IN THIS WEEK`S TIN TUC - The Highlights

[email protected]
UNIS Hanoi’s Weekly Community Newsletter
Volume 20, Edition 35, Friday 30 May
NEXT WEEK…
COMING SOON…
MONDAY, 02 JUNE
 IOC Grade 11's Lang Lit, 02 - 06 June
 Self Study Parent Info Session, 19:00 - 21:00, Black Box,
Centre for the Arts
MONDAY, 9 JUNE
 MS leaver assembly, 13:15-14:00
TUESDAY, 03 JUNE
 Grade 5 Step Up Day to MSHS, 08:00 - 09:00
 ES Moving Up Morning, 10:10 - 11:35
 High School Assembly, 12:35 - 13:15
 MS Co-Curricular Awards Ceremony, 15:45 - 17:15,
Theatre, B10
 Board of Directors Meeting, 17:50, Community Room, B7
 Yearbook Cover Design Contest Exhibition, 03 - 11 June,
Centre for the Arts foyer
FRIDAY 06 JUNE
 Grade 8 Promotion Ceremony, 12:30 - 16:00, Theatre
SATURDAY, 07 JUNE
 SAT Testing High School
TUESDAY, 10 JUNE
 Faculty/Staff Appreciation Event, 07:00-08:30, Centre for
the Arts
 Grade 2 Movie Morning, 08:20-11:30
 Grade 5 "Moving Up" Ceremony, 09:00-10:30
WEDNESDAY, 11 JUNE
 MS & HS awards assembly, 08:00-10:30,
 Grade 6 Party, 12:30-15:30
 ES Leavers Assembly, 13:15-14:15, Sports Centre
 ES Reports available on ISIS Family, 15:45
THURSDAY, 12 JUNE
 Last Day of School 11.30 Dismissal
 Quarter 4 and Semester 2 end
 Grade 7 End of Year Party, 08:30-10:00
 End of Year Assembly, 10:45-11:15
FRIDAY, 13 JUNE
 SCHOOL OFFICES CLOSED from 14:00
 LAST DAY OF WORK for Faculty, 08:00 - 16:00
 Recognition Ceremony, 14:30 - 15:30
 End of Year Faculty & Staff BBQ, 15:30 17:30
IN THIS WEEK’S TIN TUC - The Highlights...
Notes from the Head of School (p.2)
Notes from the Board of Directors (p.3)
Anne Marie Drozdz - Memorial
Gathering (p.4)
Congratulations Class of 2014 (p.6-7)
Diploma Information (p.9)
Yearbook Cover Design Exhibit (p.4)
Grades 6-8 Celebration of Learning (p.8)
MSHS Arts Show (p.9)
G6 End of Year Party (p.10)
HS Sports Awards (p.10-12)
Aquatics Academy News (p.13)
Volunteer Appreciation Night (p.16)
ES Snack Sale (p.17)
With only two weeks left, I believe it is important that the school community is aware of who is departing at
the end of this school year from the faculty. Out of a total of 141 teachers and administrators, 38 will be
leaving in June 2014. That is 27% and is slightly higher than our average of around 20%. This runs in cycles
as last year, we only had 15% depart.
In any event, we would like to thank all these departing people for all of their efforts on behalf of our
students and wish them the very best in their next location.
Next week we will include the names and short bio of all of the incoming faculty.
Respectfully,
Dr. Barder, [email protected]
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(Anna) Zippy Doiron
(Donna) Michelle Armstrong
Alan Hough
Andrea Fleming
Andrea Limon
Brenda Penrose
Brendan McGibbon
Candy Crouch
Colin Campbell
David Porter
Dirk Kraetzer
Doanne Arguelles
Dorian Gibb
Emma Collins
Erik Cunelius
Graeme Foster
Heidi Sanchez
Jason Caruana
Jennifer Kelly
John Cushing
John Gangi
John Haug
Joyce Miller
Karen Walsh
Kellie Bohanon
Kelsey Giroux
Margaret McKellar
Mark Ginder
Michelle Kays
Mindy Slaughter
Rebecca Bunnett
Rebecca Thomas
Robert Natoli
Sofia Hellstrom
Stuart Edgecombe-Walker
Susan Kraetzer
Tabitha Bell
Nguyen Thi Huong Giang
ES
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MS/HS
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ES
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Operations
Activities
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Drama
ECC K1
PE
ES Counselor
Grade 3
IB English
Music
HS Counselor
EAL
Director of Operations
Director of Activities
EAL
Tech & Design
DP Coordinator
PE
Math
ECC K1
MS Counselor
Grade 1
Grade 2
HS IB Economics
MSHS Science
Librarian
Grade 5
Learning Support
Humanities
Tech
MSHS Humanities
Grade 4
Grade 5
MSHS Humanities
ECC K1
Arts
Swedish
Grade 3
PE TA
Grade 2
Music
Thank you to all of the community members, faculty and staff who attended the Board’s Annual General
Meeting on Tuesday, May 13th. Please click here to read the community’s questions and responses from the
Board and Head of School, and find the meeting summary here.
Regards,
Sarah Garner, Board Chair
We wish all the best to
who graduated this week
And all the best to
, 2TB
Abigail Vallely
Aincre Evans
Aloysius Kieft
Anna Le Hai
Anna Lee-Hewing
Aris Zabidi
Barbara Vu Thien
Cameron McCarty
Chi Mai
Cian Hamer
Da Yeon Lee
Dong Heon Lee
Eel Hee Yoon
Elena Zabidi
Elizabeth (Brooks) Armstrong
Emma Simson van Dijkhuizen
Eun Bee Ko
Hai Anh Nguyen
Hanna Tagomori
Hauke Schmidt
Hiep Nguyen
Hiong Lin Tam
Hyun Su Hwang
Jackson Wood
Jae Hyun (Edward) Park
Jamie Trees
Jessica van den Brink
Jessie Tung Jhy Chi
Ji Hoon Kang
Ji Hoon Lee
Josiah Bloemberg
Ju Youn Lee
Kofi Buahin
Kyung Hyea Hyun
Lucas Prytz
Mana Muchaku
Maximilian Tang
Megan Newell
Minh Ho
My Tran
Nam Nguyen
Nicole Norton
Nina Palosaari
Partho Mondal
Phong Hoa
Phuong Le
Quynh Anh Do
Scott Mills
Seung Hyun Sohn
Shefali Satpathy
Sohom Chakma
Son Le
Taku Aiga
Tiara Le Calvez
Tommy Nurmi
Trung Pham
Tuan Anh Nguyen
William (Will) Stephens
who are leaving Hanoi this week
See pages 6 - 7 for photos of the Class of 2014
This week the UNIS
Hanoi community
celebrated the life of
former MSHS Drama
Teacher, Anne Marie
Drozdz who died
tragically in Bali last week.
More than 100 students,
alumni, parents and
faculty and staff joined
together on Wednesday, at
the same time as her
memorial service in Bali
was being held, to commemorate her life. Stories were
shared with tears and laughter as UNIS Hanoi said
goodbye to a dear friend, teacher and colleague.
Students and alumni alike repeatedly told how Ms Drozdz
had transformed their lives giving them confidence and the
courage to be themselves.
A recording was made to share with her family. We have
created a quiet corner in the Community Room in B7 for
anyone (students, alumni, faculty and staff, and parents)
who would like to spend time privately with their thoughts
for Anne Marie between now and the end of the School
year. As many of you will know, this was her original
Drama Room.
We will be preparing a book in which we will be adding all
the many messages from our Alumni and in which you may
write your own messages. It will be ready on Monday. The
book will be sent to Ms Drozdz family in the UK when
School closes.
The eagerly awaited UNIS Hanoi Yearbook will be delivered to all students on the last day of school - and this year more
than 50% was created by our students, including the 'secret' front cover.
The theme was 'social media' and all the designs submitted in our cover competition will be on display from Tuesday in the
Centre for the Arts.
The winner will be announced and receive their prize at the all school assembly on June 12.
Dear Parents,
As the school year draws to a close, we
become increasingly mindful of the
children and their families who are moving
on from UNIS Hanoi this June. It is never an easy time and
so our counselors have systems in place to help community
members of all ages come to terms with the pending
changes in their lives. The children who are leaving met
with Mr Tom and Ms Andrea to help them adjust and look
forward to their move. Parents were also well served with
transition meetings with the counselor. We hold a special
Leavers’ Assembly in the last week of term for all the ES
students and staff to bring some positive closure and say
goodbye formally and thank them all for their
contributions to UNIS Hanoi during their time here. This
year this will take place on Wednesday 11 June at 1.15pm
in the Sports Centre and all parents are welcome to
attend.
We also must consider the needs of the children who are
staying. They are coming to the end of their time in their
current Grade Level and are beginning to anticipate
changes for next academic year. In the recent past, the ES
informed the parents and children of their new class
placements for the following year by email just before the
new year begins in mid-August. Last year we brought that
process forward to inform the children before they left for
the long summer break. We believe this was very helpful so
we will repeat this timing again this year.
With this in mind, the teachers have been carefully
considering groupings for next year. For new families who
may be unaware, we do mix the children’s groupings every
year as they pass from one grade level to the next. In such a
transient population this enables us to continuously ensure
each class is a well-balanced group with a mix of gender,
cultural and linguistic background, learning styles and
differences. The teachers have spent many hours on this
quite challenging task to create this balance whilst ensuring
that each child is with at least one other child they feel
comfortable with for friendship and collaborative group
working. The mixing of class groups also helps establish a
grade level identity and community as well as individual
homeroom communities and children are able to develop
and maintain a broader range of friendships across the
whole age group. It also helps new children integrate more
quickly as the class they enter is newly formed rather than
being a group that has been together for several years.
Tuesday 3 June will be the morning that the children find
out which class they are going to be in next year. The
Grade 5 Students have their “Stepping Up” day when
they have a day of taster lessons in Middle School. This
seems like the ideal time for us to do a shortened version
of that for our ES students. So children will spend part of
the morning in their new classroom, with their new teacher
and their new classmates getting to know each other and
finding out more about what next year will be like. (All ES
leavers will have this time together with Mr Tom and Ms
Andrea and some of the specialist teachers focusing on
their needs for transition.) We do have some new teachers
coming in next year who will not be here on 3 June.
During this Transition Time, their place will be taken by
one of our outgoing teachers who has really good
knowledge of the relevant grade level and can whet the
children’s appetite really well for next year. In addition, the
incoming teachers are all preparing and sending something
for the children to share that day, so they will all get to
know something about their new teacher. Each class will
jointly construct a letter to be sent to the new children who
will join the class in August, welcoming them and having
them feel hopefully more excited and less nervous about
their move to UNIS Hanoi.
Information will be emailed to parents that afternoon
letting them know who the new teacher will be and the
names of the other children in the class. Through
discussions with the SCO representatives, we are hoping
that this early release of information will also enable us to
have specific class parents in place before the end of the
year in readiness for the New Families Orientation in midAugust. If you are interested in being a class parent for
next year, please contact Joh Ponsen, the SCO chairperson
(if you are Grades 1-5) [email protected] or Paulina
Pineda, the SCO chairperson (if you are Discovery, K1 or
K2) [email protected] once you receive your
class list.
Please read here the minutes from the last ES Principal
Forum where transition was the main item on the agenda.
Please note upcoming transition meeting for Grade 5
parents:
 Tuesday 10 June - G5 Moving Up Ceremony (09.00)
Warm regards,
Carole Denny, [email protected]
Dear MSHS Families,
The entire Elementary and Middle/High
School faculty is pleased to announce that
the graduation ceremony for the Class of
2014 was a smashing success!
Over 680 people filled the Sports Centre
including all UNIS Hanoi Faculty and Grade 9 – 11
students. We were also honoured to have UN Resident
Coordinator for Vietnam, Dr Pratibha Mehta join us.
Although the achievements of the Class of 2014 were many,
four students were honored with special recognition for
outstanding achievement in Scholarship, Community
Service, Perseverance, and Contributions to the Life of the
School.
 Scholar’s Award: My Tran
 Dr. France J. Rhodes Community Service Award:
Shefali Satpathy
 Director’s Award: Jamie Trees
 Council of International Schools Award: Jessica van
den Brink
I am sure the entire UNIS Hanoi community will join in
wishing the Class of 2014 congratulations and best wishes
for the future! Warm Regards,
Pete Kennedy, [email protected]
Click here for the document entitled the IB
General Regulations: Diploma Programme.
This is an important document as it answers
all your questions in terms of what happens
now you have finished your examinations.
The IB will not issue results to, or discuss
results with candidates, the guardian or
representatives. If you have any concerns or questions you
must email the Diploma Coordinator.
How do I access my results?
A candidate must enter their alphanumeric code and their
pin code. If a candidate enters the wrong personal code
and/or pin code the site will be blocked after 5 attempts. If
you are unsure of your pin code please email Ms Thao
[email protected].
Candidates’ results are released on IBIS from
6th July. http://candidates.ibo.org
Results Certification
The IB Diplomas, Diploma Results and Course results are
sent to schools in August. The documents constitute the
official results. An email will be sent to parents when the
hard copies of the documents arrive at UNIS. You may
collect them from Ms Thao [email protected]. If
you would like the documents sent via postage mail, this
will be at the parents own expense. Please email Ms Thao
for details.
Emma Collins, DP Coordinator
[email protected]
Wednesday, June 11th 12:40 - 14::30
Patio behind the Sports Center and Pool
To celebrate the end of a great year!
All grade 6 Students, Parents and Teachers
Schedule
12:40 – 1:30: Pot luck lunch and field games & HR and
Parent Tug a War Championship
13:30 – 14:20: Pool
14:20 – 14:35: Clean up and Farewell
Parents are kindly requested to bring drinks or food to share with
about 6 people. There will be coolers available to keep drinks cold.
Students should bring sun hats, swim suits and towels.
A CELEBRATION OF “PHOENIX SPORTS”
PARENTS & STUDENTS ATHLETES
are invited to attend the
2013 - 2014
MIDDLE SCHOOL SPORTS
AWARD CEREMONY
15:45, Tuesday, June 3
UNIS Hanoi Theatre
This past week, UNIS student-athletes,
their coaches and parents attended the year
-end HS Sports Awards Ceremony. The
event was a wonderful opportunity to recall
the highlights of what has been another
successful year for UNIS in the sporting
arena.
UNIS has now completed its third year of full involvement
in the Asia Pacific Activities Conference (APAC). APAC
provides a challenging opportunity for UNIS varsity teams
to test themselves against 11 other schools. The Mekong
River International Schools Association (MRISA)
continues to be an important component of the UNIS
Sports Program, as our high school junior varsity teams
represent the school at those season-ending events.
This year, we again had over 150 high school students
participating in High School APAC and MRISA teams. In
October, UNIS hosted the APAC Girls and Boys
Volleyball Tournament for the first time. Coaches and
athletes should be very proud of the fact that four UNIS
teams were presented with APAC and MRISA Team
Sportsmanship Awards this year.
During the Awards Ceremony, each coach presented
“Coaches’ Choice Awards” to members of their team who
they felt were worthy of special recognition. In some cases
athletes were identified as being the Most Valuable or
perhaps the Most Improved, but the final criteria for the
selection of the award was left to individual coaches. The
following athletes were presented with medals by their
coaches:
APAC Girls Soccer – Jemima Brennen and Fabiana
Alcala Pertegaz
MRISA Girls Soccer - Rosaria Battista and Lena Fiebrantz
APAC Boys Soccer – Lucas Prytz and Tommy Nurmi
MRISA Boys Soccer – Ju Youn Lee and Sonwabise (KC)
Pulo
Three student-athletes were selected as the UNIS High
School Athletes of the Year for 2013-14. In order to be
considered for this award, candidates were required to
meet the following criteria:
 Participation on at least 2 MRISA and/or APAC sports
teams
 Display the qualities of sportsmanship and leadership
 Maintain academic eligibility
 Demonstrate a high level of skill and athletic ability
 High School Girl – Jemima Brennen
 High School Boys – Scott Mills and Lucas Prytz (co-
recipients)
Congratulations to all of our high school student-athletes
on their accomplishments while representing UNIS in the
competitive sports arena this year! Job well done!
Many people have contributed to what has been another
successful year for the UNIS Sports Program. On behalf
of the Activities Office, I would like to send out a big
THANK YOU to all those who have played their part:
 UNIS Parents & Host Families
 UNIS Operations and Transportation Staff
 UNIS Nurses and SOS Clinic
 All Student-athletes
APAC Girls Volleyball – Nina McLean and Tiara Le Calvez
 The UNIS Coaching Staff
MRISA Girls Volleyball – Fabiana Alcala Pertegaz and
GO PHOENIX!!!
Abigail Vallely
APAC Boys Volleyball – Scott Mills and Henryk Le Hai
MRISA Boys Volleyball – Awua Buahin and Hung Nguyen
APAC Boys & Girls Tennis – Surabhi Sundaram and
Philipp Hannemann
APAC Girls Swimming – Vicky Cortes Freeman and
Minh Anh Nguyen
APAC Boys Swimming – Duc Hiep Nguyen and Joya Tabe
APAC Girls Basketball – Fabiana Alcala Pertegaz and Ly
Ann Foster
APAC Boys Basketball – Asare Buahin and Kofi Buahin
MRISA Boys Basketball – Tae Heog Yang and Hung Nguyen
Have an enjoyable summer everyone! We’ll see you in
August for the start of Season 1 Volleyball and Tennis.
Next year UNIS will be hosting the MRISA Senior
Volleyball Tournament and the APAC Basketball
Tournament!
Please note – the Middle School Sports Awards
Ceremony will take place this coming Tuesday (June 3rd), starting
at 3:45 in the Center of the Arts Theatre.
Dirk Kraetzer, Director of Learning
[email protected]
GO PHOENIX!!!
Last Saturday, UNIS hosted the
1st Annual Hanoi Gala Swim
Meet. 185 students from ten
Hanoi international schools,
including 70 from UNIS, came
together in the spirit of friendship
and competition. Team scores
were not kept, however many students from UNIS won
Age Group High Point Awards.
Munro and Hannah Goldberg, Marshal Tien, Lianne
Fahrney, Jacob Gee, Adelaide Charlier and Joya Tabe.
Third place winners were: Kitty Tran, Tara Erken, Tat
Anh Trinh, Sofya Koroleva and Andy Cole.
First place winners were: Jessica Fahrney, Grace Cenere,
Adam Strosing, Chiaki Goto, Peter Park and Nguyen Duc
Hiep and Duc Do.
Andy Myers, Aquatics Academy Head Coach
[email protected]
This was our final competition for the year and on behalf
of our coaching staff, Coach Cat, Coach Brian, Coach
Cora, Coach Hiep and Coach Ella I thank all the parents
and swimmers for a very successful and fun year. We hope
to see all of you back next year!!!
Second place winners were: Seung Woo Choi , Omaya
The Community Education (ComEd)'s baseball programme for children is expanding.
We are looking for baseball coaches. If you are interested, please contact Ms Ha Thien
Ha, ComEd Officer at [email protected] or Mr Brian Bulloch
at [email protected].
Dear Parents of returning students,
UNIS Hanoi requires all returning students entering
kindergarten, Grade3, Grade 6 and Grade 9 to have a
physical examination by a Doctor and a new UNIS Hanoi
medical form completed before starting school in 2014 2015 academic year. Students should have regular medical
check-ups to ensure they are growing properly, there are no
new health concerns and they are up to date with their
immunisations.
1. Please ask your Doctor to complete, sign and stamp the
UNIS medical examination forms. Remember to bring
your child’s immunization record so the Doctor can
review. The medical examination should be inclusive on
any relevant medical or surgical history details.
at UNIS Hanoi upon commencement of the school
year.
4. For students age 11 and above, speak with your Doctor
regarding HPV Vaccine (Gardasil).
5. If your child has asthma or allergies, please complete the
Allergy or Asthma Action form available from
admissions or the School Health Centre.
6. Please return one medical package per child, submitted
with a recent photo attached in hard copy format to the
School health Centre or Administration reception.
MEDICAL FORMS ARE REQUIRED BY THE
START OF THE SCHOOL YEAR, AUGUST 13, 2014
OR EARLIER.
2. Parents should complete one Emergency Medical
Authorisation form for each child.
For any questions or concerns regarding your child’s health,
please do not hesitate to contact the
3. It is important for your child to have vision and hearing
screening, any necessary immunizations and scoliosis
screening. Students aged 3 will have a hearing screening
School Health Centre
[email protected]
Over the past two months we have had 29 staff members attend a First Aid and CPR training course at UNIS. The course
was provided by Dr Damien Cummins from International SOS and was very well received by all who attended.
First Aid is a humanitarian act. A practical hands on course will provide you with the confidence and skills when they are
most needed at home, at school or in the work place.
Help save a life and learn First Aid.
School Health Centre
Time to Return ALL Library Books!
All library books due June 1st.
Do you need books during the summer holidays?
Contact your librarian, we are eager to help you!!
Julie Conroy [email protected]
Joyce Miller [email protected]
THANK YOU once again to
ALL our wonderful UNIS
Hanoi Parent Volunteers! We
truly VALUE each and every
one of you that have given
your time and talents to support the UNIS Hanoi
community. We hope you all had a great time helping out
this year. Each and everyone of you is making an impact in
your child's education. Your spirit of volunteerism makes
our school community thrive and flourish.
We are secretly hoping that you had so much fun at the
Volunteer Appreciation Night that you will ALL sign up to
help again next school year!!
Nathalie Grun, Community Liaison Officer
[email protected]
THANK YOU to all the
Elementary School Parents for
contributing to one of the
Healthy Snack Sales this year!
Your snacks were very creative
and the range is always so international. This is a long
standing tradition at UNIS and the sheer joy on the faces of
the children when they see and purchase their snacks keeps
this tradition going!
This year we are proud to announce that we have raised a
total of $1434 that goes into the SCO account to support
specifically selected community projects. This year's
projects include:
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Thuy An Village (CAS Project)
Dragon Kite and Display Project in the library
Electronic Notice boards
Swimming Pool Timing System
Entertainment support for Kaleidoscope of Culture
Carnival
Once again THANK YOU on behalf of the Snack Sale
Committee and we all wish you a wonderful summer
holiday!
Akiko Nakano: [email protected]
Ikuko Mizuno: [email protected]
Bo young Hwang: [email protected]
Registration applications for non-UNIS students for Discovery through Grade 7 received after 10:00 am on May
22 will be wait-listed. If places are available they will be offered by June 4.
Places are currently still available for non-UNIS students in the Grades 8-11 programmes.
Registration for current UNIS students and students who have been accepted to UNIS for 2014-2015 is still open
for all programmes.
CLICK HERE
for more
information and
to book your
place!
Employment opportunity with
United Nations International School of Hanoi
Admissions Advisor
UNIS Hanoi has experienced steady year-on-year growth in student population, which currently
stands at over 1,050 students from 60 different countries. To support the growing School
programme, the Admissions Department requires an additional Admission Advisor. The primary
role of the Admissions Advisor is to support the Admissions team in all aspects of the
Admissions process, while presenting a welcoming environment to community members,
prospective parents and visitors to the school. The Admissions Advisor reports to the Senior
Manager of Admissions.
For more information, please check out UNIS website
Successful applicant would be expected to commence duties in or before September 2014.
This posting is ongoing until filled, interested applicants please send an expression of interest,
along with an up-to-date CV and current referees to [email protected]
Only short-listed candidates will be invited for interview
Ms Tran Thi Quyen, Human Resources Manager