and Jeremie Luong 10N

Kon Tum Toothbrush Collection

Newsletter Issue 23|6

Green Certificate, February 2015

Despite the Tet holidays, the Eco-Scouts managed to select the first winner of the Year of the Goat Green certificate. Well done 4T It’s getting harder to choose between the classes as they all get

better at being green, so who will be awarded the Green Certificate

next month?

Reduce, reuse, recycle too, The Eco-Teams are watching YOU!

6X Say No to Shark Fin Soup!

6X have been researching the impact that shark fin soup has on the oceans of the world.

Through their research they found that demand for the soup throughout the world, but especially

in Asian countries such as Vietnam and China, has led to 100 million sharks being killed each

year. Using reliable sources for their research, 6X found that global shark numbers have fallen

by up to 90% over the past 15 years. Individual species such as bull sharks and smooth

hammerheads have seen their populations reduced by 99% since 1972! Sharks are heading for

extinction and 6X want the TX community to do something to help! Far from being a deadly

animal to be feared every time we go near water, 6X found that sharks play a valuable role in

keeping ocean ecosystems healthy and actually kill far less people each year than cows,

coconuts and even beds!! On Thursday, 6X will have a stall in the foyer where they will

encourage members of the TX community to pledge to not eat shark fin soup and save sharks

as a result. Please sign the pledge, and more importantly ‘Say no to shark fin soup!’

Mr James

Eco– Scouts Club

As usual the Eco-Scouts met this week to continue their junk modelling. They are finding fun ways to reuse and recycle their waste. Ms Heather

Newsletter Issue 23|7

F2’s Visit to the Fire Station

This week on Thursday, F2 visited the local fire station in D3. We were all made to feel very welcome and there were lots of fun activities set up for us. There were lots of demonstrations to show the children how people were rescued safely from a fire. We spent some time exploring the 7 different fire engines at the station, which were from different countries. The children’s favourite activities included watching the children go down the fire man’s pole, using the hose pipes and sitting in the engines. The children’s confidence to ask questions and join it with activities grew as the morning went on and we finished with listening to the fire engine siren. An exciting morning full of learning and fun! Ms Gurvinder and Ms Grace

Dates of Term 2

Date Year Group/s Event

9/3—11/3 Y4 Residential Trip to Long Hai

19/3 All Parents’ Evening

1/4 Y3-6 Spring Concert (evening)

5/4 All Term 2 Clubs Finish

8/4 MP2 Speech Competition

14/4 MP3 Production—’Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ (evening)

17/4 All Term 2 finishes @ 11.30am

Newsletter Issue 23|8

Friends Around the World

Newsletter Issue 23|9

Young Musician of the Year

Date Sport Time

Head

Coach

Minimum

No. Of

Students Age

Prices (all in

VND) Location

20/4-24/4 Football 8 am- 11

am SSA Min 8

Year 3

upwards 2,200,000 Big field

20/4-24/4 Basketball 1pm-4pm SSA Min 8 Year 3

upwards 2,200,000

AP2 Sports

hall

20/4-24/4 Swimming 8.45am -

1.45pm Mr Vinh Min 8 F2 upwards

Various prices

(see letter)

AP1 Swim-

ming Pool

20/4-24/4 T-ball/

Softball

4pm -

5.30pm Mr Richard Min 8

Year 3

upwards 660,000 VND Big Field

20/4-24/4 Multisports 8.15am -

9.15am Mr Richard Min 8 F3 - Y2 440,000 VND

AP1 Sports

Hall

20/4-24/4 Multisports 9.45am -

10.45am Mr Richard Min 8 F1 - F2 440,000 VND

AP1 Sports

Hall

27/4-1/5 Football 8 am- 11

am SSA Min 8

Year 3

upwards 2,200,000 Big field

27/4-1/5 Basketball 1pm-4pm SSA Min 8 Year 3

upwards 2,200,000

AP2 Sports

hall

Holiday Programmes