Moshi Campus News – 10 August 2013

Dear Parents,

We are now fully prepared for the boarders to return to school tomorrow and for the start of classes on Monday morning at 7:30am. We are looking forward to seeing our returning students again and to welcoming our many new students. A great year lies ahead!

We aim to send newsletters to parents weekly during the term time. These newsletters contain many announcements and information items – please read them carefully so that you do not miss important issues for your child.

Boarders will be starting on Sunday, 11th August and we would ask all to be in school by 6pm on that day if possible. For new students joining boarding for the first time, please aim to be in school by 3pm.

There will be a tea in the dining hall at 4pm for the families of new boarders (and also families of returning boarders if you wish to join us). This will be a good opportunity for you to meet boarding parents and other school staff and to meet other families. We look forward to seeing you there.

Boarders are reminded to return with their new Parental Consent forms.

If your child needs transport from Kilimanjaro or Moshi airports, please let Rosemary Bango (Head of Boarding) know very quickly on . We charge each student $30 for transport from Kilimanjaro on the first day of term and this is added to the school bill.

Day students should be in school before 7:30am on Monday, 12th August. Primary students will start the day with their class teachers and an introduction to their new class. All secondary students will go to their tutor rooms at 7:30am and have an extended tutor period until 9:20am. Lists of students and where their tutor rooms are have been posted in the breezeway. If you’re not sure where to go, please ask.

The secondary assembly begins at 9:20 and the primary school will join at 9:50 until 10:15 when we have a mornimg break for 20 minutes. Day students are asked to bring a snack for the morning break.

Primary students will be in classes until 13:05 on Monday. There will be no primary clubs this week – we hope to start primary clubs next Monday, 19th August.

M1-M5 students will continue with their orientation programme until 2:20pm on Monday (with a break for lunch from 12:35 to 13:20).

D1 students will continue with their orientation programme until Monday evening, with sports activities in the afternoon and an evening barbecue by the pool.

D2 students will focus on Extended Essays at 10:35 and will then start classes at 11:35 with lessons in Maths, ITGS/Geography/Economics, and Biology/Physics/Environmental Syatems.

On Tuesday M1-M5 will start regular classes and D2 will continue classes. D1 students continue their orientation programme and they will start classes on Wednesday.

Students will choose their CAS and Sports options this week. Afternoon sports activities will be offered for secondary students on Wednesday and Thursday (14th and 15th) from 4:30 to 6pm. Regular CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) and Sports activites start on Monday, 19th August.

Primary students are normally expected to wear an ISM T-shirt (or polo shirt) for all classes. For the first few days of school, students may wear any appropriate clothing as it may take a few days for all to buy the required shirts. These are available to purchase from the receptionist in school. We will expect all primary students to have the right shirts by Monday, 19th August.

On Thursday 15th August we invite our parents to special PYP and MYP information sessions. Both these sessions will be brief introductions to the curriculum and how your child will be learning. We are dividing the evening up into two sections:

1. PYP Introduction and Meet the Class Teacher 6.30-7.30 pm
We will start off in Room 16 and following a brief information session we will split into class groups so that you can go to your child’s classroom, meet the teacher and get an understanding of how your child’s week will work out. This is not a 1:1 with the class teacher but a chance to get to know child’s teacher with other parents. If you have an issue you wish to share with the teacher please make an appointment to meet them at another time.

2. Understanding the MYP and my child in Secondary at Moshi Campus 7.30pm Room 16
This will be an information session with Mr Dombkins our MYP Coordinator and Mrs Aris, Deputy Head of Campus. The MYP as a curriculum will be explained as well as Student Life at ISM.

We look forward to seeing our new parents at this event as well as any primary parents who wish to meet their new class teacher

Dear Parents and Community,

Welcome to the home of the Leopards, and a new year of Sports at ISM. We are very fortunate to have great facilities on campus, here in Moshi! We are always looking for people who are interested in coaching, or being assistant coaches with our teams. If you have any ideas or interest, or even wish to start a new sports team, please feel free to contact me on

Go Leopards!
Yours in sport,
Marika Farrell
Sports Coordinator

All students in both secondary and primary are asked to wear their house colours for PE lessons. T-shirts in blue, green or yellow for Kibo, Mawenzi or Meru houses are also available to buy from reception in school.

Most day students will like to have a locker in school in which to keep their belongings. Lockers will be available to all day students from Monday morning and keys will be issued by the receptionist. We ask for a TSh 5000/- deposit for the locker key which will be returned once the key is returned. We strongly encourage day students to keep their belongings in a locker and not to leave valuable items lying around in school. Whilst we will do all we can to prevent items from disappearing, we cannot be responsible for personbal items which are lost.

Day students are welcome to bring a packed lunch to eat in school, or to buy food at the school shop (using cash), or to eat a full lunch in the school dining hall. Any day student wishing to eat lunch in the dining hall should purchase a meal ticket from reception at a cost of TSh 5000/-. Parents or students can buy one ticket or many and use them whenever they wish. The menu for meals is posted outside the dining hall.

All D1 students will need graphic display calculators in their work. The school will have some TI-84+ calculators for sale in about two weeks’ time and students are welcome to buy these. The price will be calculated and announced after we have cleared the calculators through customs.

The school events calendar is available to view at www.uwcea.org/calendar. You can also download pdf copies of the semester calendar from www.uwcea.org/moshi-arusha/calendar.

If you would like to sync the school calendar with your Google account, or Android or Apple device, search for the ISM Public Calendar in the account of intsmoshi@googlemail.com. (Please do not use this address for email to the school).

We do offer individual music instrument lessons to may students in school in addition to the regular music classes and musical group activities. Students who wish to study a music instrument should sign up by the music room before Thursday, 15th August. Lessons will cost TSh 15,000/-per half hour and parents will be billed for these after your child has registered. If you have any questions please contact Susan Jacob, our music teacher.

On 9th October, we will be holding music theory examinations in school. These exams are set by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) and are available from beginners level (called Grade 1) to the demanding Grade 8 exam. Registration must be completed by Friday, 16th August at the latest. If you would like your child to register for these exams, please contact Susan Jacob on

We have regular assemblies in school for all students and these are an opportunity to make announcements to students, explore a topic or theme and also to showcase the activities of one class or group of students. Most assemblies are on Monday mornings at 7:35am. Parents are always welcome to attend. Below is the draft assembly schedule for this year:

Date	Theme
12 August	Welcome 9h20
26 August	House Assembly – students dress in house colours
2 September	Primary Assembly 1
16 September	Student Council Elections
23 September	PYP Sharing Assembly
11 October	Goodbye Assembly
4 November	Primary Assembly 2
18 November	Int. Day of Tolerance
2 December	World AIDS Day – Students wear ribbons
20 December	Goodbye Assembly
20 January	Secondary Assembly
3 February	PYP Sharing Assembly
17 February	Mother Tongue Assembly
3 March	Book Week Assembly – followed by PYP Open morning with tea & coffee
17 March	Primary Assembly 3
28 March	Goodbye Assembly
28 April	Primary Assembly 4
12 May	MYP Assembly
19 May	PYP Sharing Assembly – Muffins for Mum, Donuts for Dad – Primary only
2 June	Primary Assembly
20 June	Farewell Assembly

On the school website at www.uwcea.org/about-us/moshi-teachers are photos of all our teachers and boarding parents and a list of the classes/subjects that they will be teaching this school year.

You can also find brief biographies of all our new teachers at www.uwcea.org/newt.

Often it is not clear who you should contact if you have a question or a concern. I hope this guide may help you.

Area	Name/Title	Contact Details
Boarding: An issue about your child	His/her boarding parent	Please exchange contact information with his/her boarding parent
Boarding: A wider concern	Rosemary Bango – Head of Boarding	0689 772346 or
Primary: Your child’s education	His/her class teacher	All teachers can be contacted by email using an address in the form firstname+initial@uwcea.net
PYP Curriculum Matters	Scott Hawkins – PYP Coordinator
Primary: A wider concern	Totty Aris – Deputy Head of Campus
Primary Clubs	Totty Aris
Secondary: Your child’s education	His/her tutor	All teachers can be contacted by email using an address in the form firstname+initial@uwcea.net
Secondary: A wider concern	Totty Aris – Deputy Head of Campus
IB Diploma Matters	Rick Fitzpatrick – Diploma Coordinator
MYP Matters	Mark Dombkins – MYP Coordinator
CAS Activities	Madeline Leno – CAS Coordinator
Sports Activities	Marika Farrell – Sports Coordinator
Routine Accounts queries	Accounts Office
Special Fee Arrangements	Keiron White – Head of Campus	0767 534766 or
Policy issues concerning the whole school (not specific to your child or to the Moshi Campus)	Bob Horton – Director
Any other matters	Keiron White – Head of Campus	0767 534766 or

Greetings. We in the ISM DP look forward to facilitating your DP child’s growth at our exceptional school. The continued increase in DP students attests to the “word on the street” of our top quality and holistic program. We are experienced and have an outstanding faculty team and caring group of boarding parents to facilitate our students’ learning as they evolve, hopefully, into becoming responsible global citizens of tomorrow embodying the IB learner profile.

DP teachers have been diligently preparing. Collaboratively and individually we have been involved in planning for this year in our productive week of orientation. DP teachers also this week spent time reflecting in the orientation on the concept of “collaboration” – a hallmark of the IB and a key skill for the ‘real world.’

Re-take exams occur on Friday August 9th, Saturday August 10th and Sunday August 11th and Monday August 13th for some class of May 2014 students (D2s we call them) who did not perform at their best level in the end-of-D1-year exams and get a second chance to meet the ISM IB Diploma retention policy (which I will describe in greater detail in another newsletter).

A jam-packed, fun, engaging and productive orientation program will take place on Monday August 12th and Tuesday August 13th for the forty plus members of the incoming group of ISM DP students. These class of 2014 students will visit with all DP class teachers to listen to brief presentations on each class. Similarly there will team-building activities, time/stress management sessions and a detailed overview of every aspect of ISM DP life including Boarding, Outdoor Pursuits and CAS. It is expected that one particularly enjoyable aspect of the orientation will be the Monday evening “Meet and Greet” BBQ by the ISM pool where DP teachers and D2 students will join together to welcome the new cohort of students. The new D1ers should also gain from the orientation session in which recent DP graduates will return and share suggestions for achieving success. On a practical level, new D1s will sign the ISM Academic Honesty Policy to help them as best we can to ensure that they do not plagiarize.

D2 students will present the final 4,000-word draft of their Extended Essay on EE final draft very soon. Hence, the upcoming two weekly meetings in the Tuesday Guidance Hour with the EE Supervisors will be critical. During the two-month holiday break class of 2014 ISM DP students (should have!) researched and written all of their EE. Did your son or daughter? Those who have not done so face consequences – they will stay every Friday for academic catch up after school starting this week to get this major coursework assignment finished on time. The series of D2 deadlines over the next months is terribly demanding (and for many the toughest part of the IB DP experience!) so our (you as parent and myself as DP Coordinator with my team of EE supervisors) guided pressure to have them finish the EE soon is supremely important. Trust me as I have seen this every year in the decade I have worked in the IB!

We in the ISM DP are looking forward to a fantastic year as we are all learners. Our experienced and committed group of DP teachers with our dedicated and hard-working Boarding team and Administration will provide a world class education and help to forge the best possible experience for your child.

If I may ask five things of DP parents this year, they are as follows:
1. DP class lesson time is sacrosanct. Every class lesson day is key. Hence, do NOT have them arrive late or remove them early from school if possible as it truly does negatively affect their learning. Can you do this?

2. Ask your son or daughter to approach directly and firstly his/her ISM DP teacher with any concerns. Our faculty is experienced and responsive to constructive criticism as education professionals always improving.

3. Contact me in the DP team regarding any concerns/suggestions/constructive criticism

4. Frequently contact your child as this parental support is invaluable and attend parent-teacher meetings at the end of each quarter if possible.

5. Visit ISM, if possible, once per semester and more if feasible, to get a first-hand sense of your child’s progress. I cannot overstate enough the importance of your doing this for your child’s success.

You too might find this article useful in terms of grasping why the IB DP is such a fantastic course of study – www.ibo.org/ibworld/may2012/wp-content/docs/archive_documents/10reasons.pdf. Similarly, join me in encouraging your son/daughter to ease the stress of the DP by exercising as it makes a huge difference (as you likely know) as this piece documents – https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/07/03/how-exercise-can-calm-anxiety/.

I look forward to being in communication with you as a DP parent.
Sincerely,
Rick Fitzpatrick
Diploma Programme Coordinator

Dear EC Parents,
My name is Annalee Horton and for those who don’t know me I will be your child’s teacher in EC this year. I am really looking forward to beginning my second year at ISM and meeting all the new children as well as welcoming back those who were in EC last year.

In the first few weeks of school, I will be getting to know your child/children and finding out where they are both socially and in their learning. We will be playing games to get to know each other, we will set up classroom agreements so that we can play and learn safely and fairly and we will be painting a self portrait for our welcome display. We will get to know the different areas of the classroom and the school.

Our first Unit of Inquiry is under the transdisciplinary theme of ‘How we organize ourselves’. Our central idea is “Learning is an important part of our lives”. We will begin to tune into this unit by brainstorming the answer to the question, “Where do we learn new things?”

I look forward to meeting you all at the parents meeting next Thursday night, 15th August where we can talk in more detail about the programme and how you can be a part of your child’s learning this year.
Please could I ask that you send in the following on Monday;

• A complete set of spare clothes in a named bag.
• A named hat that can be left at school.
• A pair of indoor shoes/slippers that can also be left at school.
• A healthy snack and a water bottle

Information for Parents
Hello! My name is Nina Bigg and I am the class teacher for P1 and 2. I am very excited about meeting my class of children on Monday!

I will be spending the first week getting to know the children and assessing their ability. These assessments will enable me to plan effectively. The children will also be spending time getting to know each other. We will play some name games! We will also consider a set of class rules to establish a happy and safe environment to learn.

Language focus for the week
Talk about your holiday. Write sentence captions and labels about your holiday. Rhyming words, handwriting patterns and listening to lots of stories. Play word games.

Maths focus for the week
Count sets of objects to 5, 10, 20 and 100. Find one more/less than a given number. Read, write and order numbers. Learn to play various maths games.

Unit of Inquiry
Our first Unit of Inquiry is ‘Healthy Living’ which is a fabulous unit to start the year off. This unit will focus on developing self management skills and being well balanced. I will start by finding out what your children understand about what is healthy and unhealthy.

Draw and paint self portraits and pictures of your holiday.

What to bring to school:
A hat for playtime and a healthy snack.

Timetable:
Monday
PE (wear trainers and a house T shirt if you have one, I will inform new children which house they are in on Monday)
Tuesday
PE (wear trainers and a house T shirt)
Thursday
Library (we will choose new books)

Your child has a named hook outside the classroom to hang their bag on. I will be at the door to greet you all at 7.30am on Monday.

Karibu P2/3! My name is Mrs Kacey and I’m excited to be joining the PYP team at ISM this year.

During the first week of school, we’ll spend a considerable amount of time building a sense of community, establishing routines, and working on Language and Maths assessments.

Our first unit of study is Transportation which will focus on systems of transport. We will do some brainstorming on the topic this week after we discuss some of the principles of the PYP.

In addition to the time devoted to writing, reading, and spelling assessments, we will be focusing on action verbs in Language. In Maths we will review basic numeracy skills and learn some math games that we will be using throughout the term to practice math facts.

Our PE will be on Wednesdays and Thursdays after breaktime each week. Please send your child to school in either their PE kit or a house T-shirt. Until the sports day in the end of September we will be focusing on Athletics. After that, our Thursday lesson each week will be in the pool. On non-PE days your child should wear school uniform or an ISM T-shirt.

A folder of Homework will be sent home on Mondays that should be completed and returned by Friday morning. This system will begin the second week of school on Monday the 19th. Please use this first week of school to set up your own routine of reading together each day. I encourage you to listen to your child read for a minimum of ten minutes every day. It makes such a difference to their reading confidence and enjoyment! If you would like to talk about ways to improve that time together, please let me know. Our class will go to Library each Monday.

We will have Swahili class on Wednesdays and Fridays. P3 students will also have French lessons twice a week. Our class will go to Music on Tuesdays and Fridays. I look forward to meeting you at the Parent Information Night on the 15th. The evening will give me the chance to introduce myself properly and fill in more details about the wonderful year ahead. Feel free to contact me by email if you have questions or concerns.
See you soon,
Kacey Buckley

A very warm welcome to everyone who is either returning to ISM or starting in P3/4 for the very first time. My name is Jann Hattle and I will be your child’s teacher this year. We have moved classes and will now be in Room 6. I am looking forward to my 3rd year at ISM and to working with your child and getting to know you better.

This is what our learning in class will look like this week:
UOI – We will be introducing our first Unit of Inquiry, “Where We Are In Place and Time”
Central Idea: Artefacts and other evidence help us understand history and how people lived in the past.
Lines of Inquiry: – Types of historical evidence
  – How historians work with artefacts
  – The information artefacts offer us about the past.
We will also be unpacking the Central Idea, so that the students have a firm understanding of exactly what it means. We will also investigate what is meant by the word “artefacts” and hopefully look at some different artefacts. If any families have artefacts that they can send to school for us to look at, it would be greatly appreciated.

Reading, Writing and Maths – We will begin with assessments in these areas in order to establish base lines of learning and groupings of the students. The students will also receive a range of learning activities which will reinforce the skills of recalling basic facts, letter formation and the writing process. These will also continue to provide information for me as to how quickly students settle to work, if they are able to stay on task and focus, their ability to problem solve, their level of perseverance and various personality traits.

Homework – This will only start from next week, as I want the students to settle into school and the new routines during week 1. Homework will be sent home on Mondays and handed in on Fridays. If students still have a zip bag from last year, please bring it to school on Monday.

P.E. – We will have PE sessions on Wednesdays and Fridays. Please ensure that your child/children are dressed in or bring the appropriate clothing to school on these days – house t-shirts, shorts and TRAINERS. Our focus will be on athletics during both these sessions for the time being. After sports day, Friday’s session will be used for swimming.

Library – Our class session will be on Thursdays. If the students have a book bag from last year, please bring it to school on Monday.

Uniform – A reminder that students must wear an ISM T-shirt or polo shirt to school each day. These are available from the office. The office also has school caps and book bags for sale, should you wish to purchase these items.

Hats – Students are required to wear hats during playtime and other outdoor activities. No hat means no play, so please ensure that your child brings a hat to school each day, or has a hat that he/she can leave at school in his/her tray.

Break time – students will need to bring a healthy snack and drink to school each day.

Class times – A reminder that registration starts at 7.30am each morning. A bell will be rung shortly before this time, to ensure that the students are ready to start the day promptly. The Primary School finishes at 1.05pm each day, except for Fridays, when we end at 12.35pm

Parents’ Meeting – An introductory meeting will be held on Thursday 15 August at 6.00pm. We will meet in Room 16 initially and then split up into the various grade level classrooms.

Looking forward to a great week together,
Miss Jann

Welcome to P5/6. My name is Mr. Scott and I come from the UK. I will be your child’s class teacher for this academic year. Many of you will have read my biography on the school’s website so I will not repeat myself here.

Throughout the year, I will be teaching Maths, English, Science, Geography, History and PE, where relevant, through the six units of inquiry that your child will undertake this year. The first unit we will be studying in P5/6 is called, ‘Heroes’. In our first week we will begin to look at how we define heroes focusing on the qualities we believe that heroes possess.

In Language during the first week we will conduct some assessments before writing about our holidays and describing both verbally and in writing what qualities we believe are displayed by a hero. In Maths we will begin with assessments and then seek to consolidate our knowledge of place value.

PE will be on Wednesday and Friday morning each week. Please ensure your child wears either their PE kit to school on these days or a house t-shirt. Until the sports day in September we will be focusing exclusively on Athletics. Thereafter, one lesson each week will be in the pool. On non PE days your child should wear school uniform or an ISM T-shirt.

Homework will be sent home on a Monday afternoon and should be completed and returned by Friday morning. Where possible, I would encourage you to make every effort to hear your child read each day at home and support them with any other homework set. Library day each week will be on Monday.

Should you wish to discuss any aspect of your child’s education, please feel free to contact me and arrange a suitable time. However, there will be an opportunity for all of us to meet at the forthcoming, “Parent information night”. If, for whatever reason, you are unable to attend this please feel free to drop in and see me on Thursday afternoon or to e-mail me with any specific queries that you may have.

This promises to be an exciting year for all of us. I look forward to meeting you all soon.
Scott Hawkins