British International School Ho Chi Minh City

British International School Ho Chi Minh City
Location
Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam
Information
Type	International, Private
Motto	Crescat Scientia
Established	August 1997
Faculty	161
Grades	K–13
Enrolment	1,800
Average class size	18

The British International School Ho Chi Minh City (BIS HCMC) is an international school in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, which provides a British style education. The school since 2018 has three campuses: an early years and infant, primary and secondary campus which are all located within Thu Duc. The Early Years & Infant Campus caters for students from the Foundation Stage through to Year 2, the Junior Campus (Primary School) caters for children in Year 3 through to Year 6 and the Secondary campus caters for students from Years 7–13.

The school was founded in 1997 as Tiny Tots, a Kindergarten. Originally built with a capacity for two teachers and 40 toddlers, the current iteration of the school currently has a population of 1,800 students from 52 countries. It now has a faculty has 161 full-time teachers, most of whom are British qualified.

BIS HCMC provides a combination of the National Curriculum of England and International Primary Curriculum (IPC) for the primary students. Secondary students take both the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) examinations and the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. BIS is accredited through the Council of International Schools and as an IB World School. The school is a registered centre for the one of the UK's major examination boards, Cambridge International Examinations (CIE). It is a member of the Federation of British International Schools in South Asia (FOBISIA) with the Principal, Mr. Anthony Rowlands currently holding the position of Chair of FOBISIA.

History

In August 1997, the earliest forms of the school were established in a villa on Nguyen Van Thu Street in District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City starting with two classes, two teachers from overseas and 40 toddlers. A second pre-school named Fundino was then established in District 3. The original villa was extended in the year 2000 to accommodate an additional 10 primary classrooms, bringing the total number of students to 300 children. As a result, the school was officially renamed as the British International School, with Marjorie Hunt being the first Head Teacher.

Two years later, a Primary campus was built in the residential An Phu area of the city. Alun Thomas was appointed as Principal of the three campuses and enrolment reached 600 children. In August 2005, a purpose-built Secondary campus was opened on land directly opposite of the new Primary campus. In August 2007, another new Primary campus was built on Tu Xuong Street in District 3, thereby merging the Nguyen Van Thu campus and the Fundino campus into one new school. Mr Shaun Williams was appointed as Principal, and the school population was extended to 1,350 children, with ages ranging from 2 to 18.

In 2008, an extension to the An Phu Primary campus was opened followed by an extension to the An Phu Secondary campus in August 2010. These extensions provided additional classrooms and specialist facilities allowing the school to grow towards its projected target of 2,000 students.

In 2015, the British International School Ho Chi Minh City merged with Nord Anglia Education (NAE), a schools organisation located across China, Europe, the Middle East, North America and Southeast Asia. 

In 2018, BIS HCMC opened their specialist Early Years & Infant Campus facility on the same road and in the proximity of the Junior and Secondary Campuses in Thao Dien District 2, closing the Tu Xuong Campus in District 3 and uniting the numerous, previously isolated campuses in one central location in Thao Dien.

Inter-school involvements

Inter-house sporting competitions and fixtures against other schools in Ho Chi Minh City occur on a regular basis as well as regional games. The school is also involved in the Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA), with sports and music.

BIS was the founding school of SAIMUN (HCMC Model United Nations). SAIMUN is the only MUN conference held in Vietnam, and was established in 2009. In addition, BIS established and hosted the 1st Annual FOBISIA MUN 2010.

BIS is also the host of the annual ABRSM High Scorers' Concerts in Ho Chi Minh City, which feature the top 25 scoring musicians.