Moshi Campus News – 8 Aug 2019

Welcome to UWC East Africa and the first Moshi newsletter of the year. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all new and returning students and to wish you a happy and successful year ahead.

While school does not fully kick off until next week, this week has been a bustle of activity.  The teachers are back in preparing, the D1 students are here for orientation and in the background the campus is being made ready for Tuesday the 13th. 

I must say however, while some us may have had a rest, the campus itself has been busy.  With the just completed alumni reunion the last of the events, we had two CAS camps and the UWC Short Course that ensured that there was no end of activity.

Most of the starting details for students and parents are contained below, but it is important to note that the school days have been slightly altered to accommodate two secondary lunch sittings.  The students are still expected in class at 7:30am, but the day ends 5 minutes later.  The full details of the schedules are available in the handbooks that have been sent.

And for our community members that celebrate the festival, I wish you a Happy Eid.

Bob Cofer

Head of Campus

We are expecting the new UWC East Africa shirts this Friday and hope to have them available on Tuesday for the same 10,000 Tsh.  We will have updated sports and house shirts as well as we move forward.

Right now, please feel free to wear the existing ISM shirts as we continue the transition.

Lunch tickets will be available on Tuesday morning.  The tickets are 7,500 Tsh for Secondary and  4,500 Tsh for Primary. They will be available in the Accounts office.

Karibu Sana to what promises to be a very special year of living and learning together here at…UWC East Africa! For those of you who do not know me, my name is Ben Morley and I am very proud to be the Deputy Head here in Moshi. I will be supporting teaching and learning across the school, from EC-D2, working alongside the students and teachers and, hopefully, contributing in any way I can to life across the school.

As you are all aware, it is a truly special time in the history of our school. Over the last few days, we have welcomed a very excited (and lovely!) group of new teachers who have high hopes for the year ahead. I am sure you will join me in welcoming them to our special community.

I am smiling as I type this as it is the first time I write “Ben’s Corner” for UWC East Africa. I will strive to continue to use my little “corner” of the weekly newsletter to keep you informed about ongoing learning across the school and beyond, to highlight specific curriculum and residential events or give details of special days. Above all, I hope to share and celebrate your children’s achievements at school.

The first days of any school year are designed to allow returning students to reconnect with the community and, of course, to welcome new students and give them the opportunity to familiarise themselves with their new environment. For those of you who are joining us, we hope your time at UWC East Africa is richly rewarding, full of adventure, both within and beyond the campus, and that you go on to form friendships that last for a lifetime.

We are all looking forward to getting to know you and your children over the coming weeks and working closely with you throughout the year.

Ben Morley

Deputy Head of Campus

The D1 students have been arriving on campus from all over the world. They were met by the orientation committee and are now involved in a programme of activities to introduce them to the school and the Diploma Programme. This started with ice breaker activities and a chance to meet key people in the school. Then they had a scavenger hunt around campus. On Thursday they went on a walk to see some of the surrounding area and then participate in a service activity to paint the day care centre on campus. On Friday they will get to see Moshi town and learn some basic Swahili. Then on Saturday they will have a chance to learn more about the diploma programme followed by a cultural performance so we can find out about their background. This is followed on Sunday by a chance to make their mark and improve the appearance of the campus. Monday will see them taking part in the Project Zero survey, details of which were emailed to you earlier and then to relax before school starts. Throughout this time students have been able to talk to teachers and discuss any concerns.

The D2 students will start school on Tuesday 13th August and residents should arrive the day before. On Tuesday they will spend time with their mentors and then participate in the Project Zero survey, details of which were emailed to you earlier. After lunch they will have Language B and so should come prepared for that as well as bringing a charged laptop. On that day they will need to submit their Extended Essay draft and the Geography Fieldwork draft. More deadlines are coming up and will be shared with you shortly.

If you have any questions about your child’s performance in the Diploma Programme please feel free to contact us.

Margaret Brunt

DP Coordinator

Residential students other than D1, return to school on Monday the 12th of August.  Residential parents will be on duty to receive them on that day.

The school provides free transport from KIA and from Moshi airport. This can only be arranged if the parents/students send us flight details in advance. This information can be sent to ianhorne@uwcea.org if you have not already done so.

Parents are reminded to fill in new Parent Consent forms for this year. These can be downloaded from the school website. Note that students will not be allowed out of campus if these forms are not filled.

All parents are also expected to furnish the school with medical information concerning their children. Kindly access the health forms from our website and let them be sent to us as soon as possible.

We have a number of new Residential Parents.  If you do not meet them on Monday they will be contacting you soon.

Ian Horne

Head of Residential Life

We wish to welcome all members of the community to school for the 2019-2020 academic year. Some of the highlights in this article include May 2019 MYP eAssessment results, the first day at school events and new students’ orientation.

MYP May 2019 eAssessment Results Highlights
The M5 results are out and we are pleased to announce that these have been the best MYP results the school has achieved since the introduction of eAssessments in 2016. Whereas the results in Mathematics and Science are still not to our expected standards, we are happy that the reforms in these two courses are beginning to yield dividends. The performance in all of these courses improved last academic year as compared to the previous year.

We wish to congratulate the candidates for their hard work and parents for their support.  The results have been communicated to the respective parents and students and the relevant documents from the IB will be dispatched to schools in mid-October.

First Day in school – Tuesday August 13
We wish to emphasize that learning will begin on the first day of school. Here is the schedule for the first day.

• 7:30am Students in their Mentor groups for registration
• 9:30am Whole School Assembly in Karibu Hall
• 10:30 am Lessons Begin
• 2:15pm School ends.

M1 and New MYP Students Orientation
All new students will be inducted on the MYP components including assessment as soon as school begins. Details of the days and times will be communicated soon.

Subject selections in M4 and M5
All students in the above classes began making subjects choices in some of the languages, arts and mathematics courses last academic year. Teachers will continue to guide both the returning and new students on appropriate choices and levels in these courses in consultation with parents as appropriate.

Personal Project Supervision
The M5 students will have PP supervisors as soon as they report back to school. This delay was necessitated by the fact that some teachers left the school at the end of last academic year.

David Ochieng

MYP Coordinator

UWCEA Moshi Leopards

We are only a couple of weeks from the beginning of the new seasons here at UWCEA Moshi. I am very excited about another active, fun, sports filled year here at UWCEA Moshi.  We aim to keep our undefeated record in the pool for secondary students, continue our domination of Netball, Girls rugby and make a big mark on the athletics competitions this year. 

Thank you to all the staff, parents and students who made last year’s sports program such a success, we will need your support again this year to build on those successes. So if you are a parent, teacher, MYP or DP student (CAS opportunity) interested in coaching or assisting in one or more of the sports offered here at UWCEA Moshi (Touch Rugby, Ultimate Frisbee, Basketball, Volleyball, Athletics, Netball and Swimming), please contact me (robinmarsh@uwcea.org).

There is an exciting year of fixtures organised for the NTAA competition, with primary in particular going to be very busy. UWCEA Moshi has more hosting opportunities than ever.  The ever-popular sports weekend in November will soon be upon us, this and a full schedule of swim meets should help to keep students fit and healthy all year.

Thank you all in advance for your support of the Leopards Sports program,

Robin Marsh
Sport & Activities Coordinator

With the new school year starting, it is the beginning of a very important year for our D2 students. They have so much to look forward to experiencing on campus, but are also preparing for what they plan to do once they have finished their time at UWC East Africa. As the new University and Socio-emotional counselor, I am here to begin meeting with students and talking with families about what the next phase of their life journey will look like. Please feel free to review important information on the UWCEA website about my role and resources via this link. Also, if you would like to set up a meeting with me, you can feel free to do so via this web address: calendly.com/cassandraforduwcea

As the Socio-emotional counselor, I am also very interested in supporting the personal social needs of all of our students. I will be collaborating with school staff and community resources to ensure our students mental health is well supported. If you have any concerns, or would like to share information with me, please feel free to contact me via email at cassandraford@uwcea.org or WhatsApp at +255 742 799 178.

Looking forward to a wonderful year ahead!

Cassandra Ford
University and Socio-emotional Counselor

It has been a long break and we look forward to all our primary students returning. We also welcome all new students joining us and hope you will enjoy being a part of the UWC East Africa community.

First Day of School:
School begins on Tuesday 13th August. Children should arrive by 7:20 am for a 7:30 am start. You are welcome to enter the classrooms to meet your child’s class teacher and Educational Assistant. Children should be sent to school with a bag containing a healthy snack, a hat and a water bottle (or else purchase a snack ticket from Reception). Children are reminded to wear sensible, closed shoes (not flip-flops or Crocs). A reminder that all our continuing primary ISM students can wear their ISM T-shirt to school. For the new students, you may wear your own t-shirt for the few days before the new UWCEA t-shirts are available in the office. On PE days they are required to wear their House T-shirt (new students wear your own t-shirt but preferably in the color of your house until you can get a house shirt). Your class teacher will let you know which house your child belongs to if you are not sure. PE classes will start on Thursday 13 August. Swimming will not start until August 31st for P4-6 and later for the younger classes.

Meet the Teacher Evening:
On Thursday 29th August, we will hold our ‘Meet the Teacher’ evening for Primary School parents. This is an opportunity for you to find out more about the upcoming year and to meet your child’s new teacher. The evening will help you gain a better understanding of what happens in your child’s classroom and the wider community and, hopefully, allow you to support learning at home. We encourage all parents to attend. Please note that the information shared will be about classroom routines and practices in general and will not be for discussions about individual students. The evening will begin at 6:30 pm in Rafiki Hall and then move to the classrooms.

Primary Clubs and Collection Times:
Clubs will not begin until Wednesday 21st August. Parents will be able to help their children sign up for clubs beforehand.

All P1–P6 primary day students will go home at 1:10pm for the first week of school. Please make arrangements to collect your child/ren at this time. Please note that EC children will go home at 11:20 am and all EC–P6 will go home at 12:30 pm every Friday.

We are a close-knit team of teachers in the Primary and the atmosphere is very friendly. Do not hesitate to contact your child’s homeroom teacher or me in case of a query.

Cathy Wambua-Saha

PYP Coordinator

Welcome back to the new school year for our youngest children and parents of UWC East Africa.

Our central idea is about how we can learn to do more for ourselves and we’ll start next week by learning how to keep our shoes clean. We’ll begin with the short film “The Other Pair” and use the theme to learn about caring for others. We will share and create using literacy and art. Does warm or cold water clean best? What is a hypothesis anyway? How many ways can we find to sort our shoes into groups? How many footsteps take us from the sandpit to the big tree? We’ll be setting up a local shoe-shine business during play… whilst learning how to keep our own shoes in good order too.

If you find a very old (unserviceable) pair of boots or shoes in the far corner of the shoe-box please send them in. We’ll use these as plant-pots during our outdoor learning session on Thursday.

The children start as usual at 7:30am and can be dropped-off after 7:15. We often have a short activity at that time and you (or whoever brings your child to school) are invited to stay for just a few minutes to help complete this. A great way to start the day collaboratively when we are able to.

Pickup time is 11:20am this year and all children need a snack, water-bottle and hat as usual. Please also send PE shoes for our first day back if you can. I will let you know our swimming days and share a fuller timetable with you all next week.

New parents especially can get in touch with me at owainevans@uwcea.org for any questions at all or just to say hello. Please note that my school email has now changed.

Owain Evans

Welcome back to school and a particular welcome to all who are joining us for the first time. The beginning of school is always exciting as we make new friends and catch up with each other.

We are starting this school year by looking at who we are. Our central idea will be exploring how making balanced choices about daily routines enables us to have a healthy lifestyle. We will be looking at three lines of inquiry:

Daily habits and routines

• Balanced choices
• The consequences of our choices
• If you have any expertise on habits that build healthy living, please come and share them with us.

Our coming week will be full of bonding activities that get us orientated to our community. Please do send in a healthy snack, a hat, indoor shoes and a water bottle with your child. I am looking forward to a wonderful year with you all.

• Monday: P.E., I.T for P1 and Music
• Tuesday: IT for P2, Music and Library
• Wednesday: Kiswahili and Swimming
• Thursday: Kiswahili

Mboka Mwasongwe

It’s hard to believe we’re at the start of another exciting school year. A big welcome and welcome back to parents in the P3 class. I hope you have had a wonderful family filled break with lots of bonding time. I have spent the break in Dar es Salaam having some much needed sun, sand and snorkelling time. I also got to come back to Moshi and co-adopt a puppy with a friend, as a result, you may be receiving a lot of information on Ms. Elisha’s puppy!

Ms. Durriyah and I have spent the past couple days excitedly awaiting Tuesday morning when we get to meet the students and parents in our class this year.

In order to help you prepare for the first week of school, please note that students will have PE on Mondays and Wednesdays this week. This should help you determine what days students will need running shoes on. Ms. Durriyah and I encourage you to please send in a hat with the students which they can keep in their trays and use during PE and break times.

Have a relaxing long weekend, and Happy Eid to those celebrating. See you on Tuesday!

Elisha Jaffer

Welcome back! It is great to be back and I hope you all had a wonderful break.
I am looking forward to working with your child and hope we will have an enjoyable year ahead. The P4 class is in Room 6 and your child will be working with me and Ms Zitha The P4 Education Assistant.

In the first week, we will mainly be familiarizing with each other and playing some team building games. We will also establish some essential agreements and go through our schedules among other things.

Do remember to pack a healthy snack, a hat and drinking water for your child, also label all their belongings to avoid losing stuff.
We will not have homework or clubs in this first week therfore all students need to be picked up at 1:10 pm.

Do feel free to email me if you have any questions or concerns.

Cathy Wambua-Saha

Karibuni, Welcome Back Families!

I hope you had a vacation that was full of relaxing and enjoyable moments. My time in America was filled with outdoor adventures, dog walks, and sharing meals with friends and family. I am looking forward to hearing about your adventures over the holiday. For the first few days of school, we will become acquainted with a new classroom, create agreements, and play games both inside and outside. We will reawaken our math brains with games, warm up our author’s hands by writing about a memory, and have fun with art projects.

Please remember to be prepared daily for school by bringing a water bottle and hat for outdoor time. Students are also invited to bring in a small pillow or cushion for their classroom chair, and are kindly reminded to bring in a pair of indoor shoes that can be left here in the classroom. I look forward to seeing you all next Tuesday. We are going to have a great year!

Sarah Brummel

I hope that you and your children have enjoyed the break and that the children are looking forward to joining P6. I am sure that we will have a productive and enjoyable year together. The P6 classroom is Room 16 and our Educational Assistant is Ms. Catherine Shayo. Please remind your child to bring a hat, a water bottle and a pair of indoor shoes on the first day. There will be no homework or after school clubs for the first week. I will send home a schedule on the first day – the children will have P.E. on Tuesdays so will need to wear appropriate clothing on that day. Over the first few days we will establish expectations for the year ahead and review the attributes of the learner profile. Ms. Catherine and I are looking forward to seeing the children on Tuesday morning and hearing all of their news. Please email me if you have any questions.

Deborah Mills