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“My son cannot speak Vietnamese
properly.”
“My girl seems to be over-confident
and not so connected to her family.”
“My child does not know much
English, and he hardly fits in at school.”
These are concerns of many par-
ents who send their children to inter-
national schools where they expect the
children to get an international educa-
tion and become global citizens. British
Vietnamese International School (BVIS)
has given the parents another choice
which allows them to believe that their
children can adapt well in any situation,
in any country and in any culture, while
still learning in Vietnamese.
Each year, Vietnamese people
spend huge sums on their children who
are sent to overseas countries to study.
Nowadays, however, there is no need
to go that far to enjoy a world class
education, thanks to the accelerating
growth of international schools.
However, the concerns of Viet-
namese parents are not over as they
now worry about their children being in
touch with Vietnamese tradition when
in an international environment.
BVIS was established in 2011 with
the first campus in Ho Chi Minh City by
the founders and owners of the well-
known British International Schools
(BIS). While BIS is 100 per cent an inter-
national school which teaches in Eng-
lish and uses a British studying program
and an international curriculum, BVIS
provides a world class education with a
Vietnamese perspective. Even though it
is a relative newcomer, the school has
attracted thousands of students from
2 to 18 years old and opened two new
campuses in Hanoi. It seems to be that
it has filled a big gap the market.
I wondered whether it was just a
fad generated by a xenophobic ten-
dency until I went to the BVIS at Royal
City Complex. Its world class facilities
overwhelmed me. The school campus
is a state of the art and purpose-built
construction in the Royal City apart-
ment, shopping and entertainment de-
velopment in the Thanh Xuan district
of Hanoi.
The design boasts exceptional fa-
cilities arranged as three separate but
closely linked buildings - one for Early
Years Foundation Stage, one for Pri-
mary and one for Secondary.
When I visited, a group of around
ten young children were excitedly walk-
ing and jumping following their teach-
ers’ orders on a fully fenced playground
beside the immense yard.
However, what totally convinced
me was a talk with its principal, Mark
Sayer, who has 20 years experience in
the UK.
“Expectations placed by parents on
children are very high,” he said. Due to
the high expectations, the Vietnamese
curriculum is very dense and heavy.
He seems to be very smart and
has caught the whole picture of educa-
tion here in Vietnam and knows exactly
what he wishes to do: inspire the pupils.
“If the motivation is only to please
somebody else, it is of less significance.
It won’t be a powerful motivation. They
have to have high expectations which
they set for themselves with the right
level of support and care,” he said.
16
timeout
A balanced education
They have to have
high expectations
which they set for
themselves with the right
level of support and care.