Issue8

17 October 2014 | ISSUE 8

Dates for your diary

IN THIS ISSUE

From: Page

Headteacher & Deputy Headteacher 2,3

Maths Department 4,5

Community Service 6

Introducing Our New Teachers 7

The Library 8

ICT Department 9

PE Department 10

Extra Curricular Clubs 11

PTG 12

Lunch Menus from F1—Year 6 13,14

Contact information

225 Nguyen Van Huong St, District 2, HCMC

Tel: (848) 3744 4551

Fax: (848) 3744 4182

E-mail:

[email protected]

BRITISH INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL - HO CHI MINH CITY

AN PHU PRIMARY

Newsletter

27th School resumes after Half Term Holiday

29th AP1 Phuket parents meeting

October

November

5th Headteacher’s Coffee Morning

14th Interim Reports issued

From The Headteacher - Mr Simon Higham

Issue 8/Page 2

Scan here to access the

‘AP1 Parent Blog’

AP1 Parent Blog

http://ap1parentblog.blogspot.com/

Have a look through the many resources and websites that we have identi-

fied will help with your child’s learning at home over the holiday period.

Click on the ‘Useful Websites and Resources’ page to find out more.

If you are viewing this newsletter from a computer, simply click on the ad-

dress above to access the blog. If you are reading this using a printed ver-

sion, use a QR reader (such as the app inigma) and scan the QR code on the

left.

of Gate C is under utilised. On exit out of Thao Dien, please consider continuing past AP1 towards the Village

and Xi apartments as this route is a less busy option at peak times of the day.

In order to keep our children safe on the roads outside BIS, both before and after school, please can you spend a

few minutes of your time discussing the following points with your driver.

Never stop on or near to a pedestrian crossing – in order to ensure that our families can cross the road

safely, please instruct your driver to park as far away from the main gates as possible to avoid con-gestion. Try

walking a short distance to keep cars down to a minimum.

No cars should be parked for long periods of time outside of school – ask your driver to meet you at a

convenient location away from the school gates and please ask them to never double park as this stops the flow

of traffic at peak times.

Never U Turn along the stretch of road outside both AP1 and AP2 – tell your driver to drive away from

school and if they have to U Turn, please do so on the wider, less congested roads. Try the route past AP1 along

Nguyen Van Huong, as an alternative way to get home – it may take a few extra minutes driving but it will

save the time you spend in traffic.

Ask your driver to show respect to our guards and follow their instructions – they are there to keep

you all safe and have a difficult job when drivers ignore their instructions.

Explain to your driver that their actions reflect upon your family – ask them to respect all of our school

community to make our school the very best that it can be.

We all have our part to play.

Thank you for all of your continued support during the last half term. I wish you a very pleasant holiday and I

am looking forward to working with you again, in partnership, when we return to school on Monday 27th Octo-

ber.

I hope you enjoy reading through this week’s newsletter.

Learning has been everywhere this week at AP1, with our children focussing upon busi-

ness and enterprise in preparation for yesterday’s Market Day. All classes a business, all

children a consumer was the message of the day which aimed to allow our children to ex-

perience what it is like to be a true entrepreneur. Business plans were set, capital bor-

rowed and invested, profit and loss sheets made and great fun was had by all. In addition

to this, over 25 million VND was raised in profit. This has been donated to one of three

BIS community projects (see page 5 for more details), as requested by each business.

I would like to reiterate the need for all parents to speak to their drivers regarding safe

and careful conduct during drop off and pick up times. To avoid unnecessary congestion,

please think carefully about the location of your drop off and pick up, as currently the use

Issue 8 /Page 3

As parents I think it is safe to assume that at one point or another, we have all asked our children; ‘How was

school today?’ It’s probably also safe to assume that our children have answered us with the stock one word

reply ‘fine’ at one time or another.

I recently came across this article by ‘Liz Evans’ in the ‘Huffington Post’ and thought it a good time to share it

with our parent community as we approach half term and the chance to spend quality time with our children.

In it she came up with a list of 25 more engaging questions to ask about school. Below are her list of 25 ques-

tions to help you when asking your children what they have been up to, what they enjoy, what bothers them

and who would that alien take and why….I hope that you find this useful.

1. What was the best thing that happened at school today? 2. Tell me something that made you laugh today. 3. If you could choose, who would you like to sit next to in class? 4. Where is the coolest place at the school? 5. Tell me a weird word that you heard today. (Or something weird that someone said.) 6. If I called your teacher tonight, what would she tell me about you? 7. How did you help somebody today? 8. How did somebody help you today? 9. Tell me one thing that you learned today. 10. When were you the happiest today? 11. When were you bored today? 12. If an alien spaceship came to your class and beamed someone up, who would they take and why? 13. Who would you like to play with at break time that you've never played with be-fore? 14. Tell me something good that happened today. 15. What word did your teacher say most today? 16. What do you think you should do/learn more of at school? 17. What do you think you should do/learn less of at school? 18. Who in your class do you think you could be nicer to? 19. Where do you play the most at break time? 20. Who is the funniest person in your class? Why is he/she so funny? 21. What was your favourite part of lunch? 22. If you got to be the teacher tomorrow, what would you do? 23. Is there anyone in your class who you would like to invite for a play date? 24. If you could switch seats with anyone in the class, who would you trade with? Why? 25. Tell me about three different times you used your pencil today at school. Ms Deirdre Grimshaw

Deputy Headteacher

25 Ways To Ask Your Children ‘ So How Was School

Today?’ (Without asking ‘So How Was School Today?’)

Business and Enterprise Day

Issue 8/Page 4

Throughout the week children across the school have had a taste of business and a context for learning, culmi-

nating in the transition, on Thursday, of the AP1 playing field into a seething mass of feverish trading.

In the past few days, classes have become teams and teams have become companies, united by a common goal

of making as much profit as possible. Children became customers, managers, producers, designers and hard

working employees, who occasionally lamented how they worked harder than their managers. Words such as

profit, loss and the dreaded word 'bankrupt' echoed around the corridors in the preceding days as if the chil-

dren had known the words for years. Fortunately, due to the innate shrewdness of our children, nobody went

bankrupt. Children chose to spend their money carefully from cakes, chocolates, brush robots, massages, hair

styling, slushies, smores and many, many more offerings. As produce began to sell out, an accentuation of in-

novation swept the stalls, as sellers strived to maximize profits, raising prices as the supply dwindled, but the

demand continued, or selling their ingredients.

By the time the market closed, children had already began excitedly counting their takings and after deduct-

ing their initial loan of 500,000 VND, declared their profits and chose which good cause to donate their profits

to. Congratulations to 5B for making an incredible 3,087,000 VND profit! The children’s donations will help

build a new playground at Binh Tho, fund a Christmas Party for Thien Phuoc and contribute towards a new

sanctuary for the Pygmy Loris.

Mr Andy James and Mr John Handscombe

Year 5 and Year 6 teachers & Maths Subject Leaders

Business and Enterprise Day

Issue 8/Page 5

The three BIS Community Partnerships that have been sup-

ported by this event are:

Thien Phuoc Foster Home Christmas Party: 7,099,000 VND

Binh Tho Playground - 8,630,500 VND

E.A.S.T. - Pygmy Loris Santuary - 11,184,500 VND

Total profits for the day: 26,914,000 VND

Well done everyone for making a difference within our com-

munity.

One of the things that makes our school such a vibrant and

busy place is the huge range of after school clubs for chil-

dren to choose from. This week I would like to tell you about

one of our Community Service clubs, Helping Hands. Every

Monday, a group of children, parents and teachers from AP1

and AP2 take a bus ride out to District 12 to visit the chil-

dren at the Thien Phuoc Foster Home. The centre provides a

home for disabled children in HCMC and has a long estab-

lished partnership with BIS.

During the club, children from BIS play with their friends

at Thien Phuoc. Some children enjoy playing in the soft play

room while others colour or play with soft toys. Through

play, our children help to stretch and improve the mobility

of the children at the home and everyone has a lot of fun.

I would like to take this opportunity to express how proud I

am of the children who attend the club. They give a lot of

their time and a lot of love to the children at the foster

home. When they arrive each week, the children are so

thrilled to see them and they make such a difference by

committing their time and energy. They are wonderful ex-

amples of care, respect and integrity in our school communi-

ty.

If you would like to know more about Helping Hands club,

come and see me or send me an email. We always have

spaces for volunteers.

Community Service - Helping Hands Club

Ms Aoife O'Connor

Year 2 Teacher and Community Service Leader

Issue 8/Page 6

Good question!

With every portable electronic device using batteries of some sort, we know they don’t last forever. They power

your calculators, remote controls for your AC, TV, music player, children's toys, mobile phones, laptops and

much more, but what do you do when they finally stop working? Answer: Bring them into school

As part of our commitment to protecting the environment, each campus in BIS strives to reuse, recycle and

reduce our waste wherever possible. Whether it is paper, card, plastic drinks bottles or even

batteries, we would like you at home to think before disposing of it with your regular waste. We

understand that it isn’t that easy finding recycling points around the city so we have taken the

initiative.

Each campus has a specific battery recycling point—their locations are: AP1 Reception AP2 Under Croft TX Reception

We accept all household batteries—AA, AAA cells, rechargeable, button type and mobile phone batteries

The reason (the small print): Batteries that are thrown out with regular waste usually end up in land fill sites

or sometimes even burned. Over a period of time they can leak heavy metals (such as lead or mercury) and

corrosive acids which pollute our rivers, lakes and groundwater, contaminating the environments of many liv-

ing things. The good news is that recycled materials contained in old batteries can actually be re-used by vari-

ous industries.

Mr Ian Wilson

Exams & Community Service Officer

What do you do with old batteries?

Meet our New Teachers!

Introducing Our New Teachers

A chat with Ms Louise,

Learning Support Teacher

Pick the first 3 words you think of when I say

Vietnam Motorbikes , noodles sunshine

What are your first impressions of BIS?

I love working in a school with children and staff

from so many countries. Every day I see people work-

ing hard to be the best they can be and that is a real

privilege. I love to travel and everyone around me,

children and adults, seem to love it too, which is

wonderful.

What new experience have you had since you ar-

rived in Vietnam?

One morning I couldn’t find a taxi so I came to

school on a Xi Om. It was thrilling and scary at the

same time, especially when I realised I was heading

the wrong way up the highway! It really made me

smile.

If you were writing a postcard to friends back home,

what would it say?

I have now spent 9 exciting weeks in Vietnam and I

love it! School is great and I have made some new

friends .When I am not working, I am trying to expe-

rience everything Vietnam has to offer. I have eaten

lots of great food and I have even come to school one

day wearing an ao dai. I have been to Hanoi and

visited a temple and and I am going to an island

called Phu Quoc this half term, to lie on the beach

and relax. I bet you wish you were here. X

A chat with Ms An,

MFL Teacher

Pick the first 3 words you think of when I say

Vietnam Dynamic, creative, vibrant.

What are your first impressions of BIS?

A bustling place where children are genuinely excit-

ed about learning. The pupils are inquisitive and

enthusiastic, which makes teaching languages really

fun. Above all, there’s a friendly and warm atmos-

phere at BIS, which helps to make new arrivals

(such as my own children) feel welcome straight

away.

What new experience have you had since you arrived

in Vietnam?

Trying out some wonderful new dishes. I’m al-

ready addicted to Pho!

If you were writing a postcard to friends back home,

what would it say?

Our life in HCMC is everything we hoped for

and more. Come and visit us!

Dear parents,

Meet another two teachers from the 2014/2015 cohort. Louise and An are non class based teacher working in

the Learning Support and MFL departments respectively. Once again there are nothing but positive com-

ments from both about Vietnam, their welcome and the wonderful school that is BIS. We are shortly going to

run out of ‘new teachers’ but we hope to extend our profiles to all our staff so you get to know a little more

about everyone in the BIS community.

Ms Deirdre Grimshaw Deputy Headteacher

Issue 8 /Page 7

Meet our New Teachers!

Look out for more interviews with our teachers and

other staff that work at BIS in our Friday newsletter

after the holiday.

Library

Have you been up to the library recently? Mr Andy and his team have been busy adding a huge amount of new

titles to our already super library. Check out the wonderful displays of books and see if you can recognise

some of the characters. You might see some familiar faces on the windows around the library. I wonder what

their favourite books are? Have a look and see.

A reminder to parents that children must be accompanied by an adult before and after school when visiting

the library.

Ms Dee Grimshaw

Deputy Headteacher

Issue 8 /Page 8

Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

Issue 8/Page 9

Since the start of the school year we

have all been exploring different soft-

ware to discover what it allows us to do.

Students from Year One to Year Six

have been getting creative in a variety

of ways; from creating portraits, story

books and maps to stop frame anima-

tions and games.

This creativity has flowed over in to

the Digital Art club where students

have a focussed time expressing them-

selves digitally.

Mr Paul Muldoon

ICT Teacher

Football - Phuket Girls’ Squad v BVIS

On Thursday our U11 girls Phuket team headed over to District 7 to play BVIS. This has been the first time

the girls have played an away fixture against a team that they haven’t played before, with their previous

games being against AP2.

The girls started quickly, putting BVIS under immediate pressure although our nerves showed when we sent

several shots straight pass the goal. After 5 minutes the girls settled into their play and the goals kept coming

making the score 11 – 0 at half time. Gemma proved unstoppable up front scoring a large percentage of the

goals, with Teaghan and Emily working hard to set Gemma up. Both also scoring several goals themselves.

At half time, the girls needed to focus on their passing and this allowed Halima and Malena to push up the

pitch to score from further out. It also saw Anna score from the half way line! The match showed a strong per-

formance from all the BIS girls with Lila scoring two more goals and excellent defensive play from Ana and

Ela, allowing the rest of the team to move up the pitch into scoring positions. Further goals came from Emily,

Teaghan and Gemma.

The final whistle blew with the girls winning 23 -1 . It was great to see so many of the girls on the score sheet

and the work rate throughout was excellent.

Well done girls!

Basketball - U11’s v ISHCMC

On Wednesday the BIS U11 Basketball teams headed over to ISHCMC. The boys started well and at half time

were several points up on ISHCMC due to some strong passing from all team members. ISHCMC came out

hard in the second half and the BIS boys didn’t quite manage to keep pace, losing 32 -26. However, it was a

strong team performance and the boys have come back with some key areas to work on.

The girls put in an excellent performance, playing the ball around the ISHCMC defence and intercepting a lot

of the ISHCMC passes. By the end of the first half the girls were ahead 30 – 4 with baskets being scored from

Gemma, Emily, Teaghan and Ela. In the second half the girls were just as impressive with the rest of the team

all getting on the score sheet; Naomi, Mimi, Lila, Anna and Ji Hee.

A big well done to both teams, showing strong individual and team performances.

Ms Lara Wilkinson

PE Teacher

Ms Lara Wilkinson

PE Teacher

Issue 8/Page 10

Issue 8/Page 11

Holiday Sports Programmes - October 2014

Date Sport Time Head Coach

Mini-

mum

No. Of

Stu-

dents

Age Prices (all

in VND) Location

20/10 - 24/10 Football 8 am- 11 am SSA Min 8 Year 3 upwards 1,900,000 Big field

20/10 - 24/10 Basketball 1pm-4pm SSA Min 8 Year 3 upwards 1,900,000 AP2

Sportshall

20/10-24/10 Multi Skills 8.00-9.00 Mr Richard

Soriano Min 8 Y1-Y3 440,000

AP1

Sportshall

20/10-24/10 Multi Skills 9.00-10.00 Mr Richard

Soriano Min 8 F1-F3 440,000

AP1

Sportshall

20/10-24/10 T ball 4pm-5.30pm Mr Richard

Soriano Min 8 Y3-Y6 660,000 Big field

Group Time Cost Venue Minimum Maximum

Foundation 2-3 8.00 – 08.45 415,000 VND AP1 5 10

Foundation 2-3 08.45 – 09.30 415,000 VND AP1 5 10

Year 1 – 2 09.30 – 10.15 415,000 VND AP1 5 10

Year 1 – 2 10.15 – 11.00 415,000 VND AP1 5 10

Year 3 – 4 11.00 – 12.00 550,000 VND AP1 5 12

Year 5 upwards 12.15 – 01.45 825,000 VND AP1 5 15

20/10 - 24/10 Swimming 8am- 1:45 pm Mr Vinh Ngu-

yen Min 8 F2 upwards

Various

(see letters)

AP1

pool

Holiday Swimming Programmes - October 2014

Issue 8 /Page 12

PTG

Issue 8/Page 13

MENU FOR F1 - F2 MENU 3 (WEEK BEGINNING 27 OCTOBER)

DAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

MAIN

COURSE

CHOOSE

1

Ham & Cheese

Croque Monsieur,

Potato Wedges

OR

Chicken Rice

Chicken Carbonara

OR

Roast Pork, Rice

Pasta Bolognese-

Pork

OR

Sweet & Sour

Fish, Rice

Battered Fish &

Baked Potato

OR

Nasi Lemak -

Chicken & Egg

Chili Con Carne-Beef,

Rice

OR

Egg Noodle w Pork

VEGETA-

BLES

Long Beans, Car-

rot

Chinese Cabbage

& Carrot

Morning Glory

& Carrot

Spinach

Choy sum & Carrot

SOUP

Spinach & Melon

Watercress

Tomato & Tofu

Soup

Cabbage & Carrot

Mixed Vegetables

FOR

VEGE-

TARIAN

ONLY

Oriental Fried

Rice

Spinach & Melon

Soup

Braised Beans &

Vegetables, Rice

Watercress Soup

Veggie Pasta (e)

Tomato & Tofu

Soup

Vegetarian Chili

Con Carne, Rice

Cabbage & Carrot

Soup

Sautéed Vegetarian

Noodle

Mixed Vegetables

Soup

MENU FOR F3 - YEAR 2 MENU 3 (WEEK BEGINNING 27OCTOBER)

DAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

MAIN COURSE

CHOOSE 1

Ham & Cheese

Croque Mon-

sieur,

Potato Wedges

OR

Chicken Rice

Chicken Carbona-

ra

OR

Roast Pork, Rice

Pasta Bolognese-

Pork

OR

Sweet & Sour Fish,

Rice

Battered Fish &

Baked Potato

OR

Nasi Lemak -

Chicken & Egg

Chili Con Carne-

Beef, Rice

OR

Stir Fry Egg Noo-

dle w Pork

VEGETABLES

Long Beans,

Carrot

Chinese Cabbage

& Carrot

Morning Glory &

Carrot

Spinach

Choysum & Car-

rot

SOUP

Spinach & Mel-

on

Watercress

Tomato & Tofu

Soup

Cabbage & Carrot

Mixed Vegetables

FOR

VEGETARIAN

ONLY

Oriental Fried

Rice

Spinach & Mel-

on Soup

Braised Beans &

Vegetables, Rice

Watercress Soup

Veggie Pasta (e)

Tomato & Tofu

Soup

Vegetarian Chili

Con Carne, Rice

Cabbage & Carrot

Soup

Stir Fry Vegetari-

an Noodle

Mixed Vegetables

Soup

DELI BAR

OPTION

Bun

filled with Ham

& cheese

Served with

Salad

Jacket Potato

filled with Baked

Beans & Bacon

Served with Salad

Bun

filled with cheese &

egg

Served with Salad

Jacket Potato

filled with Bolo-

gnese Sauce

Served with Salad

Bun

filled with Chick-

en & mayonnaise,

Served with Salad

Fresh Fruits & Salad Bar are available daily

Issue 8/Page 14

MENU FOR YEAR 3 - YEAR 6

MENU 3 (WEEK BEGINNING 27 OCTOBER)

DAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

MAIN

COURSE

CHOOSE 1

Ham & Cheese

Croque Monsieur,

Potato Wedges

OR

Chicken Rice

Chicken Carbonara

OR

Roast Pork, Rice

Pasta Bolognese-

Pork

OR

Sweet & Sour Fish,

Rice

Battered Fish &

Baked Potato

OR

Nasi Lemak -

Chicken & Egg

Chili Con Carne-

Beef, Rice

OR

Egg Noodle w Pork

VEGETA-

BLES

Long Beans, Carrot

Chinese Cabbage &

Carrot

Morning Glory &

Carrot

Spinach

Choysum & Carrot

SOUP

Spinach & Melon

Watercress

Tomato & Tofu

Soup

Cabbage & Carrot

Mixed Vegetables

FOR

VEGETARI-

AN

ONLY

Oriental Fried Rice

Spinach & Melon

Soup

Braised Beans &

Vegetables, Rice

Watercress Soup

Veggie Pasta (e)

Tomato & Tofu

Soup

Vegetarian Chili

Con Carne, Rice

Cabbage & Carrot

Soup

Vegetarian Noodle

Mixed Vegetables

Soup

DELI BAR

OPTION

Baguette/Jacket

Potato

fill with ham, chick-

en, cheese, egg, tu-

na mayonnaise,

baked beans, peas

& bolognese sauce

Served with Salad

Bun/Jacket Potato

fill with ham,

chicken, cheese,

egg, tuna mayon-

naise, baked beans,

peas & bolognese

sauce

Served with Salad

Wrap/Jacket Potato

fill with bacon,

ham, chicken, egg,

cheese, tuna mayon-

naise, baked beans,

peas & bolognese

sauce

Served with Salad

Bun/Jacket Potato

fill with ham,

chicken, cheese,

egg, tuna mayon-

naise, baked beans,

peas & bolognese

sauce

Served with Salad

Baguette/Jacket

Potato

fill with ham,

chicken, cheese,

egg, tuna mayon-

naise, baked

beans, peas & bo-

lognese sauce

Served with Salad

Fresh Fruits & Salad Bar are available daily