15 years of building a leading education brand

In the non-public school system, Newton Inter-level School has emerged as a "special phenomenon" because after only 15 years of establishment and development, the school has affirmed its outstanding strengths in both mass and spearhead training, becoming a top educational brand in the capital; trusted by parents and students with the name "International Specialized School".

In November 2024, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Capital Education and Training Sector (1954 - 2024), the 15th anniversary of the school's establishment (2009 - 2024), Newton Inter-level School simultaneously received many good news when at prestigious intellectual arenas at home and abroad, the highest awards went to the school's students.

In October 2024, at the launching ceremony of Hanoi student teams participating in the national high school competition for the 2024-2025 school year, Newton was the name mentioned most often in the immense pride of the school's teachers and students. With continuous efforts, proper investment and a thorough training plan, 5 excellent students of Newton School officially entered the national competition team, including 4 students in the Math team and 1 student in the Physics team. The Director of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training praised Newton School as the private school with the most students participating in the national competition, including a new 10th grade student, Ha Dang An.

In 2024, Newton is also the non-public school with the most presence at Noi Bai International Airport, joining the delegation of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training to welcome students who have achieved excellent results in international competitions. At the International Mathematics and Science Olympiad (IMSO 2024), Newton School had 9 students competing and all 9 students won medals, including 4 Gold medals, 4 Silver medals, 1 Bronze medal with 1 student achieving "Best In Theory" in Science (best in theory exam). This is the second year that Newton School has led the achievements compared to other schools in Vietnam in this exam.

At the 2024 International Junior Mathematics Olympiad held in India (InIMC), Hanoi had 15 students winning medals, including 3 Gold medals, 2 of which belonged to Newton students. With a score of 140/150, Nguyen Phong Chau, the student with the highest score at the entire Key Stage 2 level, surpassed the US and Chinese teams, and Nguyen Dang Khanh won the Gold medal with a high score.

Previously, Newton was the only private school with 2 students entering the International Junior Science Team (IJSO 2024) with the highest and second highest scores in the selection round. Also at this exam in 2023, for the first time in the school's history, Hoang Pham Minh Khanh became a member of the official team and achieved the highest result of the whole group with a Silver Medal (the remaining 4 members who won Bronze Medals were all students of Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted).

At the Bac Tu Liem District Excellent Student Competition for the 2024-2025 school year, as in many previous years, Newton continued to lead with 50 awards in 9/9 subjects, including 4 valedictorians. Students who won high prizes in this competition will enter the city-level excellent student competition held in the near future, promising to bring many brilliant achievements to the school.

It is worth mentioning that Newton is recognized by the management agency; trusted and loved by parents and students not only for its outstanding achievements but also for its impressive mass education results with a high school graduation and university entrance rate of 100%. In the 2024 high school graduation exam, 95% of Newton School's 12th graders scored 10 points in English thanks to their IELTS certificates; raising the average English score of the school's students to 9.68. The average total score of the 3 subjects Math - Literature - English is 24.45; the average score for high school graduation is 8.2.

Similarly, in the 10th grade high school exam for the 2024-2025 school year, the school's average score for the three subjects was high, corresponding to the scores: 8.17 (Math) - 7.44 (Literature) - 8.45 (English). Hundreds of students from the school passed the entrance exams to prestigious specialized high schools, but because they loved the school's educational environment, most of them continued to study at the high school level, aiming to get scholarships to top universities abroad.

To meet the needs and desires of parents; at the same time, always listening to the development trends of domestic and international education, Newton has made a breakthrough in innovating the program and classroom model. Up to now, the school's educational ecosystem is very diverse with programs: Semi-international English/Semi-international Chinese, international Cambridge (UK), bilingual American, high quality. In each training program, the school divides classes according to their own level and orientation; especially there is an ICT class - early, intensive computer training for students with a special interest in computer science and programming.

At the high school level, Newton School is famous for its Scholarship Hunting class model, aiming for students to win prizes in provincial/city and national excellent student competitions; receive scholarships from 70% - 100% to top universities in the world; 100% of students pass the entrance exams to top universities in the country... Over the past 10 years, Newton School students have been known for their achievements in winning scholarships to prestigious universities around the world and are among the schools with the highest number of students receiving scholarships in the capital's education system.

In addition to focusing on cultivating cultural knowledge, Newton School always wants students to demonstrate their talents through sports, cultural and artistic activities, extracurricular activities... to practice skills to become future leaders and global citizens. The school made its mark at the WSIF 2024 World School Forum, won the national volunteer award, high prizes at the "Hanoi Sound" Young Voice Competition, Special Prize at the Choir Festival of the Nam - Bac Tu Liem High School Cluster, First Prize at the Hanoi Choir Festival... and many high prizes at sports competitions of the district, city and country.

With an advanced educational program, modern and synchronous facilities, the School has officially been accredited by the Cognia Organization - USA, accredited as a Green - Clean - Beautiful - Safe School model, and honored to receive many noble awards such as: Certificate of Merit from the Ministry of Education and Training for outstanding achievements in the emulation movement of Innovation in management, teaching and learning; commended by the Institute of Innovation and Digital Transformation (Union of Science Associations) for the smart education initiative - Sei Awards, ...

The 15-year journey of establishment and strong development of Newton Inter-level School is associated with the name of the captain, the inspiration - the creative and dedicated teacher Le Thi Bich Dung, Vice Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, Co-founder, Head of the school's Innovation Committee.

Graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics - University of General Sciences in 1981, Ms. Bich Dung spent 13 years working at the University of Mining and Geology as a lecturer of advanced mathematics and programming. The next 12 years were spent studying and working abroad. With the desire to contribute her accumulated knowledge and thinking to her homeland, Ms. Bich Dung decided to return to Vietnam, cherishing the thought of doing something for education. "Something" was clearly shaped after meeting her old teacher - Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Van Nhung, former Deputy Minister of Education and Training.

“The meeting with him was truly a coincidence. When he heard me share my plans and wishes to invest in the education sector, he advised me to open a general school in an innovative and international direction; the purpose is to apply the best of foreign countries to Vietnamese education for students from a young age; only then can we train generations of progressive students... From his suggestion, my colleagues and I researched and decided to establish Newton School”, teacher Le Thi Bich Dung recalled.

Recalling the journey of building Newton School, Ms. Bich Dung divided it into 3 time periods: from 2009 - 2014 was the stage of shaping the direction; from 2014 - 2018 was the stage of spreading its wings far out to sea; and from 2018 to present is the stage of strong and sustainable development. Corresponding to each time period are memories of hardship and difficulty but always filled with love and enthusiasm.

Ms. Bich Dung recalls: In the first 5 years, the school rented a location at the Aquatic Sports Palace, My Dinh National Sports Complex. Newton School had its first opening ceremony with the participation of more than 20 cadres, teachers, staff and 71 first-year students. There, there were large yards full of sunshine and green grass; there were two rows of trees neatly arranged on each step leading to the school gate; there were small but neat and tidy classrooms….

After the first 5 years, Newton is a new school but has appeared in the rankings of schools with the highest university entrance exam scores in the capital and the whole country. After a period of finding the way, learning and gaining experience, the school is determined to pursue and firmly shape its own direction: a comprehensive educational model; combining the national education program with the international English program, creating the Newton student style with the motto: " Each student is a future leader ".

The summer of 2014 was a brilliant and unforgettable summer for all teachers and students of Newton School. With the strategic vision and investment of the Board of Directors, Newton School officially moved to a new facility - its own school, located in Hoang Quoc Viet Urban Area, Bac Tu Liem District. Newton Inter-level School was considered the most modern school in the capital at that time with more than 100 classrooms designed according to international standards, fully equipped with air conditioners, projectors, interactive boards, space for physical activities, sports, and talents including: swimming pool, gymnasium, soccer field, basketball court; conference room...

During this time, the number of students in the whole school has increased nearly 10 times; the scale of the school has continuously grown. In 2018, the school's second campus in Goldmark City Urban Area (136 Ho Tung Mau - Bac Tu Liem) officially opened. Also in this school year, Newton became a strategic partner of the US Educational Organization Equest - opening up great opportunities for students and the school. In 2019, Newton 5 Primary and Secondary School (Thanh Ha Urban Area) was established and became the third educational facility of the Newton Inter-level School System. To date, Newton School has 4 campuses with a total of nearly 8,500 students. On September 18, the System started construction of Newton Westlake Inter-level School (Nam Thang Long Urban Area, Phu Thuong Ward, Tay Ho District) including 3 levels (preschool, primary school, secondary school), with a scale of about 1 hectare with the vision of being a modern, smart, quality international school.

According to teacher Le Thi Bich Dung, in order to build a good educational environment, it is necessary to face and solve 3 factors: first is to create a training environment that develops students' qualities; second is advanced teaching methods; and third is to have full modern teaching equipment. Newton School has tried very hard to develop all 3 of these factors equally.

In her role as Vice Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, Head of the Innovation and Creativity Board in teaching and learning of the entire System and teacher of the Math gifted student training team, Ms. Bich Dung clearly understands that expertise is the core foundation to create a quality education and constant innovation is the way to develop the school in the age of information technology.

Ms. Bich Dung's efforts to innovate and create to adapt to the situation were most clearly demonstrated during the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, she had cherished ideas about the IT application model for many years and during the pandemic, she turned challenges into motivation, quickly leading the trend, making Newton a leading school and effectively applying online teaching. To do that, she and the team of teachers at Newton Inter-level School widely deployed online teaching and learning for all grades in the entire system, bringing students from a normal classroom space to a magical classroom in the space of digital technology: no distance, strong interaction, unlimited creativity.

With the determination to turn Newton System classrooms into “Smart Classrooms”, IT applications and teaching software on tablets have been used alternately with traditional teaching methods - white chalk and green boards. This teaching method creates outstanding advantages in teaching in many aspects: students receive more knowledge, are more lively and enthusiastic in learning, and actively participate in learning activities in class. The quality of the school has improved, the subject groups in the school are coordinated quickly and effectively, and produce classes of students with good IT skills, broader knowledge, comprehensive development and leading the way in the integration period with the era of digital experts such as ChatGPT, AI, Bing, ...

Ms. Bich Dung's enthusiasm has spread to teachers throughout the school and students in all grades. She always wondered how to make lessons with complex and difficult concepts simple and easy to understand, and called them "Inspiring lessons". She launched the "Inspiring teachers" movement for the whole school to encourage teachers to research lessons and teach students in a more engaging and understandable way. With her contributions to the education cause, teacher Le Thi Bich Dung was honored to receive the noble award "Dedicated and creative Hanoi teacher" presented by the Department of Education and Training; and also received a Certificate of Merit from the Ministry of Education and Training in the emulation movement "Innovation and creativity in management, teaching and learning".

“Being born - spreading its wings far and wide - developing strongly and sustainably is the 15-year journey that Newton Inter-level School has gone through. Despite facing countless difficulties and challenges, with the love for students and the support of parents, the maturity of students, the Board of Directors and the collective of teachers of the school have overcome everything. Today, with the progress and achievements we have made, we are more determined and vow to bring all our enthusiasm and creativity to continue developing the Newton Inter-level School brand into an International Specialized School, a smart school, a happy school in a modern international direction, the number 1 choice of students and parents” - Ms. Hoang Thi Man - Principal of Newton Secondary and High School emotionally shared.