Arusha Campus News – 12 Jan 2019

Rawan Dakik, one of our esteemed former students, made a successful ascent of Mt.Vinson in Antarctica 4892m on Friday 4th of January. Rawan is the youngest person ever to have summited this mountain. Rawan is attempting to be the first Lebanese lady to complete the The Seven Summits which is a challenge to climb the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. So far she has climbed five – Aconcagua, Kilimanjaro, Vinson, Elbrus, Puncak Jaya (Mt Carstenzs). Just Everest and Denali to go – easy really!

Welcome back everyone and best wishes for the new year ahead. 2019 promises to be one of the most ambitious in all of ISM’s history. Our Boarding House building project is coming on at an extraordinary rate. All the boarding rooms now have roofs. Two staff houses are nearing completion and this weekend we expect the extravagant social area roof to be erected. Next week I shall share some photos.

NTAA sports start in earnest next weekend with the U13 and U19 Basketball, U15 Football. Best of luck to Mr Ratsakatika, the players and their coaches.

Some of the most exciting things to look forward to this semester are the M5 Personal Projects. Our M5 students have been working on their PP’s. The personal project is a culminating Middle Years Programme (MYP) project to develop the student’s personal interest and to show and apply the skills, which are developed through the MYP’s Approaches to Learning. This project is based on the student’s interests and talents, resulting in a product or outcome. This week were lucky enough to get a preview of Dana’s project on the impact that humans are having on the oceans. To say that Dana has set this year’s bar rather high would be an understatement. Her spectacular line drawings are fabulous and sadly my photograph (above) does not do them true justice – be sure to make time to see them for yourselves.

Please roll up to our Reception to sign up to attend the NiCU fundraiser dinner – see the poster in this newsletter. Dr Swanson’s NICU project must be the most worthy fundraisng cause fo the year and the event promises to be epic. Please come along.

Another reason for students to come along to Reception is to sign up for the Design Competition. Our Boarding House architects are looking for a studnet to help them design some important features in the boarding house. What an opportunity to get your foot on the Design World ladder. See the poster in this newsletter.

The Primary week ended with a laugh as the teachers acted out ‘ten fat sausages in a pan’. The last ‘fat sausage’ standing came in the unlikely form of Mr Acomb! (see below)

Have a happy weekend!

Phil

Happy New Year to you all, I hope that you have all had a restful break.

2019 has started well, with students across PYP, MYP and DP all settling quickly back into lessons and activities. This week we have been completing CCA sign-up ready for the beginning of Quarter Three activities which begin on Monday 14 January.

In P2 this week, the students have been exploring the relationships between science and art, using ice, salt and paint. This linked with their previous unit on water and provided a great transition into their new unit.

Our M5 students are continuing to work on their Personal Projects, developing their products and formulating their reports. We wish all our M5 students well on the Personal Project journey.

On Tuesday MYP students will have their student-led portfolio conferences. Please note that parents should have made an appointment with their child(ren)’s tutor(s) for the one hour conference. No normal MYP lessons will take place on Tuesday and students should only come into school for the one hour conference time. PYP and DP lessons will operate as normal.

Next week will see our students travel to AISA-GISS (Association of International Schools in Africa – Global Issues Service Summit) at IST in Dar es Salaam. We wish them well with their presentations and hope that they enjoy the experience of interacting with students from across the African continent.

Most of you will already know that Liz and I will not be returning to ISM Arusha after this academic year and you may have noticed that we were not in school on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. We were visiting a school in Indonesia and have now accepted positions there for August 2019. Liz will be PYP Coordinator and I will be the Head of School/Director of Medan International School, the only IB continuum school (PYP, MYP, DP) in Sumatra. Needless to say we will miss ISM and have greatly enjoyed our four years in Tanzania.

I hope you have a great weekend,

Darren

The Primary Student Coiuncil has organised a trade sale for 2pm on Friday 1st February. The idea is that students and adults brng any unwanted items from their houses. Student council will sell these items at the Trade Sale and the money raised will support a worthwhile project such as Pippi House. Just bring your unwanted toys and tools to the box outside Reception.

At the end of Quarter 2, M5 students had on-screen exam practice sessions in Sciences, Mathematics, English, I&S and Interdisciplinary. This quarter, M5s are working on their ePortfolios in Design, PHE, French, Swahili, Drama, Music and Visual Arts. It is an extremely busy quarter as students will also complete their Personal Project and present their work at the Personal Project Exhibition on March 12. eAssessments dates are posted on ManageBac.

Usambara mountains: OP level 2 trip (above)

We are looking forward to a fantastic range of outdoor pursuit trips available to our secondary students. A new trip this semester is the OP Level 2 trip mountain biking trip in Moshi area as we endeavor to develop a full OP mountain biking programme. Please note that the differing prices for Tanzanian and expatriate students reflect differing charges from the National Parks.

Trip Level Available for: Dates Under 16
Tanzanians
Cost in TSH Over 16
Tanzanians
Cost in TSH Under 16 Resident
Cost in TSH Over 16 Resident
Cost in TSH
South Pare Mountains
  1B M1-D1 Feb 9-11 276 000  276 000  276 000  276 000
Usambara mountains 2 M2-D1 who completed Level 1 or 1B Jan 24-27 470 000 470 000  470 000  470 000
NEW! Mountain biking – Moshi area 2 Students who completed Level 1 MTB May 17-19 150 000 150 000  150 000  150 000
Mt Hanang 3 Not offered this semester
Mt Meru summit 4 Altitude trip for over 16 students who completed Level 3 Feb 1-4 N/A 677 000  N/A 1 152 000
Mt Kilimanjaro summit 5 Altitude trip for over 16 students who completed Level 4 Dates TBC – either June or August 2019. Please see Ms Larpent if you are interested in this trip and over 16 by May 2019.

Please do encourage your son/daughter to take this opportunity to experience the wonderful environment here in Tanzania. Our trips for this semester are as follows:

The Mt Kenya Trust and 10to4 organization are organizing a mountain biking challenge on the slopes of Mt Kenya on February 15-17. This is an annual event that provides an opportunity for people to enjoy Mt Kenya and its surrounding wildlife conservancies, whilst raising funds for Mount Kenya Trust’s community projects and mountain conservation. There are various races for children and adults of all abilities (discounted price for students). For more information, please visit the website: https://10to4.org/ or contact Ms Larpent florencel@ismac.ac.tz

We are delighted to announce that ISMAC will be hosting an International Schools Theatre Association (ISTA) festival from 10th-12th May, 2019. ISTA is a fantastic organisation which brings professional actors and directors to work with students over three days to create a final performance. Schools will be coming from all over the world. If your son/daughter is interested in drama and theatre, this is an opportunity which should not be missed!

Please see the website for more details: https://ista.co.uk/ There is also a video available, which gives more insight, here: https://vimeo.com/271338526

We are hosting a middle school festival which will be aimed at 10-14 year olds. The cost for participating students from our school will be approximately 600,000tsh, which includes all of the workshops, transportation to and from trips, and food, plus a t-shirt. We will also require students who take part to host two students from visiting schools. This will most likely be from 9th-12th May. During this time, some of their meals will be provided by school but some will need to be provided by their host families, as well as transportation to and from school for rehearsals (which your own child will also be attending).

We have 20-30 places available and these will be filled on a first come, first served basis. If you would like to register your child(ren), please email Miss Arora at amya@ismac.ac.tz .

We are so excited about this amazing opportunity!

My name is Gabriel Kalamata with many years of
experience. I follow the ABRSM (The Exam Board of the Royal School of Music) My curriculum from the UK whereby students can learn music theory and  practical piano lessons from grades 1-8.
Piano students can take part in ABRSM exams once a year.
This is not compulsory – its up to the student/parent if they wish to take the exams. .Here are the times available for piano lessons:

Monday 3;00-3;30pm
Tuesday 12;-1;00 and 3;00-4;00pm

One lesson lasts for 30 minutes and  is Tsh 20000. One hour lessons vcan be arranged at 40000 (payable at beginning of the term).

Parents who are interested to develop the talent of their children in piano and music theory can call me on 0753 341076,0786 250265 or email kalamata734@gmail.com