4/20/23, 3:09 PM Breakthrough Learning Environments Promote Wellbeing at ISHCMC

The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20220705004616/https://www.citypassguide.com/living/ho-chi-minh-city/education/b…

TRAVEL BLOGS WHAT'S NEW BEST OF FORUM LIVING

What are you looking for?

BREAKTHROUGH LEARNING Email

ENVIRONMENTS PROMOTE Name

WELLBEING AT ISHCMC
Get the lastest news

By: John Mark Harrell

• ISHCMC has been at the forefront of education for over 25 years.

• Educational environments at ISHCMC keep up with the year 2020.

• All rounded development of children at ISHCMC.

Ho Chi Minh City is currently saturated with international schools, but back in
1993, it couldn’t have been a more stark contrast. Saigon was once extremely
insular, surrounded by quaint farmlands and rice fields in what are now Saigon’s
heavily-urbanized outer districts. Vietnam was only just beginning to expand after
the seismic economic and cultural shift brought about by the Đổi Mới reforms that
gradually opened the country to the influence of the international community.

ISHCMC: A Pioneer of International Schooling

Pioneering a new era of education, the founders of International School Ho Chi

Minh City (ISHCMC) broke ground on the first ever international school in
Saigon, starting as a small Australian grammar school and gradually transforming
into a more globalized academic institution. Establishing an entirely new kind of
school in Saigon during a period of relatively intense conservatism was no easy
task, however.

https://web.archive.org/web/20220705004616/https://www.citypassguide.com/living/ho-chi-minh-city/education/blog/breakthrough-learning-environments-promote-wellbeing-at-ishcmc 1/28
4/20/23, 3:09 PM Breakthrough Learning Environments Promote Wellbeing at ISHCMC

ISHCMC

“They had to work with the Ministry of Education and the Department of
Education at the time,” says Head of School Adrian Watts. “They had to be
convinced to allow a school that didn’t teach standard Vietnamese curriculum.
ISHCMC was the founder of all those relationships and had to set the standard,
and continues to do so over 25 years later.”

ISHCMC

ISHCMC was the first school to move to a full International Baccalaureate

curriculum, the first to introduce mindfulness as part of the curriculum (which has
only recently caught at other institutions), and the first to work with the
Vietnamese education authorities to establish the legal framework for all modern
schools to base their existence upon.

Cutting Edge Environments and Innovative Education at ISHCMC 

From their humble origins in an old textile factory surrounded by rice fields in
District 2, ISHCMC now has some of the most innovative and cutting edge
facilities thanks to their newly renovated state-of-the-art Primary and Secondary
campuses. As part of the Cognita Schools Group, they join a worldwide network
of 70 diverse institutions all dedicated to nurturing academic excellence with a
global perspective.

But ISHCMC’s core values go well beyond mere academics.

Child safety and wellbeing are two of ISHCMC’s top priorities. As a member of
the Cognita Schools Group, ISHCMC is held accountable by the UK’s Child
Protection Act. Rigorous screening processes for all staff, including thorough
background checks conducted by an outside organization, as well as regular audits
and ongoing staff training, make ISHCMC one of the most secure and thoroughly-
vetted academic institutions in the country. 

ISHCMC

ISHCMC also sets itself apart with an unrivaled dedication to the wellbeing of its
students through the quality of its learning environments, as well as the ability of
its staff to utilize the tools of that environment to energize, engage, and empower
each and every student to “uncover their learning” and give them the tools to take
an active role in their learning process—a principle ISHCMC refers to as Student
Agency.

We only need to think back on our own education to appreciate the importance of
our learning environments. Nearly all of us can remember those hours of dreaded
boredom we spent in school, facing forward neatly in rows, sitting all day behind
https://web.archive.org/web/20220705004616/https://www.citypassguide.com/living/ho-chi-minh-city/education/blog/breakthrough-learning-environments-promote-wellbeing-at-ishcmc 2/28
4/20/23, 3:09 PM Breakthrough Learning Environments Promote Wellbeing at ISHCMC

a desk as the teachers lectured and assigned homework. Most of us couldn’t wait
to escape!

“Students today have tremendous difficulty learning behind desks in straight

rows, like an exam room every day,” Mr. Watts points out. 

“That’s not what the modern student needs, so we create

environments that are the opposite of that. Flexible arrangements
with cushions and low-level couches, writable walls, short-throw
projectors that enable surfaces to become interactive, and break-out
spaces encourage students to remain engaged in their learning, and
very few students are off task as a result.”

Unfortunately, traditional schools worldwide don’t typically utilize effective

learning environments, to the detriment of students’ wellbeing. 

“Most schools are trying to teach the same way they taught in the 1860s to
students in 2020,” says Mr. Watts. “When we’re talking about different
generations, up to Millenials, we’ve identified different characteristics for all of
them. But many schools have continued to operate exactly the same.”

By contrast, ISHCMC features some of the most remarkably innovative and

modern facilities available anywhere in the world. The primary campus
classrooms have all been newly renovated for the 2019-2020 academic year, and
you’ve probably never seen anything like it. 

ISHCMC

Classrooms are arranged with spaces that flow into one another, utilizing a
mixture of cushions, tables, and chairs in mixed-use spaces where students can
work together and participate in various workshops and activities organized by
their teachers. These collaborative environments promote emotional intelligence
and foster critical social skills needed for the future, which research increasingly
shows to be most important to develop at an early age. 

https://web.archive.org/web/20220705004616/https://www.citypassguide.com/living/ho-chi-minh-city/education/blog/breakthrough-learning-environments-promote-wellbeing-at-ishcmc 3/28
4/20/23, 3:09 PM Breakthrough Learning Environments Promote Wellbeing at ISHCMC

Supporting Social and Emotional Development at ISHCMC

Through a play-based approach and a wide variety of specialized learning

environments catered to each child’s individual strengths, primary school students
are given ample resources to not only begin their academic learning journey, but
thrive socially and emotionally at a key developmental stage. ISHCMC’s primary
campus is home to a fully equipped cooking lab, a state-of-the-art music facility
with soundproof rooms, a six-lane swimming pool, a gorgeous art space
complemented by multi-use areas and an open environment with natural light
(rather than confining students to a cramped table as is common with many
schools’ shrinking arts spaces), a dedicated lab for creation and development
using modern techniques like 3D printing, and much more. 

ISHCMC

In addition to pristine learning environments, ISHCMC takes extra care to serve

healthy meals, and a modern air purification system (also used in hospitals) as
well as careful monitoring of air pollution levels—and even a lightning deflection
system for Saigon’s notoriously severe thunderstorms—makes this one of Ho Chi
Minh City’s safest and healthiest campuses.

ISHCMC has always continued its legacy of pioneering that it has been known for
since its inception all those years ago, and arguably has moved on to become a
global example of how uncompromising dedication to the quality of students’
learning environment can have a long-lasting impact on their wellbeing, not only
at an early age, but for years to come.

Image source: ISHCMC

KEEPING GOOD COUNSEL

By: City Pass Guide

https://web.archive.org/web/20220705004616/https://www.citypassguide.com/living/ho-chi-minh-city/education/blog/breakthrough-learning-environments-promote-wellbeing-at-ishcmc 4/28