Page 4 - News Search

At BIS we celebrate the idea that all minds are different. We know that differences bring challenges, but also add great richness to our community.  The 2nd October marked the start of Neurodiversity Week at BIS, across all campuses.    Neurodiversity embraces the idea that there are many differences in the way people’s brains work, perceive and respond to the world; none are ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’.

As part of Neurodiversity Week at BIS, we are hosting our first ever community parent forum to discuss Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), one example of neurodivergence. ‘Demystifying Autism Spectrum Disorder” will define and discuss ASD as well as help to dispel myths and misconceptions around this neurological disorder. This event will take place on Thursday 5th October at 11am at BIS HCMC Secondary Campus and is open to our BIS parents as well as all members of our wider community.

200 members of our community hit the streets of Thao Dien bright and early on Saturday for World Clean Up Day! It was great to see so many enthusiastic students, parents and staff joining together for our annual environmental clean up and we are pleased to announce that around 60 large bags of rubbish were collected!

We were honoured to take part in celebrations organised by the British Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh with the British Embassy in Hanoi to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between the UK and Vietnam. The main event in HCMC being the ‘UK Festival’ to showcase the best of everything British. The bond between the UK and Vietnam is going from strength to strength with education being one of their core themes to mark this important 50th anniversary. We were delighted to be involved and strengthen our already strong partnership with the British Consulate here in Ho Chi Minh City. 

We are extremely proud of our Year 11 class of 2023 on their incredible IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education) results.   This remarkable class, our second largest IGCSE cohort of 130 students, were awarded 70.2% of grades at A* or A. It’s fitting that in our 25th year, 25 of these students achieved A* or A in all of their subjects, a truly incredible achievement.

You may have heard towards the end of the last academic year that our Secondary students will be switching to a two-week timetable, either at our parent workshop led by Deputy Head of Curriculum and Learning, Mr Lee Falconer, in our weekly update or directly from your child. But what does this mean and why change? How will this benefit learning and the educational experience at BIS HCMC?

Changes to our curriculum with the introduction of our 2 week timetable have allowed us to introduce an extra skills-based literacy lesson, called reciprocal reading. The small group sessions help students decode texts, delve into the deeper meaning and learn new vocabulary in a student-led setting. Literacy has been shown to have an affect on success across all subject matters and even affect GCSE results across subjects like maths, art and history. 

After 13 years at BIS our Whole School Deputy Head Teacher (Enrichment) Ms Lauren Binnington has made a huge mark on BIS HCMC. One of the many long-lasting changes she has seen in her time is the development of our sustainability practices in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In her latest and final blog at #BISHCMC Lauren reflects on how far we have come as a sustainable school, whilst developing a global citizen mindset in each and every student.

A whole world of possibilities awaits our graduating class of 2023.  With 385 university offers so far, and many more still to come from Korea, Australia and Singapore, their remarkable IBDP achievements have opened pathways to some of the best universities and specialist institutions across the globe.

Last week two of our students, JaeYeon and Caitlin, joined over 100 NAE student delegates from around the world at the NAE-UNICEF Student Summit in New York City.  This was an extraordinary opportunity for them to develop their leadership and advocacy skills and collaborate with like-minded students to cultivate their social purpose through the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

We are excited to announce that our class of 2023, the second largest cohort ever with 107 students have beaten all IBDP global averages! Once again, the knowledge, skills, and aptitudes of our students has been recognised with stunning academic results that place them among the very best worldwide.

Our BIS HCMC alumni share 8 tips every first-year university student should know to succeed, including wellbeing and practical tips for completing and surviving the IBDP.

Mr Sean O'Neill, our Secondary Headteacher shares his final words of wisdom with our BIS HCMC community after 9 years of dedication to our school. 

Director of Sport, Phil Husband looks back over the 2022-2023 year of sports at BIS HCMC including the latest BIS Secondary Sports Awards 2023. 

A recap of our 2023 BIS Aquathlon at the Junior Campus.

The academic year 2022/2023 saw BIS embark on a journey to strengthen our values-led culture based on the best available evidence for Professional Learning. At BIS we are a community of lifelong learners, where we share the responsibility for contributing to one another's learning.

Relive our phenomenal IB Visual Arts Exhibition at The World ArtSpace in District 2 showcasing the art pieces of our 7 higher-level IB Arts students. Over 70 pieces were displayed in a range of formats from oil on canvas to hanging installations, sculpture, photography, textiles and even a Tracey Emin-inspired pandemic pillow installation.

This week has been a fantastic celebration of reading and literature at BIS HCMC. Three campuses on Tuesday were flooded with Harry Potters, Big Friendly Giants, hiding Wallys Alices from Wonderland and countless more characters from the literary world as our students went all out for Book Character Dress Up Day. Most impressive of all though throughout book week, was the fantastic literary work of our BIS HCMC students. Secondary creative writing was available for all to read through student-curated magazines and even published books in our school library.

In celebration of Book Week, we recap last term's inspirational author visit from Nicola Davies, award-winning British Author and Zoologist.

Meet our new head student team for 2023 - 2024: Anya, Edric, Oscar and Michelle. Head all about their favourite memories at BIS HCMC and what they hope to achieve with their new roles.