Moshi Campus News – 18 Aug 2019

I do hope that everyone had a successful and fun first week of school.  If was good to see students getting reacquainted around campus and new students getting involved and starting to build new friendships. Personally, it was also nice for me to see many of you again.

As you can see below, we are already into the full swing of school life here in Moshi and events for the students, parents and community members are starting up again. Please see the “Upcoming” and “Sports Update” sections in particular as they contain more information.  Please also see the school calendar on the website (uwcea.org) for events in the future.  It is possible to link as a Google Calendar by searching for school@uwcea.org in the calendar section.

To start the year, we had our assembly outside on the Green.  The weather right now is to perfect to have it inside. Thanks to Salmin and Benny for ending the assembly and beating in the new year.

Best wishes to everyone as we move through the year.

Bob Cofer – Head of Campus

Next weekend the D1 students from both campuses will be involved in a walk to help them continue to get to know each other and the local area.  It is also our first opportunity for all the D1 students on both campuses to get together.

We will leave campus at 9:30am sharp on Saturday 24th and head out to Sanya Juu. We will eat a packed lunch there before setting out on a 9km walk across the Maasai steppe from West Kilimanjaro towards Arusha Meru. With Kili behind us and Mount Meru in front, it is a spectacular landscape, a corridor between two National Parks. We will be have local Maasai guides throughout. Our destination is a Maasai school in the bush where we will meet up with our Arusha counterparts, who are walking from the other side. The idea is that we both walk 9km to make a school total of 18km to commemorate our opening as the 18th UWC. A fun evening is planned with our Maasai host students, followed by a night in their dorms (which are lovely). On Sunday morning, we will take part in a number of Service projects before heading back to Moshi shortly after 11:00am with the plan to be back on campus by 1:15pm or thereabouts.

More information is coming to students and parents via email.

Please remember that you are all invited to the first Parents Coffee Morning of the year.  It will be at 7:45am in the Social Center and we will discuss events of the past break and upcoming events of the first quarter.  We will also answer questions you may have about the school.  I look forward to seeing you there.

Bob Cofer

Welcome to our first market of the year.  We will have Meatking, Brown’s Cheeses, Moringa Consultancy, Felix, Vegetables are healthy and others. 

If you wish to make a pre order with Meatking you can do so before Monday 12.00. Email orders@meatking.co.tz for more details.

You can also make a pre order with Brown’s Cheeses.  Email zumarii@yahoo.com for more details.

…and that was the week that was! It has been a long time coming but we are finally up and running as UWC East Africa. For those of you who came along to our first alfresco assembly of the year, you will have heard me thanking a long list of people. I would like to take this opportunity to once again share our collective gratitude to the many people who have been working hard throughout the holiday (and before) to make these first days such a success.

The ever patient Mr Kaniki and the maintenance team. Ms Asifiwe and the tireless cleaners. The unflappable Ms Tahera and her dedicated team in the kitchen. Mr Sanga and our often nocturnal team of drivers. Mr Juma, Mr Honest and the unflagging gardening team, with a special mention to Mr Leonard for working his flowery magic. Mr Afzal, Mr Isaac and the OP team for hosting so many visitors over the ‘break’ and ensuring they all went home happy.

Mustafa and the accounts team for making sure everyone got paid on time (!) and, last but far from least, the ever-smiling Mr Masawe, the Keeper of the Keys. I feel very privileged to be part of such a special team who work so hard so that teaching and learning can happen.

Again, as I shared in the assembly, we were also fortunate to have a dedicated team of D2 students, who gave up their time, energy and effort as members of our inaugural Student Orientation Committee. Planning for an orientation week for our D1 class began back in May and has continued ever since. Thank you to all of you for working so diligently, creatively, collaboratively and flexibly…and for sacrificing the last ten days of your holiday! Mr Melhado, Ms Mwegelo and I certainly had lots of fun working with you and we hope you all enjoyed the experience too. You have set the bar very high for next year with a Scavenger Hunt, a Community Walk, a Pizza Picnic, a fiery ngoma performance, a Talent Show and, my favourite event, the renovation of the Day Care Centre. Well done and thank you.

Lastly, a special “congratulations” to our new teachers who have survived their first week! In fact, they have all been in-country for almost three weeks now, involved in an orientation programme of their own. We hope you enjoyed meeting our students and are starting to feel part of the community.

Ben Morley – Deputy Head of Campus

This week has seen the arrival for the D2 students on campus, although some had been here last week for the D1 Orientation. They started the year with their Extended Essay and Geography IA draft submissions; they will be getting feedback on these soon.  Further deadlines are being finalised and will be sent out soon. Both D1 and D2 had time with their mentors on Tuesday morning giving them a chance to find out about various aspects of the school and to get their timetables. Both D1 and D2 participated in a survey by Project Zero from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

D1 students have now started classes and are settling in to the school and meeting their teachers. Conversations are still happening about subject choices and I will be emailing parents about these soon. We aim to have all D1 students finalize their course selections by the end of August.

Margaret Brunt – DP Coordinator

M1 and New MYP Students Orientation
We are happy to have received many new students this academic year. As promised, the M1 students began their MYP orientation on Thursday August 15. They were introduced to the MYP global contexts and they did specific activities on identities and relationships. Next week, together with all new students, they will do activities involving key words (command terms) used in their assessment, some strategies used and how their work will be graded.

Language Placement Test
In a bid to enable new students make correct choices in English language, all new students did a placement test on Thursday. Results from this test helps teachers identify the language support all students need. Additionally, this helps to place new students in the correct level of English language to start the year.

Service Learning and Action in the MYP
As part of exercising knowledge and skills from the classroom and identifying with the community in which we live, MYP students made a choice of their service projects on Thursday. The M1-3 year groups made a choice of either working with Kili Orphanage; our local daycare center; taking care of our Community Garden or taking part in Bee Keeping. M4-5 cohorts chose to either be involved in environmental conservation along Karanga River or engaged in the Eco Club at school. Some of the students in this group also opted to work with marginalized children and adolescents at Pamoja Tunaweza Club where they will help in building the children’s language, social and business skills. All the projects and programmes are supervised by teachers.

M5 Personal Project Supervision
The M5 students have a new Personal Project Coordinator this year who will work with the MYP Coordinator to guide and support the students in this culminating activity in the MYP.

David Ochieng – MYP Coordinator

We have just completed our very first week of the Academic Year as UWC East Africa and it has been a busy week for the students and staff of Residential Life who have been settling into their new roles and residences.

This year we have made a few changes to the Residential Life Programme including increasing the numbers of staff within the Residential Life Team. There are now more members of staff assigned to each of our Secondary Residential Houses: A Residential and Assistant Residential Parent plus 3-4 Mentors. The two Residential Parents are the main staff over-seeing a House, with the Mentors supporting their role but also providing a link between a student’s academic life in school and both their residential and academic life outside of school hours. This increased level of staffing can only help to benefit the students both in their residential and academic lives in school.

Students have now returned to school and have just completed their first week of classes, during which they have finalised their subject choices and have begun to familiarise themselves with the routines of the school day.

Tuesday began with a full school Assembly during which we very deservedly thanked the school support staff for their wonderful work in preparing the school environment and residences for opening, keeping our school site safe and secure, transporting all of our students to school and feeding them such delicious meals.

The Residential Life Team work with the school Support Staff on a daily basis. We are always extremely grateful for their help and support and we consider them an essential part of our Residential Life Team. We really couldn’t do without them.

This weekend we began our weekend program which included some students heading into Moshi Town.  As well, our bus runs to support students who wish to attend different religious services started.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of my Residential Life Team for their excellent work and support to date, in helping me to settle so many new student residents from so many different countries into our Moshi Campus. Their help has been very much appreciated.

Ian Horne – Head of Residential Life

This first week has flown by, as I have enjoyed meetings with students, and hearing of their future plans while they review their current courses to ensure that they will be able to fulfill their aspirations. We have some important dates coming up with deadlines that have either passed, or will soon be upon us. For students who will need to take the ACT or SAT to complete their college application(s), there will be an ACT on 14 September and SAT on 5 October at UWC East Africa, Moshi. Students need to be registered in advance, and should be actively reviewing materials to prepare. Registrations can be done on the ACT or SAT websites.

In addition, D2 students need to begin fine tuning their list of university options in order to begin planning the application process. Many application systems have already become available, and any students looking to apply early to some of the more selective institutions need to ensure they understand everything that will be required in order to submit their best possible application on time.

Last week, I shared the document in the link below with D2 students, and welcome families at other levels to review in preparation for important conversations about university matriculation. This information changes over time, but will provide a good foundation for making important decisions about universities around the world.
IB Country Recognition Statements

Finally, I am working with Mr. Emmanuel Kileo to identify needs of student who would benefit from short term counseling support as the school year begins to settle into a consistent routine. As issues arise, we will work with teachers and other staff to support the students, as well as communicating with parents. If you are aware of any circumstances that could be impacting your child’s mental well being, please feel free to reach out to myself (cassandraford@uwcea.org) or Mr. Kileo (emmanuelkileo@uwcea.org), so that we can work with you to support your child.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Cassandra Ford
University and Socio-Emotional Counselor

And we are off…….
Students have made their selections for sports and activities, training sessions and clubs all start on Wednesday the 21st August. We are full steam ahead. Below is a copy of the secondary sports timetable for Aug-Sept; the Q1 primary clubs list; and the Community and Student Activities timetable for Aug-Dec.

Secondary Sports

Secondary Student Activities

Community Activities

Primary Quarter 1 Activities

Thank you to all the staff, parents and students who have volunteered their time to continue build on the successes of last year.

Go Leopards
Robin Marsh
Sport & Activities Coordinator

The week has gone by beautifully with children settling into their various classes and teachers taking everything in their stride.

It was amazing to see the P1/2s moving around different learning centers independently, P5s making colorful beaded items as Ms. Sarah read to them, ECs demonstrating life skills through their “Shoe Shine” stand on the breezeway and many more fun activities happening around the campus.

Meet the Parent Evening

We are looking forward to seeing the parents of primary students in Rafiki Hall on 29th August from 6:30 p.m. We will have Ms. Linda and Ms. Pearl share with us the changes in the Swahili and French programme respectively. We will then move to the classes for the homeroom teachers’ presentations. There will be two sessions in each class running from 6:50 to 7:10p.m. and from 7:10 to 7:30p.m to allow parents to visit two different classes if need be.

Primary Gathering

We will have our first UWCEA Primary Gathering next Friday from 7:30 to 8:10 in Rafiki Hall. All Primary parents are welcome.

Cathy Wambua-Saha PYP Coordinator

Our unit is about finding ways to do more for ourselves, and this week our youngest students set an immediate example for the oldest students by setting up a shoe-shine stall on the breezeway.

As one of our incoming teachers put it “it’s never too early to start thinking about service”.  Nor is it ever too young to provide access to complex ideas in an accessible way. This week’s short film engaged the children in wondering what it might be all about. Some great thinking ensued.

We’ve already found some favourite books and started to explore the resources in our classroom. We planted flowers in old shoes and mapped our playground in footsteps. Settling in takes a little time, but we’ve already begun to count, write and get to know routines as well as new friends.

Each of our young learners comes to school with their own understandings, personalities and backgrounds. In Early Years we work to value these, and go on to provide opportunities for the children to build upon what they know and thus construct meaningful, useful and embedded learning.

Next week we will be exploring more things that we can begin to do for ourselves, as well as thinking about how the things that we do (or don’t do) can have an effect on others. This age is a very interesting time as the child’s world begins to widen slowly past their own individual ego and needs into an awareness of the wider connections between themselves and others.

Owain Evans

We have had a wonderful start to the school year. In the midst of building block towers, painting toilet paper rolls, laughing through Mo Willems’ books and enjoying the playground, I say we have had a full on first week. We have created a little booklet of our first week and we will be putting it on the board outside of our classroom as soon as the paint dries. You are welcome to come and look through them.

This coming week, we will begin our unit by looking at our daily routines. We will be asking ourselves many questions. What do I do every day? What do other people do every day? Are our routines different? Why are they different? If you are available on a Friday between 10:30 and 12:30, please let me know so that we can interview you and find out about your routine.

Thank you to all the parents who sent in signed medical forms and parent surveys. If you haven’t done so already, please send them in this coming week.

Look out for reading books and homework which will be sent home on Monday.

Mboka Mwasongwe

It has been a fun week getting to know and reacquaint myself with P3 students. What surprised me the most was the maturity shown by the returning students. A lot of this week has been filled with getting to know each other activities that have required students to communicate and cooperate with each other. One of our favourite moments this week was an activity we did where students had to flip the carpet over in groups without stepping on the tiles. The P3 students saw the importance of good communication and cooperation while doing this. We also came to the realization that good communication doesn’t necessarily mean loud communication.

I have sent home a timetable and POI for this year. Please feel free to email me, or come in and have a chat with any questions you may have. I will be sending out parent emails that will allow you to connect to students’ SeeSaw accounts, as well as their Prodigy accounts. There is an alternative available to Prodigy for those students who would like it. Please ensure you communicate updated email information in order for this link up to take place.

Elisha Jaffer

We had a great first week in P4 where we played games, came up with essential agreements, did some crafts, shared reflections and engaged in some pre-assessment activities.

In the coming week, we will be inquiring into our unit on heroes. We will begin by looking at who a hero is and finding out who the heroes around us are. In Language, we will be reading books related to the unit of Inquiry and making our own information booklets. In Math, we will be focusing on the properties of numbers; half, double, more than, less than and before and after. We will also be reviewing number bonds.

Kindly remember to send your child’s medical information and the student survey sheet by the end of the next week.

Homelearning projects will be sent home on Monday.
Clubs will begin on Wednesday.

• Monday- Swahili, P.E.
• Tuesday- French, I.T. Music
• Wednesday- Music, French
• Thursday- I.T., P.E.
• Friday- Swahili, Library

Cathy Wambua-Saha

The P5 class had a great first week together. We spent the week learning new procedures, games, and got to know one another. They interviewed me to find out information on their new teacher. Each student painted a portrait of themselves, which is now on display outside our classroom. During PE, the class discussed positive attitudes and teamwork, and started their new athletic unit. They enjoyed their extra PE sessions with me. During our classroom meeting, the class did an excellent job appreciating one another and giving compliments. We made of list of words that are offensive and talked about why we should not use them in class.

A gentle reminder for those who forgot their hats and water bottles this week, to please bring them daily. Please also remember children are welcome to bring in a cushion, and should have indoor shoes here in the class.

Sarah Brummel

The P6 students are settling well into their new classroom. We have drawn up essential agreements to ensure a smooth and co-operative year ahead and have started reviewing the attributes of the Learner Profile. Next week we will discuss the responsibilities that come with being the oldest children in the PYP and the importance of being good role models for the younger children.

On Monday we will start our Unit of Inquiry.

The central idea is: “Exploration of our earth and space leads to discoveries and develops new understandings.”

Our lines of inquiry are:

• Reasons for exploration
• Inventions that have helped people to explore
• The impact of exploration over time

We will look at maps and scale and connect this to our maths work. Homework will start next week – we will be focussing on reading comprehension and developing reading stamina. Swimming will start for P6 next Thursday. The children will need to bring a swimsuit, goggles, hat and towel.

Deborah Mills