Arusha Campus News – 22 May 2020

Don’t you love this handsome chameleon drawn by Julia in P5? Beautiful Julia!

Every now and then I eavesdrop a lesson – much in the same way that I did when we were teaching in classrooms. Except, with online lessons, hardly anyone knows that I am there! Listening to Mr R teach ‘Singin’ in the Rain’ as a ‘fly on the wall’ has been great fun and my favourite photo of the week is this one of Valerie and her Singin’ in the Rain routine. Better than Gene Kelly himself!

It was great to meet up with one of our ‘old’ teachers (I should call them ‘former’ but there is something endearing about the ‘old’!). Miss Linda Willms was here this very morning and it was a delight to walk around the campus looking at the trees that had grown up since her time. Welcome back Linda!

A quick shout across the plains to Moshi Campus and Miss Debbie and her PYP P6 team for an incredible Exhibition. Well done P6 Moshi. A particularly hearty congratulation from me to Ivan who attended every single one of the PYP Exhibits on both campuses. Ivan, your commitment and loyalty will be an asset to you in future life!

Have a super weekend!

Phil

 

 

 

We are almost at the end of Ramaddan and this of course means a time of celebration and Eid al Fitr. Eid al Fitrt is the first day of the Islamic month of Shawwal. It marks the end of Ramadan, which is a month of fasting and prayer.At the time of publishing this newsletter, the exact dates of this public holiday was not yet revealed.

 

As we are nearing the end of this quarter and of the school year, it is easy to notice that we are all in need of some serious TLC- some students struggle with the amount of work online, teachers continue to soldier through against all odds and families do their very best to stay in touch with us and support the students. We continue to meet remotely as staff and put actions in place to adapt to the changing needs of the students- a survey went out today again to secondary students, there was a device-free day this week in the primary and we continue to be flexible and proactive with our remote learning approaches in light of your feedback. Thank you for your continued support!

I trust you have enjoyed the remote primary share time quiz on Zoom this Friday  and that distance lessons overall continue to inspire you to read, learn and wonder about the world we live in. We are planning an online Personal Project Exhibition live extravaganza for M5 in the first week of June and more information and invitations to attend will come out shortly. Huge thank you to all teachers who work so very hard to afford students these innovative remote learning opportunities.

In closing for this week, I would also like to let you know that for personal reasons and with the school’s support, I have decided not to return in fall for the next school year. It has been an absolute pleasure to get to know all of you and an honor to be part of the first year of UWC East Africa. Best wishes for a successful and healthy last quarter and I hope our paths will cross again!

With best regards,
Ciprian

Aidan and Sam with some innovative shack making on show!

This week is your final opportunity to earn points for your house by sharing photos on Instagram. There are some special challenges this week, so I urge all students, parents, and teachers to participate!

To participate in the #UWCEAStayUnited Challenge simply follow our House Council Instagram page @uwcea_ahousecouncil and tag our account when you post your challenge pictures/videos. Make sure to identify which House you belong to!

If you don’t use Instagram but want to participate, you can send your entry photos to Ms. Christy and she will post them on the House Council account.

Challenge Standings so far:
#UWCEAKibo –  5 points this week for a total of 57 points so far
#UWCEAMeru – 0 points this week for a total of 26 points so far
#UWCEAMawenzi – 1 point this week for a total of 22 points so far

Week 6 Challenge – Post by Sunday, May 31st – Last chance!
#UWCEAStayUnited – share a photo of one of our graduating students. It can be a D2, an M5 or a P6 or EC student who is moving on to the next stage of their learning journey.
#UWCEAStayHealthy –  share a favorite moment with Mr. Ratsakatika and/or Ms. Tanya!
#UWCEAStayFocusedonLearning – share a favorite moment with Mr. Reed and/or Mr. Schutte!
#UWCEAStayFocusedonService – share a favorite moment with Ms. Flo!
#UWCEAStayPlayful – share a favorite moment with Mr. Olivier!
#UWCEAStayCreative – Create a message for any graduating student or leaving teacher. It can be a card, a video, a meme, use your imagination to congratulate them and wish them well!

Thanks to all who have participated. We hope these challenges have helped you to stay connected to our amazing community.

Liam in M2 has just joined us this quarter – what a time to start a new school! Anyway he has been in the thick of it and ws designing bridges this week.

M2 students carried out a research project where they learned about different bridge types. They then designed and built their own bridges with materials available to them at home. The result was a variety of arch, suspension, truss and beam bridges made from spaghetti, sticks, cardboard, rope, wire, wood, cement, etc. The strongest bridge could carry a load of 4.5 kg!

Chiara’s bridge (below) seems to have pasta-d the test!

Avalon in typically studious mode concentratring hard on her book.

Reading a book reduces stress, and puts you in a better mood. When you read, it transports you and your worried mind to another place, so you won’t feel so overwhelmed. For M1 and M3 Life Skills lessons this quarter, students are taking part in a 10 week challenge to read and report on as many books as possible. After every book they read, they are then required to attempt reporting tasks. These tasks afford them the opportunity to reflect, analyse and report on their understanding of the book.

M1 Winners
Wk 1 – Siri
Wk 2 – Eun
Wk 3 – Brenda
Wk 4 – No winner
Wk 5 – Siri
Wk 6 – Sally

M3 Winners
Wk 1 – No winner 
Wk 2 – Mahen
Wk 3 – Hunter
Wk 4 – Mahen
Wk 5 – Mahen
Wk 6 – Avalon

Jess (M1) and Hana (M2) go through their floor routines

Suryanshu keeping in shape at home

Gearing up for the final four weeks of school, I hope you have been able to get into a routine, and are finding balance in your lives. If you are still seeking ways to maintain mental health and well-being during this time, I would like to refer you to this week’s edition of the Wellness Wednesday Weekly, with a slew of links including updates to the COVID-19 Counselor Resources due to Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK.

We continue to encourage our M5 and D1 students to spend time exploring their future career and college interests, and are grateful to the parents who responded to the invitation to establish a Parent Access account on our Maia Learning platform. I invite all M5/D1 parents to join the platform, and on Thursday, 28 May, at 5:30 PM EAT, I will be hosting a virtual session to walk parents through the platform via their new access. If you are a M5 or D1 parent and did not have a chance to respond to my survey requesting access, please email me directly at cassandraford@uwcea.org, and I can send you the link to access your child’s Maia Learning account. If you have access, and would like to join the session on Thursday, please complete the survey on this link by Thursday at 8:00 AM EAT, and I will send you an invitation to the event. 

https://forms.gle/oq3RwNurYqkkuY38A

Also, I invite parents of all secondary students to explore this excellent resource (in English and Spanish) to assist with the college planning process (mainly US based). This process involves all parties (student, parent, counselor, teachers, etc.) having a better sense of everything that is involved in a successful application process, and documents such as this provide essential information to parents to help you better understand your role. Please review the College Greenlight Parent Kit via this link to begin your journey to helping your child prepare for the post secondary planning process ahead: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JYkJg861UDzieAX0Vc9ek4p9zSq8xdn2/view

This week we hosted a couple of special virtual university of presentations with the University of Chicago (Monday) and University of Southern California (Thursday). We are so grateful to the Admissions specialists from these institutions and others who are interested in our students, and still want to meet with them even under these circumstances. More to come, so please stay tuned.

Finally, below is the list of upcoming college and university related events. I want to draw your attention to a few key items:

1. This weekend and next week there is a HUGE International college and university fair that is free to all attendees. The times are not great because it is based out of East Asia, but many of the events will be recorded, and if you register you will receive the link to watch at a more convenient time. They are already at over 20,000 regisrants, and sessions are filling fast! Cialfo Online International College/University Fair: 

https://explore.cialfo.co/webinars

2. On Tuesday, we will have a special session for our community by experienced Admissions specialists from Brown University on University of Pennsylvania. This will be a valuable session for parents and students interested in high selective institutions in the US, and I encourage you to participate.

3. On Thursday at 4:30 PM EAT the new University and Socio-emotional Counselor for the Arusha Campus and I will host a virtual Meet and Greet. If you are interested in participating, please email me, and I will send you an invitation link to the meeting that morning.

4. There is so much more to explore, please see the constantly growing list of upcoming virtual events, and be sure your child is logging into the College Visits section of their Maia Learning account to view the Details to join the events.

Have a wonderful weekend, and a great week ahead!

Cassandra

There is always more, but limited space, so I will end with once again extending the invitation to meet with me via my calendar link

https://www.calendly.com/cassandraforduwcea

If you, or your student, would like to discuss anything related to university or socio-emotional counseling, please feel free to set up an appointment so that we can talk via Google Meet or Zoom.

Take care and persevere,

Ms. Ford

?The Rosetta Stone language learning programme is offering a free online French course to students (and parents!) ?who attend a school that is closed in response to COVID-19.  Please click on the link below to register :

https://www.rosettastone.com/freeforstudents/

?This is a great opportunity to further develop your French skills. ? If you are already learning French at UWCEA, you should register for the ‘Advanced’ or ‘Intermediate’ course.

?Other languages are also available if you wish to learn a new language.