General Information
General information s-z
Safeguarding
One of our most important jobs as a Primary School is to ensure the safety of each and every student we have on our campuses. We have a policy of speak out, don't keep quiet and we urge you as parents to always talk to us if you have a concern regarding one of your children, or even another child.
For full details, please refer to our extensive Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy:
school day
The Beginning of the School Day
School starts at 8:15am for pupils on the Early Years and Infants Campus (EYIC), and 7:55am for pupils at the Junior Campus (JC). There is a degree of flexibility on the EYIC where pupils from F1 and F2 have until 8:30am to be in class in readiness for the first session.
There are staff on duty in the campus playgrounds from 7:45am on the EYIC for F3, Y1 and Y2 children and 7:30am for all on the JC sites to supervise the children. Parents or a responsible adult must remain with children who arrive at school before this time.
Parents and drivers need to be aware of the other traffic on the street outside both campuses. They must minimise congestion by dropping children in the designated ‘pull-in zone’ which is clearly signposted at the front of each campus. No vehicle should park or wait for an extended period of time near to the school gates, nor should it block the pavements. If you have to park, please be considerate and leave your vehicle in a neighbouring road whenever possible.
All parents, nannies and drivers must follow and respect the instructions of the guards on duty who are acting for the safety of the children. Below is the BIS HCMC Driver's Code of Conduct. Please ensure that your driver has read it, and more importantly, understands it. As it states, this is a reflection upon all of us!
Lateness
The register is taken before classes start at the beginning of the morning and straight after lunchtime. A note is made on the register to indicate late comers. If arriving after the following times, please ensure that the student collects a late slip from the reception and delivers that to the class teacher:
EYIC
8:20am for F3, Years 1 and 2,
8:30am for F1 and F2,
Junior Campus
8am for all year groups.
Continued lateness will be referred to the Head of Campus/Deputy Head of Campus/Assistant Head of Campus and contact with the parents will be forthcoming.
If you know in advance that your child is going to be late or needs to leave school early on a particular day, then a message should be sent to the school the day before.
End of School
The primary school day finishes at 2:50pm* on the EYIC and 2:30pm at the JC.
*Please note that due to ongoing Covid-19 regulations we are still required to have a staggered end of the day. Please speak directly with your child's class teacher if you are unsure of your child's collection time.
Our priority is for all children to remain as safe as possible and all primary children will only be allowed to leave the premises with an authorised adult or Secondary sibling who has the child’s identification card (ID). If the swipe is unavailable for any reason, parents/helpers must get a 'permission to leave slip' from the reception at EYIC. or the office at JC as described in the ‘security procedures’ section.
At the end of the school day, parents, drivers and nannies are requested to collect their child from the designated areas.
On the EYIC, if there is more than one sibling then please collect the youngest first and then the oldest. If you have more than one sibling on the JC, then older siblings in Years 4, 5 or 6 should go to their youngest sibling’s classroom.
If an adult who is not the child’s parent wishes to take a child out of school (without the child’s ID card), then the parents will need to contact the relevant office to confirm arrangements prior to the end of day. Without confirmation from the child's parents, they may not be authorised to leave the campus. This is for child protection and safeguarding reasons and is our number one priority.
Leaving During the School Day
Before leaving the premises, a Permission to Leave slip will need to be collected from reception at the EYIC and the main office at JC.
Absences During Term
If parents have to take their children out of school during term time then they must seek permission in writing, in advance, from the Head of Campus.
For further details, please refer to the school calendar on the BIS HCMC website: Full School Calendar
school year
The school year is divided into three terms: Term 1 from August to December, Term 2 from January to April and Term 3 from April to June. Please find a link to our calender below:
Security procedures on entering and leaving school
During a normal working week the purpose of gate control is to ensure the safety of children and staff at school as well as the protection of school buildings and property. Guards should be entirely satisfied that each person who enters the school ground has a valid reason for doing so.
Beginning of a week day
Visitors should not be on either campus before 7am. If arriving prior to 7:45am on the EYIC, or 7:30am on the JC, teacher supervision will be not be available. Therefore if arriving before these times, parents/helpers will be responsible for supervising their own children.
End of a week day
No entrance by visitors after 5:00pm unless by prior arrangement
No entrance by parents/pupils after 6:00pm unless participating in, watching or collecting children from a school authorised event.
Weekends
School is closed to visitors, children and parents throughout the weekend.
Gate control may be relaxed for approved activities like Saturday football, holiday programmes, PTG Fair etc. During all of these types of events the duty of care for the children lies with the parents, not the school. Please be aware that parents are expected to wear their school ID card in the lanyard for all weekend activities as they would during the week.
Entrance and exit procedures
Pupils: Only BIS HCMC children in school uniform will be allowed access unchallenged.
Parents/nannies/drivers: All parents are issued with a bar code ID card, including a photograph of the child, for access to school. Use of the bar coded ID card is required or parents must sign in as a visitor. Cards should be swiped on the way in and on the way out. Guards will check photographs match the children for families they do not know personally. Everyone is expected to wear these in lanyards around their necks and ensure they are visible to staff.
All visitors (including parents without swipe cards):
a. A form of photographic ID (driver’s license or ID card) will be requested by the guard
b. Visitors must read and acknowledge the visitor guidelines posted at each entrance gate. Signing your name indicates that you have read and understood all that is expected and will abide by directions.
c. The ID will be exchanged for a visitors’ badge with a lanyard which is required to be worn on site.
d. Each visitor will be required to sign in and complete all sections in the visitors’ book
On leaving the campus, each visitor must sign out with the card
Snacks
All pupils are supplied with a mid-morning snack. Snacks consist of fruit and a drink. Pupils in the F1 and F2 classes receive a morning snack with a drink; in the afternoon, they receive fruit and a drink.
Social Media
As per visitor guidelines, the recording of video or taking of photographs must be done only with the strict permission of the Head Teacher or Principal. We know how important it is to treasure these moments with your child while at school, and we will always be reasonable with our expectations; however, it is vital that these images or videos are not shared on social media platforms such as Facebook, Tick-Tock, Instagram, etc.
This is a basic expectation from a child protection and safeguarding perspective, but ethically we have parents who have explicitly asked for their children's images not be be shared, and we must respect that.
If you have any questions about this, please refer to the Deputy Head of Campus directly.
Support
EAL (English as an Additional Language)
English as an Additional Language (EAL) support is offered at BIS HCMC. Parents of children requiring this help will be consulted, but if the school decides that a child needs this extra help then it will be compulsory. This need is continually assessed and may be reduced during the school year.
There is a charge for this additional provision (please contact the school office to receive an EAL leaflet for further details).
LS (Learning Support)
BIS HCMC encourages all students to develop their full potential but recognises that some children progress at different rates to their peers. These children may require individual targets to be written for them to break the learning down into small, achievable goals. The school has a well-established Learning Support department to oversee this programme.
Parents will be consulted if a child is experiencing particular difficulties in order to understand what next steps are needed in the child’s learning.
uniform - regular
The uniform is a means of showing our identity and pride in our school to the wider community as well as being practical school wear. All children from F1 upwards are expected to wear the school uniform every day.
All children from F3 to Year 6 are required to wear sensible black leather shoes, or plain black trainers without any other flashes of colour or coloured logos visible, and preferably without laces for the younger children. F1 and F2 children should wear sensible shoes or closed toe sandals that will aid the growth and development of small feet: these are not required to be black in colour. We do not allow novelty shoes with flashing lights, squeaking noises or shoes which have the roller ball facility. In addition to this, all children should wear either white, black or grey ankle high socks and all children with long hair should have it tied back with either a red, blue or maroon soft hair band. No bandana style head bands or hair accessories which include hard bobbles are to be worn. Parents should endeavour to use hair accessories which are based on school colours. If in doubt, please see your child’s class teacher.
Children must always wear school hats when they are outside to protect them from the sun - BIS HCMC has a ‘no hat – no play’ policy.
Hair cuts should be sensible and hair should not be in eyes for health and safety reasons.
The trainers below are not suitable as they have either other colours, or a white sole. If wearing trainers, they must be completely black
Uniform - PE Kit / Swimming
From F3, children must change into their PE kit for any physical activity and it is their responsibility to ensure it is in school for these sessions. They require sports shoes for PE. The class teacher will inform you of the PE timetable at the start of the year, or if changes have been made. Children will change back into school uniform after PE.
Please label your child’s school uniform with his/her name including underwear, swimwear and towels. Each campus has a Lost Property Box to store lost items. Any clothing, which is labelled, will be returned to your child. Remember to keep checking name labels on all school uniform as they may wear off with washing.
A swimming kit is required for all swimming sessions and the class teacher will inform children when these begin. Generally speaking, if a child is fit to attend school then they are fit to swim (see ‘Medical Procedure’ section for further information).
Use of parental Data
From time to time in Primary, parents like to have the opportunity to liaise with one another over special events and activities.
On both Campuses, one of the many roles of the PTG is to organise Class Parent Representatives and International Country Representatives whose function is to coordinate the information needed for activities. In order to facilitate the smooth running of these types of events we will make your main email address available to these representatives, for this purpose only.
During this process of information sharing, it is likely that you may have access to the email contacts of other parents. The use of this information must only be in connection with school approved activities, such as arranging class socials for our children. These addresses are shared in confidence and with the trust that they are not misused. If any parent ventures beyond this remit, then they should seek the permission from the individual parent concerned and make arrangements with them personally. Please note that the generation of this information will be based on the home contact information you have already provided school.
If you would prefer NOT to have your address made available or you wish to change to a specific email address for this purpose, please contact the main school office so that we can update our records accordingly.
Valuables
We strongly recommend that children should not bring jewellery, money or items of value to school.
The school accepts does not responsibility for the loss or breakage of any of the children’s personal belongings.
If the child usually wears earrings, for safety reasons please ensure that suitable studs replace these while s/he is attending school. No looped or dangling earrings are permitted. The PE department may require the removal or suitable covering of studs in PE lessons for safety reasons.
For further information about uniform, please do not hesitate to ask the office staff at your child’s campus.
Vietnamese lessons
In keeping with Government regulations, if your child is a Vietnamese passport holder they are required to complete lessons outside of regular curriculum time to comply with Department of Education and Training (DOET) policy. As these lessons are compulsory, students will not be able to be registered in clubs on these days. Vietnamese lessons for Vietnamese passport holders is a requirement, and no consideration will be given.
For those dual passport holders who wish to take up Vietnamese lessons, the commitment must be made to see out the entire year which means clubs cannot be entered into on the teaching days. They will not be allowed to cancel lessons to take up a club. There will be a placement test given to these children to determine the best level of lesson delivery.
