BVIS nurturing children with balanced approach

BVIS student ambassadors participated in Global Goals Summit and the High-level Political Forum at UNICEF in July

BVIS has grown quickly and impressively over the past five years. To what do you attribute this success and growth?

Mark Sayer, principal of BVIS Hanoi

The value of any school is not to be found exclusively in academic or examination results but rather in the nurturing of the whole child. Of course, we are proud of our academic achievements. It is especially pleasing to hear of the recognition of the outstanding success of students in such subject areas as computer science, psychology, maths and music.

It confirms the strength of our approaches to teaching and learning, and shows how well qualified and ready for the world’s leading universities our students are.

But what about our younger students? How are we preparing them for a longer term view of intellectual inquiry and curiosity? These young people are just as important at this early stage and we take deep pride in delivering engaging content in a nurturing environment that goes far beyond traditional views of education. Teaching staff make the most of every individual interaction with a child, moving them one step further along, each sharing in this responsibility and privilege. Of course, the success and growth of BVIS cannot be achieved without a strong and creative academic basis, but it is through the depth of support and care for the character and personality of every child that we see the students’ confidence grow to explore their own learning.

When children feel safe to question, to make mistakes, to examine and experiment – that is when learning becomes most deeply embedded, more enriching and satisfying; where skills are more readily acquired and where the purpose to learning can be more easily understood, by even the youngest student.

How does the balance between academic achievement and well-being contribute to the overall development of children?

I believe that in many countries, including Vietnam, what parents expect most from their children is high academic achievement. This expectation, of course, serves as a motivation. But it is an extrinsic motivation, imposed from outside, that young people all too often perceive as negative pressure. It can lead to higher stress levels, feelings of inadequacy, or a desire to achieve the unattainable, namely perfection.

A focus on students’ wellbeing provides the encouragement students need to feel they are important – not for what they can do, but for who they are. The forming of values is unquestionably more important than the accumulation of knowledge, particularly in this technologically-rich age in which information is available at the click of a mouse. It needs to be done with care, respect for the opinions of the individual and the wider group. The teacher has to be skilled in listening, in coaching and drawing out the more timid, to help them recognise the validity of their views and interests.

The weight of parental, or even teacher, expectation may ultimately inhibit student progress. We seek at BVIS that young people develop for themselves the intrinsic motivation to explore the world around them, the world of knowledge and wonder. Simply because they want to.

Ultimately letting go as adults of our own expectations and helping young people to develop theirs, leads to happier, more secure youngsters who have a love for learning and are increasingly successful.

Globally respected curriculum and qualified teachers provide students with all they need to world-leading universities

What can you say about the long-term strategy of BVIS to create a learning environment that helps benefit students?

The British Vietnamese International School, Hanoi is blessed to be part of the family of Nord Anglia Education schools. Together, our education principles and perspectives resonate. We believe passionately in the holistic development of the child through academic rigour, physical activity, creativity, experimentation/exploration and values-creation.

In addition, we strongly believe that our collaborations, through Nord Anglia Education, with world-leading educational institutions like Juilliard (the world’s No.1 performing arts school for music, dance and drama), MIT (the world’s foremost university, delivering the highest quality STEAM programmes) and UNICEF (deeply engaging students in the Sustainable Development Goals) promote long-term benefits for students in acquiring vital knowledge and skills.

Expeditions, trips, socially responsible engagement in community service activities further enhance the students’ curriculum so that education is seen less as the acquisition of knowledge but rather as a life-long and meaningful journey.

Most importantly, we are ambitious to shape in our students the ability and confidence to identify and solve problems. We believe that difficult is worth doing. And as things appear to become easier, students come to appreciate that this is indeed not the case, but rather that they have become stronger. Making mistakes means we are still active in our learning and are growing. Without the fear of criticism, children learn to be risk takers, growing in independence and responsibility, taking an active part in shaping their futures.

The connection and cooperation between family and school plays an important role to ensure the academic results and the well-being of students. Do you and BVIS have a certain strategy to strengthen this connection?

It is certainly true that, whilst the school works with students, we cannot assist with helping students make progress without the backing of parents. The education on offer goes considerably further than many of our parents realise – for no other reason than it represents such a substantial departure from the education that they themselves enjoyed – or otherwise – during their own childhood. Our well-qualified, highly competent and dedicated staff take the time to explain carefully what we are doing, through seminars, workshops, publications, parent/teacher consultations, as thought-leaders. And we seek to engage and involve our parents at every turn, whatever the stage of a child’s education.

Of course, we understand that parents are busy; this is not peculiar to Vietnam. But without doubt, education over a child’s lifetime, is probably the single, most important investment a family will make.

The effects of a high quality education are felt for years, even decades, to come. A wise man once said: “Love for a community is planting a tree knowing that one will never sit under its shade.” And we are indeed closely involved in such a noble task as to showing love for this community, for this culture and people. It is our privilege to do so. With significant effort over the past five years, the connection between the school and parents has proved to be strong. We conduct annual surveys with parents, with 2018 results showing that 95 per cent of parents are very supportive of the happy and safe space their children enjoy, and 96 per cent expressed high satisfaction that their child is making good progress, and growing in independence.

These are extremely positive outcomes and help to explain why the school has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 32.7 per cent.